Back for More: Sea-quels and Spin-Offs

Gamers can look forward to some pretty big-name sequels in the next 12 months or so.

First  up and expected out before the end of 2009 is a sequel to 2007’s Bioshock, a game which is always good for a lively debate at O514. Dakalos thinks its pretty great, I like it but acknowledge its weaknesses, and Rusty thought the plot twist was 100% pure bullshit. Nevertheless, we can all agree that the game had a lot of potential and we’ve been looking forward to seeing what 2K will bring out for the sequel.

Apparently, about ten years have passed since the first game, and recently some strange things have begun to happen. Players will return to Rapture, but will be playing a slightly different role than the last time. The game apparently assumes that you chose the somewhat satisfying “good” ending to Bioshock, as opposed to the entirely lame “evil” one.

While I’m anxious to get back into the water, I do hope that some changes have been made. The gameplay video suggests that combat is pretty much the same, but I do hope that there is now a reason to use plasmids. Beyond a couple of exceedingly simple environmental puzzles, the only other impetus to use your “powers” is the fact that they are kinda neat. In all cases, guns will get the job done just as well. Let’s also hope for fewer broken plasmids, and a final boss that isn’t boring as hell.

A game that has garnered our universal praise is Bethesda’s Fallout 3. Although the story did get pretty weak towards the end, the sheer amount of stuff to see and do in the Wasteland made up for any narrative shortcomings. Now comes word that Bethesda has essentially loaned the license to Obsidian Entertainment, makers of Neverwinter Nights 2 and the terminally flawed Knights of the Old Republic 2. What makes this interesting is that Obsidian is helmed by a number of people who were responsibe for Fallout and Fallout 2 back in the late 1990s.  Chris Avellone, Chris Jones and Feargus Urquhart were all members of the original Black Isle Studios team that first brought gamers to the Wasteland. It should be interesting to see what they do with the franchise in Fallout: New Vegas, scheduled for release in 2010.