The aim of this blog is to (dis)honour those games of the next generation that have strayed too far from their roots. When a game is too similar to it's predecessor then the game is considered to be a waste of money, and if it strays too far from the original guideline, there is the feeling of "why did they take that out" or "why the hell did they add that"? Games such as DMC 3 and Half-Life 2 have stuck close and adapted their original formulae. Here are a few that haven't:

Conflict: Denied Ops (X360, PS3) - The 5th in the series of modern strategic shooters. Everyone remembers the Conflict series (and if you don't, why?). The first two games, Conflict Desert Storm and Conflict Desert Storm II were heavily based on squad tactics (the oringal Conflict DS is one of the few games I still play on backwards compatibility) and lengthy campaigns. Then came Conflict: Vietnam which took it to a new setting, Vietnam in the past. The game is arguably the best in the series, as it contained great natural scenery and intense gunfights in the jungle. The forth game was Conflict: Global Storm, the first of the fictional Conflict wars. Conflict GS was ok, and very similar to the originals. Now, each one of the first 4 Conflict games was third-person squad based tactical shooting, Conflict DO is a first person shooter with two generic characters. A step in the wrong direction, Pivotal.

Sonic the Hedgehog (X360, PS3) - There are quite a few people that love and adore Sonic. They were disheartened by this trainwreck of a next-gen adaptation of the original Sonic. An f-ed up story, lackluster control and poor camera conspire to make this game a tragedy. But it's just a poor sequel, it doesn't stray THAT far from the original. Well its strayed far enough for it not to be recognized if someone slapped, say, Ty the Tasmanian Tiger characters on instead. Sonic the Hedgehog is the worst Sonic game to come out since Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis.

Turok (X360, PS3)- Yet another next-gen sequel that features none of the original's charm. This new Turok title abandons the titular character of the original and focuses more on "target practise" than dinosaurs or magic. The story omits what happened in Turok and Turok 2: Seeds of Evil, instead creating an original title following on from Turok Evolution, the first of Turok's long departed sequels. The game is destined to have unrealised potential, suffering the same fate of Blacksite, but no matter what lies under any myriad of flaws, what's the point of a sequel when it hardly "sequ's" at all?

Kingdom Under Fire - Circle of Doom (X360) - After Heroes and Crusaders, Circle of Doom has completely abandonned the original RTS concept of the KUF series, instead now focusing on RPG elements. That coupled with poor level design and combat, KUF: COD has culled whatever poultry admiration the KUF series had after the transition to next gen.

Well here are just 4 examples from the next generation. Why not post any games that you thought were too different from the original from any generation, for example Zelda II or Super Mario Bros. 2? Go nuts.

:PDi-Man