The Most Disappointing Video Game Sequels Ever

There was basically no way that Duke Nukem Forever could have been anything but a disappointment. A 15 year development cycle meant that the game had to be rebuilt from the ground up several times, and even then it failed to compete with more modern titles. By the time the game finally came out in 2011, gaming standards had evolved to a point where the childish jokes and lack of distinct gameplay could only be seen as boring.

Bomberman: Act Zero is the perfect example of everything a sequel should not do. Departing from all the things that the series was known for, the 2006 game featured a generic cyborg character fighting in an apocalyptic future. Whereas the previous puzzle games were generally light in tone, this new installment was a darker, more adult orientated experience. The repetitive stages look almost identical to one another, and a lack of basic features — such as a save function —caused the game to receive nothing but criticism. 

The Mass Effect series is one of the biggest RPG franchises in recent memory; the original trilogy dominated the last generation of consoles. Despite a few missteps in terms of gameplay and storytelling, the first three games are remembered as a new evolution in role-playing adventures.

The much anticipated followup, Mass Effect: Andromeda, came out in 2017, and was the first game from the franchise to be released on PS4/Xbox One. While fans were super excited prior to the game's release, a lack of new alien species to encounter, a stale plot, and a huge amount of bugs lead to an experience that's anything but epic. The game was so disappointing that EA has since put the series on an indefinite hold.

Released in 2004 for the Xbox and PlayStation 2, Driv3r is the third installment in the highly praised Driver series. The original games managed to create fully realized open worlds that were on the level of blockbuster hits like Grand Theft Auto. Driv3r was meant to surpass the popularity of GTA by taking sandbox games to a new level, but things didn’t quite pan out like that. The final product featured dated gameplay mechanics and an uninteresting story that ultimately went nowhere. The game also seemed partially unfinished, and many speculated that it was rushed to release before it was ready. In the days before downloadable patches, this type of oversight was the kiss of death for many slapdash games. 

Resident Evil 6 tried to expand upon everything that made the series great, but ended up with far too much fluff. With a wide range of characters and separate storylines, the 2013 game had little direction, and everything felt overly complicated. There's also little in the way of survival horror elements, and the game more closely resembled a generic shooter. With over 30 unlockable weapons, ammo is rarely scarce, and enemies felt more like temporary hold-ups than monstrosities. The plot lines feature few genuinely scary moments, and challenge players' patience more than their abilities. 

In the '90s and early 2000s, Banjo-Kazooie and its immediate sequel established a new standard for platformers. When Rare announced that they were making a brand new entry for the Xbox 360, excitement quickly began to build. However, 2008's Nuts & Bolts isn't a classic platformer; instead, it's sort of hybrid between a racer and collection/building game. It's nothing like the other titles in the series, and this departure caught the majority of fans off-guard. While the game is still pretty fun, most were confused as to why the Banjo name had been tacked onto a title that seemingly had nothing to do with the franchise.