Some of our most loved series may be ageless in plot, but unfortunately for them, time passes in the real world and the grey hairs are showing. The next five games you're about to see have seen their time come and go, and while the concepts that they introduced may have captivated us at some point, those mechanics need to find a new home.
Final Fight
Once the definitive arcade beat-em-up, Final Fight lost its luster once games got their third dimension. The original game was given two proper console sequels that lived up to expectations, but in the 14 years since, its been hard to get a good reminder of what it was like to break through the gangs of Metro City without going all the way back to the original.
It's difficult to want this series to be obsolete, but it is. Any other game could pick up the basic formula and run with it. The series was known for doing one thing extremely well, and its that very same thing that other bigger titles lack. Many gamers long for the days when a good street fight meant responsive controls and predictable behavior from their character without the need for physics to mess up a good thing. Since physics are here to stay, developers have gone the way of lock-on targeting/combos to make a 3-D plane go the 2-D route, and almost any game you pick up will have the basic hand-to-hand system Final Fight gave us.
Guy and Cody are back in Street Fighter, and Capcom is known to re-use characters if the opportunity presents itself, so you won't be seeing the last of Metro City. However, its time for the Final Fight franchise to take a bow.
Should be incorporated by: Grand Theft Auto
Driver
This one goes without saying. Driver did a lot of things right when it was first released, but each installment since has been an effort to do expand the series beyond what it did so well. When it came to feeling like you were truly behind the wheel, Driver was one of the very best on the original Playstation. With each sequel less welcome than the one before it, it's easy to put this series on the list.
If anything, Rockstar has single handedly made this game obsolete. What Grand Theft Auto doesn't do, Midnight Club does. Any sandbox game worth its salt is going to have driving in the mix, and we now know that at least one or two of them are going to do it better than a Driver game will. When you do one thing well, yet another series that isn't even focused on that aspect does it better, you have a good reason to hang it up for good.
Should be incorporated by: Done.
Fable
Probably the biggest shocker on the list, but it really shouldn't be. Fable's main drawing point is that you interact with the world, and in turn, the world reacts to you. The sheer freedom of action addicts many gamers, alluring many of them to seduce entire towns while buying up all their property behind their backs. Even your character's appearance changes depending on how you plan the game, leaving this western-RPG with one of the most interactive gaming worlds every created.
The trouble is that no one can put up a good argument that the story is any good for either game. While the concept is sound, it winds up being boring, leaving many players hoping for sequels that would hopefully improve the whole experience by delivering on false promises made by a certain developer and his big mouth. That day will never come, because Fable is an idea, and unfortunately one devoid of any real direction or execution.
While I hate to refer back to GTA again, San Andreas gave a glimpse as to what would happen if this idea were incorporated into a real game. If you ran a lot, your character would be more fit. Almost any game with an RPG feel could take the mechanics Fable used and put them into a better narrative, and sandbox games could use those same mechanics to beef up general freedoms. Hell, it's already happening. Why do we need Fable?
Should be incorporated by: Grant Theft Auto, Fallout, Elder Scrolls, and if Blizzard wanted to be a prick, World of Warcraft
Sonic the Hedgehog
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. On the Genesis, his games were golden, offering blistering speed in a time when games just didn't move fast at all. Even the platforming wasn't all bad for its time. As with Final Fight, 3-D just wasn't too kind to the blue blur, and the games suffered from flaws that could encompass a list 100 entries long. For starters, the plots were just plain bad, made even worse by the fact that the games actually focus on them. To be fair, if one were to buy into Sega's claim that creating hundreds of miles of "track" isn't realistic and that the action needs to be broken up somehow, this makes sense, but the plots don't have to be that bad, do they? Then the plots are voiced over by people who make you mute the TV. If you can bear all of this, you're not even treated to true Sonic speed 90% of the time.
What's worse is that the series has run its course even on the 2-D plane. Even with good handheld games being released, it all feels like a rehash. There was once a way to save this series, but I don't think it can be done anymore. If the Sonic universe had incorporated, say, Super Monkey Ball in between the speed sections, then Sonic would have had something else to offer besides speed that would actually have been good. Diversity doesn't mean sticking 10 other Sonic-clones into a game to serve the same terrible purpose.
Should Sonic himself go? No way. He should stick around and be the fast and badass mammal we all want him to be. Under no circumstances, though, should he ever be allowed to get a full game to his credit again.
Should be incorporated by: Mario, a Sega Universe title, Mega Man (all you have to do is ask)
Ridge Racer
A mainstay for Sony consoles, Ridge Racer has consistently been the marker of a new generation. From launching a new Playstation to showing off what an aging console is capable of, Ridge Racer has always been there to remind us that racing titles can be for everyone while looking damn good in the process.
When I bought my PS3, I immediately went for a trio of racing games to test the console. Burnout: Paradise, Gran Turismo 5: Prologue, and Ridge Racer 7 were those games, and I felt that I was covered as far as my racing needs were concerned. Yet, I never went back to Ridge Racer. The original Ridge Racer and R4 have always been two favorites, but I thought that the series suffered from a couple of miscues outside of that. Little did I know that the series was generally a miscue of its own. It's hard to say it, but Ridge Racer doesn't offer anything impressive any more. If you need insane arcade speed, then you play Burnout. If you want realism, you play Gran Turismo. If you're looking for a sensory overdose, then you play Wipeout. Ridge Racer used to be known for its solid racing mechanics and fun drifting, but the drifting is completely overused to a laughable extent and it doesn't feel like Ridge Racer is fun to play anymore.
Everything that Ridge Racer does well is easily transferable to another game. When it comes to launching a system, then Ridge Racer is really the only game in town to get your racing fix. If you have any patience at all, then you will be rewarded for not spending your money, and while it pains me to say it, that pretty much makes this series obsolete.
Should be incorporated by: Burnout (with a city based in Japan), and Gran Turismo (having a true arcade mode)
So there you have it. Nothing against the characters of these games, because we all want to keep the likes of Guy, Sonic, and Reiko, but their series have nothing to offer anymore. Each game possesses a quality that is great, but would be better served working for another team, because those qualities alone do not make a great, or even good, game. Not that it matters, because at least four of these titles will have another sequel. Digg It Stumble it ! Reddit
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