I was checking out Twitter this morning when I came across this article from Planet Xbox360.  I agree with most of the points Ivone Alexandre has written about in the article but there are a few that I feel are a little off point. Yes, last year’s tops games were for the most part sequels but they were as good and in some cases better than their predecessors.    Here’s the sequels that were part the 10 Top Selling games of 2008:

1. Grand Theft Auto 4 – Amazing story, and almost perfect recreation of NYC.
2. Call of Duty: World at War – Not a bad story and the online multi-player is almost as good as COD4.
4. Gears of War 2 – May have surpassed it’s predecessor in story, gameplay, and multi-player.
6. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock – Perhaps the only shameless cash in?
7: Fable II – Peter Molyneux possibly paying off most of the promises he made regarding the first one?
8. Rock Band 2 – Boxed awesome, ’nuff said.
10. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 – Ok, maybe the other shameless cash in.

Ranking Courtesy of NPD

I am quite fearful of the over saturation of the market with humdrum sequels but if they’re quality experiences that only help flesh out the original world like some of the games listed above, why not?  Sequels no longer have to be farmed out to subpar 4th squad developers who’s primary purpose is to reuse assets with as little story as possible stringing together the events of the original game with the new narrative.

2k Marin is NOT some inexperienced 2nd stringer hoping to make it’s name by riding the Bioshock “gravy train.”  They’re a group of extremely competent individuals who have for the most part been under Ted Levine’s tutelage for quite some time and I trust Ted’s choice of handing the reigns over to them.  I look forward to Bioshock 2 for the simple fact that my first visit to Rapture was one of the most amazing experiences of my gaming career, here’s to my return trip hopefully being just as good.

We need more games like Mirror’s Edge, Portal, and Bioshock.  The one key factor that all of these games have is that your exploration of the world around you is what will lead you to progressing and fleshing out the story.  This utilization of exploration = immersion has the gamer actually searching out the nooks and crannies of environments that are mere set pieces in other games.

• Mirrors Edge puts you in the shoes of a parkour messenger and you literally feel like you’re doing the jumps with her because of how it uses the first person viewpoint.  Your gut clenches slightly when making those long jumps from roof top to roof top as if it would be you plunging to the streets below if you missed.

• Portal uses the first person perspective to give you freedom to figure out the puzzles it provides you with.  No glowing bread crumbs here, just plain ole brain power pushing you forward.  The only things that drive you forward is an disembodied voice that mocks you throughout the game rather than guiding you along and your own drive to escape the walls of what looks to be a huge hamster cage with you at its center.  The lack of any type of combat allows you time to figure out how to escape the cake’s evil lie at your own pace(play the game and you’ll understand!).

• Bioshock puts you in a world that is a beauty to look at an enigma to ponder.  Your eyes are met with an almost Utopian city under the sea yet it’s gone terribly wrong yet the only way the game provides for a narrative is exploring the world for yourself and listening to eerily and disjointed audio files strewn about the world.

Each works because they actually utilize the uniqueness of the first person viewpoint.  Here’s my message to all game developers looking to use the First Perspective in their games…use it to tell story or convey a new experience not just a way to put out yet another FPS game in an already over saturated market.  Less games like Legendary and more games in the vein of the Half Life series…please.