There have been some video game series throughout the years that have been incredible, spanning multiple games or sometimes being amazing one-offs that we’re just begging for more of. But over the years, these series fall by the wayside. Either the companies go under, or the franchises just lose steam for some reason.
Sometimes they dominate one console, and then disappear for years, but either way, there are too many dormant series that have kept their fanbases in need to see another entry ASAP.
We’re going to check out a bunch of games that need to return to the forefront of the gaming world.
10 Advent Rising
The Series that Never Got Started
Look, you might not know what Advent Rising is, but let me give you a little bit of history on this forgotten gem. Advent Rising was supposed to be the Halo Killer. It was a grand sci-fi fantasy on a crazy scale, and it did it before Mass Effect became the king of that genre. The story was awesome, starring Gideon, who is part of an escort of humans on their way to meet with aliens. During this meeting, an attack happens that throws everything into chaos.
It’s equal parts Star Wars and Halo, and it’s off-the-wall fun. It’s some of the best gameplay on the original Xbox and had graphics that honestly made a lot of Xbox 360 games blush. The toughest thing is that the game ended on a cliffhanger that was so awesome and intriguing that it stuns me to this day why no other company jumped at this property. It’s a series that never really got going, and I could never figure out why, as it was one of the most fun games on the Xbox and really should’ve been the Halo Killer, or at least competitor.
9 Uncharted
We Need More
Uncharted is one of the flagship franchises in all of gaming. It’s got it all, from amazing graphics to great characters, villains, and thrilling set pieces. And we haven’t had a game from the series since 2016. That’s 10 years, folks. What are we waiting for, Naughty Dog? This is the series that wrote the checks that fueled The Last of Us franchise, and while that’s cooking its third entry, we’ve run high and dry on anything from the company worth chewing on for six years now.
Nathan Drake is still alive, and Nolan North is still working, so for this series to be on the back burner as long as it’s been is somewhat baffling. It’s a game ripe for another entry on the current batch of consoles. We’re dying for that cinematic experience again; the action movie of the gaming world. We need that type of fun, something that’s just action-packed, no open world, no frills: just straight-up full-throttle fun from start to finish.
8 Army of Two
The Soul of the Late 2000s
Army of Two is the game I would see on the TV whenever I hung out at my friends’ dorm rooms. That’s the vibe Army of Two brought. It was just over-the-top, stupid, hardcore, bro-violence. It’s a game that I think would cause a healthy bit of outrage if it came out today, but you know what? Who cares? This series still deserves a comeback.
These were either single or co-op experiences that were a ton of fun, with some cool team-based mechanics that somehow games like Ghost Recon and other more recent titles never copied. It was hilariously serious, despite the insane nature of two men taking on armies of enemies, and despite that, it just worked. It’s the game that the Gears of War cast played when they weren’t killing Locusts. It’s just a game that was built to be nothing more than what it is, and it’s a series that should get a reboot. Or another entry. Either one. It just needs to keep the soul it had when it first released.
7 Shadow Hearts
The Darkness of the JRPG World
Shadow Hearts is one of the better JRPG series to come out on the PS2, and it had a strong run with two fantastic titles and a third game that kind of missed the mark. Regardless, we need this type of JRPG again. We need this series in particular to come back with another game, because the vibes are just unlike anything else in the genre. For the uninitiated, this game deals with incredibly dark ideas like sacrifice, demon worship, necromancy, and other topics in that realm. This is not a fun, colorful fantasy adventure. This is a dark, mature, and often unsettling horror-style JRPG.
The enemies in the series are all different flavors of creepy, and the characters are all dark and troubled as well. The main character is a highly questionable individual, and that flawed nature of the star of the show sets the tone for the rest of the adventure. It’s just one terrible situation after another, from cannibalism to terrorism. Really, any kind of nightmare you’d imagine, you’ll get it here. I haven’t seen anything like Shadow Hearts since it was released, and with this current JRPG revolution going on, it would be great to see a return of the dark lord.
6 Too Human
A Great Idea with Terrible Execution
Too Human is one of the all-time biggest busts. This thing was supposed to be big, and I mean like “best game ever made”-type big. Silicon Knights was a huge company back then, and this game just about caused them to be shut down. It’s a shame, because this game had such a cool premise. The gods of Asgard were basically futuristic warriors here in a very Cyberpunk-style world. There is some impressive ambition, but it was too ambitious for its time.
If we could get this series rebooted, this generation has so many possibilities for what could be done with this game. The combat needs a big-time update to this era of gaming, and I could easily see it working as a futuristic God of War with guns. I don’t know who has the license for this game in this day and age, but honestly, someone should rescue it, because Cyberpunk Nordic gods is a darn cool premise that has a lot more to give than their first effort would suggest.
5 Tenchu: Stealth Assassins
The Original Ninja
Tenchu: Stealth Assassins was a groundbreaking game on the PS1, and then after a great sequel, it just slowly disappeared from the gaming world. It sucks, because this game was just so darn cool, and we haven’t had anything like it since. This series is an excellent example of great level design and tightly made gameplay. It’s a stealth-based game that is all about manipulating the enemy’s position with things like poison rice and other distractions.
The Long Shadow of Tenchu: Stealth Assassins
All ninja titles should offer thanks to their 1998 stealth sensei.
It’s a game that emphasizes being stealthy, because group combat would mean a quick end. You were not some superhero, just a ninja with a mission. That style of gameplay could easily be adapted to the modern gaming world. Ghost of Tsushima is a series that has elements of Tenchu all over the place, so if you just condensed the experience a bit, you’d have yourself a great stealth action game and a surefire hit.
There is nothing that did exactly what Tenchu did, which is interesting to think about, as there have been thousands of games over the years. You could reboot it pretty easily, and that would be the route I’d go, as it’s been quite a long time since we’ve had control of Rikimaru.
4 Power Stone
A Lost Art
Power Stone is one of the best games to come out on the Dreamcast back in the day, and the two games in the series are some of the best brawlers ever made. They really have their own genre. It’s like a party brawler, and a fantastic one at that. You get a bunch of different characters with different powers, including a not-so-subtle heap of Dragon Ball Z-inspired attacks, and it’s just utter chaos on screen. The graphics were fantastic for the time, and it was simply a ton of fun.
I think that’s a reason it needs to come back. It was a great couch co-op game that had a ton of replayability and variety to the gameplay. If you bring this series back, you’d get an explosive arena brawler that feels like nothing else we have today. It’s got some elements of anime to it, and it feels like there is so much you can do during battle, from transformations to ultimate attacks, to the environment being interactive; it’s just so fun to play. You might not have a Dreamcast, but find a way to play this one as it’s one of the better games that forgotten system produced.
3 Zone of the Enders
The Best Mech Game
Zone of the Enders was a sideshow for Konami back in the day, releasing it with a Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
demo that quickly became the thing worth talking about. However, the game was really good in its own right. It had two entries, and both were fantastic games that had some incredible fast-paced mech action that looked more like Dragon Ball Z in practice than something like Mechwarrior or Armored Core.
Zone of the Enders was full of anime madness, over-the-top battles, great villains, and some of the most explosive action on the PS2, and I thought it would’ve been a perfect game to join the PS3 generation of gaming. Instead, the series just stopped. There is no better time than now to revive this franchise and give Konami a much-needed additional franchise to work in between their list of Metal Gear remasters and remakes.
2 Lost Planet: Extreme Condition
Bug War
Lost Planet had a really cool aesthetic for a game in the 2010s, with its ice-focused imagery being something that stood out amongst the big crowd of third-person shooters. This one was unique, though, with massive alien bug enemies, huge mechs you could pilot, and an impressive number of weapons to do battle with. It felt like what Helldiver 2 is now, but back in the 2010s, and it also had a great co-op implementation, so you could play the whole campaign with a friend.
There were three games in the series, and each one had something unique to offer. It wasn’t the most complex game story-wise, but that didn’t matter. The action was great, and the battles felt big and dangerous. It just had this feel to it that made Lost Planet something really unique, and it’s a series that has left a niche hole that hasn’t really been filled since.
1 Spec Ops: The Line
A Look In the Mirror
Spec Ops is a long-running series that hit its apex with Spec Ops: The Line, and that’s what I want to focus on here. Spec Ops: The
Line is one of the more impactful games I’ve ever played. It’s about the horrors of war told through the eyes of a soldier who is full on convinced he’s doing the right thing. That vibe is one I’ve never seen in a game before. That exact attitude could carry over into so many kinds of stories under the Spec Ops name.
You could have different wars with different kinds of stakes and multiple characters experiencing all of the elements of PTSD. It’s a fascinating approach to a game, and one that I hate has only been done once. This game was so smart that it feels like no one has dared to broach the same topics since.
10 Best Adventure Games Still Stuck on Older Systems
These games aren’t doing much adventuring these days.
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Author: 360 Technology Group
