Big Topic: Continuous Characters Crucify Creativity

In the Video Game world there are hundreds of series and franchises. Some of these spin off spawners release sequels and unrelated titles annually. Yet, do these sequels slaughter the creativity and originality that used to be apart of our modern virtual market. Enter any video game or entertainment store/website and adjust your eyes as originality is now a minority. Infamous series such as 'Call of Duty' and the 'Pokemon' franchise are substantiating small unique 'one trick pony' masterpieces by blocking the industry with the same repetitive content as 4 years ago.

So where did all of the creative developers disappear to? They've been sacked and bankrupt as the average gamer prefers improved old styles of gameplay over completely different mechanics. For instance, the critically despised 'Final Fantasy XIII' sub series has very different layers in all of it's games (Final Fantasy XIII, XIII-2, Lightning Returns) graphically and story wise. Though it isn't the major cause of it's financial failure, having each game's mechanics and world being different provides a new experience unlike the previously stated, repetitive 'COD' franchise.


Although, there have been some titles this year that have bombarded the market with their unique playability and aspects. Games such as 'Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning'; 'Anarchy Reigns'; 'Dragon's Dogma' and several indie games defined their place in this year's creativity drought.

On the other hand, a majority of the games releasing in this half (July-December) of the year are sequels. Capcom's 'Resident Evil 6'; Gearbox's 'Borderlands 2'; the Xbox exclusive 'Halo 4' (Really 7) and Ubisoft's 'Assassin's Creed 3' and 'Far Cry 3' just to name a few. Though, it's not like these games are going to ruin the industry as they look entirely original and incomparably different to their predecessors (Specifically Resident Evil 6 and Far Cry 3).

In the end, the year has been flooded with sequels and prequels alike. Creativity and IPs have been clouded with franchise finishers. However, this struggle for originality will end soon as the steam punk inspired stealth title 'Dishonored' is released next month, reminding us that developers still have unique ideas even 30 years past the first console war.