Video games go through the same processes as their popularity grows and wanes. Unlike people, however, they also have a chance for revival. As an acknowledgment of all the franchises that either came or went this decade, the following list will detail five franchises that left the industry and five that came back in full force. The latter entries’ revivals give hope to the former series that they too can one day come back from the d
When it comes to local co-op, it’s hard to beat Halo: The Master Chief Collection . Once players manage to get this massive game downloaded, they can play through the first four Halo games, plus Reach and ODST , entirely in split-screen co-op. Few games are as iconic as the Halo series, and while there are certain aspects of Halo 1 ‘s campaign that haven’t aged all that well, the games are still some of the absolute best first-person shooters on the mar
Players work on a space ship that has gone dark. People are missing and something feels amiss. You quickly realize that terrifying monsters roam the empty halls of the Ishimura space ship. The player character is prey for this entire game. Enemies crawl out of vents in dim lighting while all you have are a few shots of your pistol and the character’s spine to diagnose your health. It was brilliant for the time and still holds up, but it is an IP EA has sadly put on ice.
There are actually a couple of different LEGO games available on Xbox Game Pass at the time of this writing, but LEGO Star Wars 3: The Clone Wars is arguably the best of the bunch. The LEGO games have been offering their familiar brand of local co-op action for years now, and while each game is more or less the same, they all have their own little quirks to help them stand apart from one another. Plus, fans can play through LEGO Star Wars 3: The Clone Wars on Xbox Game Pass as a refresher while they wait for the release of the upcoming LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga video g
Technically, Mortal Kombat never really died, it held on by a thread during the PS2 generation. Titles like Deadly Alliance, Deception, and Armageddon made several changes to the formula, making the series unrecognizable from its roots except for the trademark aesthetic. After Midway closed its doors and the studio was picked up by Warner Bros., Ed Boon and his team became NetherRealm Studios and got to work on a return to form. 2011’s Mortal Kombat brought the battles back to a two-dimensional plane and added a story mode where bouts were divided up by detailed cutscenes showing the game’s soap opera-esque narrat
An easy contender for Microsoft’s biggest game for 2020, Halo: Infinite , returned to E3 this past summer and received a featured spot at the very end of its annual press conference. The new cinematic footage was more story-centric than the prior year’s atmospheric tease and revealed an unnamed UNSC pilot discovering Master Chief floating in space. After reviving the iconic hero, a mysterious yellow lightning strikes the USNC Pelican, prompting Master Chief to grab a gun and jump out of the ship. For fans wanting more, Microsoft is essentially putting Halo Infinite back on ice until E3 2020 ahead of its holiday 2020 launch on Project Scarlett. We’ll be ready for the next update whenever it arrives over the sum
Sandbox titles focused on causing as much chaos as possible are seldom these days. The only games that fulfill that fantasy are Just Cause and Grand Theft Auto , although the latter is more focused on satire.
Despite the lacking features the developers promised, Fable managed to carve its own fanbase thanks to its unique sense of style and humor. Combat was engaging, letting players choose between a mage, fighter, scoundrel Gameplay or ranged playstyle. If this series got a second chance and had the ability to implement all of its promised features, it would be one of the most highly praised RPGs of this decade.
Meet Destroy All Humans , a game that revolves around controlling an alien and blowing everything to smithereens. Buildings, people, cows, nothing is safe from Crypto. There is a story in each game, but it takes a backseat compared to the ludicrous amounts of fun the game lets you have. You can fling humans to walls, blow up skyscrapers, and use your flying saucer to take out armies of soldiers. The game doesn’t take itself too seriously, which helps with the fun factor. There is a remake for the original title that should release this year, so hopefully, that will generate enough interest to get this series back on people’s radars.
That doesn’t mean that horns can’t sprout from a player’s head if they become evil, but it shouldn’t be one of two options. Instead, maybe beggars or peasants will help them in a village scuffle if they play a sort of Robin Hood archetype. There are plenty of different places it could go, and watching a character evolve with the world around them, with various aspects changing as the player makes decisions, would be an interesting twist on the Fable formula fans already know and l
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