A sequel for every game

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Completed all levels — check, unlocked all goodies — check, won all races — check; then bring on the next one! For a gamer moving from one game to its sequel, the feeling is similar to the one when a warrior moves from one conquest to the next or a mountaineer attempts to conquer the next after scaling one summit. One of the most-eagerly awaited games ever, Gran Turismo 5, opened to a grand welcome recently and further strengthened the time-tested formula for game designers — “sequels sell”.
The popular games have only grown from strength-to-strength with each passing version and those that didn’t, perished. The most popular games like Grand Theft Auto, International Cricket, Need For Speed, Road Rash, FIFA have just gotten better with each version and as the gameplay is familiar to avid gamers and its performance can be judged from its previous versions, sequels are preferred.
Prateek Kumar, Class 8 student, avers, “If it’s interesting I go through the entire series of levels. I’ve completed all Need For Speed versions, Prince of Persia’s Warrior Within and Forgotten Sands and Freedom Fighters. Of all the games, I know NFS is the most popular because all its versions have been exciting and its newer versions are the most-awaited by my friends and me.”
During World Cups of soccer and cricket, game versions that are released keep in sync with the player line-ups and team standings and needless to say their popularity skyrockets. The game sequels and the tournament in contention feed symbiotically on each other’s popularity it seems.
The sequels riding on FIFA World Cup’s popularity last year had fans hooked on to the then latest FIFA World Cup 2010. Salil Varma, IGNOU student quips, “The realistic appearance of players and more contemporary and up-to-date detailing of game sequels makes it an immediate favourite among gamers. And although cricket games aren’t as involving as soccer, the World Cup season will definitely see a rise in the number of sequels and those looking to play them.”
The market of developing sequels to popular ones is burgeoning and it’s not surprising considering the fact that making the most of an already popular brand is easier than developing a Mario or a Contra from scratch. Ravi Kumar, Class 9 student, says, “Whenever a sequel comes into the market we compete between ourselves as to who can finish all levels the fastest. Each new sequel is interesting with newer challenges and cheat codes.”