I do the occasional list of things that interest me... and games definitely do. I have a passion for games, but not all games are created equal. Sometimes a beloved game gets a lackluster sequel, while at other times bad games get incredible sequels. I'm here to share my list of the top 5 best and worst game sequels.

Let's start with the hall of shame first.

DEVIL MAY CRY 2

I'll be fair... I liked Devil May Cry 2. I'm probably in the minority though. But I'll concede that it was still an inferior game in many ways. DMC1 practically created a whole new action genre the likes of which still has repercussions in the industry. What did DMC2 bring to the table? ... nothing new. Unless you count a Diesel jeans brand tie-in. It even lacked the spark and edge of the first game. If the first game was a tasty burger from a mom and pop store, DMC2 is a dollar menu quarter-pounder from McDonald's. It'll do the job, but the flavor just isn't there.

PERFECT DARK ZERO

Ask any hardcore gamer from the N64 days and they'll wax poetic about the revolutionary Perfect Dark, the spiritual successor to the game that made console shooters not just viable but exemplary. Perfect Dark kept the spirit of Goldeneye while forging a brand new world, grew new gameplay, amazing multiplayer, and giving us a hot new female heroine. Then Perfect Dark Zero came years later and undid all of that. It was ugly, sloppy, and poorly designed with insufferable cutscenes, terrible animations, and none of the charm or wit of the original. Perfect Dark was a clean, sharp sword made by experts while Zero felt like a blunt, dull tool forged by amateurs. It also remains the ONLY game I regret buying.

SILENT HILL 4

Another game I genuinely like. In fact, I love Silent Hill 4... it was the last Silent Hill game I did genuinely love. But it's the first weak link in the series and the start of the inevitable slide down in quality. Mainly, it struggles because it gets rid of the strengths of the series (big world, flashlight, radio, exploration, strong story, likable main hero) and introduces the WORST parts of other survival horror games, things Silent Hill always ignored (item boxes, limited inventory space, zombies...) It felt like more of a Resident Evil game in the skin of a Silent Hill game, but it still did enough right to make me like it... just not enough to keep it from being the biggest drop in quality the franchise had ever seen.

DINO CRISIS 3

Pop quiz. What does Dino Crisis 3 have to do with the other Dino Crisis games? If you answered "not a damn thing", you're absolutely right! Apparently deciding to give it the Leprechaun movie treatment and move the game from a normal setting into space, the likes of Regina are left behind and weird controls, bad camera angles, and even bad dinosaur designs made this a sequel-in-name only. Beyond that, it effectively killed the thriving Dino Crisis series, and while Resident Evil is still going on, its sister series is practically dead in the water.

DRAGON AGE 2

Again, NOT a bad game... but a far cry from its predecessor. Unlike Bioware's other game, Mass Effect, which made huge improvements by leaps and bounds, Dragon Age 2 feels more like a regression, especially on the PC. Your skill tree is more limited, armor customization is more restrictive, combat lacks depth, and you spend almost the entire game in the same city instead of traveling the wide open world. Couple that with painfully repeating dungeons, a lackluster story, and a huge lack of variety in your party members compared to the original (I want a golem and a qunari teammate again, please!). It feels like a "lite" version of Dragon Age 1... one that feels like it was tailor-made for DLC to come in and fill the void rather than giving players a genuinely satisfying main game.

Okay. Done with that. Let's look at some positives now, shall we?

RED STEEL 2

The first Red Steel was a noble failure. It promised us grand one-to-one sword fighting, precision FPS shooting, and a dynamic world with the best graphics the humble Wii could offer. What we got instead was lackluster in every regard, from visuals to gameplay. Red Steel 2 is one of those rare sequels that has nothing to do with its predecessor and yet is better for it. With a bold, unique visual style, finely-tuned combat and gameplay, and a grand, memorable world to explore and interact with, this is arguably the biggest a game sequel has changed from its predecessor, and unlike the original, this one is absolutely worth your time if you're a Wii owner.

HALF-LIFE 2

The first Half-Life was a huge success. It helped put Valve on the map and led to their dominance as the premiere PC developer in the world just shy of Blizzard. But Half-Life 2 became their lasting masterpiece, the powerhouse PC game that revolutionized storytelling in games, altered the way people play FPS, and elevated Valve from a good developer to an outstanding developer. Half-Life 2 improves every single facet of the original Half-Life to the point that it's almost impossible to enjoy the original anymore after its sequel does everything it does, just better.

RESIDENT EVIL 4

Resident Evil is an odd franchise, one that has successfully popularized or created not just one genre, but two. Without RE1, survival horror games like Silent Hill and Dead Space wouldn't exist, but without RE4, over-the-shoulder shooter games like Gears of War, Prototype, and... Dead Space (again)... wouldn't exist. RE4 took the cumbersome, clunky, outdated mechanics of the old games and revolutionized them with one of the slickest, most stylish, and easy to use gameplay styles the medium had ever seen, then cast out nearly everything from the old game to give players new experiences left and right. If only RE5 had been as forward thinking...

TWO WORLDS 2

Did you play the first Two Worlds? You have my sympathies. It was regarded as terrible, almost unplayable. Some called it the worst RPG to ever grace the 360. But, they made a sequel. What a surprise. What's even more of a surprise is the sequel is... very damn good, actually. It's almost unbelievable that TW1 and TW2 came from the same people. TW2 fixes nearly everything the original did wrong; the graphics are lush, the voice acting much improved, the quests more varied, the classes more enjoyable to use, the monsters and enemies more diverse, the world bigger and more interesting, the framerate much better, and it all is wrapped up in a package that makes the entire experience more fun the more you put into the game. This game had no right to be made, especially after the first, but nobody expected it to be so good. Is it on par with Oblivion or the sure-to-be-big Skyrium? Probably not. But it's no less deserving of a try; with a wicked sense of humor, vast amounts of customization and skills, and more quests than some MMOs, Two Worlds 2 is a meaty sequel that leaves its predecessor shamed in the dust.

STREET FIGHTER II

Nobody remembers the original Street fighter. It was a bland game where you walked forward and beat some guys up. It wasn't even worth porting to any system that mattered and has never seen a console release. Ever. The same can't be said for its sequel, Street Fighter II, the game with more iterations than practically any other form of media on the planet. And for good reason; the game was a trendsetting, paving the way for the entire fighting game genre. Without Street Fighter II, there would be no Mortal Kombat. Without Mortal Kombat, there would be no ESRB. The ripple-effect. from this one game is so widespread that it's hard to fathom, but as a sequel it's gargantuan status as a legend so overshadows its predecessor that many have never even stopped to asked "wait, there was a Street Fighter 1?"