It brings us pain to know that these once great game franchises have gone considerably downhill. For this list, we’ll be looking at notable game franchises that took a dip in quality and have yet to truly return to form. However, we won’t be including games that killed their franchises outright.
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00:00 - Sorry, my face is tired from dealing with everything.
00:03 - Hello, this is Young Deuces doing the list
00:06 for the top 10 video game series that went downhill.
00:09 For this list, we'll be looking at notable game franchises
00:17 that took a dip in quality
00:20 and have yet to truly return to form.
00:22 However, we won't be including games
00:24 that killed their franchises outright.
00:27 Which of these makes you the saddest?
00:29 Know of any others?
00:30 Let us know in the comments down below.
00:32 Number 10, Halo series.
00:37 - Wake up, Chief.
00:39 I need you.
00:45 - The Xbox and Halo began a beautiful,
00:48 highly beneficial relationship
00:50 between Microsoft and developer Bungie.
00:52 That lasted through 2010's Halo Reach,
00:55 after which Bungie moved on to other projects.
00:58 But before that release,
01:00 a new studio was founded to take over the reins,
01:03 343 Industries.
01:05 2012's Halo 4 was a strong entry,
01:09 even if it didn't quite measure up to the others.
01:11 But things took a dip soon after.
01:14 The Master Chief collection
01:15 had an incredibly troubled launch,
01:17 marred by bugs and matchmaking issues.
01:20 2015's Halo 5 Guardians is seen by fans
01:24 as the low point of the mainline series,
01:27 especially due to its lackluster campaign.
01:30 The long-awaited Infinite earned back some goodwill,
01:33 but the franchise's peak seemed to have long passed.
01:37 Number nine, Mass Effect series.
01:40 Despite BioWare's established reputation
01:48 as an RPG developer,
01:50 2007's Mass Effect still blew everyone away.
01:54 The emphasis on player choice was monumental
01:57 and intrinsic throughout the original trilogy.
02:00 Rather, we should say it was intrinsic
02:02 throughout most of it.
02:04 Mass Effect 3's simplistic ending
02:06 angered a lot of passionate players.
02:08 Some even organized the Retake Mass Effect campaign
02:12 and drew the attention of government bodies
02:14 over product misrepresentation.
02:16 2017's Andromeda, which was handled by a new team
02:20 during a fraught development period,
02:23 didn't do anything to smooth things over.
02:25 The biggest impression it made on the public's radar
02:28 consisted of bugs and laughable facial animations.
02:31 BioWare is currently working on a new game,
02:34 which we hope returns the series to glory.
02:38 Number eight, Star Fox series.
02:41 Though it doesn't look like much today,
02:49 1993's Star Fox was an important step for 3D gaming.
02:54 The next entry, Star Fox 64, was even more impressive
02:58 with smooth as silk gameplay
03:00 and the introduction of rumble in home consoles.
03:03 Sadly, the franchise left its innovative days behind
03:07 long ago.
03:08 2002's Adventures was seen by most
03:11 as a watered down Zelda clone.
03:14 Assault and Command put Fox back in the cockpit,
03:17 yet still didn't leave much of a mark.
03:20 A decade without a new game
03:21 was followed by 2016's Star Fox Zero,
03:25 whose controls were too awkward to thoroughly enjoy.
03:28 It was nice to see the canceled Star Fox 2
03:31 get released in 2017,
03:33 but it certainly wasn't the new installment fans wanted.
03:37 Number seven, Guitar Hero series.
03:46 For a few years, we all subscribed to the fad
03:49 of playing real rock songs with fake instruments,
03:52 and it was glorious.
03:54 But there's a good reason it only lasted a short period.
03:57 Harmonix developed the first two
03:59 Guitar Hero entries for the PS2.
04:01 When Activision acquired publisher Red Octane,
04:04 as well as the series,
04:05 it oversaturated the rhythm market
04:08 with a mountain of releases.
04:10 In 2009 alone, we got entries specific
04:13 to Van Halen and Metallica,
04:15 Spinoff's Band Hero and DJ Hero,
04:17 as well as the mainline Guitar Hero 5.
04:20 It didn't help that Harmonix was also milking
04:23 the Rock Band series around the same time.
04:26 By the time 2015's Guitar Hero Live was released,
04:29 not many players cared,
04:31 resulting in poor sales and reception.
04:34 Number six, Battlefield series.
04:37 - We have lost objective Apples.
04:44 - Battlefield may still be one
04:46 of the biggest FPS franchises around,
04:49 but we can't deny an obvious decline in quality
04:52 over the past few entries.
04:54 Beginning with the original, Battlefield 1942,
04:58 the series set itself apart from other warfare FPSs
05:01 through its large-scale maps
05:03 and greater focus on teamwork.
05:05 Since then, it's cultivated a robust online community,
05:09 though it seems that community grows weary
05:11 with every new release.
05:13 Both Battlefield 4 and Hardline still had fun multiplayer,
05:17 though their campaigns left a lot to be desired.
05:20 Following the bright spots of Battlefield 1,
05:23 2018's Battlefield 5 was bland and lacked originality.
05:28 However, 2042 was the last straw for many,
05:32 as it came with a myriad of bugs
05:34 and not nearly enough worthwhile features.
05:37 Number five, Prince of Persia series.
05:40 - Each time I struck them down,
05:42 they rose to fight again.
05:44 I soon realized that only by taking into my own dagger
05:48 the sands that possess me.
05:49 - What began as an obscure platform series
05:52 found new life when Ubisoft revitalized Prince of Persia
05:55 with 2003's The Sand of Time.
05:58 Strangely, after a couple of well-received sequels,
06:02 Ubisoft rebooted with the self-titled 2008 release.
06:05 The cel-shaded style and true-ending locked-behind DLC
06:09 rubbed some the wrong way,
06:11 and Ubisoft would go back to the former continuity
06:14 with 2010's The Forgotten Sands.
06:17 Neither this entry nor the 2008 reboot
06:20 measured up to its predecessors.
06:22 The success of Assassin's Creed,
06:23 similar in both gameplay and tone,
06:26 prompted Ubisoft to leave the Prince behind.
06:29 Since then, we've only gotten
06:31 two endless runner spin-offs for mobile.
06:33 A Sands of Time remake was announced in 2020,
06:36 but was delayed indefinitely following backlash
06:39 to the trailer's visuals.
06:41 - Only the dagger can unlock the Sands of Time.
06:44 - No!
06:45 Stop!
06:46 - Number four, Medal of Honor series.
06:49 (gunshots)
06:51 It seems Battlefield isn't the only military FPS
06:59 that EA doesn't know what to do with.
07:01 There was a time when Medal of Honor
07:03 stood as tall as Call of Duty,
07:05 with harrowing stories and pristine gameplay.
07:08 For an impressive 12 installments,
07:11 it put players in the middle of World War II.
07:13 However, when Call of Duty moved
07:15 into an era of modern warfare,
07:17 Medal of Honor attempted to do the same.
07:20 The 2010 reboot followed the war in Afghanistan,
07:23 and while financially successful,
07:25 wasn't nearly as impactful
07:27 as Call of Duty's jump to the present.
07:29 Its sequel, 2012's Warfighter,
07:32 dropped further in caliber due to poor visuals,
07:35 AI, and technical performance.
07:37 The series has since stayed quiet,
07:40 except for 2020's VR title, Above and Beyond.
07:43 - And putting you as the player on an adventure
07:46 that spans some of the biggest moments of the war.
07:49 - Number three, Tony Hawk series.
07:52 There will always be a soft spot in our hearts
08:00 for the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series.
08:02 Even after Pro Skater was dropped from the name,
08:05 Underground and American Wasteland
08:07 were still solid entries.
08:09 Unfortunately, the series began to dip in quality
08:13 during the late 2000s due to a lack of innovation.
08:16 The peripheral-based ride and its sequel,
08:19 while unique, were awkward and clunky to play.
08:22 Activision attempted to bring back the Pro Skater brand
08:25 with a fifth release in 2015.
08:28 But as it was a slapdash mess
08:31 made only to retain the license,
08:33 it was criticized accordingly.
08:35 It was nice to get a remastered bundle
08:37 of the first two games in 2020,
08:39 but the series is definitely past its prime.
08:42 Number two, Fable series.
08:50 - Don't tell me you've forgotten to get her one.
08:52 Well, I'm not bailing you out this time, son.
08:54 I'll tell you what, I'll give you a gold piece
08:58 for each good deed you do around Oakvale.
09:00 - Despite Peter Molyneux's unfulfilled promises,
09:03 the Fable series managed to find itself an audience.
09:06 By the time Fable 3 was released in 2010,
09:09 the series was at its peak,
09:11 though things started going south soon after.
09:14 The cutesy and shallow Fable Heroes
09:17 and the Kinect-exclusive Fable The Journey
09:19 offered a double dose of mediocrity in 2012.
09:23 The multiplayer-centric Fable Legends was in development,
09:26 but it was canceled in 2016,
09:29 after which developer Lionhead Studios closed.
09:32 The only game to release since was Fable 14,
09:35 a free-to-play digital card game.
09:37 Microsoft has since admitted that forcing Lionhead
09:40 to develop for Kinect was a bad call.
09:43 Hopefully, it's much nicer to playground games,
09:46 which is currently developing a new installment.
09:49 (Lionhead screams)
09:54 - Not all stories have happy endings.
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10:12 Number one, Silent Hill series.
10:17 (ominous music)
10:19 Although it hasn't had a mainline game in a decade,
10:27 Silent Hill still commands a lot of respect from horror fans.
10:31 The franchise's quality drops slightly
10:33 once the entries stop being numbered,
10:35 though it certainly went out on a sour note.
10:39 2012 saw the releases of Book of Memories,
10:42 a forgettable dungeon crawler spin-off,
10:44 and Downpour, which suffered from poor combat
10:47 and dull creature design.
10:49 In 2014, a playable teaser for a new game
10:53 from Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro
10:56 scared the collective pants off everyone.
10:59 But as we know, Kojima's falling out with Konami
11:02 would ensure its tragic cancellation.
11:05 New entries and a remake of Silent Hill 2
11:07 are currently in development, but until then,
11:10 the outcome of Silent Hill remains a major disappointment.
11:15 (explosion)
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