6 Xbox Franchises That Need a Comeback
Looking at Microsoft's long list of inactive franchises, I couldn't help but wonder what could've been if we hadn't stopped getting sequels. So here's a list of the 6 franchises Xbox should reboot and why. Also I've decided to omit Fable and Perfect Dark as these reboots have been leaked (and I couldn't be more excited.)
Alan Wake
Alan Wake was arguably the best action horror game of its generation, with it's moody, foreboding atmosphere and incredibly creative and tense combat mechanics. The game follows the titular character as he goes on a vacation with his wife to help with his writer's block. It doesn't take too long for Alan's wife to go missing as he begins to experience events from his thriller novels. It's surreal in the best way possible, reminding me more of a nightmare than a horror game; and this opens the doors for all sorts of gameplay setpieces that need little explanation.
The enemies in the game are covered in a shadowy shroud that protects them from bullets until you break it by shining a torch on them for a while. This leads to some incredibly exciting sections, my favourites including a section where you take down hordes of enemies on a rock concert stage, shining stage lights at enemies and setting of fireworks. This also allows the game to avoid a few genre tropes when it comes to weapons, for example instead of a grenade Alan instead has flashbangs and the most powerful weapon in the game is interestingly enough, a flare gun. I can only imagine what the game's light based combat would look like on next-gen hardware.
The game left on a cliff-hanger, and even though sales were slow at the time of release, the game's gone on to sell somewhere between the 3 - 4.2 million mark. The resurgence of blockbuster horror games, with the recent successes of Resident Evil 7 and Evil Within, make this the perfect time for Microsoft to green light a sequel to their 2010 horror classic classic.
Banjo-Kazooie
It's a bit baffling how the Mario series has gone unchallenged in the AAA space for so long, especially since every release puts up exceedingly high sales numbers, with the most recent entry selling 11.7 million in less than a year. Sure, the Mario series has over 30 years of brand recognition and high quality, but numbers don't lie: there's still a market for 3D platformers. Banjo-Kazooie, initially released in 1998, was met with overwhelming critical acclaim, even rivalling the seminal Super Mario 64; the series only got one proper sequel and one weird spin-off before joining the pantheon of Rare-developed series' left on ice, despite being bestsellers.
Banjo-Kazooie is inarguably a masterpiece, boasting fantastic level design, tons of charm and creative, fun worlds. I've talked about the game's enduring quality on two separate occasions so I won't repeat myself, but the only real reason Microsoft has to not reboot this classic series is a lack of talent. As previously mentioned, Nintendo is the only big company actively developing 3D platforming games so there's no obvious choice of developer that the series could go to. In some ways, this makes the idea of a reboot even more exciting, give the series to fresh blood, people who grew up loving these games; they wouldn't just be faithful to the classics but breath new life into the dormant bear and bird.
Conker
Conker's Bad Fur Day is by far the weirdest game I have ever played. The game revolves around an alcoholic, bad-mouthed squirrel, Conker, as he tries to deal with his hangover. Conker was unabashedly a response to the cutesy, family-friendly platformers of the era, like Mario, Crash-Bandicoot and the previously mentioned, Banjo-Kazooie, who funnily enough shares the same developer as Conker.
Conker's Bad Fur Day changes drastically throughout its campaign as it spoofs various movies and TV shows in the most hilarious ways. It's unflinching and politically incorrect, something we get a lot with animated TV shows, but almost never within the gaming industry. The world's changed a lot since 2001 and that means Conker has another 17 years worth of pop-culture to satirise, spoof and drench with profanities.
The game didn't sell well at all back in 2001, but Conker has comfortably achieved cult-classic status, and with the financial success of Rare Replay, a compilation of the developer's classics, including Conker, there's enough brand recognition for Conker to make a comeback. Not to mention that Conker would be a painfully needed refreshment in the face of the uniformity in modern AAA games.
Lost Odyssey & Blue Dragon
In a generation painfully lacking great Japanese RPGs, these two Xbox 360 exclusives were a welcome return to what made the genre so great: a traditional turn based combat system, an epic fantasy story, quirky anime-esque characters and an inventive, meaty world to explore. Being the brain children of Sakaguchi, creator of the storied Final Fantasy franchise, these two games were big deals at a time where good Final Fantasy games were hard to come by. Even though neither of the games introduced too much that was new to the genre, what made them special was how much of a throwback they were.
The Xbox One is severely lacking any major Japanese exclusives, and while Lost Odyssey fared better than Blue Dragon, critically, both games were solid financial successes and long games like these two would fit right into Xbox's Game Pass service, keeping gamers subscribed to the service. The JRPG genre is in the middle of a renaissance and there's never been a better time to bring back two of the most beloved JRPGs of 360 era.
Jade Empire
It's not exactly clear who owns the Jade Empire IP; it was initially published by Microsoft as an Xbox exclusive, 2k then published the game on Windows PCs a few years later but after EA's acquisition of developer, Bioware, it's unclear if they also acquired the Jade Empire name. Regardless, it wouldn't take much for Microsoft to buy the IP back and give it to a first-party like Obsidian, especially since Bioware doesn't seem likely to reboot the franchise anytime soon.
Jade Empire does is a game with huge amounts of untapped potential with unique martial arts based combat, an engrossing story and most importantly an underused setting. Jade Empire's world is based off of ancient China and elements of Chinese mythology and is endearing for the same reasons Red Dead's recreation of the wild west is so exciting: there's simply nothing else like it in gaming. Another game with a cult following but little commercial success, Jade Empire could be a perfect investment in today's climate as western RPGs have become somewhat of a dominant genre sales wise. After losing Bioware's exclusives to EA, rebooting Jade Empire would be a perfect way to bring back strong story-driven RPGs to Microsoft's first-party.
Black and White
Not only does Microsoft not have anything like Black and White still active, there's nothing like Black and White in the entire industry. The 'God' genre has pretty much died out, but Black and White still stands as the best the genre has to offer. The entire concept is that you literally are a god that's guided by the good and evil sides of your conscious as you rule different tribes and civilisations. Every action changes the way these people judge you and the power the game offers you is as enticing as it is unique. The game also boasts massive avatar-like creatures that you discipline and train over the course of the game that can be cute and is a perfect example of how the game is purely, wildly imaginative.
Black and White was also a big commercial success selling close to 3 million units. In a climate where games are able to give players more and more choice, there's never been a better time for Black and White to let us play out our most maniacal or benevolent fantasies, with no competition.
Alan Wake
Alan Wake was arguably the best action horror game of its generation, with it's moody, foreboding atmosphere and incredibly creative and tense combat mechanics. The game follows the titular character as he goes on a vacation with his wife to help with his writer's block. It doesn't take too long for Alan's wife to go missing as he begins to experience events from his thriller novels. It's surreal in the best way possible, reminding me more of a nightmare than a horror game; and this opens the doors for all sorts of gameplay setpieces that need little explanation.
The enemies in the game are covered in a shadowy shroud that protects them from bullets until you break it by shining a torch on them for a while. This leads to some incredibly exciting sections, my favourites including a section where you take down hordes of enemies on a rock concert stage, shining stage lights at enemies and setting of fireworks. This also allows the game to avoid a few genre tropes when it comes to weapons, for example instead of a grenade Alan instead has flashbangs and the most powerful weapon in the game is interestingly enough, a flare gun. I can only imagine what the game's light based combat would look like on next-gen hardware.
The game left on a cliff-hanger, and even though sales were slow at the time of release, the game's gone on to sell somewhere between the 3 - 4.2 million mark. The resurgence of blockbuster horror games, with the recent successes of Resident Evil 7 and Evil Within, make this the perfect time for Microsoft to green light a sequel to their 2010 horror classic classic.
Banjo-Kazooie
It's a bit baffling how the Mario series has gone unchallenged in the AAA space for so long, especially since every release puts up exceedingly high sales numbers, with the most recent entry selling 11.7 million in less than a year. Sure, the Mario series has over 30 years of brand recognition and high quality, but numbers don't lie: there's still a market for 3D platformers. Banjo-Kazooie, initially released in 1998, was met with overwhelming critical acclaim, even rivalling the seminal Super Mario 64; the series only got one proper sequel and one weird spin-off before joining the pantheon of Rare-developed series' left on ice, despite being bestsellers.
Banjo-Kazooie is inarguably a masterpiece, boasting fantastic level design, tons of charm and creative, fun worlds. I've talked about the game's enduring quality on two separate occasions so I won't repeat myself, but the only real reason Microsoft has to not reboot this classic series is a lack of talent. As previously mentioned, Nintendo is the only big company actively developing 3D platforming games so there's no obvious choice of developer that the series could go to. In some ways, this makes the idea of a reboot even more exciting, give the series to fresh blood, people who grew up loving these games; they wouldn't just be faithful to the classics but breath new life into the dormant bear and bird.
Conker
Conker's Bad Fur Day is by far the weirdest game I have ever played. The game revolves around an alcoholic, bad-mouthed squirrel, Conker, as he tries to deal with his hangover. Conker was unabashedly a response to the cutesy, family-friendly platformers of the era, like Mario, Crash-Bandicoot and the previously mentioned, Banjo-Kazooie, who funnily enough shares the same developer as Conker.
Conker's Bad Fur Day changes drastically throughout its campaign as it spoofs various movies and TV shows in the most hilarious ways. It's unflinching and politically incorrect, something we get a lot with animated TV shows, but almost never within the gaming industry. The world's changed a lot since 2001 and that means Conker has another 17 years worth of pop-culture to satirise, spoof and drench with profanities.
The game didn't sell well at all back in 2001, but Conker has comfortably achieved cult-classic status, and with the financial success of Rare Replay, a compilation of the developer's classics, including Conker, there's enough brand recognition for Conker to make a comeback. Not to mention that Conker would be a painfully needed refreshment in the face of the uniformity in modern AAA games.
Lost Odyssey & Blue Dragon
In a generation painfully lacking great Japanese RPGs, these two Xbox 360 exclusives were a welcome return to what made the genre so great: a traditional turn based combat system, an epic fantasy story, quirky anime-esque characters and an inventive, meaty world to explore. Being the brain children of Sakaguchi, creator of the storied Final Fantasy franchise, these two games were big deals at a time where good Final Fantasy games were hard to come by. Even though neither of the games introduced too much that was new to the genre, what made them special was how much of a throwback they were.
The Xbox One is severely lacking any major Japanese exclusives, and while Lost Odyssey fared better than Blue Dragon, critically, both games were solid financial successes and long games like these two would fit right into Xbox's Game Pass service, keeping gamers subscribed to the service. The JRPG genre is in the middle of a renaissance and there's never been a better time to bring back two of the most beloved JRPGs of 360 era.
Jade Empire
It's not exactly clear who owns the Jade Empire IP; it was initially published by Microsoft as an Xbox exclusive, 2k then published the game on Windows PCs a few years later but after EA's acquisition of developer, Bioware, it's unclear if they also acquired the Jade Empire name. Regardless, it wouldn't take much for Microsoft to buy the IP back and give it to a first-party like Obsidian, especially since Bioware doesn't seem likely to reboot the franchise anytime soon.
Jade Empire does is a game with huge amounts of untapped potential with unique martial arts based combat, an engrossing story and most importantly an underused setting. Jade Empire's world is based off of ancient China and elements of Chinese mythology and is endearing for the same reasons Red Dead's recreation of the wild west is so exciting: there's simply nothing else like it in gaming. Another game with a cult following but little commercial success, Jade Empire could be a perfect investment in today's climate as western RPGs have become somewhat of a dominant genre sales wise. After losing Bioware's exclusives to EA, rebooting Jade Empire would be a perfect way to bring back strong story-driven RPGs to Microsoft's first-party.
Black and White
Not only does Microsoft not have anything like Black and White still active, there's nothing like Black and White in the entire industry. The 'God' genre has pretty much died out, but Black and White still stands as the best the genre has to offer. The entire concept is that you literally are a god that's guided by the good and evil sides of your conscious as you rule different tribes and civilisations. Every action changes the way these people judge you and the power the game offers you is as enticing as it is unique. The game also boasts massive avatar-like creatures that you discipline and train over the course of the game that can be cute and is a perfect example of how the game is purely, wildly imaginative.
Black and White was also a big commercial success selling close to 3 million units. In a climate where games are able to give players more and more choice, there's never been a better time for Black and White to let us play out our most maniacal or benevolent fantasies, with no competition.
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