I think that any sequel, if there ever is one, is going to have to be created with a lot more attention paid to the entire fanbase, not just some small segment of that population who actually enjoyed SR: 2022. I think the fact that SR:2022 initially sold a ton based only on the legacy of the previous games, and then retail and e-sales just DIED, says a lot about the reception to this game. Also, now that Volition has been absorbed by Gearbox, thanks to the horrible reception to SR:2022, this may literally mean the end of SR as a franchise. Unless, perhaps some dev company can purchase the rights to the copyright or somehow Gearbox becomes interested in developing a future SR.
But other than that, I think SR:2022 may be the last SR game.
Yeah, or you could actually make an argument rather than chicken out at the slightest resistance of your beloved Community Manager. I guess that was too much to ask for from an adult however.
Personally I don't even care about the tone of the game. I've liked every game I've played so far from Volition and I wish for the games to be amazing again rather than mediocre. I even liked SR4 and GooH, and I would rather have a "Matt out of Purgatory" game than another broken mess with unlikeable characters like we got with SR2022.
In my opinion it's naive to expect another sequel at all. I've seen game franchises get discontinued that did a lot better than SR2022. I hope I'm wrong though.
Like you, I love EVERY single game, and not just in the past tense, but to this day. SR2 does feel a little clunky in many ways, and a lot of the 2006 SR is dated, but then again, so are GTA III, VC, and San Andreas, and I love all those games, too. I never agreed with all the hate leveled first at SR3 for being so OTT, and then SRIV and GooH for taking it up a notch into the patently absurd.
I think where I part ways with the segment of the SR community that thinks everything that came after SR2 (or in some cases, SRTT) is total crap. Because I admired Volition for bucking the traditional, historic trend of
sequels in general. When did we get the idea that a sequel has to be a seemeless transition from one version of a game to the next, with more improvements and updates and such?" I mean, I get that this is a viable strategy, maintain continuity in a series, and it is a perfectly fine way to do things. Halo, GTA, BF, CoD, most racing and sports games, all have a pretty winning formula of making the next game a whole like like an improved version of the last.
But why is this the ONLY way to do things, is what I want to know? What Volition did was actually incredibly brave and innovative in my opinion, choosing to evolve the game in a particular direction, away from the serious and more toward the ridiculously fun absurd.
See, that's the thing, isn't it? It takes a lot of guts to choose a path like that, and for players like me, it paid off. When I want a more grounded SR game, I can mess around in SR2 mostly, since my 360's are both dead lol. If I want something a little more weird and sci fi, but still somewhat gang-centric, there's still SRTT, and when I want just insane, OTT
stupid fun, there's SRIV and GooH.
Seriously, how is that a bad thing?
Anyway, sorry about the tangent. On topic, I can't say too much about SR:2022 because I really only got to play the first mission before deciding to refund the game. EG sucks and took me so long to get the game working, I really didn't have time to play more than the first mission, and didn't want my refund window to close. Soooooo it really seemed in that 10-15 minutes of playing the game, that the horrible reviews and universal hatred were deserved.
I'll probably buy it again on Steam, when it ends up on that platform and they offer a HUGE sale, which shouldn't take too long, given I really don't see that game selling well enough on a major platform like Steam to maintain full price.
