Genre-jumping Series: Cut Off Their Legs

Game series survive based off one continuous, common theme. I mean, “survive” in that they don’t always succeed in evolving the series. The current trend is pulling games from their original genres into new ones. For all we decry about the lack of original ideas, genre-jumpers are not original. In some ways, it may be the developer ran out of ideas. Genre-jumping games are diversions to extend the life of series that might be better off not reproducing.

Genre-jumping seems more based on financial gain than consumer satisfaction. It didn’t begin with the current generation of consoles, though. Mega Man Legends on PlayStation? Ripping an excellent 2D platform shooter into a subpar Action RPG didn’t help broaden the series. I have nostalgic love for Sonic the Hedgehog on Sega Genesis. The 2D running platforming was great and simple. But now Sonic feels the need to explore his RPG options, and my opinion is: Euthanize him and all his friends. After Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, Sonic is dead to me.

Other games attempted switching, too; in Resident Evil: Outbreak players explored an online side-story, which didn’t expand the main storyline, but dealt with what were essentially NPCs. Soul Calibur left the arena, and added the tagline “Legends.” This action-adventurer is the only game in the canon to receive an overall 54% according to Gamerankings.com, and the only non-fighting game for the whole series. Castlevania Judgment for Wii is potentially the latest example of a genre-jumping disaster. Konami is using an inverse approach by taking an action-adventure into third dimension fighting. I would think that Konami would have learned by now that Castlevania only suffers when it leaves the 2D realm.

I believe that the only way a game could successfully jump is if the overall environment the game exists in has the necessary freedom for experimentation. Halo Wars is one game that has potential because the overall theme is war. And with a war theme, it should translate easily from a FPS to an RTS. But this is just one potentially good example among a sea of horrible ones. Genre-jumping may be a way to “restart” a dying series, but it needs to be done right (like Halo Wars). I believe if a series needs to reboot, hand it over to a new developer, like they did with Tomb Raider (now with Crystal Dynamics), or The Collective, also the first non-Japanese development team, creating new life in Silent Hill: Homecoming.

However, leave games where they started. With the sequels, fix issues, adjust mechanics, or expand the story, but don’t tear out the roots for an experiment that will most likely fail. Reviews have shown that genre-jumpers are the inbred stepchildren of game series. There is no need for Call of Duty: Fighters Across History or Metal Gear Solid Racing. If you’re going to genre-jump, at least stick to what made the originals great.