10 RISKIEST AAA Game Changes of all time

sometimes the biggest triple a games are remembered most for the big massive risks they take so today we're going to talk about 10 games 10 specific examples of the riskiest changes aaa games have ever made starting off with number 10 let's talk mario plus rabbids kingdom battle this is definitely one of the weirder ones on this list because who would have thought that one ubisoft would develop a mario game and two in that ubisoft game mario would be teaming up with those stupid annoying rabbids that everybody hates you know basically like the minions of video games and to make it even more weird it's a tactical xcom style game where mario basically has a gun and nintendo signed off on all this now when i say all this out loud it sounds horrible but honestly it was actually really really good and took everybody by surprise ubisoft also did a really good job of capturing the mario vibe if we can learn anything from this game it's that mario kind of works in any scenario he's tossed into whether he's playing golf or soccer or he's an rpg or he's wielding a gun he's literally a jack of all gaming trades it must have done really well too because we're getting a sequel that actually looks awesome and surprisingly great visually as well this is just something we never expected and it's a mash-up that could have been a completely tone-deaf disaster and it turned out to be great next over at number nine we have metroid prime there's a reason people speak so fondly of this game and when you really sit down to think about it it was definitely a risky move to even make this game metroid and castlevania really really obviously paved the way for metroidvania style games it's also important to note that both series were 2d side scrollers so when retro games decided to make a 3d first person shooter metroid you can see why your average player might be a little hesitant about it first person metroid gross but really though they nailed it it encapsulated everything that nintendo r d did with the previous three games and fusion that launched the same day as prime it nailed the atmosphere of being alone in space stuck with all these aliens that want to kill you the music is still awesome the backtracking after getting new abilities and even just shifting from 2d to 3d in the game felt natural whether it's the level design or how samus's abilities like morph ball or the morph beam worked it's literally a 3d metroid game and it worked perfectly it feels like a miracle it also didn't feel like a first-person shooter in the typical sense with nintendo actually referring to it as a first-person adventure which we think sums it up pretty perfectly retro really nailed prime and we're really excited that they're coming back from metroid prime 4. next over at number eight let's talk hitman 3 specifically hitman 3 because it wrapped up the world of assassination trilogy that io interactive attempted we've gotten hitman games consistently for many many years but with the world of assassination thing iowa interactive really tried to shake things up and at first hardcore hitman fans like myself were not into it breaking up the game into episodic levels that were just going to be distributed or purchased piecemeal didn't really seem to work but then hitman 2 came around the publishing strategy changed a little bit and then three released and kind of combined everything it figured out exactly how to release these games how to keep content how to keep you playing how to really emphasize replayability and it all finally just clicked so now at the end of it if you go into this and you have these new hitmans hitman 1 2 and 3 you get a ton of awesome content that just really really works and they're still adding new stuff to play all the time in these massive levels io interactive really could have just continued to put out very traditional single-player linear style hitman games and a lot of people like me would have loved that but they seemingly wanted to shake things up and try something different and it definitely took a minute to convince skeptical fans like myself but for a lot of people they really turned it around and just made a really cool series of hitman games with really really fun levels and awesome kills and tons of player freedom it could have gone way worse and in the earlier days it really seemed like it was gonna but thankfully they turned it around and we think this risk paid off and we're really excited to see what they do next next over at number seven let's talk prey now the original shooter from 2006 was pretty awesome not a lot of people remember it but it was just like an awesome story based linear adventure first person shooter with really crazy gory sci-fi elements that made it pretty memorable then for years there was a rumored prey to that took the concept even further into cool sci-fi star wars style space and a lot of people myself included were incredibly hyped about it until it was eventually canceled instead bethesda went in another direction and got arcane on board to make a new prey that is a completely different style it's a little smarter it's a little more slow and it's a little bit more of a high concept thing and that was a big risk because it could have ended up not being great and had everybody saying why didn't we just get another tommy style original prey game or even worse why didn't they just make that original prey too that they canceled what the hell but thankfully prey released and it turned out to be pretty awesome and really unique even if you're not really into this style of gameplay you gotta admit this is a very cool unique spin on kind of the arcane dishonored formula with a nice mashup of sci-fi horror and some interesting themes the story had some twists and turns the gameplay was pretty intense it did some creative things and we're glad it exists there's a very realistic timeline where this game never happened and we're glad that it didn't go that way next over at number six let's get a little controversial uh the final fantasy vii remake first of all the announcement was weird on one hand you have people who were not hyped on it whether it was returning players or players that get to experience it for the first time then on the other hand you can't help but think well final fantasy vii is damn near perfect as is so do we really need a remake then you find out that the remake is being split into parts not episodic necessarily but long ass games still split apart the first game only covers midgard leaving the open world the chocobos and all that jazz for the later game for a whole separate game or games we still don't really even know what's going on but with this first game they really nailed it final fantasy 7 remake is actually really really good at least for most fans and is for the most part pretty faithful for the og game there's going to be certain things that bother some people but overall it was a pretty fun game now without spoiling things mostly towards the end things start to get a little weird and change things up and that's a little bit more worth a longer conversation but still we mostly like the changes they're definitely unexpected but we're curious to see what comes next and whether or not they'll stick the landing so while we think this is a risk that so far has mostly paid off because we liked the first remake game this one's kind of like a 2b continued and maybe we'll revisit this list in a couple of years now over at number five let's talk alien isolation now for this one we wanted to pick something you wouldn't expect a little less run-of-the-mill you know before isolation people played alien games to shoot xenomorphs you know there have been tons of games giving you a cool gun or a flamethrower and let you wreak havoc on a spaceship or on an alien planet against all these guys sometimes you get to even play as them but where aliens inspired so many games alien the original movie was a tougher nut to crack you know a trickier video game puzzle but after the disaster that was colonial marines the license holders of the alien franchise tried a completely different and bolder gutsier direction embracing the horror aspect of the original alien making you much more helpless and the singular alien that much more scary and dangerous and threatening it was a big move to shift from the mindless alien killing cool sci-fi action and going full sci-fi horror but it paid off it was awesome and people loved it next over at number four let's talk half-life alex because after more than a decade we finally got a new half-life game only this time it's vr meaning only a small chunk of the half-life audience could actually play it that's an aggressive bet on vr right there you know valve has believed in vr for years invested heavily into it but a full half-life game in vr that was unexpected and not really what anyone could have seen coming did the risk pay off well it is technically one of the best reviewed games on vr headsets but we don't know necessarily that it was like the killer app to kick vr into the stratosphere even still at risk of alienating so many fans or just being an awkward flop or a cash in on the name half-life alex ended up being one of the best vr games but also just a really damn good half-life game straight up it does not feel like a cheap prequel or a little side adventure or like a corny half-assed vr game where all the elements aren't really thought out no this thing really works as a playable game and also it slots right into the half-life mythos perfectly seamlessly you know we were worried for a second some of us thought that valve didn't have it in them anymore and sure enough half-life alex while the vr thing was a big risk we got a damn good game next over at number three let's talk resident evil we got two dimension first we'll start off with resident evil 4. the switch to the third person over the shoulder camera angle and just kind of really changing up the vibe tone and atmosphere was a massive risk but thankfully with the game keeping one foot in the survival horror door and one foot in the action door and making things even zanier it really really seemed to work for people and it became one of the best-selling resident evil games ever yadda yadda yadda you probably know the history by now but still that is something worth admiring just because so many people were so hooked on those classic style resident evil games myself included if you ask some people this is the shift where resident evil started to just go too crazy or too action heavy but still four for most people was a really satisfying game and they could have really just kept churning out resident evil games in that traditional style but they shook it up drastically and it worked now on the other hand in terms of shaking things up they did it again with resident evil 7 with a return to more slow deliberate tense survival horror atmosphere and gameplay and shifting it into first person view that is incredibly divisive and still some people really wish we could just play as jill valentine and see her on screen but in terms of reviews and sales numbers resident evil 7 was a hit and people really liked it a resident evil game you know from a japanese developer jumping into first person that could have been a disaster but thankfully it just managed to work now down to number two let's talk metal gear solid 2 sons of liberty this was the massively massively hyped follow-up to the smash hit metal gear solid this time around years had passed technology and graphics have exploded this was going to be one of the high points for the ps2 and it looked like a graphically mind-blowing adventure with solid snake yet again saving the world and doing cool stuff it was a really exciting time for metal gear fans we watched the trailers endlessly we pre-ordered we waited forever and then it released and it was not quite what anyone expected it was series director and creator hideo kojima pulling another one of his creative weird high guy tricks this time around our fan expectations were completely subverted there was a full bait and switch here you play a solid snake for the opening tanker mission and then the mission goes south it fades to black and then seemingly there's a time jump and you're playing as this guy with big newbie energy named ryden and we had barely seen any of this game in any trailers or any marketing leading up to this at all fans over time grew to absolutely love ryden he's awesome but at the time jumping from the kick-ass awesome cigarette chewing solid snake man to skinny long-haired guy in a leotard ryden there was some whiplash for sure some people were really pissed personally i totally believe they ended up sticking the landing and the whole ryden snake switch was actually the least crazy thing about the game and now in 2021 almost every metal gear solid fan looks back and really appreciates ryden probably because they made him an awesome ninja in four but hey whatever still this was wild now down to number one let's talk god of war from 2018. i think the best way to describe the transition from the first era of god of war to god of war 2018 is kind of like listening to metallica and then switching to smooth jazz like really sad smooth jazz we all know what the deal is with god of war you know the early entries in this series are over the top chaotic brawlers with a big focus on combos and a crazy amount of everything going on at once kratos was a very loud angry character and you were running around with the greek gods and the greek mythology then you get god of war 2018 and everything is toned down kratos is more calm still a little angry a new voice actor he doesn't have his iconic blades of chaos for the most part instead he has an axe that he can throw around like mjolnir the camera angle also changed over the shoulder it's slower you're right up on kratos the story is more toned down and it's a bit more simple there are a lot less giant bosses and less crazy set pieces you weren't in greek mythology anymore but instead this game pulls from norse mythology there was a lot different but at its core it still felt like god of war especially the combat even though it's completely structurally different something about it some of the dna in there still just works just the way it did it looks different but the combo based brawler stuff we got in the previous games is still there it felt like the series wanted to grow up a bit and aged along with the players who've played it and the people behind the scenes who were making it and that shift to almost making it seem like a completely different game at least on the surface really could have blown up in their faces but thankfully the fact that dna is still there beneath the skin made this game absolutely awesome and a risk worth taking but those are some big risks that video games took that we wanted to talk about you know some of the bigger franchises some of the bigger aaa games we want to hear from you guys in the comments if you got any other examples because there are tons that we didn't even have time to mention from jrpgs to fighting games to anything else in between we want to hear from you because we'd love to make a part two on this list there are tons of risks out there that games still take all the time if you enjoyed this video though clicking the like button is the best way you can help us out we would really appreciate that and if you're new consider subscribing maybe hitting a notification bell because we put out videos every single day but as always thanks for watching we'll see you guys next time

Channel: gameranx

Views: 340,630

Rating: 4.9403105 out of 5

Keywords: video game risks, AAA game risks, biggest gaming risks, riskiest video games, video game twists, video game bait and switch, gaming risks, risky gaming, gameranx, best video game changes, best game changes, best changes to sequels, best sequels, risky sequels, gaming

Id: VvkmIPIVfWc

Length: 14min 22sec (862 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 11 2021