You had to be there for DOOM 3.
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00:00When you have a hot property it must be tempting to be precious with it, which is a shame as those
00:04that dare and succeed are their own biggest reward. These aren't baby steps forward so
00:09much as they are massive jumps. I'm Si for whatculture.com and here are 10 big leaps
00:14between video game sequels. 10. Half-Life 1998 to Half-Life 2 2004
00:20The original Half-Life is considered a milestone for first person shooters. Its focus on narrative
00:25knocked down the boundaries of what was expected from the genre, creating the most immersive
00:29FPS up until that point. Which is why it's incredible that Half-Life 2 put some things
00:34about the first game in stark contrast by innovating even further. It established more
00:38of the world for the series outside of the Black Mesa research facility, giving the franchise
00:42an edgier tone that was able to ask grander and more philosophical questions about evolution
00:47and fate. In fact, grander is a good catch-all term for what Half-Life 2 did. Instead of being
00:52a sci-fi corridor shooter, it allowed players to explore large, uninterrupted environments,
00:56go off the beaten path and, via a number of vehicles, traverse some really impressive,
01:01grimy scenery. Of course, one huge improvement over the original was the depth of gameplay
01:05content. The brand new Havok physics engine made the game a sandbox in and of itself,
01:09and the likes of the game's gravity gun gave players some incredibly fun tools to take full
01:14advantage of it. It's pretty remarkable that both games have been in a conversation for the best of
01:18all time, especially considering the leaps and bounds Half-Life 2 makes from its predecessor.
01:24Jak & Daxter 2001 to Jak 2 2003
01:28Capable of displaying at 480p and 169, Jak 2 is part of an elite crew of PlayStation 2 games that
01:33squeezed more out of the console in this way. Whilst the first game was plenty pretty,
01:38this push in the sequel is shown in the great texture work, lighting and number of enemies
01:42on screen at once. But Jak 2's place on this list isn't about its graphics so much as the
01:46leap it made stylistically. Jak & Daxter The Precursor Legacy released in 2001,
01:51in the months following the unmatched sea change that was Grand Theft Auto 3's release. Whilst the
01:57game is considered a cult hit, it struggled to find its audience at a time when gaming was
02:01changing. Of course GTA would have been a great pick for this list if it wasn't so painfully
02:05obvious, but it isn't facetious to say that the impact that game had on the industry came full
02:09circle for Naughty Dog when approaching Jak 2. Whilst the platforming and collectathon elements
02:14are still present, the sequel takes its heroes in a darker direction, giving them firearms,
02:18letting them cuss more frequently and following a more mature story. It was a divisive choice to be
02:24sure as nobody saw it coming, but it certainly stopped the fledgling franchise from being left
02:28in the dust of the industry's change. Red Steel 2006 to Red Steel 2 2010
02:35Remember Red Steel? Most people seem to have forgotten, so subscribe to the channel if you
02:39like people bringing up weird games like this. Red Steel was a logical launch title for the
02:44Nintendo Wii. Set in the Japanese criminal underworld of America, the game was about
02:48cutting down enemies with a sidearm and the katana by using the console's motion controls.
02:54Unfortunately, its concept perhaps oversold its execution. Many critics and gamers found the game
02:58to be awkward to play at times, with the best sword moves poorly, if at all, explained and
03:03the graphics leaving a lot to be desired. So it's kind of incredible that it got a sequel at all,
03:08and in fact that Red Steel 2 might be one of the best games on the system when it comes to
03:12utilising its strengths. The original's Metacritic score of 63 compared to 80 for the sequel is a
03:18good place to start. Red Steel 2 ditches the modern-day setting for a really stylish samurai
03:23cowboy aesthetic. Its cel-shaded graphics mean that it's aged remarkably well. Most importantly,
03:28with the arrival of the Wii Motion Plus and the failings of the first game to learn from,
03:32Ubisoft Paris were able to craft a, what they called, first-person brawler which is exceedingly
03:37rewarding to learn and execute. Whilst the game might be heavy on the tutorials at first,
03:42it's worth it to understand and appreciate the combat of this sequel which finally reaches the
03:46promises of the original. 7. Street Fighter 1987 to Street Fighter 2 1991
03:53If there's ever been a series that has tried its best to make you forget about its awkward first
03:57entry, it's Street Fighter. Most people basically treat the franchise as starting from Street Fighter
04:012 and its many revisions, and for very good reason. The original Street Fighter might have
04:06made plenty of money in the arcade, but it was very flawed. Its control system was a mess,
04:11the sole playable character moved horribly slowly and sprite work was all over the place in quality.
04:16It had a spark of potential, being the first game to include variable strengths for punches and
04:20kicks as well as hidden special moves, but it now lives in a huge shadow. Street Fighter 2,
04:26which arrived four years later, outdid the original game in every way. Combat was tight,
04:31fluid and infinitely more satisfying. It took the original's worldwide tournament concept where it
04:36needed to go by including a variety of fighters from all over the globe. The artwork and character
04:41designs were stunning, introducing players to the most enduring renditions of some of the most
04:46iconic characters in gaming. More than anything, the shine to perfection execution of Street Fighter
04:512 is responsible for the beginning of the fighting genre boom in a way that the first game could
04:56never be. 6. Metal Gear Solid 1998 to Metal Gear Solid 2 2001
05:01No video game better displayed the leap from the 5th to 6th generation consoles than Metal
05:06Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty. In 1998, the first Metal Gear Solid game helped to turn the original
05:11PlayStation on its head. Games from the system's first year like Tekken, Jumping Flash and Gex
05:16could never have foreseen what some developers would squeeze out of the console in just a few
05:20short years. Kojima's MGS was one of these, using brilliant art direction and choreography to make
05:26something unforgettably cinematic out of the PS1's sharp polygons. But MGS2 was another story
05:32entirely continuing the serious habit of cutting edge thinking just three years later on the
05:37PlayStation 2. Its use of motion blur and depth of field were unprecedented. Shiny surfaces actually
05:43appeared to be reflective. Rain effects from the game's opening actually bounced off the ground
05:47and off of the player. Character models didn't just finally have eyes, they were actually
05:52incredibly expressive. Sons of Liberty seemed to laugh in the face of the mere idea of limitation.
05:58This was one year into the PlayStation 2's lifespan and the game would spend the rest of
06:02the generation and the decades following it being rightfully praised as one of the most remarkable
06:07titles on the console. The difference between Resident Evil 3 Nemesis and Resident Evil 4 is
06:18so huge that presented to a non-gamer it wouldn't be surprising if they assumed they were totally
06:22unrelated. Now that's not to say that there weren't Resi games in the six-year gap between
06:27the third and fourth numbered entries. The 2000s was one of the busiest and most experimental times
06:32for the series with Capcom releasing side games, spin-offs and a remake. Even so people were hungry
06:37for the next mainline game that would push the series forward after the destruction of Raccoon
06:42City. However people were not expecting the gigantic jump that Resident Evil 4 would bring
06:47in absolutely every way. Its story is completely separate from the rest of the series going so far
06:52as to wrap up the fate of the malevolent umbrella in the opening monologue. Its quipping action
06:57interpretation of returning hero Leon might as well be a different person. It dropped virus
07:02infected zombies for parasite infected humans and it traded all of the gameplay tropes it helped
07:06establish for something completely fresh. It's such a wild departure that it's still discussed
07:11amongst Resident Evil fans today for how it boldly cleaned the slate for better or for worse. This
07:17aside there's no arguing that it saved the series from stagnation and changed gaming forever with
07:21its at-the-time innovative over-the-shoulder panic horror action. Number four Uncharted Drake's
07:27Fortune 2007 to Uncharted 2 Among Thieves 2009. They can't all be immediately obvious leaps and
07:34bounds sometimes it's fun to get a little more granular. When it comes to refining an idea and
07:38learning from experiences the first two Uncharted games are a brilliant example of iterating a sequel
07:43within the same console space. Aesthetically despite just two years between them there's
07:47quite a strong difference between the first two Uncharted games especially when it comes
07:51to character models. Obviously Naughty Dog already had plenty to build from and had experience working
07:56within the PS3's tech at this point a console that was notoriously hard to develop for so plenty of
08:01time was spent turning the flat-faced action figures of Uncharted into more detailed and
08:05more handsomely chiseled characters. This really helps the improved script to land as well but it's
08:10not just about graphics sequels can be about finding one's feet. Whereas the original Uncharted
08:15was a decent if repetitive cover shooter Among Thieves saw the series become the video game
08:20action movie hybrid spectacle that it became known as. The sequel does an infinitely better
08:24job of pacing shooting galleries and climbing sections and features some of the best set
08:28pieces in the series including the train shootout with its impressively immersive looping background.
08:34Uncharted 2 is what made Nathan Drake the Sony mascot he became for the next decade.
08:39Number 3 Kid Icarus of Myths and Monsters 1991 to Kid Icarus Uprising 2012
08:45Any series that manages to skip 20 years of console revolution is going to look different
08:50but one of the best examples of this is the unlikely revival of Kid Icarus and unlikely
08:55is a very deliberate choice of wording here. Despite the 1986 original being quite unanimously
09:00held in high regard as an underrated gem for the NES it took five years for the game to get a sequel.
09:05Of Myths and Monsters for the Nintendo Game Boy strangely only released in America in 1991 and
09:10Europe in 1992 and never came to its home country of Japan... until the 3DS but that's besides the
09:17point. However with the main character Pit being drafted into the roster of Super Smash Brothers
09:21Brawl in the late 2000s interest in Kid Icarus began to pick up again. In the 20 years of absence
09:26the video game space had changed as dramatically as Pit's original squat design had to his new
09:32bishounen anime protagonist style. As such 2012's Kid Icarus Uprising was a totally different take
09:38on the series swapping 2D platforming for third-person shooting that utilized the stereoscopic
09:433D of the then new Nintendo 3DS. The game actually takes a few pot shots at the time the series spent
09:48dormant yet despite decent sales and strong reviews it's now been another decade without Pit
09:54and friends. Number 2 Final Fantasy 6 1994 to Final Fantasy 7 1997. It would have been easy to
10:01fill this list with franchises that made the most obvious graphical jump in game history from 2D to
10:063D but few reached the heights of Final Fantasy's transformation. Final Fantasy 6 had pushed the
10:12Super Nintendo as far as it could go. The game's map or 2 technically which in itself was a shocking
10:17feat was full of secrets and optional bosses. The story and characters were brilliantly animated in
10:22a way that felt epic for the time but this was nothing compared to what would come in just
10:27three years. Final Fantasy 7 wasn't just jumping to the seedy ROM fed PlayStation but had a whopping
10:3245 million dollar budget making it one of the most expensive video games ever made at that
10:37point. This also made it an unavoidable must play taking the franchise to the worldwide stage in a
10:42big way. After the west had only gotten the sporadic FF game usually numbered incorrectly
10:48Final Fantasy 7 was the launching point for the series globally. The huge game split across four
10:53discs boasted an entire suite of 3D work from overworld models, dozens of battle character
10:58models and animations and more CGI than any other game to that point. Pairing this with fully
11:04orchestrated music made for a game that whilst perhaps quaint now had to be experienced to be
11:09believed at the time. Pretty good for a series seven entries in. And number one every Elder
11:14Scrolls game. With some of the longest running franchises in gaming it's possible to track the
11:19changes in the industry incrementally through new installments. On the flip side Elder Scrolls games
11:24tend to be so infrequently released that each one feels like a completely fresh experience so
11:28to just pick one pair would be impossible. Perhaps the outlier to this is the two years between the
11:34original game Arena and its sequel Daggerfall. Whilst this is therefore also the smallest jump
11:40in quality it's very clear that the Bethesda team had learnt a lot on their first RPG and applied
11:45that experience to every facet of its sequel creating a bigger prettier and more active map
11:50to explore. Morrowind arrived six years later following the real advent of 3D gaming being the
11:55first entry to come to Xbox and doing so in stunning fashion as the most impressive RPG
12:01on consoles at the time. Whilst the map this time is technically smaller with a lack of procedural
12:06generation it makes for a more considered world to get lost in. Four years later Oblivion added
12:11an unprecedented physics system to Elder Scrolls as well as HDR lighting and a spectacular draw
12:16distance. Five years on marked the most recent mainline entry with Skyrim which improved lighting
12:22shadows and weather effects greatly and it also added a greater degree of verticality to Tamriel
12:27making for some pretty impressive views. If Elder Scrolls 6 arrived in 2025 and that's probably
12:33being generous that would be almost 15 years since Skyrim and thus would continue the trend
12:38and considering that Skyrim's original launch in 2011 wasn't even natively in HD it's fair to say
12:44we've come a long way since. So goodness only knows what Elder Scrolls 6 will look like.