At first I was thinking that LucasArts' amazing Grim Fandango deserved a sequel - but the original game's story was so tightly focused, and so good, that a second Grim Fandango couldn't possibly live up to the name. I then realized that, unlike with movies, game sequels are really an opportunity to improve on the design and any technical shortcomings of the original game. Though some game sequels are just an excuse to milk the original game design and recycle most of the existing elements, the best sequels are the ones that reinvent the original good idea. They realize the full potential of promising but otherwise underachieving games. That said, I'd really like to see another sequel to Bungie's real-time tactical fantasy-wargame, Myth.

I enjoyed playing both Myth and its sequel. Both games looked good and were a lot of fun to play, but what really made the single-player scenarios memorable for me was the story, which was told through war-diary entries. Everyone liked Myth's story, and that's why Bungie made Myth II, which did a good job of tying up loose ends. Myth II also fixed some of the problems with the original game's interface. But otherwise, it recycled all the technology and gameplay elements of the first game. That was certainly acceptable, since Myth's game engine was impressive and since Bungie turned the sequel around nice and fast. However, I was nonetheless disappointed with Myth II, because ever since the old Marathon days, I've become increasingly confident that Bungie Software will continue to become one of the most prominent, most important, and most well-liked game developers ever. As far as I'm concerned, only Blizzard Entertainment has consistently managed to maintain prominent good standing over the years, but I think Bungie has come close and keeps getting closer.

As such, I expected a lot more from Myth II. The company ought to have identified the more-fundamental ways in which the original Myth could have been improved. In the first game, Bungie accomplished the rare feat of making a fantasy world interesting, original, and memorable, in spite of borrowing from all known fantasy archetypes. It's something Blizzard accomplished for Warcraft II. There was something unique about how Myth personalized the war it depicted by using the diary entries between missions to describe how your troops must have felt between battles. Some of the unit designs were also very interesting.

But Myth didn't follow through; the story had very little context within the actual missions. Your troops would die horribly in almost every mission, and yet you felt no great loss for them because they were essentially identical drones that would charge headlong into battle, no matter how hopeless. Another sequel to Myth might want to take cues from something like Atomic Games' Close Combat series, which has always done its best to model infantry morale. Myth also needs to be more cohesive, and even more story-driven. The game has an unforgettable story, but most of its characters seemed insignificant. The game should also do a better job of integrating its story into the actual gameplay. The 3D engines Bungie has been developing should be more than suitable for use in all aspects of its games, from the title screen to the cinematics to the actual gameplay. At any rate, I'm sure that Bungie knows all this.

Next: Master of Magic