Since entering the console market in the ’90s, PlayStation has become one of the biggest publishers in gaming. The company has helped create dozens of great series, giving players plenty of fantastic games to play across five console generations. However, not every PlayStation series has been able to stay on top. In fact, a few series started incredibly hot, but fell off in subsequent entries. That doesn’t necessarily make those games bad, but the developers have yet to make a big enough improvement to top that phenomenal first game.
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Here are five PlayStation series that peaked with their first game.
5) LittleBigPlanet
LittleBigPlanet was one of PlayStation’s many attempts to create its own mascot to compete with the likes of Nintendo’s Mario. Sackboy didn’t quite hit those heights, but the first LittleBigPlanet was a massive critical hit for PlayStation. It also sold relatively well, pushing 4.5 copies worldwide over its lifespan.
Couple that with the first game’s innovative gameplay and best-in-class level editor, and PlayStation had the makings of a hit series. And to be clear, LittleBigPlanet 2 is a solid game that pushed the idea of the level editor even further. That choice to pursue being a “platform for games” led to the team at Media Molecule making Dreams. Unfortunately, in the LittleBigPlanet series, they never could find that same spark the first game had.
4) Horizon
Horizon is still a relatively young series, so there is definitely a chance that Guerrilla Games makes something that feels like a big step up from Horizon Zero Dawn. It’s also not like Horizon Forbidden West is a terrible video game that players hated. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. The second game, while not as big a revelation as the original, is still worth your time.
The issue is that the Horizon series seems to be going in several different directions at once. Since Forbidden West launched, we’ve gotten a PlayStation VR2 game and a Horizon Lego game. We also know that teams are working on a Horizon MMORPG and a cooperative action game that lets three players team up to take on challenges. Those don’t necessarily sound like bad games, but they also don’t really sound like Horizon. Hopefully, Guerrilla Games comes back around with a true sequel sooner rather than later.
3) Wild Arms
Wild Arms has such a great gimmick. This RPG mixes the Wild West with steampunk to put players in a unique setting. I’m always banging the drum for more Westerns in the gaming space, so I’m a bit biased, but most critics and fans agree with me. That first Wild Arms game on the original PlayStation is an underrated gem, and should’ve set up a fan-favorite series.
Unfortunately, none of the follow-up games were able to step up to the plate and improve on the original. Wild Arms 3 on the PS2 gets the closest, but there’s a reason we haven’t seen a mainline Wild Arms since 2007. There was a spiritual successor in the works called Armed Fantasia, but development on that has seemingly stalled. Here’s hoping it can eventually see the light of day.
2) Infamous
Sucker Punch’s three-game run with Infamous was a solid string of relative hits. None of the three games blew the doors off the building critically or commercially, but they’re all good-to-great action games that you can blaze through in a weekend. Second Son might’ve been a little too stuffed with gimmicks to try and take advantage of the PlayStation 4’s new controller, but it was still worth a playthrough.
That said, none of them ever topped Cole MacGrath’s first foray into the world of superheroes. The grittier take on superpowers stood out from the crowd, and that twist ending hit like a Mac truck. The sequel and Second Son were better than competent, but Sucker Punch never could quite take the series to the next level.
1) Ape Escape
Ape Escape is a quintessential original PlayStation game. It was the first game to require players to use the new DualShock controller, which helped make it one of the best 3D platformers of its era. With full control over the camera, the running around felt better than just about any other game of the time.
Sadly, that gimmick couldn’t keep it above the rest of the genre for long. The two other mainline games were solid, even making a few nifty innovations of their own with gameplay, but they never took another massive leap again. What makes it even worse is that Sony closed down Japan Studio in 2021, so it’s unlikely that we’ll ever see another Ape Escape. Granted, it’s been more than a decade since anyone tried to make another game, but the loss of the original studio has seemingly put the nail in Ape Escape‘s coffin.
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Image Courtesy of Netflix
