It’s funny to think that 30 years ago sequels – specifically movie sequels – were expected to cost twice as much and make two times less money. Oh, how times have changed! Today, sequels rule the entertainment industry! We no longer have movies, we have franchises. Everybody and their mother wants to have their own cinematic universe, every young adult novel is eyed for at least a four movie deal, and even movies that decided don’t need sequels because their storylines wrapped up and they didn’t do all that well in the box office are still getting sequels because that’s how Hollywood rolls (“Edge of Tomorrow”, anyone?). The videogame world is even worse – while in the realm of movies it’s relatively rare to see big franchises make it past 2-3 movies, in videogames huge series of 5+ games are the norm. Just for reference, in the next few months we’re expecting “Resident Evil VII” (technically “Resident Evil 15”, and that’s without counting all of the remakes and non-canonical side stories), “Metal Gear Survive” (“Metal Gear 8”, again, without counting remakes, special editions and non-canonical entries”) and “Final Fantasy XV” (which I’m not even going to count, because look at this mess).
Naturally, slots also feel the need to follow in this tradition. In the past we’ve had stuff like “Thunderstruck II”, “Avalon II” and “Jack Hammer 2”, recently we got “South Park: Reel Chaos”, and in the very near future we’re getting “Jurassic World” (a sequel to Microgaming’s excellent “Jurassic Park”), as well as a whole bunch of DC slots by Playtech which will act as sequels to their Marvel slots. Sure, sequel culture hasn’t engulfed slots in the same way as it has other media, but we’re seeing more and more sequels popping up all over the board. Like always, some sequels are good, some sequels ae bad, and that begs the question – what exactly do we expect from a good slot sequel? I mean, despite the fact that we’re seeing them more and more often, slot sequels are pretty much uncharted territory for the most part. What should developers do to make them great?
Well, the cold, hard truth is that slots aren’t like videogames and movies. With those, more of the same is typically enough – if the original worked, all the fans want is more content featuring the characters they’ve grown to love. However, with slots, “more of the same” won’t really cut it, because, well, why make the same exact slot with just different graphics if you can just play the old slot? Sometimes this work really well when an older slot needs to be updated, but for the most part, “more of the same” isn’t the right approach. At the same time, though, developers should watch out not to make the sequel too different, because then what’s the point of making a sequel at all? It just seems like they’re trying to capitalize on the name, which isn’t really going to go well with the fans. The right result is somewhere in the middle – the feel of the slot should be preserved, but additional features should be added to distinguish it from its original. I feel like “South Park: Reel Chaos” and “Jack Hammer 2” did that pretty great, overall, and are the go-to examples on how you should do a slot sequel. I honestly wouldn’t mind seeing more sequels to slots in the future, especially to those that are a bit outdated now, as long as the example set by the titles I listed is followed. Now, who’s rooting for “Mega Moolah 2”?