Game franchise with potential that isn't taken advantage of

[ModifiedDuck]

Assassin's Creed. It's not dead yet, but they could have done SO SO SO much more after 2. You make a genius plot device that can get you in ANY time period, and out of 4 games, you decide to make 3 of them in the same era, with the same protagonist, doing the same bloody thing all the time? This could have been one of the most enduring franchises of all time, spanning decades of quality titles. Now, I'm not so sure where the franchise is going to end up. There's still hope for things to turn around though. Let's hope they make it happen.

Also Mass Effect. You make a game with a huge universe with interesting backstory. You make what could have been this generation's Star Wars. You make a good first game with some squandered potential in the gameplay department but nothing we couldn't forgive, a game that despite its shortcomings, managed to feel like an epic space adventure, where your actions affected the world around you. And then you decide to throw all that in a fucking bin and make a corridor shooter so freaking linear in both combat and story structure that it would make Gears seem like a sandbox. Thanks a lot, BioWare. And Mac Walters is still the lead writer for Mass Effect 3. And the gameplay looks exactly like ME2. I can't say I have much hope for this series. Though, I seriously hope I'm wrong.