Greatest Franchise Comeback after a Poor First Game

[curl-6]

Age of Empires 1 is a terrific game; it may not have blown up to the extent that its successor did popularity wise, but I would absolutely disagree with the notion of it being a "poor first game".

Assassin's Creed though, yeah it was an impressive tech demo at the time but its gameplay is so repetitive and barebones I could only get a few hours in before losing interest.