Part D'oh! -- The 10 Worst Game Sequels Ever

What do Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, and Grand Theft Auto IV have in common? For one thing, they're all sequels, and for another, they're all awesome. And they're not alone. From Super Mario Galaxy to critically-acclaimed shooter Bioshock (a spirited sequel to System Shock 2, which, clearly, is itself a sequel), high-profile follow-ups are still gaming's most dependable earners.

But for every glorious copy of Half-Life 2 sit a dozen misfires, mishaps and straight up mistakes, great ideas gone bad or bad ideas gone worse. In no particular order, we not-so-proudly present ten of the worst video game sequels ever made.

Driv3r

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Bad spelling isn't the only thing wrong with this woefully misguided sequel. The once-proud Driver franchise's epic fall from grace actually began with the rickety Driver 2, but where that game was simply marred by technical glitches, 2004's Driv3r was a wreck from start to finish. Starring stereotypical tough guy Michael Madsen as the stereotypical tough cop Tanner, Driv3r told a confusing tale of double-crosses that mostly involved driving places, wandering around aimlessly, and trying to shoot people. While that's worked out just fine in plenty of games, unfinished graphics, sluggish control and infuriating mission design towed this jalopy straight to the junkyard.

Bomberman: Act Zero

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Remember when clean-cut country superstar Garth Brooks tried to expand his creative horizon by donning cheap sunglasses, dying his hair black and warbling into a mic as a fictitious alternative rocker named Chris Gaines? Bomberman: Act Zero is just like that, only less melodic. From its embarrassing Master Chief-meets-your-goth-cousin character design to its excruciating load times to its inconceivable lack of offline multiplayer modes, this stinker incited waves of backlash and some of the lowest review scores in recorded history (currently it's at 33% on gamerankings.com). Eventually Hudson would come to their senses and release the solid throwback Bomberman Live!, but none who were there will ever forget the day this bomb went off.

Rampage: World Tour

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Like band-aids, bacon, and chocolate syrup, giant monsters make everything better. At least that was Midway's thinking when they decided to craft a sequel to their coin-op hit Rampage a whopping ten years after it first terrorized arcades. You'd think the game's gargantuan stars would have learned a thing or two in that time - breath weapons, maybe? - but alas, Rampage: World Tour was just a building-punching (and kicking) bore. No new monsters and no notable gameplay changes gave gamers no reason to mess with this monstrous letdown.

Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude

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Looking for a great fart joke? Then keep on looking, because while this tasteless trip through a frathouse bathroom was filled with wisecracks, none of them were funny. LSL: Magna Cum Laude missed the boat completely by forgetting what made the Lesiure Suit Larry games fun to begin with: good puzzles and clever writing. You won't find either of those here, though you will find plenty of broken mini-games, an earful of irritating dialogue and enough poorly-rendered cleavage to make Girls Gone Wild look like Gone With The Wind. Apparently, though, even a critical drubbing can't stop this sex-starved bachelor from procreating, as another sequel, Box Office Bust, is due out later this year.

Ultima IX: Ascension

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Brainchild of famed game designer Richard Garriot, the Ultima franchise ruled computer role-playing for nearly two decades. Things started to go awry in the mediocre Ultima VIII: Pagan, but no one was prepared for the onslaught of awful that was Ascension. Fans had waited five years for the franchise finale, during which time developer Origin and publisher EA had launched the hugely successful MMO Ultima Online. To keep up with their new smash, they promptly shifted most of their attention (and staff) away from Ascension. Internal conflicts ensued, and by the time the game finally saw the light of day some years after development first began, it was a buggy, convoluted mess and a bona fide flop.

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