Sean Hollyman:
Mass Effect 2, the combat felt SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Much better. Seriously combat in ME1 felt like a disabled man trying to open a cupboard while climbing an escelator.

Channeling Yahtzee there are we?

I'd say The Darkness 2's controls and gameplay was much better than the first game.
When I get home today, I'll see if Prototype 2's gameplay has improved at all as well.

All in all, most game sequels improve on the previous game's control schemes.

Leemaster777:
In terms of actual gameplay-affecting things, I really liked the faction system in New Vegas. It made my choices feel just that much more important. Also, and this is a bit smaller, I GREATLY enjoyed the ability to see whether or not speech challenges would succeed or fail, before you choose them. I cannot TELL you how much that frustrated me in 3.

Thats what I really liked about New Vegas. In FO3, you could actually do all the quests with one character. In NV, choices made could lock out whole questlines, practically reqiuring you to play through with multiple characters.

Also, despite all the shit about the ending and such, Mass Effect 3 was, I felt, the best in the series. Mass Effect 1 was slow and the combat was sluggish. ME2 had better combat, but dropped alot of the "open-ness" that you had in ME1. ME3 had almost a good balance with combat and RPG elements.

*Edit*

Also, while its obviously not out yet, I hope Borderlands 2 is better than 1. As much as I loved the game, Borderlands hads its share of problems.

Tenno:
dragon age 2, 1 was awful from the ground up, the whole game was shoddy, but 2 was brilliant not a single issue

...
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I...
I think I need brain surgery

VoidWanderer:
Infamous 2.

Zeke became a character you want to accept, not fry till his muscles pop. The storyline was well-done and it ended so well... Good Side anyway did

I dunno, Bad Side had an... energizing ending, even if it was totally nonsense

Metal Gear Solid 2.

Reiterpallasch:

Oh boy, you better put up your flame shield before it's too late for you.

COME. AT. ME. BRO.

Pokemon Gold/ Silver.
While the other future series now make use of the night and day time, why is it only the Gold/ Silver (and Heartgodl and SoulSilver) game that once you beaten the Elite 4 you get to revisit Kanto (the first game)?
Ok sure the other series added a few islands (FireRed and LEaftGreen) or new explore areas within the region (Black and white) after beaten the Elite 4 but I want a revisit an old region dammit and without it being dumb down!!

Tekken 2 to Tekken 3 was a HUGE improvement. The latter finally allowed you to get up immediately after getting floored.

I'll also be THAT guy and say Resident Evil 4 was a vast improvement over...the last Resident Evil game that came out before it. (Come at me)!

Honorable mention to Uncharted 2 over the first one.

The second spectrobes game, the first was playable but the second was actually enjoyable.

Silent Hill 2 is a good example but really I think the sequel that improved most over its predecessor is MGS3 which made the series good again...

I'm surprised I haven't seen this yet. Fable 2. Honestly the combat was MUCH more refined and when you got powerful enough it was as though you were playing a demigod. The story was a bit meh but apparently that's par for the course in Fable.

Pandabearparade:

Tenno:
dragon age 2, 1 was awful from the ground up, the whole game was shoddy, but 2 was brilliant not a single issue

You be trollin'.

Why you troll?

You be carin'.

Why you care?

Hyperdimension Neptunia.

The first one was my Worst Game award last year, the sequel is way better.

Plus, how can you deny a game where game piracy is the final boss?

No one mentioned MGS3 because MGS4 was such a let down afterwards

Tenno:
dragon age 2, 1 was awful from the ground up, the whole game was shoddy, but 2 was brilliant not a single issue

While I may not agree with what you say, I will defend to the death your right to say it.

I'm not on the "Dragon Age 2 sucks" bandwagon, but IMO the first game was superior in nearly everyway!

Why the f*** are people saying witcher 2?Second game is kind of better although I liked the first one a bit better because it was longer and had more story

Another vote for Witcher 2. I do think TW1 is great, but someone hating the game due to clunky combat doesn't surprise me one bit.

Bugerion:
Why the f*** are people saying witcher 2?Second game is kind of better although I liked the first one a bit better because it was longer and had more story

Yet Witcher 2 pretty much requires you to play it twice to understand the plot, because there's so much content you'll miss on first playthrough

God of War 2 (mostly incredibly tight balance compared to the first game)

Assassin's Creed 2. It went from being a tedious grindfest to a real fun game, it got improved in nearly every single way.

Saints Row 2. The first one was a fun sand box game, but it was still more or less a GTA clone, in SR2 it really got its own identity, you had A LOT of customization options, hilarious cutscenes/dialogue etc. It had the right balance between funny and serious. Sadly in SR3 they messed it up. Here's hoping the 4th will make things better.

The Elder Scrolls II Daggerfall/III Morrowind. As someone who played the original, let me tell you. It sucks. I never really got into Daggerfall, nor did I have the time, but I do know that in Daggerfall the lore of TES really started, More stuff to do, for example you actually had factions, and many side quests, Arena had very, very basic side quests, and they were all boring. I did play Morrowind and that one was amazing of course, a lot of TES fans will still tell you to this day that Morrowind is the best game in the series. And I can't blame them.

Lots of people mention the Witcher 2, but I won't include it on my list.
I absolutely loved the first one, yes that includes the combat, they were simply very different games. Thus I don't necessarily think it was a big "improvement" over the Witcher.

Assasins creed 2 improved on EVERYTHING from the first game. I despised the first game, still do!, and then AC2 came out and its one of my favorite game series of all time

Pandabearparade:

It's his opinion.

Or, more likely, trolling.

Dragon Age 2 has a dedicated 'hater base', and had some pretty obvious flaws even if you think the game is great. Clearly flamebait.

Now that I think of it, you don't come across so often gamers that prefer DA 2 over DAO. That's a little rare indeed. But still you can't exclude that possibility.

Mass Effect 3 was better than mass effect 2. Even with the bullshit ending.

For 99 percent of the game, it was a fun, interesting, awesome, and super personal experience which was exactly what pulled me into the series in the first place.

Combat was way more fun too.

Assassin's Creed 2 was better than the first one too. More interesting and much less monotony.

realist1990:
No one mentioned MGS3 because MGS4 was such a let down afterwards

I totally agree with you on both parts... For me MGS 3 was the pinnacle of the series and the peak of Kojima's work. You can't easily find a game so balanced between its game-play and narative parts, with excellent graphics, music and intelligent and addictive game-play mechanics.

Persona 4, I can barely play Persona 3 after playing it.
Mortal Kombat 9, Basically all the best aspects of previous Mortal Kombat games and a surprisingly great story-mode and variety of things to do.

Assassin's creed two: It had more to do than just "Do this 9 times. Kill boss after plot twist. Game complete".
Terminator 2: This is my all-time favorite movie, without a doubt.
Halo Reach: Though technically a prequel, I'm still going to include it here. I never got the "fortune" to play the first two's multiplayer before halo 3. *equips flame suit* I hated Halo 3. The campaign wasn't brilliant to be honest, and the multiplayer just failed to keep me playing if it wasn't a custom game or team SWAT.