Like many of you I play a lot of games (mostly series based) and my question to YOU is...

What "direct" sequel (#2) really impressed you?

I thought Dungeon keeper 2, breath of fire 2 and no one lives forever 2 blew the doors off of the originals.

what do you think?

(I'd be suprised if this thread hasn't been before, Oh well)
I'd say halo 2 (forget the dumb cliff-hanger) it was an overall improvement
however they nerf the ever versatile pistol that is also a sniper rifle

Digital Devil Saga 2

Awesome story and nice turn based combat

Half-Life 2? Original was excellent but HL2 was one of the best games ever, if not the best.
Silent Hill 2. Couldn't sleep last night after playing it.
Resident Evil 2. Because Claire is awesome.

juandonde's got a point, that is one awesome game.

Others of mine include Tron 2.0 (awesome game, good plot, and it's Tron, FFS), Tony Hawk's Underground (I like games with a plot, sue me), Spider-Man 2 (Freedom! It smells so sweet!) and one of my favouritest games evar, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, which could only have been better if it'd had Sonic 2-style special stages.

Star Control II, Super Mario Bros. 3, Street Fighter II, Final Fantasy VI, The Elder Scrolls II Daggerfall, and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory.

Battle Arena Toshiden 2 was far better than 1 and 3, and one of my favorite fighters to date.

Half-Life 2

red alert 2

Possibly Crysis Warhead.

I know Warhead isn't a sequel, it's an expansion, but it's big enough to be a stand alone game, and it managed to fix quite a few things about the original game, albeit breaking a couple others...but at least it fixed more than it broke, which is commendable.

half life 2 hands down.half live one was good,but half life 2 was beter in every way ,out side of the fact that all the characters were carbon copys of each other

Half Life 2 ftw

Hm... Favourite sequel.
I have favourite sequels in terms of liking them, but not sequels I liked more then the original. ie:
Disgaea 2. Overall, a fun game. Even if I still haven't completed it, but the story up to till now has been good.
Dark Chronicle was pretty awesome, but not as good as the first one. First one was a legend.

Doom 2 and Hexen (sequel to Heretic). Old school shooters and their sequels FTW.

resident evil 3, nemesis i still believe is either the best or one of the best bad guys in gaming history.

It's too bad that dungeon keeper 3 got scuttled (due to the face that Bullfrog got shut down by EA)

monkey island 2

I really like Ninja Gaiden 2 Also God of War II was great!

Streets Of Rage 2.

Half-Life 2:Episode 2. First Half-Life I really liked.

Diablo 2
Also, Zelda 2, because I went in expecting a piece of shit and found an enjoyable game that simply had the misfortune to be mislabelled as a Zelda game.

Oh, and Majora's Mask. Best Zelda game ever.

Fallout 2,.. (empty space)

Metal gear solid 2
I can't believe no one has said that

Also;
Hitman 2 :Silent Assassin (that was a sweet game)