Glossary Entry: Mission Pack Sequel
Quick Definition
Normally, when a company makes a sequel to a game, they try to improve things and add new features that the original game wasn't capable of. In other words, they try to produce something greater than what came before.
A mission pack sequel, on the other hand, is a sequel that uses basically the same engine as the original game, and only adds a different story and level layout. It's an expansion pack that's been packaged as a whole new game. Today, marketing a game like this is a very bad idea and extremely bad marketing. It would be better to sell the new content as DLC. However, back before the internet became popular, this was often a necessary evil. Many games, especially console games that were sold on cartridges, couldn't be updated with an expansion pack. You also couldn't be certain that someone had access to the original game, which is required to make an expansion pack work. Thus, it was best to include the game's engine along with the new content and market the product as either an updated release of the original game or as a sequel.
A mission pack sequel, on the other hand, is a sequel that uses basically the same engine as the original game, and only adds a different story and level layout. It's an expansion pack that's been packaged as a whole new game. Today, marketing a game like this is a very bad idea and extremely bad marketing. It would be better to sell the new content as DLC. However, back before the internet became popular, this was often a necessary evil. Many games, especially console games that were sold on cartridges, couldn't be updated with an expansion pack. You also couldn't be certain that someone had access to the original game, which is required to make an expansion pack work. Thus, it was best to include the game's engine along with the new content and market the product as either an updated release of the original game or as a sequel.
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