Batman: Arkham Asylum is Metroid PrimeWITH BATMAN! It's "Metroidvania" gameplay with a renowned crimefighter who must collect upgrades to his suit and stop the spread of a Psycho Serum
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri is CivilizationIN SPACE! In all fairness, the game did innovate a lot, but the basic mechanics are clearly transplanted from Civilization and the developers made no secret of it.
This is true thematically as well, since game lore hints that the rocket launch victory in Civilization ends up being the UNS Unity, the colony ship from Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri.
It's certainly more of an aversion (and even an inversion), since, while sharing the aforementioned basic mechanics, the game introduces a lot of new concepts that simply weren't present in the previous two instalments of the Civilization series, but were included in later versions - borders and advanced social policies just to mention two.
Each Total War games realeased after 2001 is Shogun: Total WarIN WESTERN MEDIEVAL! IN ANCIENT ROMAN ERA! IN INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION PERIOD!
Starcraft is notWarcraftIN SPACE! It'smuch more sophisticated!" However, many elements introduced in Starcraft were reused in Warcraft 3, along with further refinements — such as the Undead, who are essentially the Zerg NOT IN SPACE!
Mass Effect has also been described as simply "KotORIN SPACE!", which is stupidly funny. On a slightly more serious note, Mass Effect is often described as Knights of the Old RepublicWITHOUT JEDI AND LIGHTSABERS!
Dragon Age is Mass EffectIN A MEDIEVAL FANTASY SETTING!
And Mass Effect 2 is Dragon AgeIN SPACE to a certain extent if you take into account the Dragon Age armor IN SPACE.
Star Fox Adventures became The Legend Of ZeldaIN SPACE! (it even had the same you-just-solved-a-puzzle music) when Nintendo replaced the setting with Star Fox characters and also made it a game that didn't please the fans of the series at all. Before that, it was more like ZeldaWITH FURRIES!, something Rare has done quite a few times with more success (Mario 64-> Banjo-Kazooie, Mario Kart -> Diddy Kong Racing, not to mention the older Donkey Kong games).
Worms: A Space Oddity is WormsIN SPACE! ON THE WII!
And Fallout 3 is The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion WITH GUNS!
The Mystical Ninja/Ganbare Goemon games stars the Japanese folk hero Ishikawa Goemon IN A SCHIZO TECH EDO! Ishikawa Goemon, in turn, is ROBIN HOOD IN FEUDAL JAPAN! All oddness and cultural differences aside, they're actually pretty good.
Both Sonic Adventure games parody this trope with posters for movies called Chao in Space and Chao in Space 2. Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 (Xbox 360/PS3) later continues this with Chao in Space 3.
Look at the architecture for the Death Egg in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. It is quite literally Chemical PlantIN SPACE!
Sonic Generations seems to be going the route of Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Rush, but IN OLD SONIC LEVELS (FOR THE PS3/360 AND 3DS RESPECTIVELY) PLUS SOME CLASSIC-STYLE PLATFORMING FOR BOTH VERSIONS!
The current formula for Sonic levels introduced with Sonic Unleashed Day levels is arguably Sonic RushIN 3D*
Both franchises eventually got their own crossover with Warriors Orochi, which is Dynasty Warriors meets Samurai WarriorsIN ANOTHER DIMENSION! (They were summoned there by an Orochi that's crossed the Bishounen Line.)
Or alternatively, ContraIN FUTURISTIC FEUDAL JAPAN!
The Dolled-Up InstallmentContra Force could easily be considered "ContraIN THE PRESENT!" if it weren't for the fact that the localizations of the early games already changed the setting of the series from the future to the present.
Alien Swarm is Left 4 DeadWITH ALIENS! Since the game was also made by some of the people who developed Left 4 Dead, the similarites are not surprising.
