Bad/mediocre games that could be awesome remakes

[GartarkMusik]

Yes, this is in the vein of a recent Cracked article: http://www.cracked.com/blog/4-bad-movies-that-could-be-awesome-remakes/ It really got me thinking, there are games out there with amazing premises, but somewhere along the line, the execution was either botched or not as good as it could have been. What games do you think, if remade, could be done very well? My personal one is Advent Rising. Technology-wise, it was a mess, with glitches everywhere and everything looking and feeling like a cardboard world (at least to me) but one, the soundtrack was drop dead amazing, and two, the idea of humans being worshipped as gods, literal gods, was very interesting to me. The game was so close to nailing the concept of a man becoming and taking on the responsibilities of a God. Have at it!

 

[byte4554_v1legacy]

Too human...Great idea, shitty, shitty game.

 

[Tomaius]

Aquaman: Battle for Atlantis. Could be great if done properly imagine having the ability to summon a whale to demolish your enemy.

 

[hazabaza1]

Mirror's Edge. Remove a lot (that being, all of) the combat, tighten up the free running, and give us a decent story. Boom, really good game right there.
Also Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. First off, remove the "Prince of Persia" thing it's pretending to be. Then remove about 90% of the grunge. I'd enjoy it.

 

[Beautiful End]

Musashi Samurai Legend. Came out for the PS2 a couple of years back and it was already a remake of the SNES Musashi game. It had awesome art work and music and, heck, it was made around the time when Squeenix was still respected and not in financial trouble. But the game just felt...boring. You basically had to do the same task 5 or 6 times (Explore a place, rescue someone, head back to HQ WHILE carrying her) and then the last boss fight. It was pretty flat and it could have been much more if someone had fixed...pretty much everything. The controllers, the missions, the plot, the ending, etc.

I always had an issue with that game. I wanna like it but I can't.

 

[IBlackKiteI]

Maybe Warhammer 40k Fire Warrior. Another attempt at a 40k FPS could turn out pretty cool.

Also Pathologic. Game dealt with some really interesting stuff and is probably the second most awesomely whacked out game made within ten years (second to The Void, by the same guys), but had some horrendous design and gameplay issues.
Seriously, look up reviews of this thing. 'It plays like total shit, but it's awesome!'

 

[Prime_Hunter_H01]

Front Mission Evolved. The Japan only Front Mission Online showed that a Front Mission shooter could be done well, and if they collaborated with From Software to make it it could be really good. Considering how Wanzer-like the AC's of Armored Core 5 were I could see the arm leg body damage system from Front Mission easily implemented and Dark Souls shows that From is good at writing stories. So if a Front Mission shooter was made again treating it more like an Armored Core game rather than what Evolved was you have the making of an amazing mech game. The other direction that could go is make it like a Mechwarrior game and go full sim.

 

[King Aragorn]

Mindjack is a really, REALLY bad game. Like, it's barely playable, if at all. But the concept is legitimately pretty cool.
Hacking into your enemies, turning them into comrades, and also controlling machine. If it was done right, with competent AI, it could open lots of possibilities. Turning people into your friends and assigning them strategical positions, using it in a stealth kind of way to sneak to your objective, or hacking into machines to support you while facing the robotic bosses...

 

[Danceofmasks]

Spore.

I shouldn't really have to explain why.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Every single Virtual Boy title. Specifically Teleroboxer. This has to be the fourth time I've mentioned how awesome it would be to put Teleroboxer on the 3DS and I'm this close to starting a fan petition myself...probably should considering I'm the only person who seems to remember that game. Here's a refresher:


Now imagine that, fully recolored and restored on the 3DS. First-Person robot-boxing that would utilize the 3D aspects of a console where most of the 3D games on the 3DS don't require use of the 3D in the best of cases.

---

Somebody mentioned Mindjack. Any game where you fight cybernetic gorilla's needs to be good. Speaking of cybernetic Gorillas (off topic now) has Grodd been announced for Injustice yet?!

 

[lRookiel]

Snip

Reading that I thought, what a damn shame. That would be a game worth playing if done right >.>

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

The weird game the makers of shadowrun made before they made shadowrun. Nightshade I think it's called. The idea of the game seems pretty cool it's just the direction and control system are completely insane.

I think I saw it on a Jontron episode.

Yes here.

 

[Doopliss64]

For the record, I wouldn't call this a "bad" game, but Earth Defense Force could really benefit from a big-budget remake.

 

[King Aragorn]

Assassins Creed.
The potential was/is enormous. They could have taken any part of history. One game for each part of the history of civilization.
The Egyptians, the Greeks, Rome, America, present, future. Just to name a few.

Besides that: Mirror's Edge.

Umm...aren't they doing that already? they're exploring different time periods all the time, even if AC:BF's setting looks disappointing, there is still plenty of things they could do.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Too human...Great idea, shitty, shitty game.

This exactly. I still have no idea how Silicon Knights managed to fuck up such an awesome concept.

It's supposed to be a fucking cyberpunk Norse mythology RPG with fucking devil may cry style combat. WHAT THE FUCK WENT WRONG?!

God, I'm still so angry at that game. It's been 5 years and I'm still super angry because it was my most anticipated game of that year, until I played the demo.

 

[Xarathox]

Mass Effect (series). I'm completely serious.

BioWare's known for crafting engaging stories and great characterization. Not so good at the whole "TPS" thing, however. I've loved just about anything they've ever produced, but the last game I thought they did everything "right" with was Neverwinter Nights. And that was a long goddamn time ago.

Captcha: be nice.

I am Captcha, I am. I didn't mention the "endings". <.<

 

[Scrustle]

Too human...Great idea, shitty, shitty game.

This, so much. I remember seeing the game before it came out and thinking how awesome it looked. The aesthetic and the concept of the game sounded so cool. Then they released a massive steaming pile of shit. But there's still more than room for an awesome sci-fi Norse mythology action RPG!

I disagree with people saying Mirror's Edge needs a remake. That game was great! Not perfect, but really good. It doesn't need anyone to start from scratch on it. On the contrary, it needs a sequel to iron out the problems it had. There was nothing wrong with it on a fundamental level though.