What game deserves a remake?

[Tuesday Night Fever]

I am confused. You say you want a remake that's essentially the same? What would that accomplish? All you'd get is a shiny new paint job on the textures. As soon as you start messing with the complexity of messes, structures and the scaling of the world it's set in you lose the "meat" of the game.

Take for example the Metal Gear series. With each iteration, Hideo Kojima aimed to push the chosen console to it's limits with gameplay, then he'd adapt the story and such to fit what was possible. If you think about things like the aiming system in Metal Gear Solid, there were no limb or headshots, you had to get three consecutive shots off quickly and concisely. I dread what the alternative Revoler Ocelot fight would be if you could shoot in first person.

Another example would be that developing Final Fantasy VII would be too vast to HD-ify in a realistic time-scale.

My point is that good games are well... good. The more you try to add things and make it better, you being to lose what made it great. On the other hand though, there are games out there which were either awful or not bad, but had some potential in them. Those I would like to see remade.

Yeah. That's exactly what I mean. I want a graphical update, and nothing more. What made the games great is already there. If I got a System Shock 2 remake, you can be damn sure that despite my love of the game, I wouldn't buy it if I found out they reworked the story or added in bullshit like quick-time events and regenerating health.

The "meat" of the game I'm referring to is the story, gameplay, and voice acting. If any of those three things get modified, I'm out. The problem with your Metal Gear Solid example is that they're all different games. It's not like he kept releasing the same game over and over and over again. If you'd instead used the example of... say... Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes, a remake of MGS that came out on GameCube a few years back, that'd be more understandable - and an example of what I wouldn't want. They added to the cutscenes, and in many cases, made them so over-the-top ridiculous that they're even ridiculous by the already-ridiculous MGS standards, when they should have just left the cutscenes alone. And they added in the tranq pistol from Metal Gear Solid 2, which notably the original game wasn't developed with that in mind, so it pretty much completely breaks the game and makes it ludicrously easy.

Adding things most definitely doesn't always make a game better. Especially when you're adding more modern gaming conventions to a video game that wasn't developed with them in mind.

 

[OspreySoul]

Like several have said before me, Resident Evil 2 and 3.
It'd be even cooler if the two were actually combined into one game, and you had the option of switching between the two stories over the course of the game. And the option to play over the shoulder or switch to fixed cameras, a la RE5's Lost in Nightmares.

 

[crazyfoxdemon]

In HD, fully voice acted, with all the improvements from Oblivion and Skyrim.

I'd also like to see the first 2 remade as well.

 

[minimacker]

XCOM. Not that god damn FPS.

 

[Wintermoot]

the original Half-Life (including the BS/OPFOR expansions)
FO1/2 in the TESV engine.

 

[Treblaine]

I'm still waiting for Resident Evil 2 and 3 to get the RE 1 treatment *Grumble Grumble*

Same here man, same here. But it seems parts 4 and 5 have thrown a wrench in the works. "Over the shoulder" is apparently the future, as is hectic, action-oriented gameplay instead of the traditional survival horror. It's the same "mass-appeal" philosophy you see in the whole industry these days. "Classic-style" RE is a now a niche, i.e. not profitable enough.

What if RE2 + 3 were remade as one adventure (Jill, Leon + Claire all in one game storyline) told mostly from an over the shoulder perspective? A few things still need to be cleared up, like how the hell Claire and Leon can just roll into Raccoon city while just 24 hours earlier Jill and others were somehow unable to escape.

And I'm not talking about this action retcon co-op game. Which looks pants.

Still, don't dismiss the abandonment of fixed-perspective for "mass appeal" as even the most bohemian games have gone full 3D, no one is using fixed perspective any more. The thing was RE-style "3D over 2D background" was used in PS1 era because of the hardware limitations and the artistic desire to have detailed and visually compelling environments.

Remember, the terrifying Silent Hill series has had a free following camera, developers just have to be a bit more creative with camera positioning. Also consider Fatal Frame and Clock Tower series. Gears of war and Uncharted have shown how much you can do moving the camera around to show off things, croping shots and so on. Hell, Condemned showed what an utterly terrifying game you can make even in the first-person perspective! And oh. my. god. Amnesia: Dark Descent! That's a first person game and is too scary to play, really.

Yeah, tension or horror are not inherently limited nor dependant on perspective.

The biggest problem I see is not with the industry trends but with Capcom themselves. They have a serious crisis of leadership, are haemorrhaging talent, unable to acquire and use new talent while seem to just make one terrible decision after another. Resident Evil will always be going nowhere fast as long as it is in Capcom's hands, unless Capcom suddenly turns around its bad practices then I'd give up on the brand. They are out of touch and have lost any sort of vision or panache for their games.

The problem is Resident Evil didn't really invent survival horror (that goes to games like Clock Tower) and even if they popularised the term it is clear that others are better at it, like Silent Hill and more recently thinks like Amnesia.

Resident Evil was always a more action oriented series. I mean, did you destroy the final boss in Silent Hill with a rocket launcher? Or anything like that? It is a fine line to walk, Resident evil is supposed to vacillate between the action and the terror, and I don't think anywhere in Capcom there is the vision to find that again. Resident Evil as just an action game just isn't enough, other people do a better job. The trick was the combination of action and horror.

 

[Treblaine]

I am confused. You say you want a remake that's essentially the same? What would that accomplish? All you'd get is a shiny new paint job on the textures. As soon as you start messing with the complexity of messes, structures and the scaling of the world it's set in you lose the "meat" of the game.

Yeah. That's exactly what I mean. I want a graphical update, and nothing more. What made the games great is already there. If I got a System Shock 2 remake, you can be damn sure that despite my love of the game, I wouldn't buy it if I found out they reworked the story or added in bullshit like quick-time events and regenerating health.

Yeaaah, except System Shock 2 was far from perfect, not least of which was the dissolving guns that made them simply not worth the inventory space. And all the enemies were so similar, just use the wrench constantly.

It is not like it is required by law that you MUST include Regenerating health and quicktime event.

I get what you are saying, by dogmatically refusing ANY changes you can avoid the horrors of Regenerating health and other modern bullshit crutches, but then you are denying yourself genuine improvements.

Now Ken Levine introduced the gun-dissolving to get players to use the psionic powers (proto-plasmids) more often, but even he admitted that this went to far an unbalanced the game. Another take on this would be a great opportunity to improve the game giving POSITIVE incentive to use psionics, rather than negative punishment for using guns.

The grid inventory could be improved to be like Minecraft, where every item only takes up one space on the grid but and size/weight of items limits how many times items can be stacked. SO you can only stack 4 rockets on one slot but 256 bullet on the same slot.

 

[Thwarted]

Freelancer! cmon, im jonesin for some space shooty goodness

 

[The-Fiction]

Please, pretty please? The public needs to be reminded what really happens when you throw vampires into sunlight and the joys of convoluted plots served with ambiguously British accents.

Oh good god this! I need to replay this game... Add in a better save system, some updated graphics and some other shiny things and I will be a happy chappy.

Also means I won't be crapping myself when playing it since I was 9 when it originally came out and back then even a slightly creepy game had me terrified...

 

[GudangGaram]

Baldur's Gate Trilogy with the 3.5e rules in full-HD

 

[Chin_Sack]

I REALLY want to see a remake of "Road Rash", and "Killer Instinct". Ohhhh and "Jade Cocoon"!!!!

 

[Gecko clown]

Time Splitters 2.

I at least want a downloadable version.

 

[thePyro_13]

I could go for a dungeon keeper remake(dungeons was terrible).

 

[oddball250]

all 6 orignal spyro games, make the last threes graphic look like the first three and then make them HD

 

[Saika Renegade]

Gundam Side Story 0079 for the Dreamcast.

That it played as well as it did was a pleasant surprise, and I've always been one to enjoy the B plots as much as the actual focuses of a series (in this case, being set on Earth with mostly massed produced units versus the original anime's focus on a single super prototype). I'd like to see the mechsim-type game recover from its current barren state.

 

[endtherapture]

Baldur's Gate Trilogy with the 3.5e rules in full-HD

No. 2nd Edition was a masterpiece, BG would be ruined by any other edition than 2nd.

 

[Manji187]

I'm still waiting for Resident Evil 2 and 3 to get the RE 1 treatment *Grumble Grumble*

Same here man, same here. But it seems parts 4 and 5 have thrown a wrench in the works. "Over the shoulder" is apparently the future, as is hectic, action-oriented gameplay instead of the traditional survival horror. It's the same "mass-appeal" philosophy you see in the whole industry these days. "Classic-style" RE is a now a niche, i.e. not profitable enough.

Still, don't dismiss the abandonment of fixed-perspective for "mass appeal" as even the most bohemian games have gone full 3D, no one is using fixed perspective any more. The thing was RE-style "3D over 2D background" was used in PS1 era because of the hardware limitations and the artistic desire to have detailed and visually compelling environments.

Remember, the terrifying Silent Hill series has had a free following camera, developers just have to be a bit more creative with camera positioning. Also consider Fatal Frame and Clock Tower series. Gears of war and Uncharted have shown how much you can do moving the camera around to show off things, croping shots and so on. Hell, Condemned showed what an utterly terrifying game you can make even in the first-person perspective! And oh. my. god. Amnesia: Dark Descent! That's a first person game and is too scary to play, really.

Yeah, tension or horror are not inherently limited nor dependant on perspective.

I may be wrong but here's how I see the issue of fixed perspective; it was an inherent part of gameplay, not just a design decision.

The fixed perspective enforced a certain claustrophobia, it basically told you: Be careful, movement space is limited, so use what you have wisely. It also added to the tension when you heard things off camera (fear of what is there but you cannot see, yet). You had to learn to properly maneuver the character and remain vigilant so as not to be caught off guard.

Resident Evil 4 then gave you way more space and a greater field of vision, so it naturally had to use more and faster enemies to keep the tension up. Where 2-3 zombies in a tight space could make you shit bricks in RE 1-3, 2-3 regular Ganados in RE4 are a cakewalk....also because you have a knife that can make them stagger and a Kick/ Supplex move that you can't get hit out of (but which you can use to evade attacks). Add to that all the environmental advantages (ladders, ledges, fences and doors) and you simply don't have to worry about ammo whereas ammo management was also a factor that added to tension in classic RE's.

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

Yeaaah, except System Shock 2 was far from perfect, not least of which was the dissolving guns that made them simply not worth the inventory space. And all the enemies were so similar, just use the wrench constantly.

It is not like it is required by law that you MUST include Regenerating health and quicktime event.

I get what you are saying, by dogmatically refusing ANY changes you can avoid the horrors of Regenerating health and other modern bullshit crutches, but then you are denying yourself genuine improvements.

Now Ken Levine introduced the gun-dissolving to get players to use the psionic powers (proto-plasmids) more often, but even he admitted that this went to far an unbalanced the game. Another take on this would be a great opportunity to improve the game giving POSITIVE incentive to use psionics, rather than negative punishment for using guns.

The grid inventory could be improved to be like Minecraft, where every item only takes up one space on the grid but and size/weight of items limits how many times items can be stacked. SO you can only stack 4 rockets on one slot but 256 bullet on the same slot.

I don't recall ever saying that SS2 was perfect. Way to assume.

The point I'm trying to make is that if you change too much, it's not the same game, and as such, NOT a remake. Like it or not, the mechanics you mentioned are part of the game. Some of which for "balancing" reasons (like the weapon maintenance) and some for story (there was actually a reason all the enemies were so similar...). They may not have made it perfect, but they did make it what it was, and it was a classic. Change too much about it, and at that point it's a reinterpretation. Frankly, I don't see the addition of modern mechanics to be genuine improvements. Modern games aren't bad, don't get me wrong, but they make a lot of sacrifices in order to 'appeal to the masses' - changes that older games didn't make. I grew up with those older games, and would MUCH prefer their complexity and length over today's simplicity and 'short, but pretty!'

Besides, one of the perks of being a PC gamer is that if you don't like something about the game such as the weapon degradation (which though I didn't like it at the time, it never hindered me from playing gun-oriented play-throughs - of which I did many) you can always just edit it out on your own.

 

[Sixties Spidey]

A Deus Ex HD remake would be awesome, given the success of Human Revolution.

 

[DoctorSun]

Crash Bandicoot remade as a downloadable would be great. Maybe some redemption for the name after the more recent games...