Black Mesa managed to get a lot right, but it was more of a Half-Life 2 experience set within the Black Mesa compound than an improved Half-Life 1 experience. Which is infinitely better than simply recreating HL1 maps with higher resolution textures [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HafcoaXgEa0], as all that does is emphasise just how much the game world has aged. Photo-realistic rock textures doesn't make a sheer-edged polygonal rockwall convincing; quite the opposite. It brings to the forefront the agedness of the game, which is like stepping in front of a high-def camera [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XB0pBSre9UI].
In some cases, it might be better to stick to graphical
reduction: The boom in 3D popularity in the late 90s destroyed a lot of 2D franchises that jumped on the polygonal bandwagon.
Escape from Monkey Island was a travesty that effectively killed an entire genre, and should've stuck to 2D rather than succumb to the allure of the third dimension. Thinking about it, it wasn't just the graphics that made it a stinker, but my point stands. A remaster--not that it's worthy of one--should return it to its cartoonish hand-drawn roots.
Take the remaster of
Gods, for example:
Holy heck what an ugly mess
Making shit look better is not enough: there are so many more aspects to consider when remastering. It's not just graphics that need to be updated: the mechanics of the game might have been revolutionary in 1992, or 1998, or 2006, or whatever, but tastes change as fast as the technology that replaced these games. No matter what anyone says, the remake of
Final Fantasy VII will never recreate what made the original so special, because the original's mechanics are decrepit and unthinkable in a modern-day game, charming and nostalgic as they still are. In fact, play most PS1-era games nowadays, and once the soaking of nostalgia has dried up, you'd invariably be left with a very, very hard, frustrating game that requires Battletoadsian muscle-memory-like reactions and endless replays of short, uninteresting sections of game that you have to master before you can continue. These narrative-interrupting mechanics of pure tedium are not only present in games like
Tomb Raider II, but all the way up to
Uncharted 3. Think about it: without the constant interruption by hundreds of armed guards preventing Drake from continuing to the Nazi sub or whatever, the Uncharted games would last about 2 hours. Cover-shooting for 15 minutes every 100 yards you run is just interruptive and hearkens back to the early days where you can
see the exit, but
you can't get there without dying 748 times. These mechanics have evolved, somewhat, in Dark Souls-era games. The frustration/constant death is still there, but at least nowadays you can change your approach, and choose your own pathway and tactics. Tomb Raider, ehhh, you had one route, and it was a ***** to conquer.
Arnoxthe1 said:
Tomb Raider: Anniversary is probably the BEST Tomb Raider game ever made.
Yes! Crystal Dynamics managed to take the fun puzzle/exploration part of the game, and cut out the frustrating mis-timed jumping elements. It was a 1996 narrative with 2006 mechanics, and 10 years of gaming is nearly three generations of ever-evolving technology.
My favourite remaster is
Abe's Oddysey: New 'n' Tasty, as it sharpens the graphics and the controls, and keeps the puzzle elements (which are timeless) and secrets the same. It was a good-looking game at the time, and only really needed higher-resolution graphics in the remaster (plus a tightening of controls, signposting, and more-responsive animation). I was a little uneasy about the transition of 'pseudo-3D flip-screen 2D' to 'pseudo-2D Unity-based 3D', but after a few minutes playing, you can see why they took that route. I even liked the bloom, which people thought took the industrialised look of the original and turned it into funfair-levels of overexposure, but I think it adds to the otherworldliness of the game.
