Recently, HD Remasters of classic game series such as Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Hitman, and the first Resident Evil(s) have hit shelves to largely positive responses. Taking these hits as inspiration, I thought I’d go through some “older” (and/or less relevant) games that also deserve HD remasters.
And no, I don’t simply mean “HD” ports to current-gen consoles. I mean that these remasters could almost be considered remakes or reimaginings, something that could go toe-to-toe with new, modern games such as Shadow of the Colossus could with 2005 classics such as Republic Commando, God of War, and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory as well as it did in 2018 with new classics such as Red Dead Redemption II, God of War, and Marvel’s Spider-Man.
Continuing this new tradition, I thought I’d list my Top Five picks of games that I would love to own HD Remasters of…
- EA Skate Trilogy
- It’s no secret that EA is just about the most hated company associated with the words “video” or “games.” Their relentlessly anti-consumer microtransaction-packed games have not only pissed off the vast majority of games and other developers, but they ruined Star Wars, which is just about the worst thing that they could have done. What could they do to win (some of) the fans back? One word… and two despised letters: EA SKATE. Take the entire trilogy, give it the same mechanics as Skate 3 for optimal smoothness, and stick with its no-microtransaction history and EA will have done a great service to gamers.
- Furthermore, EA’s egregious other sports games have not helped their reputation. Seeing how the general public and hardcore gamers would react to an HD Skate Trilogy could send EA the message that it needs: make good games and money will follow suit. Also, the skateboarding genre is pretty much dead, with the only real interest in it being a Skate 4, which EA has little hopes of being a success. The Skate Trilogy would perfectly test the waters before either greenlighting or keeping the game in the grave.
- Knights of the Old Republic
- Okay, look: EA has made some damn good games. The aforementioned Skate trilogy, Burnout Paradise, some Need for Speed games, etc. and published great indies as well. I know they’ve canceled more games than they’ve published, shut down more indie developers than they’ve helped, and pissed off more people than they’ve pleased, but they have a lot of potential to do well given their library. So, what better than to save face as a company and make up for the incredibly disrespectful Battlefront EA games than to remake Bioware’s Knights of the Old Republic games?
- This is really just a pipe-dream and nothing less, and I’m not really sure how the rights would work out but given that Disney owns LucasFilm and EA has the sole publishing rights but remaking KotOR would most likely be less work than building an entirely new series from the ground. They could even do a lazier version by keeping the voice acting and story beats, and just focusing on rebuilding it in a new engine with better graphics, physics, and modernized progression systems. What’s not to love about the prospects of an Old Republic game remake?
- Mass Effect Trilogy
- Speaking of BioWare, people are nervous about Anthem because of EA’s involvement as well as the recent debacle that was Mass Effect Andromeda. With Bethesda igniting themselves with fire, Blizzard being destroyed by Activision, and assumptions being that 2019 will mark BioWare’s demise, very few things would possibly appease fans more than a true-to-form Mass Effect Trilogy remaster. It’s pretty much a perfect trilogy in most respects which would make a remastered version good not only for BioWare, but for EA, and for the Mass Effect property.
- Honestly, I didn’t expect EA to be mentioned so often in this. I also don’t have many reasons or excuses for it besides that I’d love to see remasters of these first three properties. The next ones will not be EA, I promise.
- The Entire Splinter Cell Saga
- What happened to Splinter Cell? One of the highest rated series’ of all time, and we haven’t heard a single whisper of a SC 7 in the longest time. Not only that, but other Tom Clancy titles such as Rainbow Six Vegas and Advanced Warfighter seem to be completely MIA as well. As far as remasters go, the first few Splinter Cell games could very much benefit from a move like this. Hell, I’d even settle for last-gen remakes alone and ignoring the first 3 games, even though we’d be missing the best ones. I just want to see Splinter Cell on current generation consoles.
- Stealth games are semi-regular releases every year, but great stealth games are fairly rare and always celebrated. The staples of this genre are the Splinter Cell games. There is really no way that a collection such as this would flop, especially if it would be released in installments (former three, latter three), for full $60 price tags.
- Max Payne Trilogy
- This is probably the least selfish choice I’ve made for this list. I love Max Payne and Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne more than 99% of other games, and I would just love if other people were able to experience these classics. If you don’t own a PC, original Xbox, or… PS2 (?), then you’d have no way of playing these games. Not only would it be beneficial for people who own current generation consoles, but it would be beneficial for Rockstar as well.
- Even if they didn’t develop the first two games, they would be fairly simple to reimagine and would take much less time than, say, a GTA VI would take to make. They could throw out a Max Payne Trilogy remaster between the releases of their huge titles, and with the heart they put into everything they do, make a lot of money when fans see the respect they’ve given the property. Even if they slap a lazy multiplayer option into the mix, people would eat these up.
These are just the ramblings of one individual, and I’d love to hear your opinions on the matter. What games would you like to see remastered? Or, perhaps you’re a purist; why should games not be remastered? Let me know! As always, thanks for reading and I’ll see you soon!
The Entertainment Elite 