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Games Entertainment

A Case for Video Game Remakes 300

Posted by Zonk from the well-he-would-say-that dept.
The MTV Games site has up a talk with Morgan Grey, the producer on the recent title Tomb Raider: Anniversary. Anniversary is a remake of the now-classic original Tomb Raider title and (perhaps not unsurprisingly) Grey makes an argument to Stephen Totilo that game remakes are a way of preserving gamer culture. "'We have all witnessed remakes of movies that have been modernized for us to digest that came out 50 years ago before we were born,' he said as a point of comparison. If games are to achieve the same timelessness, the classics need to be easily accessible. But anyone who has tried to play certain 3-D gaming classics from even just five years ago -- let alone tried to get someone who didn't play them at the time to put up with outdated controls, graphics or camera-work -- know that it's hard to appreciate them." Grey goes on to point out that this is less true of 2D titles; he's primarily talking about 3D games here. Any titles you'd like to see remade, like Anniversary, or even re-envisioned ala Prince of Persia?
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A Case for Video Game Remakes More

A Case for Video Game Remakes

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  • how about some RPGS (Score:5, Insightful)

    by svendsen ( 1029716 ) on Wednesday October 10, 2007 @02:13PM (#20929759)
    Bards Tale, Wasteland, Ultima 4 and 5 would be cool. Some of the old TSR gold box games. all they would need to do is art and sound, the game/story/etc are all done. Mech Warrior too. man the list could go on and on
    • Bards Tale, Wasteland, Ultima 4 and 5 would be cool.

      For Wasteland; I disagree.. make a (real) sequel or play the Fallout series.

      For Ult5, there was a adaptation of it for Dungeon Siege that looks pretty good (never played it). .. and what about Ult3? .. they made a newer versions of Bards Tale in 2004.

      -------

      These games don't need to be remade. Part of the appeal to them was they didn't have 'awesome graphics'... just like alot of movies.. if you add in more visual elements, I feel you take away the imagin
      • Some of the classics have aged hard in regards to visuals and sounds. Maybe I am a graphics snob but a quick polish on graphics, updated sound, and working on modern hardware (without having to use Dos Box, etc] would be very nice.

        Maybe this is being a graphic snob but at some point trying to lower expectations for some older games hasn't worked too well for me..YMMV. Then again when Wing Commander came out in VGA (I was blown away...) it was the best the industry had to offer. On the flip side playi
        • I would love to see a remake of 7th Saga (one of the hardest games I ever played), and probably Shining Force. A Secret Of Mana remake with the graphical power of a game like Blue Dragon would be a must play.

          Going beyond RPG's for a sec though, I would love to see some remakes of the great space shooters. Namely, X-Wing and Tie Fighter. Also, the original Wing Commander that came out on SNES was a great game, I would love to see a console update of that.

        • It might not be that difficult to up the graphics and sound. With a lot of the console emulators, there's filters that up the level of the graphics by smoothing out the edges, and increasing the pixel count. The result is that by putting the graphics through a simple filter, the game looks a lot better. I imagine the same could be done for sound. Anything that's midi (or something like it) could be converted to wavetable, and instantly get a much better sound. There's some simple modifications that cou

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by gEvil (beta) ( 945888 )
        and what about Ult3?

        If you have a Mac, there's an officially-sanctioned update available here. [lairware.com] It's nicely done and even includes options to change elements of gameplay if you want (move diagonally, automatic battles, etc). In my mind, this is exactly what these updates should be--updated to be played on newer machines/OS's, with enhanced graphics and gameplay options if you want them (but you can still turn them off to get the original experience if you choose to).

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Fallingcow ( 213461 )
      RPGs that should be remade, eh?

      One word:

      Darklands [wikipedia.org]

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Hatta ( 162192 )
      Personally, I am way, way too excited about the impending release of the remake of Quest for Glory II [agdinteractive.com].

  • They're called 'sequels'. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by InfinityWpi ( 175421 ) on Wednesday October 10, 2007 @02:14PM (#20929779)
    Video Games don't need to get remade.

    Let's take Super Mario Brothers. Now let's improve the graphics, the sound, tweak the controls to better fit today's control schemes, and what do you get?

    Super Mario Brothers 3. Or Super Mario World. Or Mario 64. Or... you get the point.

    Unlike movies, where sequels usually just continue the storyline from what came before, video game sequels (should, at least) add new stuff, improvements, updates, etc. If you want the 'Tomb Raider' experience, you play the most recent one. If you want the 'Civilization' experience, you play Civ 4. If you want a good FPS on your X-Box 360, you play the latest remake of Halo... they call it Halo 3.

    And so on and so forth.

    • Re:They're called 'sequels'. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by shoptroll ( 544006 ) on Wednesday October 10, 2007 @02:20PM (#20929883)
      Your argument is somewhat flawed.

      You improve the sound graphics and slightly tweak the controls and you end up with Super Mario All-Stars.

      A sequel is where you add significant features that the core gameplay revolves around. Remakes may add new features or subtly tweak things but by and large the differences between the remake and the original should be fairly minor or not drastic.

      To me, remakes are more like a new edition of a book. A lot of the recent remakes can easily be viewed in this way as they have been going through and fixing bugs, clarifying story elements or in some cases expanding the game play a little bit (or making minute adjustments for balance or to keep things interesting). That's something that's not uncommon in revisions of books.

      Sequels are usually a continuation of the first or another story in the same "universe". What you're suggesting is that Two Towers is a remake of Fellowship of the Ring.

      • The above poster hit the nail on the head... Sequels are not remakes, that's the point. Die Hard 3 is not a remake of Die Hard, it just took existing characters and the world they were in and extended it. That's why, for example, you would need to see the first film to understand that the bad guy in DH3 is the brother of the guy McClane killed in the first Die Hard. Sequels build on the previous games.

        What we're talking about here though is more along the lines of the John Carpenter remake of The Thing

        • Re:They're called 'sequels'. (Score:5, Insightful)

          by shoptroll ( 544006 ) on Wednesday October 10, 2007 @03:06PM (#20930559)
          Another thing about remakes... I can go into any book store and pick up a copy of Romeo & Juliet. Want a copy of Dune? Go right ahead. The Hobbit? No problem. Can I go into Best Buy and pick up a copy of Xenogears? How about Ogre Battle? Or Earthworm Jim? That's right. You can't. Yet I can easily go to the DVD rack at Best Buy and find a remastered version of Gone with the Wind.

          Part of games being taken seriously is going to require the industry being willing to take on some measure of preserving the classics. Digital distribution is a good way to do this (id just put their entire back catalog on steam) as are retropacks of classic games (sierra did this last year with most of the adventure franchises). Remakes are another way of preserving the past.
          • That's an excellent point too... Books have remained essentially unchanged in terms of how we access them for hundreds of years. If you can read the language, you merely have to procure a copy of it and you can enjoy it.

            Movie are a changing media though, and this necessitates remasters and remakes over time. Yes, you can find the original Gone with the Wind, but it's still probably been updated in terms of sound, color and perhaps restored scenes.

            Games change even more than movies though. I mentioned

            • Yeah. That's the other half to the argument. Either games have to keep getting updated or projects like the Virtual Console or DOSBox need to be fully supported by the industry (honestly it's a shame the Virtual Console doesn't have Game Boy or Game Boy Color support). Because honestly, it'll save them a lot more money in the long run to do the later through digital distribution than to remake the same game ever 5 years. Then again, if you add new features you can sometimes get people to buy the same th
        • Apparently there was one made. It's called "Mystic Ark".

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by kisrael ( 134664 )
          I don't really disagree with you, but I think many sequels tend to be more remake-y than you argue.

          Or at least it's a very gray area. But I think the attempts to use book and movie metaphors here are flawed, because (most) games are not only about a story. I think what makes gaming interesting is the ability to provide a new style of interaction. If a sequel has the same core mechanic, and the same general story (like Z:OoT vs Twilight Princess) it might not be a remake per se but it's much less of a sequel

      • Re:They're called 'sequels'. (Score:5, Interesting)

        by 7Prime ( 871679 ) on Wednesday October 10, 2007 @10:08PM (#20935343) Homepage Journal
        But here's where it get's weird:

        Metroid -> Super Metroid = Sequel
        Metroid -> Metroid: Zero Mission = Remake

        I'm sorry, but Super Metroid may as well be a retelling of the original Metroid, no less than Zero Mission was. Sure, they made some excuses for the same exact plot happening over again, but it was basically a retelling. Zero Mission was, once again, the same plot, and completely redesigned gameplay (and areas) from the ground up. The only difference is that ZM CLAIMED to be a retelling, where-as Super Metroid claimed to come afterwards, but that differences is mearly superficial, especially since plot is was not exactly a primary goal in the Metroid series until Prime.

        I'm just pointing this out because I think it illustrates how superficial the arguement about sequals/remakes is in the game world. Especially in the 8-bit era, and into the 16-bit generation, as well, most sequels consisted of little more than the same game with a different level set, and maybe a new sentance added to the 3-sentance plotline.

        Humans aren't usually comfortable with altering a timeline once it's been set, but we also like the security of building off of something we already know, which is why many game sequels are basically the same game, but explained that they're part of a series of repeating events.

        Calling Mario Bros 3 a remake of Mario 1 may be a stretch, as the gameplay changed so drastically... but then, so did Zero Mission's. Where do you draw the line, and is there really a solid line to be drawn?

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by MobileTatsu-NJG ( 946591 )
      "Let's take Super Mario Brothers. Now let's improve the graphics, the sound, tweak the controls to better fit today's control schemes, and what do you get?

      Super Mario Brothers 3. Or Super Mario World. Or Mario 64. Or... you get the point."       ... um, no, not really. You picked a bad franchise to illustrate your point with. Heh Mario 64 is a graphical upgrade to Super Mario World. Cute.

      "Video Games don't need to get remade."

      Considering that platforms die, making it difficult to play games from 10 years ago o

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Fozzyuw ( 950608 )

        I didn't realize how much I missed those old games until I fired up the VC on the Wii

        Exactly, the virtual console is pretty much proof of concept that "remakes" can be wildly successful. To think, I just dropped ~$9 to buy "World Heroes" from the Neo Geo (a system I never owned) on the VC. *Shrug* It enjoyed playing that game a long time ago in the arcade and it's still fairly fun today. Though, I'd be the first to sign a petition to drop VC prices by 1/2. =) There's lots of games I probably buy if the

        • Actually, there's a loophole in the EA deal...it only covers the active rosters. Now, whether that means it's totally open or it just means it's not covered in the exclusive deal and would require a separate liscense, I'm not sure about.
          • Yeah they'll probably do what they did when they released Tecmo Bowl on the VC for the NES... just give everyone generic names. Eh.

        • Exactly, the virtual console is pretty much proof of concept that "remakes" can be wildly successful.
          Remake != Rerelease

          While now they can run in progressive scan, use the wiimote/classic controller/gamecube controller, and let you save your state to resume later, I don't think the VC games are really enchanced in the way that, say, Final Fantasy III was remade for the DS or Tomb Raider Anniversary was remade for, well, everything.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Fozzyuw ( 950608 )

            Remake != Rerelease

            True, I'm just using the assumption that if one would be a re-release, one would presumably be willing to buy a remake, given the right price of course. Few are really going to spend more on a remake if it's available as a release. I wouldn't download a remake of the original Zelda when I already own the VC rerelease, even if the graphics looked like A Link to the Past.

            Cheers,
            Fozzy

      • I second on the bad example. One thing I'd be interested in seeing is a remake of games with the same basic controls, but a lot of extra levels... or a level editor and let the community do the work. For games like Super Mario Bros. have the same controls, just make 50 more levels. New tracks for car racing games, etc. I used to love playing the Need for Speed series but got tired of the same old tracks.
    • Are you kidding me? I would kill for Half-life to look like Half-Life 2. I play through Half-life I'd say about four or five times a year, I just love that goddamn game, and to play through it with all of the graphical and AI goodness of Half-life 2 would just be insanely enjoyable. Half-Life is a thoroughly different game than Half-Life 2, the same way the Twilight Princess is different than Ocarina of Time; I want to see my favorite places and favorite scenes redone and better looking, and there is no way

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Pojut ( 1027544 )
        ummm....Half Life: Source, anyone? [wikipedia.org]
        • Not even close to what I mean; HL:Source is the original Half-life game assets ported over directly into the Source Engine, the only changes are that it runs much better, has the source water and physics, and a couple of shiny, basic shaders on some of the textures. It looks the same as Half-life, but if you're going to replay it, now you can do it in Source. I'm talking about exactly what I said before, redoing the game; new models, new textures, all of the new Source goodies from the latest episode, new A

        • No, HL: Source doesn't do anything for the graphics; it uses the old textures and geometry. The better alternative is Black Mesa [blackmesasource.com].

    • Not necessarily. It depends on how you envision the "remake". Sequels are often very different games. Civ2 and Civ4 have different features and a different balance. Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario World have very different levels and upgrades. Halo 1 and Halo 3 don't have the same levels or story lines.

      Personally, I'd really like to see something done to preserve video game history. Gaming platforms go obsolete. Sometimes you can get emulators, but the games don't always run properly in emulation.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by arivanov ( 12034 )
      Really?

      I would really like to have the original X/B-wing and Tie Fighter remade (not the later madness known as X-Wing vs Tie Fighter). These were infinitely fun to play despite the relatively low quality graphics. In fact if it is remade and released for a console or linux I will buy it straight away.

  • how about the 2d, too (Score:4, Interesting)

    by illegalcortex ( 1007791 ) on Wednesday October 10, 2007 @02:14PM (#20929787)
    I'd settle for certain gameboy games getting redone as SuperNES-quality sidescrollers. Metroid II tops the list. I'd like to play a lot of them, but just wouldn't be able to put up with the graphics. Unfortunately, when these things get remade they tend to wind up no the newer Nintendo handheld. That was OK when it was the GBA, as I could use a gameboy player (did that for Metroid Zero Mission). But I wonder if I'll ever play DS games due to lack of a good way to play them on a TV.
  • How about Duke Nukem? :P

  • A few... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Gulthek ( 12570 ) on Wednesday October 10, 2007 @02:16PM (#20929825) Homepage Journal
    Wing Commander

    Ultima IV-VII

    Autoduel

    Grim Fandango (Residual should take care of this)

    Bionic Commando

    Combat (on XBox Live!)

    Mail Order Monsters (what's the last fighting game you remember that included tactical nuclear weapons?)

    Archon
    • I'll definitely second Mail Order Monsters and Archon. Both could benefit from a few gameplay tweaks and new graphics and sounds, but the core concepts of both games were pretty solid, if somewhat simplistic by today's standards. Also, now that you don't need a new 5.25" floppy to save your monster on, Mail Order Monsters seems like it would be a fairly simple project to pull off. EA published the original, but I don't know if they still have the rights or not.

      On a side note, a remake of Archon needs som

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by toolie ( 22684 )

      Ultima IV-VII
      Autoduel
      I would love an updated Autoduel, that was one of the greatest games ever.

      On top of Ultima 4-7, I'd add 3 also.

      Other games I would like to see updated are Seven Cities of Gold, the old D&D games like Curse of the Azure Bonds and Elite. I'm sure there are a ton of them from my Apple days that I can't remember.
    • Bionic Commando would make an awesome FPS, as anyone who played Dark Forces:Jedi Knight with one of the Boba Fett Grappling Hook mods should know.

      I'd pay full price for graphics/physics updates and maybe a tiny bit of new content in a Deus Ex or System Shock I/II remake.
    • I also liked Racing Destruction Set. I'm still waiting for a new racing game that involves being able to make all sorts of tracks in all sorts of gravity. Just the thought of flying off the track at the right angle to get further ahead in the game or even on a faster track has alure to a certain degree of us. And if that doesn't settle it, imagine allowing you to upload your tracks onto the net, and voting to show the best tracks. Not even counting netplay racing vs each other. Is there even a netplay r

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Gulthek ( 12570 )
        No racing game that *everyone* plays, but all the recent XBox 360 racing games have included live play. My favorite is still Test Drive Unlimited where you get to race around Hawaii's big island with other players on XBL.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tambo ( 310170 )
      Mail Order Monsters

      Archon

      Ah, a fellow Commodork. ;) Are you also a rabid fan of the Gamebase64 project?

      I'll add M.U.L.E. to your list. In fact, I tried to make it - no fewer than three times! - during my much more laid-back undergrad days. Still one of the best games of all time, in terms of beautifully simple and fun gameplay.

      - David Stein

      • Envision JumpMan, from a first person perspective using a recent engine.
        Damn, that would be GOOD!

  • Need to revive the whole Graphic Adventure genre (Score:4, Insightful)

    by DCTooTall ( 870500 ) on Wednesday October 10, 2007 @02:24PM (#20929943)
    Oooo... I'd almost love to see some of the classic Lucasfilm Games (NOT LucasArts..).... Zak McCraken for instance. Maybe also some of the ole' Sierra games like the Space Quest series.... And maybe a side of Search For the King for simple nostalgia sakes. ....Of course, Have to do the Sierra games with their original Typing interfaces since point-and-grope (oops... not LSL) interfaces take the intelligence outa the play requirements. Still think LucasFilm was the only company to ever do a useable Point-n-click interface in a graphic adventure...

  • X-Wing and Tie Fighter (Score:5, Insightful)

    by JeepFanatic ( 993244 ) on Wednesday October 10, 2007 @02:28PM (#20929987)
    I just had this discussion last weekend with a friend of mine about how I'd love to see an update of the X-Wing and Tie Fighter games to include a 3D engine. Definitely something I think alot of geeks (especially) would buy. Of course though, it would be yet ANOTHER way that George Lucas would get me to part with some of my money.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Jim Hall ( 2985 )

      I know this is already available as a Windows95/98 game, using a 3D engine ... but I'd love to see this ported to a console (PS3 or XBox, I don't care) or to the Mac.

      Man, I *loved* playing X-Wing and TIE Fighter - but probably more TIE Fighter, because it's great to play as the bad guy. Great space flight sim, without being *too* sim-y. And of course, it had a good story, which seems to be lacking in a lot of games today.

      • You know, I never realised it until I played Tie Fighter, but Tie Fighters really are designed to fly screaming onto the screen and get blown away by the heroes. No shields, no armour, pathetic weapons, a top speed barely above walking pace, and they were still huge fun to fly. Getting all the way through a mission in one of those flying targets really felt like an accomplishment. And then, of course, eventually you got given the Tie Advanced and Tie Interceptor. Now, those were real ships...

        Incidentally,

  • On the DS. Make it happen. Now.

  • X-COM (Score:2, Insightful)

    by BarlowBrad ( 940854 )
    #1 on my wish list- X-COM: Enemy Unknown (or X-COM: UFO Defense, depending on location).

  • Zelda! (Score:3, Funny)

    by __aailob1448 ( 541069 ) on Wednesday October 10, 2007 @02:35PM (#20930097) Journal
    Man, remember that old 8-bit game? It'd be great if it was remade in 3D! Perhaps with some cell shading or maybe link would live and fight in a darker world. One can only hope...
  • Wing Commander 1,2,3...after that it got silly...just the stuff killing the Cats.

    X-Wing, TIE Fighter, X-Wing vs Tie Fighter, don't mess with a good thing too much just bring the Graphics up to date.

    Star Wars Pod Racer, this was a fun distraction game, but it never really worked past Win 98.

    Magic Carpet 1,2

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by snooo53 ( 663796 ) *
      Good choices... Rogue Squadron 3D with more levels would be fun too
      • See I never liked that one particularly much because I was an X-Wing Fan, and Rouge Squadron was a basically a rail shooter.

        But...to each their own, that's what makes life interesting after all.

  • Zelda II (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I wouldnt mind seeing Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link remade as a 3D Zelda. Its currently the most unappreciated of all the series titles. A Rebirth as a 3-D hack'n'slasher could be very cool.
    • I wouldnt mind seeing Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link remade as a 3D Zelda.

      Wander around in a 3D Hyrule, visit Rauru, Ruto, Saria, Mido, Nabooru and Darunia, pick up cool magic along the way, save world... Yeah. That would be so damn cool.

  • I don't necessarily need some of my old favorites remade, but I'd like to see them fixed so I can play them again. I have too many games that won't run on current operating systems, or where the last patch never made it out of the development before the company folded. Feel free to make a sequel, but I'd like to see them include a fully-patched version of the original game as well.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Jim Hall ( 2985 )

      On this topic, I've been trying to convince *someone* at Universal to re-release the original "Spyro the Dragon (PS1)" for PSP on PlayStation Network. It was a wonderful game. Fortunately, I still have my copy, and my PS3 has hardware backwards compatibility - and yes, I do still play it.

      I think Spyro would work really well on the PSP - iirc, the second stick didn't do anything, and R2/L2 (rotate camera) could be mapped to R/L ... losing R1/L1 (roll left/right, which I never used afaik.)

      Sometimes, the o

  • That's one game i'd love to see remade. Westwood's engine had so much potential. If the engine was open, we would see tons of custom made adventures and dungeons.

    There's a guy making an EOB2 remake [eob2remake.com], but he's working all alone, and I doubt he'll ever get it finished.

  • Starcraft 1 (Score:3, Interesting)

    by calebt3 ( 1098475 ) on Wednesday October 10, 2007 @02:55PM (#20930395)
    I would be great to play Starcraft 1 with SC2-like graphics. I can see it now:
    Greater than 640*480 resolution
    3D Graphics
    Lips synched with audio.
    and maybe a few SC2 goodies in StarEdit.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Pootworm ( 1000883 )
        Starcraft used fixed-sized sprites, so a resolution change would require either some scaling (which would likely look nasty at current resolutions) or additional graphics sets. Actually revealing more of the battlefield would give a tactical advantage to the player with more money in his hardware.
  • Pong.
    Give us a choice of paddle color. White or Grey?
  • Smash TV. In the form of a FPS. Big money, big prizes? I LOVE it!

  • Master of Orion (Score:5, Insightful)

    by onkelonkel ( 560274 ) on Wednesday October 10, 2007 @03:01PM (#20930479)
    Master of Orion

    I still play it all the time.

    Out of the box it should play _exactly_ like the old game with shiny new graphics. Maybe fix the last remaining bugs (combat teleporters, ancient derelict event etc) but leave the gameplay unchanged. However, (big however), make the game as mod-able as possible (something like civ 4 maybe). Make it so we can add races, technologies, spacehip graphics as required, and you would have the ultimate game for me.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • I've played GalCiv2, and yes, it's similar to the MOO games, but it's not the same. I miss the days of building up a planet with 80 missiles and then using my spies to sabatage the enemy defences (complete with mini-cutscene =) ) and take over their planet! That's what we're talking about here...not new games in the same genre, but actual remakes.

        Better yet, what about one of the greatest 4x games of all time? Ascendancy... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascendancy_(computer_game)/ [wikipedia.org]

        I miss colonizing some

  • Now some formats like shooters are general enough that you don't really need remakes, just updates to the idea. If the story is good enough, a sequel would be justified.

    Some games are pretty much perfect as-is and do not need sequels, just graphic updates. Chess is good enough but I don't think anybody would argue about buying an update for prettier graphics once a decade. Similarly, there was some legitimate fun with VGA remakes of classic arcade games like VGA Joust. I also remember an aquatic-themed Pac-

  • The key is what games have a good enough storyline (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Targon ( 17348 ) on Wednesday October 10, 2007 @03:10PM (#20930613)
    Looking at responses, a big factor would be how good the storyline was. Was the storyline really good enough to bring back to modern audiences?

    Now, look at games like Pool of Radiance and the direct sequels. By the standards of the time, and even today, the storylines work well enough to bring them back. Because the size of the areas were so small by the standards of today, the levels would need to be redesigned to make them worth playing again. The entire city where Pool of Radiance was played in, if taken directly into a modern engine, would be the size of just one area of a modern game. The storyline would not need to be touched, but the scale of things would need to be re-worked to make things seem interesting.

    There are some games that would be nice to see. Betrayal at Krondor would make for a great re-make because it was so story driven that with a new engine it could be brought in without needing a lot of new features. There have been some remakes out there done by the community, like FreeCiv and free Sim City clones that were close enough to the original to keep the feel of the original.

    There were some great games like Starflight 1 and 2, Alien Legacy(many people have never heard of it), Dungeon Master, and many others that really were different.

    Then, you have games that were a lot of fun that many people have never paid much attention to. Populous: The Beginning was a real time strategy game that did what other RTS games just refused to do, deviate from the design of Warcraft 2. The difference in Pop: TB was that instead of just dumping resources into making units from nothing, your people would reproduce(as long as there was housing), and then you would have them train and turn into the unit you wanted them to become. The sad thing is that DirectX support was a bit too weak to let me continue playing without feeling that the game was running in software emulation mode.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • I would definitely pay good money for a modernized Quake I.

    Quake I is still one of the most fun and 'arcadey' feeling 3D shooters. I actually just reinstalled it a week or so ago and I've been having a blast. Nothing I've played since it came out has equaled it in terms of its tight feel and pure arcade style fun. No other game has ever quite captured the awesome feel of its rocket- and grenade-jumping, nor the ridiculously fun turning-in air Mario-style control. Not to mention the beefy and raw sound

  • It may be me.. (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Brothernone ( 928252 )
    ... but I would love to see updated versions of Xenogears and Vagrant Story. I know FFXII was close to vagrant story, but there was a great deal of custimazation in it that I miss. The near endless gameplay did carry over well, but it wasn't the same feel. Xenogears on the otherhand was probably my first PS1 RPG. It had an amazingly overcomplicated story line, but I loved the battle system, and charicter interactions. Xenogears was probably one of the most in depth stories i've dealt with outisde of a novel
  • Sierra rereleased all their original 80's adventure games in the mid 90's with improved graphics.

    In the 90's, Lucasarts also rereleased the original xwing and tie fighter games (which were then a few years old) with improved graphics based off later graphics engines.

    And again - in the 90's, Mech Warrior 2 was rereleased a few years after its original debut in a Titanium edition to take advantage of new 3D graphics card.

    In this decade? Galactic Civilization and Tomb Raider are about all that come to mind...

    W
  • I've always wanted to see Daggerfall re-made with better graphics, fewer bugs, and all that sort of thing. Also, games like "DejaVu" would seem to benefit from more interactive environments and less obtuse UI's.

  • Remakes of great movies usually suck (although there have been a few notable exceptions).

    But there is a stronger case for remakes of 3D games. There are many early generation 3D games where the game presentation was clearly limited by technology. Many first-generation games are hard to look at due to the pixelation, aliasing, and incorrect perspective transformation of textures. I'd love to play a remake of Panzer Dragoon, for example. Or Doom--or even better, Marathon--with modern 3D graphics.

    There is perh

  • Universe (I, II, III) by Omnitrend (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Chyeld ( 713439 ) <chyeld.gmail@com> on Wednesday October 10, 2007 @05:18PM (#20932565)
    I may be the only one who has played any of these and would want a remake. But damnit, I never got to finish Universe II before dead floppies took it from me.

    For those who never played either of the first two, these were part-space sim, part trader, part interactive fiction, part X-Com style tactical combat (well before X-Com was even a twinkle in anyone's eye.)

    The space sim was a 'hard science' simulation, as opposed to a 'fighter combat' simulator. You plotted courses and routes and watched your 'nav screen' to check that other ships weren't attempting to intercept you. Ship to ship combat was handled by missles rather than magic space beam weapons. And if you managed to disable their shields (or they yours) you could send boarding parties over to take control of the ship.

    That started the tactical combat, with your squad of marines fighting through randomly generated cooridors attempting to take enough control nodes to shut out the other crew.

    If space combat wasn't your thing, you could mine planets. Uninhabited planets were relatively easy to mine, but the best ores were almost always in inhabited planets, leading to a similar combat to the boarding parties, to wipe out the local defences while your mining equipment did it's thing.

    And if you were a non-violent person, you could dock at almost at any planet, pickup a huge variety of goods and attempt to make a profit off it. Each planet had it's own set of legal and illegal goods, as well as a 'sophistication' level that determined what they would be interested in.

    The IF story is where I eventually got stuck, you play an undercover agent in a Cold War-esque standoff between two planetary alliances (you are on the "democratic" side of course). I got to a point where I couldn't get anything else to happen and lacking the era of easyily found walkthroughs, never figured out what I missed.

    But even then, it was still fun wandering the cosmos blasting ships and making a buck.

  • It's been done (Score:4, Interesting)

    by DES ( 13846 ) * <des@des.no> on Thursday October 11, 2007 @06:25AM (#20937717) Homepage
    Sierra's Space Quest I, for instance, was rereleased in 1991 with upgraded graphics and sound and a point-and-click interface instead of the original text interface.

    Id Software's Doom was remade (or "reimagined" as they put it) as Doom 3.

    Several Valve classics were converted to the Source engine. There is also a project underway to completely reimplement Half-Life on the Source engine with new models and textures (Valve's own Half-Life: Source uses the models, textures and sounds from the original game)

    • Classic Doom (3) (Score:3, Interesting)

      by RingDev ( 879105 )
      There was actually a community project that recreated the original Doom using the Doom 3 engine, my buddy did the music for it, and the whole thing turned out awesome.

      Anyways, check it out if you are looking for a beautifully remastered version of the original Doom: http://cdoom.d3files.com/ [d3files.com]

      -Rick

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