They almost never pick the one YOU want.
Like a lot of things we consume for entertainment, I suspect the ideas of remakes are subjective. The negative points being it’s either too soon for a remake or it was never worthy of one to begin with. The positives being returning to an old game with a fresh coat of paint on it or other kinds of tweaks and fixes or giving newer fans a chance to play something they were never able to when it originally released.
We can probably all agree that remakes are a cash grab – be that good or bad. Depending on the depth of the remake/remaster – do they start from the ground up in rebuilding the game or are they just adding in elements to upgrade the look, are they tweaking the controls or adding in gameplay mechanics – a little to a lot of work can go into one. Calling some of the more robust remakes/remasters a cash grab would seem a bit disingenuous.
But again, it’s all subjective. Especially when it’s a title you don’t really care about. I don’t think anyone’s ever done one for a sports title. We never got ”Madden ‘95 Remastered” (at least I don’t think we ever did). Call Of Duty has been doing this but that felt more like a lack of ideas rather than a cash grab. Probably a little bit of both, really. The original Myst has gone through a number of these sorts of things. I can’t tell you how many copies of the original game I have that have some sort of subtitle or pre-title, each one claiming to be better than the one before it. And these aren’t sequels, mind you, but legit releases claiming to be remasters, remakes, real, 3D, anniversary, and other some odd editions.
Still, it falls to a matter of opinion. There’s nothing wrong with these things. As a consumer you either buy it or you don’t. Which kind of breaks down every sort of subjective discussion, doesn’t it? Is it worth your time, your money, and do you even want it in the first place?
I mean, I’d like a brand new Splinter Cell, Ubisoft, we’ve been waiting 3,329 days for a new Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, or VR exclusive).
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS