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This week has seen the release of Halo: The Master Chief Collection on Xbox One. The collection, which comprises of all four of the original series, has seen the games remastered for the newer games consoles. But while it’s an excellent set, it’s far from being the first game to see a remake for more powerful machines.
Though they’re often used interchangeably, there’s a distinct difference between a remake and a remaster. Capcom’s 2002 Resident Evil is a remake – they haven’t just ported the 1996 original; they built it completely from scratch.
But boy, do people dislike this apparently new trend. They seem to forget that remastering and remaking games have been going almost as long as video games themselves. Consider Pong, which has appeared, in some form or another, on more or less every console since its debut. Or the beloved Super Mario series, which saw an upgraded version come to the Game Boy Advance years after its SNES release. But we’re certainly seeing a lot more remasters, especially on the digital download platforms.
In fairness, sometimes, they can seem like a serious cash-grab. Take the Sleeping Dogs HD remake. The original game, released on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, was swiftly ‘remastered’ for the next-gen games system. Trouble was, it didn’t bring much to the table; there wasn’t much to differentiate it from its predecessor. All it seemed to do was provide a nice financial bonus for developers Square Enix.
On the other hand, GTAV, which was only released last year on the current-gen, will be released in less than a week and gives a pretty good idea of what a true remaster should be. Incredible, improved graphics; new missions; increased traffic and non-playable characters; more players in online mode; and a snazzy first-person view – just in case you want to pretend you’re playing Call of Duty.
But is there anything inherently wrong with a remastered game? If it’s just another lazy port, perhaps so, but take the Nintendo classic DuckTales, which came to Xbox Live and PSN. It’s a great game, always was, and now a whole new audience of gamers can discover the 2D platformer joys. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is another – a genuinely brilliant game which hit the N64, before coming to the GameCube, Wii and 3DS. Who wouldn’t want to discover this gem, or relive those memories again?
It’ll be interesting to see how other games developers respond to remastering reactions: will they take the easy Sleeping Dogs route or go all-out, GTA-style and make full use of the hardware while giving gamers extra bang for their buck?
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