HD remakes and rereleases have littered the release schedules of this generation. These offer a chance to relive (or even discover for the first time) some of the most iconic games from the good old days when we used to talk about things being 32 or 128bit as we sneered at those still using cartridges (that might have just been me).
I love these. I have absolutely no problem buying a game I loved the first time around and experiencing it with fancier graphics at a higher resolution accompanied by sound pumping through nicer speakers. Our brains have a funny way of papering over the cracks when we become engrossed in something so these HD releases often appear the way we originally thought they did however a quick check on YouTube will show just how distorted our memories become (again that might just be me).
Often they represent fantastic value for money as the usual method of delivery is through the online stores such as XBLA although the boxed copies are usually at a very comfortable launch price and often contain multiple entries from the series giving new and old fans a chance to see where the latest renditions get their style and stories from as well as finding out why so many forum users condemn the latest releases for daring to modernise (read: acting like COD).
When dealing with retro (is 10 years retro?) there can be a few downsides. A slight issue with rereleases can be the camera. If in the original release it was a bit unruly then the chances are that it will still be unruly. 3D camera control isn’t an easy part of programming and the early days they hadn’t quite got it locked down although some of the same issues are present even today. Furthermore some of our little comforts such as checkpoints and dedicated map buttons are missing however these are all forgivable as changing too much can begin to spoil the charm of the original (a mighty fine example of combining modernity with antiquity was Perfect Dark which gave a dual stick control scheme without changing the feel of the single sticked N64 gem).
Out of all of the releases I have bought I would have to say that MGS: HD Collection is by far my favourite. MGS2 was one of my fondest memories of the PS2 days and as such I had bought MGS3 upon its release. I was horrified at how different it was and never really got into it however I fell head-over-heels in love with it thanks to the HD pack and now count it as my favourite out of all of the core series (seriously do yourselves a favour and buy it, it’s quite different to 2 but is so much more rewarding and features some of the best ideas to come from Kojima’s wonderful brain).
A couple other choice games to receive the HD polish are Shadow of the Colossus and Beyond Good and Evil. These two should be part of anyone’s collection as they offer as much charm and warmth as any release today. They both still feel completely solid, full of fresh ideas and are a joy to revisit all these years later, retaining everything that made them so distinct upon their original release but benefitting from improved graphics and slightly smoother gameplay (no slowdown when things get busy onscreen).
I do wonder where all of this will lead in the coming years. Will we see super HD releases or 3D specials of these games which have enjoyed continued success across the generations? Perhaps we will see current AAA titles enjoy the treatment in 10 years time such as a photorealistic version of MW2 (I know MW2 isn’t exactly current but I do think it would be the COD which gets the treatment).
One thing which most of the games which get the HD makeover have in common is how good they were upon their inital release. Often they had ideas way ahead of their time and pushed the limits of the hardware they were originally released on. I’d love to know which current games you’d like to see get a future makeover or even the games you feel have been unfairly skipped during this round of HD touch-ups so pop over to the Abuse section and let me know.
Cheers