Remakes, remasters, and retreads are all the rage these days.
But dont let the publishers fool you, theyre not taking many chances.
What if we could avenge some of gamings greatest misses by turning them into modern day hits?
Here are five games that deserve another shot at greatness.
Black & White (2001)
OhPeter Molyneux.
40% off TNW Conference!
Okay, that parts not true.
But, inexplicably, it did receive critical acclaim when it was released.
Lets watch the trailer.
Thats a game play mechanic.
Wondering what youve just watched?
kind of way) and pick up villagers to either terrify or help them.
It was infinitely more fun to read the game previews and drool over every single gorgeous quote from Molyneux.
What would a remake do differently?
The open-world gaming genre has exploded since 2001.
ImagineSkyrimorRed Dead Redemption 2,only youre a god who shapes the game world by influencing NPCs.
Interestingly, the game was set during a future nuclear apocalypse in the year 2020.
If you go back and read reviews, youll see this one got a lot of love too.
Unfortunately, game reviewers of the time seemed to be completely gobsmacked by the idea of voice command.
Tom Clancys EndWarsucked though.
But in practice, it gets boring really fast.
Oh yeah: strategy.
Whodathunkit, but strategy games are better when theres actual strategy.
The games marketing said players could command at the speed of thought, thanks to voice control.
Once youve done that, read the following statement out loud:unitseven, engage hostiles in sector four.
I rest my case.
A remake, however, could employ modern natural language processing (NLP).
Unit seven, youre about to get mowed down.
Run away!Yes sir, unit seven engaging retreat protocols.
Dont screw it up like you did last time.You got it boss, unit seven observing stealth protocols.
Well get to the first later.
I wantedAlpha Protocolto be good so bad it hurt.
But the game sucked.
The combat was not only clunky and boring, but it sucked the life out of player progression.
ButAlphaProtocolwas buggy and, for a game that launched in 2010, its combat was flat-out awful.
For a little perspective, Obsidian also put outFallout: New Vegasin 2010.
And other RPG hits of the year includedMass Effect 2, Red Dead Redemption,andBioshock 2.
2010 was the wrong year to put forth a middling effort in the action RPG genre.
I really did thinkAlpha Protocolwas going to be like a video game version of Palladium BooksNinjas and SuperspiesTTRPG.
It was supposed to be Dungeons and Dragons for espionage.
Unfortunately it just wasnt fun and did little to encourage diversity in playstyle.
Sadly, Sega owns the rights toAPand Obsidians a Microsoft company now.
Its unlikely well see a remake, but wouldnt it be awesome?
Imagine a next-gen Bethesda-style RPG, but with good melee combat, corporate espionage, and covert military ops.
Too bad the remaster sucked too.
It was one of those games thats too awesome to fail, and so it failed awesomely.
First, the company responsible forKingdoms,38 Studios, was created by former baseball superstar Curt Schilling.
Then the game world was created by world-famous fantasy authorRA Salvatore.
Youd think all that would come together to redefine the western RPG and youd be dead wrong.
There were some seriously weirdly-pandering design decisions too.
At any point you might just remake your character.
Are you a badass wizard?
Nah, be a bold warrior instead.
Suddenly feeling like a rogue?
Thats cool, rearrange your points.
ThinkBatman Arkham CityandShadows of War.
Spore (2008)
And that just brings us toSpore.
The single most disappointing game in the history of games.
That part about creating your own single-celled organism and then guiding it through evolution?
Its justFeeding Frenzy.The whole game is pretty much justFeeding Frenzy.
You swim around eating stuff until you evolve enough to go on land.
And then you just keep doing that for awhile until youre ready to build a spaceship.
Thats pretty much howSporeworks.
You eat, fight, mate, and then go to space.
Its like youre Jeff Bezos, but theres no embarrassing divorce stage.
Oh and space inSporeis just as dumb as the rest of the game.
Its not like developers were incapable of deep, compelling game play experiences.
I believeSporewas the most promising game of all time.
Yet, it could still be so much more.
Id play the crap out of that game.
In fact, Ive been waiting 23 years to play that game.
Feel like I missed your favorite could-have-been-great video game?Hit me up on Twitter.
