With remastered games popping up left and right, it’s exciting to hear when your favorite childhood memory is going to transform into a modern visual masterpiece. Likewise, it’s also equally disheartening when a game that sorely needs the same treatment gets swept under the carpet and ignored.
While we’re excited to see games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Bioshock, or Crash Bandicoot get a face-lift, there are many old titles out there that have yet to receive their much-needed makeover.
We’ve assembled a list of our top 10 games that really deserve the TLC to bring them back in the public’s gaze.
10. Dark Forces
Doom 2 with a Star Wars twist, Dark Forces puts the player in the boots of Kyle Katarn on his first missions to help the rebellion after the destruction of the first Death Star. The game was fully voice-acted and had a cast of familiar faces, including Darth Vader, Jabba the Hutt, Boba Fett, and Mon Mothma.
Some of the folks who worked on Dark Forces moved on to make the next games in the series – Dark Forces 2, Jedi Outcast, and Jedi Academy. Since Bethesda’s release of a remastered Doom, we’re anxious to see how a Dark Forces reboot would look and play.
9. Call of Duty: World at War
Set during World War II, the fifth game in the Call of Duty series is action-packed and gritty as ever. With a surprisingly emotional campaign that split the player between fighting the Japanese as an American and fighting the Nazis as a Russian, this game captured the dirty, demoralizing look and feel of the locations, weapons, and sounds of the war.
The first game in the franchise to introduce the now infamous Nazi Zombie mode, a remade version of Call of Duty: World at War would be truly spectacular to see. With some smoothed-out edges and refinement, the multiplayer here could be just as exciting as the more recent Call of Duty installments. Since they’ve already remade Modern Warfare, it would make sense if CoD 5 was up next!
8. Far Cry: Instincts
With Ubisoft’s March 27 release of Far Cry 5, the Far Cry series has really hit its stride and become a well-known public title with the AAA funding to back it. Most fans of the series have experienced the latter three games (and likely Far Cry: Blood Dragon as well), but fewer current fans of the franchise can say they’ve played the original Far Cry. Now that we’re five games deep, it’s a better time than ever to put out a fresh remaster of the game that started it all.
The first game in the Far Cry series was a much more linear, scripted experience – far from the free-roam RPG that made its entrance with Far Cry 3. Far Cry Instincts’ story plays more like a cheesy 80s action flick that takes the player through island jungles, dark rain forests, abandoned mines, towering canyons, and zombie-infested research labs. It didn’t take itself as seriously as Far Cry 4 or 5, for sure. A remake of Far Cry: Instincts would be a great idea for any gamer interested in checking out the newer Far Cry games, and yet still want to start from the beginning.
7. Final Fantasy IX
Since nearly every Final Fantasy game has gotten a full remaster, it only seems fair that Final Fantasy IX receive the same treatment. With a roster of likable characters, compelling narrative, refreshing backdrops, a solid RPG system, and a memorable score, this installment in the series is definitely worthy of returning to the spotlight.
We’d love to see how these beautiful vistas and characters would look with updated graphics and models. Just don’t mess with our chocobo track – it’s perfect the way it is.
6. Mercenaries
Few games can match the zany destructive fun of Mercenaries 2: World in Flames. Pandemic’s 2008 release was a single player or (online) multiplayer shooter game set in the sandbox world of war-torn Venezuela. The protagonist gets shot in the butt during the opening cutscene (yes, we’re serious), and proceeds to seek vengeance on the man deemed responsible – Ramon Solano. By vengeance, we mean dropping nuclear bombs on … well pretty much anyone you like, really. It’s that kind of a game.
With multiplayer hijinks that rival popular titles like GTA or Saints Row, an updated Mercenaries 2 would be glorious indeed. Seeing as EA is behind the wheel on this one, we can understand the skepticism, but hear us out: Two Mercenaries games have already been canceled and yet EA still renewed their license on the franchise. We’re not sure whether Mercenaries 3 will ever be a thing, but we can definitely see EA putting out a generic reboot. We hope so; we’re itching to skydive into a military base without a parachute again. Chicken suit: Mandatory.
5. Ultimate Alliance
Since Square Enix’s announcement of The Avengers Project, fans have been long wondering what the mysterious game might be like. For news on that front, check out this article! Many fans are hopeful that The Avengers Project will be an unofficial sequel to the beloved Ultimate Alliance and we have to say we agree.
Ultimate Alliance was the perfect game for any Marvel fan. Featuring a huge roster of over thirty playable and upgradable characters with a variety of moves there was a character for everybody. Players were also able to assemble their own teams and change costumes, for strategy or simply for aesthetic, to create a team capable of facing off with the game’s huge number of villains. The cutscene graphics have aged gracefully, but the in-game graphics could certainly do with a touch-up. While the RPG elements were solid, the combat itself (particularly the boss fights) tended to drag on. With the sad lack of Marvel games coming out this past year, we’d love to see this one get polished and redone.
4. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
We love WB’s Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War to pieces, but they didn’t do much in the way of letting the player interact or play as Middle Earth’s most beloved characters; it was never the intent of the game. EA’s 2003 release of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King was a surprising success given the generally infamous reputation of games based on movies. Featuring solo mode or two-player co-op, Return of the King took the well-constructed combat and RPG elements from Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (2002) and simply improved upon the formula by adding more missions and more playable characters.
Players hacked and slashed their way through three separate campaigns – the Path of the Wizard, The Path of the Hobbit, and The Path of the King – to make their final stand at the Black Gate while Frodo and Sam dealt with Gollum once and for all. Chock full of playable characters (Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Sam, Frodo, and Faramir to name a few), upgradable weapons and combos, unique enemies, twisting and turning maps, and voice acted by many of the original cast members, it’s easy to tell that a lot of love was put into this one. We’d be thrilled to see what it looks like spruced up and with multiplayer compatibility.
3. Goldeneye
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This one’s been a fan favorite since its release on Nintendo 64 back way back in 1997. One of the first games to highlight splitscreen competitive play, Goldeneye was the ultimate party game … and ruiner of friendships. With a healthy mix of weapons (including the infamous golden gun), maps, and character models, Goldeneye is more than deserving of a remastering.
We’d love to play this game with our friends again. Just please nerf Oddjob? Pretty please?
2. Quest for Glory
Another of our favorite games from the 1980s and 90s, Sierra’s Quest for Glory: So You Want to be a Hero was the first of a five-part series of point-and-click adventure games. One of the first RPGs, players could pick between the wily thief, the mighty warrior, or the clever mage. It was a puzzle game at its heart, but the puzzles were not always solved with equipment in the player’s pocket as was the case with games like King’s Quest or Monkey Island. There were a number of tricky puzzles that were solvable in different ways depending on which class you were playing as, sometimes opening up entirely new avenues and locations. One of the more charming features of Quest for Glory was the inclusion of an import option between games, allowing players to keep their character and transport them from game to game. Revolutionary for its time, and sadly underutilized today.
With Roberta Williams’ King’s Quest series receiving a reboot in July 2015, it’d be great to see other Sierra games make a comeback. Quest for Glory’s fast-paced combat and humorous storytelling make it our top choice. If you want a more modern take on Quest for Glory, you can check out the recently released Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption, available now by the same developers as the original!
1. Knights of the Old Republic
A fan favorite by LucasArts and Bioware, the original Knights of the Old Republic is set in the beloved Star Wars universe and features an intricate plot with memorable characters, locations, quests, and battles. The game is definitely showing its age, however, and the animations and combat are clunky at best by today’s standards. It’s a shame when that detracts from the overall impact of such a deep and detailed story, and in our opinion, there’s no game more deserving of a remaster.
If EA and Bioware want to see an influx of players on their servers for The Old Republic, this would be a smart place to start. It would remind people of what made the KOTOR series so special, and would renew their faith after the mixed response they received from Battlefronts 1 and 2.
Agree with our list? What games would you like to see brought up to 2018 speed?
