Batman: Return to Arkham
Batman: Return to Arkham caused some controversy in the months running up to its release. Not only did it ignore WB Montreal’s more than worthwhile entry in the series, Arkham Origins, but many screenshots suggested that it looked no better than the original release. The change in lighting effects altered the atmosphere of Arkham Asylum and Arkham City and the spooky hallways and streets didn’t add to the game’s tone as much as in the originals. The frame-rate, in both games, also suffered throughout. Whenever a high number of Joker thugs were on screen or even when Batman was running through a detailed corridor, the game chugged – something that didn’t happen in the original release. There is no doubt that Arkham Asylum and Arkham City are fantastic games and two of the best superhero games of all time but the remasters do not improve the games enough to make it make revisiting them worthwhile.
Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection
The Ezio trilogy that followed the original Assassin’s Creed are widely regarded as three of the best in the series, even if their quality does diminish over the course of the three games. Assassin’s Creed 2 built on everything that was good about the first, removing the repetitive mission structure and adding a more coherent and interesting story. With Ubisoft taking a break from the Assassin’s Creed series for a year, 2016 seemed liked the perfect time to revisit some of the series’ high points. However, although they are undoubtedly good games, or great in Assassin’s Creed 2’s case, the graphical upgrade isn’t particularly special.
Some character models look worse than before now that some of the textures have been changed. Having experienced the altered movement systems in Syndicate, the traversal seems far more cumbersome than it did when we first played the Ezio trilogy. Also, the popular multiplayer mode, introduced in Brotherhood, has been removed from the collection. Overall, the Ezio Collection remasters do not offer much more than the original releases.
Dead Rising Triple Pack
To many Dead Rising fans, the remasters of the first game, Dead Rising 2, and Off the Record were a big disappointment, especially players on PlayStation 4. In the months preceding the release of Dead Rising 4, players were given the chance to replay the early games to re-familiarize themselves with the zombie massacring gameplay. Unfortunately, none of the games looked a huge amount better after their visual upgrade but the main issues were encountered in Dead Rising 2 and Off the Record.
Some players weren’t able to pass the loading screen and much of the DLC, that is usually included in remastered collections, was nowhere to be seen. Off the Record, the spin-off of Dead Rising 2, also had missing DLC with the Case West and Case Zero chapters not being included. If you want to play a Dead Rising game over the Christmas period it is probably best to go straight to the newly released Dead Rising 4 rather than returning to the remasters.
Indigo Prophecy Remastered
The remaster of Quantic Dreams’ early game was already available on PC but it came to PlayStation 4 earlier in 2016. The game follows the same design and philosophy as games such as Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls, as it’s an interactive drama that focuses on story rather than gameplay. It was well received when it was first released in 2005 but the remaster has been quite disappointing.
The graphical upgrade was very minimal and some people thought it looked more like a port of the PlayStation 2 version than an HD remaster. The story is worth experiencing to anyone that didn’t play the original release but the remaster doesn’t offer much new content for anyone that has already played it.
Heavy Rain
When it originally released on PlayStation 3, Heavy Rain was one of the best looking games available and it had one of the best narratives in any game. It was a deep and emotional story that focused on some excellently designed characters in a fantastic plot. However, although the story is still just as good, the performances, visuals, and gameplay feel extremely outdated.
Moving the characters feels cumbersome and the writing causes the voice performances to feel wooden. That is less to do with the actors themselves than it is to do with the huge leap forward we have seen in acting in video games over the past few years. Heavy Rain is still one of the PlayStation 3’s best games so if you are able to look past the dated feeling, it certainly offers a story that should be experienced.
It’s a shame that these remasters weren’t what fans expected, but at least there were plenty of new experiences to be had this year.
Published: Dec 16, 2016 10:12 am