As covered in this article last week, the current state of gaming's legendary heroes is pretty dire. Sonic looks like he's been let loose with the sticky tape and Spyro's new look is more akin to him coming down with a particuarly warped skin disease than anything resembling cuteness. It's not just these old-school mascot-style characters who've been ravaged by the test of time either - put simply, there's no really iconic, industry-defining legends on the go right now; especially not for the next-generation. Can you name any character on the next-gen consoles that everyone would know by name? It certainly isn't Shadow of Mordor's Talion or the literally cobbled-together aesthetic of Knack, that's for sure. Like the film industry of 2015 you're always just one reboot away from an ancient character being brought kicking and screaming into the present day - with absolutely none of the likability, nuance or originality that birthed them in the first place. Instead, rather than taking those more modern design aesthetics and bolting them on an older foundation, why not take the financial hit that comes with zero recognisability and launch a new IP in a similar vein? It worked for Jak and Daxter following Crash, and it'd work again. However, even if those templates were seen to be bankable, nothing good would come of it because...
