8 Most Insulting Changes To Video Game Remakes
Let's Try That Again....Again?
When it comes to video game remakes, the publisher and developer team in charge of handling the project is put into a bit of an odd situation.
Unlike a remaster which looks to take the original concept, smooth out the edges and possibly add in content that didn't make it into the first venture, a remake is basically looking at the entire series and saying that this is the new continuity, this is the new timeline and these are the decisions we want to best represent these games.
However because of this, the cherry-picking of features, the desire to make your own impression on the series, and to chop and change things to better fit the new image of the franchise, unfortunately some pretty disastrous changes have been made. Said changes have managed to alienate old fans and create new experiences that fresh eyes just don't want to see.
Sometimes things should be left alone.
8. Giving You Less Content And More Bugs - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD
When it was announced that the almighty Tony Hawk's Pro Skater was going to be getting a fresh coat of paint, some behind-the-scenes tweaks, and hopefully a new lease of life, fans who grew up with the title shredded their local bowls in excitement.
However, it turned out that this wasn't just a project that looked to polish the diamond, but was basically saying "no comply" to the original and was building everything from the ground up. Normally this wouldn't be such a terrible thing, but in the hands of Robomodo, it turned into a cavalcade of chaos.
Skaters were erased from history, music tracks were deleted and replaced with "oh hey my twelve-year-old brother listened to this" and entire features such as the create-a-park mode were dropped entirely. In essence, the devs cherry-picked the best content from the first three games but in the process removed any sense of charm. It felt like a soulless greatest hits album, and thanks to the shoddy controls ruining certain lines and combos, ended up feeling like a producer was smashing the "DJ DJ DJ" button between the tracks.
It wasn't a terrible package but it failed to recapture the greatness of the original games. Thankfully that problem was soon rectified by Activision's remaster that dropped in 2020.