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Remasters — the good, the bad, and the fugly

Posted: September 6th, 2018, 11:39 am
by ToQi
I've recently completed two Unreal engine-based games that received current gen remasters — BioShock and Arkham City — and enjoyed them both a lot, especially the lighting design; indeed, the lighting across both Return to Arkham and BioShock: The Collection felt very similar, in a comforting way.

Has anyone else had good or bad experiences with either of these? Or positive or negative experiences with other games that have had an engine overhaul? (Shadow of the Colossus next for me...)

Re: Remasters — the good, the bad, and the fugly

Posted: September 6th, 2018, 11:49 am
by kayjoon
Firstly I'm really pleased to hear that about Return to Arkham, as I've picked that up on PS4 to replay those games when I get a chance.

On the subject, I really enjoyed the Metro Redux games when I first got the PS4. Best in class though for me has to be the Wonderboy: The Dragon's Trap remake last year. Retained everything great about playing that game, and gave it a modern polish. Not sure if it entirely counts for your engine overhaul question though.

Re: Remasters — the good, the bad, and the fugly

Posted: September 6th, 2018, 12:16 pm
by KSubzero1000
I've briefly mentioned this in the podcast thread, but I don't have a very high opinion of the 60fps version of RE4 that is available on current systems.

*The higher framerate seems to mess with the game's internal clock at times, which makes it borderline useless for Mercenaries, causes noticeable pathfinding errors and other AI-related issues.

*Some animations were hard-coded at 30fps during initial development (like the BAR reload), which makes for a very unpleasant contrast when playing. There is no option to play the entire game in 30fps like in TLoU.

*The control scheme is also needlessly stupid (it's the only RE game on PS4 that has inventory on the touchpad instead of Triangle), and there are some minor control bugs that aren't present in the older versions.

*The tiny trophy list is a remnant of when the game was planned to be released on XBLA, which tells me that there wasn't a lot of thought being put into this.

I now it's easy to complain about "lazy devs", and I'm sure the issue lies with the executive decision-makers in this case, but I find it very disappointing that a game of that caliber would only receive such a half-baked port on modern consoles. All of these issues would be patchable, but nope.


Other examples of remasters that go a step too far and take creative liberties that negatively impact a lot of the game's systems would be the Ninja Gaiden Sigma and Yakuza Kiwami games. Which is disappointing because they also have some very nice improvements.


Positive examples of remasters done right that I consider to be the game's ideal version would be MGS2 HD, TLoU, Valkyria Chronicles, RE6, & all the God of War remasters.

Re: Remasters — the good, the bad, and the fugly

Posted: September 6th, 2018, 12:31 pm
by Combine Hunter
Still annoyed that the Silent Hill collection STILL seems to be rough. Better than it was, but ultimately the problems aren't worth suffering through for better resolution. Resolution is the cherry not the cake. I'll take the smoother standard def experience instead, thanks.

Re: Remasters — the good, the bad, and the fugly

Posted: September 6th, 2018, 12:40 pm
by Flabyo
The Halo Master Chief Collecton is probably my gold standard for this sort of thing.

Re: Remasters — the good, the bad, and the fugly

Posted: September 6th, 2018, 12:40 pm
by ratsoalbion
You can at least opt to play the PC version of the Resi 4 remaster in 30fps.

You can also use the rather excellent HD Project mod to improve those ageing textures if you wish.

I have that version, plus the Wii and Xbox 360 versions.

Re: Remasters — the good, the bad, and the fugly

Posted: September 6th, 2018, 12:42 pm
by ratsoalbion
The Silent Hill collection will always be unfinished for well documented reasons. Honestly, it probably shouldn’t have been released.

Re: Remasters — the good, the bad, and the fugly

Posted: September 6th, 2018, 12:44 pm
by KSubzero1000
Yeah, the Ultimate PC version seems to be a cut above the PS4/XBO one, that's for certain. And the RE4 HD Project looks sweeeet! ^^

PS: Can't believe I forgot about the Silent Hill HD Collection. Now that's an absolute disaster.

Re: Remasters — the good, the bad, and the fugly

Posted: September 6th, 2018, 12:53 pm
by kayjoon
Flabyo wrote: September 6th, 2018, 12:40 pm The Halo Master Chief Collecton is probably my gold standard for this sort of thing.
Oh yeah I'd forgotten about MCC, really like that too.

Re: Remasters — the good, the bad, and the fugly

Posted: September 6th, 2018, 12:55 pm
by ratsoalbion
It’s recently got a lot better too, especially for XOX /4K / HDR users.

Re: Remasters — the good, the bad, and the fugly

Posted: September 6th, 2018, 1:32 pm
by DomsBeard
The Resi 4 remake made me nauseous to the point where I could not play it anymore. Only had that once previously and that was PSVR.

I have messed around in the Arkham games and it seems great. Bioshock collection also.

Re: Remasters — the good, the bad, and the fugly

Posted: September 6th, 2018, 1:41 pm
by ToQi
It is fairly baffling to me why stewards of classic series don't take a more comprehensive approach to series titles — why, for instance, can't you play Final Fantasys 1-through-13-3 on PS4, Xbone, Switch, PC, Mac, Steam, GoG? And have them presented in a high quality, archival way, with standardised, optional graphical improvements, control mapping, different translations, fast-forward/no random encounter toggles etc.

Then sell them in collections a la Mega Man — Final Fantasy: The 8-bit collection; The 16-bit collection; The 32-bit collection, and so on.

The biggest legacy music acts are often accused of cynically reissuing stuff, but the most recent The Beatles remaster project was a nigh-on comprehensive refresh, bringing everything into the modern era.

Of course it costs money to do, and of course it's a question of corporate prioritisation, but, to me, they're leaving money and goodwill on the table.

Re: Remasters — the good, the bad, and the fugly

Posted: September 6th, 2018, 1:42 pm
by ToQi
KSubzero1000 wrote: September 6th, 2018, 12:16 pm I've briefly mentioned this in the podcast thread, but I don't have a very high opinion of the 60fps version of RE4 that is available on current systems.
I picked it up on the Wii some time ago but haven't touched it yet — planning a Halloween playthrough

Re: Remasters — the good, the bad, and the fugly

Posted: September 6th, 2018, 3:02 pm
by kayjoon
ratsoalbion wrote: September 6th, 2018, 12:55 pm It’s recently got a lot better too, especially for XOX /4K / HDR users.
Yeah, really pleased with what they've done to the multiplayer in that patch too, that was a real let down before, but I had a bunch of great games at the weekend :)

On the RE4 front, I've still never played that. Picked the PC version up in a recent sale though so I'm pleased to hear that version isn't terrible...

Re: Remasters — the good, the bad, and the fugly

Posted: September 6th, 2018, 4:55 pm
by dezm0nd
I’m playing Castle of Illusion (360) and even though it’s more of a remake I’m definitely enjoying it!

Re: Remasters — the good, the bad, and the fugly

Posted: September 6th, 2018, 5:02 pm
by ratsoalbion
For me, despite what the devs said in interviews, they got the all-important ‘feel’ of that game all wrong. Killed it for me, sadly.

Very happy that you like it though, and others have said the same to me.

Re: Remasters — the good, the bad, and the fugly

Posted: September 6th, 2018, 5:10 pm
by dezm0nd
It might be because I’ve got a two year old next to me and we play it in very short bursts each day

That Kirkhope sound though!!

Re: Remasters — the good, the bad, and the fugly

Posted: September 6th, 2018, 5:40 pm
by Alex79
I don't play many remasters simply because I don't replay games all that often, but of all the ones I've played recently over the last couple of years I've not had a bad one yet. Uncharted trilogy, SotC, TLoU and MGS 2 and 3 have all been brilliant. I enjoyed Yakuza Kiwami too, but never played the original of that.

Re: Remasters — the good, the bad, and the fugly

Posted: September 6th, 2018, 5:50 pm
by ToQi
Alex79uk wrote: September 6th, 2018, 5:40 pm Uncharted trilogy, SotC, TLoU and MGS 2 and 3 have all been brilliant
All Bluepoint joints, as far as I'm aware.

Re: Remasters — the good, the bad, and the fugly

Posted: September 6th, 2018, 7:48 pm
by ratsoalbion
Yes, the gold standard folks.