A trend is growing in the gaming industry: outdated games are being re-released with graphical updates. Last December, GameInformer posted an article about their five favorite remakes and the folks at IGN have also posted their opinions. As for me, let me speak from my own experience.
Most recently, I purchased Age of Empires II HD. AoEII was a game from my childhood, one that I poured countless hours into. I still think that the scenario builder in that game is one of the most fun to play with, and that was a large part of why I wanted the remake. Since downloading the game, though, I've spent maybe an hour with it. I went back for the nostalgia once, but not again. That leads me to my critical feelings towards the gaming trend.
When AoEII HD was announced, I was interested. When the twenty dollar price point was set, I was disappointed. I waited until I could get the game on sale for five dollars before I would even consider it. And that seems to be the norm for re-releases lately. A number of Final Fantasy games from the Playstation era are popping up for sale on Steam, but they're just too expensive. I can't say I'm familiar with the degree of difficulty in re-texturing an entire game, and it's likely that there's more to getting an old game to run on modern systems than changing the image files, but I can't believe that I'm expected to pay as much for an old game as a new one. I feel that these re-releases will never sustain momentum in the market if they can't be marketed to more consumers, and I feel that many consumers are like me in feeling that the price points of these games holds them back. Would I like to go back and play through Final Fantasy VII again? Sure, maybe not all the way through, though, so I don't feel that I would be getting eighteen dollars of entertainment there.
In the particular case of AoEIIHD, new DLC was also released. I like this idea quite a bit. If I'm going to buy a game I already own (or used to own), it is a definite incentive for there to be something new to do in that game. At the same time, however, making an old game new somewhat defeats the purpose of branding it as a re-release. If I want to play the game again, I could buy a re-release, but if there is new content to be had why put it in an old box? I think this idea worked for Age of Empires, where adding a new campaign was facilitated by the form, but in other cases it would be awkward. Imagine adding side missions to Final Fantasy VIII--they would be necessarily impotent in the story and probably not considered canon by those who played the original. Such treatment of narratives has been treated with derision before, and in the microcosmic narrative of a straight story-line it would be irritating to fans of the original (which is precisely what a re-release is meant NOT to do).
And speaking of not irritating fans of the original, Fable: Anniversary (the re-release of the original Fable) is set to be released at some point this year. Seeing the multitude of posts coming up on my Facebook feed is what originally got me thinking on this blog post. I was a fan of the game back on Xbox, and played through it's two sequels despite their diminishing entertainment value. Thus, it was on my list of favorite games and thus I get to see every post about the HD remake. I'm sure I don't want to play the game again myself, but the re-release has gotten me thinking that there are people I might like to introduce to the series if it's being brought up to a modern standard. I think that's the most valuable aspect of this trend: the opportunity to get an old favorite into new hands without having to excuse anything.
While I don't believe that HD remakes are a good time for fan service, I do believe they have real value in two ways. First, there is a feeling of nostalgia in going back to an old game. It wears off relatively quickly, but it's enough to sell some units. Second, there is the opportunity for that game to be shared again and for a second wave of gamers to get to enjoy it. This is the way that the trend needs to develop, and this is the way that HD remakes can solidify their momentum and become a real part of the growing game industry. There are a lot of gamers who, like me, might not want to buy the game again for oneself but would for a friend. If publishers can facilitate that kind of action, then old titles can become relevant again.
