What Makes A Video Game Remake Good?

an article by Richard Gillard

(From Blizzard.com)

Over however many recent years we have had a good number of remakes, remasters and reboots of just about any type of media, be it movies, tv shows, and what I’m gonna focus on here, video games. And there have been some success as well as failures obviously when it comes to remakes.

However, I do believe there are huge distinctions between a movie reboot/remake versus that of a videogame in various ways. I’ll cover some of the big ones for me as I write this. Finally, as I write this I want to go about my own definition of what a good videogame remake should be versus a remaster/reboot.

(sidenote: there may be an official definition of what counts as a remake but this is how I define it. So sorry if I’m not following code.)

So for this piece I want to put guidelines of a remake as such:

If The Story/Plot is a Sizable Part of The Game, it Should Mostly Be The Same

There are many videogame franchises that seem to put out the same type of game every couple years and the main difference between the games are most likely the plot of the campaign. These are usually called sequels and thus aren’t remakes. A remake should overall, be the same story, give or take a few changes. 

But what if they have started a new story altogether? Then I’m placing the game in the reboot category instead of a remake.

New Graphics Should Be Built From The Ground Up

Another distinction to make is that a remake is different from a remaster in that a remaster will usually just be updated graphics made from the same models as before. I’m no expert in videogame building engines or creation, but it is usually easy to tell whether the new game built the graphics from scratch or simply updated them.

I make this distinction because when I think of remakes I do want something very noticeably different when I look at the game when compared to the original.

Gameplay can be Adjusted if Needed

(image from nintendo.com)

As I’ve alluded to in the previous guidelines, I like my remakes to have good amount of contrast from the originals and of course there's no bigger contrast than the gameplay in my opinion. 

This is one of the biggest differences from a movie remake and a videogame obviously because of the immersion you experience while playing would be ruined if the new changes aren’t well executed.

So a lot of gamers would often not want many if so any changes in gameplay when it comes to remakes because some view gameplay as the heart of the experience would say it is thus not a remake. I don’t agree.

Back when games weren’t being constantly updated with so and so features, downloadable content, bug fixes, if there was a problem in the game, you kind of just had to deal with it.

This brings me to exploits. Players have been using exploits since the dawn of time and once they figured one out, it almost ruined many games knowing you could cheat if you wanted to. Since there were no updates in older games these things would never get fixed whether you wished they would or not.

This is one area where changing the gameplay of the remake fits in. They could obviously fix whatever bugs occurred in the original but also balance some aspects that stood out before to make the game overall more fun. (Melee)

Gotta be careful changing balance issues though. I think a thing with remakes more recently is that the developers will try to fix balance issues that they make the game too easy or boring. (Pokemon) I thoroughly enjoyed when some characters or bosses seemed broken and overcoming them made the experience that more satisfying. (Keep the Sephiroth battle an hour long)

I’m Down For All New Gameplay, Sometimes

(Image from Slashgear.com)

Was there ever a game you’ve played and you loved the story, great graphics, but the gameplay kind of took you out? I think you can have a great remake that honors the original even if the gameplay is completely different. Even if you enjoyed the original’s battle system, sometimes something new could also be welcomed.

Obviously I’m alluding to the upcoming FF7 remake that switched from its original’s turn based battle system to more of an active time battle system which I still don’t really understand but welcome the refreshment. 

Though I enjoyed everything about the FF7 original battle system my first time playing the game, it does seem kind of dated heading back to it now. This is no diss on the OG but I’m more curious about the game now that I know I’m going to have to think of new strategies and ways to beat the game as if I’m playing it once again for the first time.

Conclusion

Overall, I believe a game’s identity is a culmination of graphics, story, and gameplay and as long the changes in all 3 together aren’t too drastic, you can still get that feeling you once had in a videogame remake. 

I think the most important thing about remakes is that they’re being remade because obviously many really enjoyed the original so much that they’re willing to play the game again in some fashion. 

Why do we wish for remakes of our favorite games? One reason may be we want to see what our old favs could be with the technology we have now through amazing graphics. Or we want to experience what if this game had an online multiplayer? I think overall, we just want to re-experience that feeling we once had playing a certain game for the first time.To take us back and possibly share that experience with a new generation.


Big shoutout to Richard for being a guest writer this week! Please go give him a follow on Twitter- @ritz_ahoy and Insta @asap_richie!!!