- November 7, 2017
- Posted by: Abhay Das
- Category: Gaming
Introduction
Remastered Games is a new trend in the gaming world at present. Classic and retro games that are withered away in time are now emerging again via remastering.
Games that we played in our old days are returning via remastering so that we can cherish those memories with improved graphics and detailed textures.
Remaster Games refers to enhancing the quality of the sound or of the image, or both, of previously created textures in the game and recreating the same with the modern day hardware’s and rendering tool’s abilities to its maximum potential.
Are remaster games really worth playing?
There is an old saying ‘nothing can satisfy a human being’, and the same applies for gaming too. Back in old days’ people were happy with their 40 GB HDD, CRT monitors, around 250MB of GPU.
Soon evolution of better hardware made us to change the way we visualize games. Today is the world of 4k graphics, state of the art GPU, powerful gaming rigs, SSD cards and what not.
Remember the days while playing Resident Evil back in 2003. Back in those days there was no clue of what are graphics meats.
But it was loved that way. As time passed familiarizing with gaming acronyms, like Resolution, Texture, Anti-aliasing, MSAA and whole bunch of things. And finally there came a time when Capcom decided to remaster Resident Evil.
It was very exciting to hear about it, and soon one got an opportunity to play the remastered game.
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One thing which was liked about the remastered version was that Capcom kept the game genuine which means they did not interfere with storyline, enemies or the in game character’s voice.
Everything was the same but they improved textures in detail. And also they made some improvement on the in game camera’s FOV.
The camera’s FOV in the original version was really obnoxious which had a negative impact on the character’s control.
And also when I crank up the in game setting to high, my GPU was possibly not able to handle the load which compelled me to get an upgraded GPU.
So the question now is why a user will play a game which he/she already had completed.
Nowadays games are much more focused on fast gameplay, multiplayer means a lot these days.
It is always believed that no matter how much of new games we play today there is always a soft heart for the classic games because those are the games we grew up playing.
As a hardcore gamer it will be always exciting about classic games emerging via remastering.
Games like Project IGI, Thief-the dark project, Heretic are my personal favorite. I completed those games a number of times thus remastered version of those games will be something worth playing again.
So yes, remaster worth every penny but then again selection of games for remastering is very crucial. Because generation gap applies not only on our living style but also in gaming.
Here’s one interesting example of me buying a remastered game, it’s about the popular Metro series. The Metro series have 2 games so far. I played the sequel first i.e. Metro – Last Light, not knowing that there was an original prequel. I enjoyed the sequel so much that it made me buy the Remastered original – Metro 2033 (Metro Redux).
So remastering every game cannot be fun because every game has a different aspect of gameplay, environment, controls, and storyline.
Games like Deus Ex, Diablo are best known for the superb storyline. Games like Alan Wake, Grim Fandango are better known for their flawless gameplay.
Half-life which is considered to be the game of the decade has a mind boggling storyline and the use of real physics makes it a stunning gameplay.
Features like these are the reason why these games are still alive among hardcore gamers. So in order to decide upon remastering a game, the developer needs to take account of all these factors as well.
It is not only about picking any random game and remaster it. It should attract to new gamers as well.
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So I believe Remastering is really worth every penny. Because there are a lot of classic games which the new gamers might not even familiar with.
So remastering games are a good opportunity for the developer to give the new gamers the taste of classic games. As a result, it might help the developers to get appraised and more recognition from the new gamers.
Remastered Games with Statistics & Facts
CALL OF DUTY MODERN WARFARE
BEST REMASTERED GAME
DEVELOPER: RAVEN SOFTWARE
INITIAL RELEASE DATE: 5 NOVEMBER 2007 (Approx. 10 million copies sold)
REMASTERED RELEASE DATE: 4 NOVEMBER 2016 (Approx. 0.02 million copies sold worldwide)
Developed by Raven software, Call of Duty Modern warfare Remastered was a booming success. The ageless action movie-story, with the legendary in-game characters like Soap McTavish, Captain Price came up with well-polished textures made the characters much more alive and intense. Levels like ALL GHILLIED UP, CREW EXPANDABLE, ONE SHOT ONE KILL were breath-taking.
RESIDENT EVIL
DEVELOPER: CAPCOM
INITIAL RELEASE DATE: 22 MARCH 1996
REMASTERED RELEASE DATE: 19 JANUARY 2015 (Almost 1 million copies sold worldwide) BROKE ALL THE SALE RECORDS FOR CAPCOM.
Capcom did a tremendous job with the Resident Evil Remastered. The moment I played the remastered version, it almost flashed me all those memories related with the game. The character’s voice-over, the enormous mansion and those lovely and horrifying background score was all inexplicable.
METRO REDUX
DEVELOPER: 4A GAMES
INITIAL RELEASE DATE: MARCH 16, 2010
REMASTERED RELEASE DATE: AUGUST 2014 (Approx. 1.5 million copies sold)
Metro Redux is the remaster of Metro Last Light and Metro 2033.With the help of enhanced 4A Engine resulted with flawless graphics and enhanced frame rate. The post-apocalyptic environment in remastered version looks stunningly gorgeous. I was overwhelmed with detailed texturing of the dark tunnels in the game.
Real-time Comparison Between Original and Remaster
Pros and Cons contributing to QA
Pros
- Improved textures in the game will not only attract gamers who already have completed the game but also the new users as well. Hence, the game must be tested for it user experience, functionality and the performance based on the number of users.
- Remastered Games makes the game much smoother by fixing twitchy issues like abnormal camera angle, characters getting stuck in the game. This leaves the QA team with an option to test the remastered game for the newly added feature.
- Remastered Games will be able to deliver a good range of FPS
- Remastered Games is one good way to endorse the brand/developer loyalty
- Remastered is the new platform for classics and retro games to emerge once again. Compatibility Testing comes into the picture in this case.
- Playing the Remastered version, the new user might have a curiosity in playing the original version. A play test is always required to ensure if the remastered game design is flawless before bringing it to the market.
Cons
- Improved graphics means a hike on those game prices which new user might find little absurd.
- Users might have GPU incompatible issues with their existing hardware if they want to enjoy the remastered games with High or Ultra settings.
- Remastering a game might lose the essence of originality especially among the old users, which might have negative impact on the units sold.
- Selecting a particular game for remastering is very crucial. Things may go south if the remastered game fails to have a positive response from the users/gamers. A rigid game QA process is a must to make it a success.
Impact On the Latest Hardware
Remastered games requires high-end GPU’s like any other AAA games. Today’s gamers are all about ‘What’s under the hood brother’.
Every hardcore gamer wants their gaming rigs to be very powerful so that they could run any game as smooth as butter.
There was a time when pixelated graphics in games were normal thing because playing a game was something new.
But it did not stay the same, battle of hardware and especially GPUs started evolving. Competition among delivering good graphics was at high priority.
So at present I believe gamers want that realistic kind of graphics, blushed environment and so on. And that is the reason that hardware plays a major role.
The Verdict
Well the Remastered Games are getting much of a curiosity in today’s gaming world. It has shown a very positive response from the gamers.
I think there are still numerous amount of classic games which today’s gamers are unfamiliar of. So the goal for the remastered games is not only to attract the veteran gamers but also the new gamers.
There are still loyal hardcore gamers out there waiting desperately for some of the classic games showing up again.