Games that Deserve a Do-over

[loudestmute]

S.L.A.I.: Steel Lancer Arena International
For years, mech combat games to me have been about fighting the labyrinthine control setups as much as other giant robots. Then along came this (and its prequel, Phantom Crash), and made mech stomping into an easily navigated third person shooter. Also noteworthy for its heavy use of nigh-invisibility and somehow not breaking the game in the process.

Downhill Domination
So, you're working at Incognito (formerly SingleTrac, now Eat Sleep Play). You've released Twisted Metal: Black, and now everyone in the gaming community associates you with the warped mind of David Jaffe. What do you serve up as a unicorn chaser before the term exists? SSX on mountain bikes. And with water bottles that'll fuck up your day more than a red turtle shell.

Skitchin'
Break out your (Genesis/Mega Drive) for this one. Road Rash, plus rollerblades, and please stop running it totally gets better. It's got an incredible sense of speed for the era, a curiously inventive punk rock soundtrack, and a constant sense of accomplishment thanks to the curiously large cash rewards doled out at the end of every race.

Marc Ecko's Getting Up
Great platforming sections, silently encouraging exploration of the massive levels, and fairly interesting concepts in stealth gaming. Now, if only it wasn't so enamored with its lackluster fistfighting mechanics...

 

[faspxina]

Dragon Age: Origins with Dragon Age 2 combat gameplay.

Because when I press a button I want something awesome to happen. Button... awesome.

[a href= "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yff3jH8NECs"]Touch my awesome button[/a]

Don't agree, with your statement, but it reminded me of the video (the interview you're referencing reminded me of it too). Now we know where BioWare gets the ideas for their PR releases, wark, wark.

Don't really agree either I just wanted to shoehorn that joke. xD

Brutal Legend is game that could've been great instead of just good.

 

[hazabaza1]

I'd really like to see Mass Effect 1 done over with the more modern gameplay. ME1 is just not fun to play, at all, which is a shame since y'know, story and choices and new characters to play through the trilogy with.

I actually found ME1 to be the most fun to play. I think they'd throw away that awesome 80's dark sci-fi feel and focus on the combat too much.

Plus, when you're an adept in ME1, you really feel like you control the world. You can stack your powers. I LOVE picking up the Geth Armatures (the big white ones, I forget their name) with singularity, then lift and then throwing those fuckers. What a feeling, like being a slightly cooler Jedi.

By ME2, adepts, especially on harder difficulties, for a spectaculary untalented gamer like myself, are unplayable. I simply cannot dish out enough damage and my team mates always die.

Oh, I'd certainly love that kind of adaptability. If there was one thing great about Mass Effect's combat it was definitely the physics objects. Just remove everything from my previous rant, keep in the good stuff, add the interrupt system and do some better conversation animations, and boom, best game in the series. Probably.

This needed to be said. Thank you Hazabaza.

It's a hard job, m'lad, but somebody needs to do it.

 

[Sizzle Montyjing]

Brink.
Oh god Brink...
[sub]I loved you but you didn't love me back... *sniffles*[/sub]
Seriously though, so much potential and so little done with it.

Other than that Dark Void, but i haven't played that.

 

[tthor]

So, shooting somebody with an ungodly amount of assault rifle fire to the face and just have them run around like nothing happened is fun?
Or how the level design was quite simply not designed for combat, so around mid-game when you're taking the most damage there's hardly any way to take cover, that's fun?

Yes, yes it was fun. It sorta reminds me of some of the good ole games like Ratchet and Clank, BEFORE the plague of cover-based shooting took over, where EVERYTHING has to be super realistic (and filled with chest-high walls) in order to be "fun". I don't find much enjoyment in 'hide behind chest-high wall, shoot at enemy, duck back down, repeat'.

Edit: Although I guess this does put Mass Effect in the awkward position of being both a sort of cover based shooter and yet not exactly a cover based shooter

 

[hazabaza1]

I'd really like to see Mass Effect 1 done over with the more modern gameplay. ME1 is just not fun to play, at all, which is a shame since y'know, story and choices and new characters to play through the trilogy with.

I liked mass effect 1's gameplay MUCH more than mass effect 2,; Tho I guess I'm the type who prefers the old fashioned 'charge head-on into enemies, throwing enemies left and right with psychic powers and shooting the survivors,' rather than the 'duck behind chest-high wall, shoot at enemy, duck back down, repeat'. (but then again, last time I played mass effect 1 or 2, it was on an incredibly slow computer, so that might have skewed some of the gameplay)

I'd really like to see Mass Effect 1 done over with the more modern gameplay. ME1 is just not fun to play, at all, which is a shame since y'know, story and choices and new characters to play through the trilogy with.

Funny, I was going to say Mass Effect 2 to make it play more like Mass Effect 1, because ME2 is just not fun to play. There's more than enough shooters out there, and "gamers" really need to stop stealing all franchises to become shooters. Mass Effect just wasn't made for you.

So, shooting somebody with an ungodly amount of assault rifle fire to the face and just have them run around like nothing happened is fun?
Or how the level design was quite simply not designed for combat, so around mid-game when you're taking the most damage there's hardly any way to take cover, that's fun?
Oh, and the ridiculously unbalanced difficulty curve, starting off piss easy, then getting more difficult, but then going back to piss easy once you near the end of the game! I had a hell of a time with that!
Oh, and enemy biotics stun locking me to death when I leave cover and try to, you know, do what a Vanguard does best. That was awesome.
But I suppose my best memories of Mass Effect would be my companions being absolutely retarded and ending up in close combat skirmishes with 5 enemy units whilst equipped with a sniper rifle. Man, this game had such good combat! And that's not even getting into the sticky as all shit cover system, and general lack of mobility!

Please. If a game is going to have "RPG-shooter" combat then the shooter bit needs to be at least competent.

Yes, yes it was fun. It reminds me of some of the good ole games like Ratchet and Clank, BEFORE the plague of cover-based shooting took over, where EVERYTHING has to be super realistic (and filled with chest-high walls) in order to be "fun".

Ratchet and Clank is different. Ratchet and clank is frantic, acrobatic, and fucking fantastic. If Mass Effect was trying to emulate that sense of acrobatic combat and enemy swarming then it failed spectacularly, because for that kind of combat to work you need attacks that can cover a large area at a fast pace, agility, and lots of enemies that died quickly. Mass Effect had none of these.
Oh, and that "chest high wall" comment? Yeah, I go Vanguard with Claymore and Talon, I'm rarely in cover.

 

[Westaway]

Brink. More content, more polish, and more story. Well, the story was there, it has alot of lore, but you hear very little of it in game.

 

[tthor]

I'd really like to see Mass Effect 1 done over with the more modern gameplay. ME1 is just not fun to play, at all, which is a shame since y'know, story and choices and new characters to play through the trilogy with.

I liked mass effect 1's gameplay MUCH more than mass effect 2,; Tho I guess I'm the type who prefers the old fashioned 'charge head-on into enemies, throwing enemies left and right with psychic powers and shooting the survivors,' rather than the 'duck behind chest-high wall, shoot at enemy, duck back down, repeat'. (but then again, last time I played mass effect 1 or 2, it was on an incredibly slow computer, so that might have skewed some of the gameplay)

I'd really like to see Mass Effect 1 done over with the more modern gameplay. ME1 is just not fun to play, at all, which is a shame since y'know, story and choices and new characters to play through the trilogy with.

Funny, I was going to say Mass Effect 2 to make it play more like Mass Effect 1, because ME2 is just not fun to play. There's more than enough shooters out there, and "gamers" really need to stop stealing all franchises to become shooters. Mass Effect just wasn't made for you.

So, shooting somebody with an ungodly amount of assault rifle fire to the face and just have them run around like nothing happened is fun?
Or how the level design was quite simply not designed for combat, so around mid-game when you're taking the most damage there's hardly any way to take cover, that's fun?
Oh, and the ridiculously unbalanced difficulty curve, starting off piss easy, then getting more difficult, but then going back to piss easy once you near the end of the game! I had a hell of a time with that!
Oh, and enemy biotics stun locking me to death when I leave cover and try to, you know, do what a Vanguard does best. That was awesome.
But I suppose my best memories of Mass Effect would be my companions being absolutely retarded and ending up in close combat skirmishes with 5 enemy units whilst equipped with a sniper rifle. Man, this game had such good combat! And that's not even getting into the sticky as all shit cover system, and general lack of mobility!

Please. If a game is going to have "RPG-shooter" combat then the shooter bit needs to be at least competent.

Yes, yes it was fun. It reminds me of some of the good ole games like Ratchet and Clank, BEFORE the plague of cover-based shooting took over, where EVERYTHING has to be super realistic (and filled with chest-high walls) in order to be "fun".

Ratchet and Clank is different. Ratchet and clank is frantic, acrobatic, and fucking fantastic. If Mass Effect was trying to emulate that sense of acrobatic combat and enemy swarming then it failed spectacularly, because for that kind of combat to work you need attacks that can cover a large area at a fast pace, agility, and lots of enemies that died quickly. Mass Effect had none of these.
Oh, and that "chest high wall" comment? Yeah, I go Vanguard with Claymore and Talon, I'm rarely in cover.

I guess Mass Effect clearly wasn't aiming to have that Ratchet-type combat, however the 'flaws' in it's cover-based shooting gave me the opportunity to play it like that. But I do admit, it wasn't perfect,

 

[ChaosStep]

Bushido Blade, with online MP and err'ting.

 

[Jolly Co-operator]

Warhammer 40K: Space Marine. It was a fun game, but I felt like it fell a just tad short of what it could have been.

Resistance 2: It was a very good game, but I'd like to see it redone with Resitance 1 and 3's gameplay.

 

[tthor]

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

Still a damned good game, especially with the community patches to smooth out the experience. One of my favourites even! But it just could have... *should* have been more. Oh what I'd give for more games like Bloodlines. In my ideal gaming world Bloodlines wouldn't need community patches and would have been shipped perfect, would have sold fantastically, and Troika would still be around making Arcanum and Bloodlines 2.

Knights of the Old Republic 2

If you're ever played this game with the Restored Content Mod you'll know what I mean when I say this game had the potential to not just be better than the first game, but to absolutely blow it away in nearly every regard. The gameplay was more diverse and better balanced, the story was extremely compelling, the characters you interact with fantastically well realized. Only problem? Never finished. It was clearly shipped incomplete (Yes I know why!) and even with amazing mods like the above it's just never been allowed to reach that high promise.

I just bought Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines during a recent steam sale, tho I figured I'd wait until I got it fixed up with mods before I start playing. What mods would you recommend?

 

[Dead Seerius]

I was going to say Borderlands ONLY because I thought the terrain could use a bit more variety and the plot could be a little more immersive (everything else was fantastic) but since Borderlands 2 seems to be doing just that, nevermind.

 

[Noswad]

Lets think, Mirrors Edge, we need to take it back to its development team and tell them to delete all but the first few chapters, you know the good one's with the rooftop chases where the core mechanics of the game actually made sense, as a pose to running around a ship or inside a office building. Seriously its like Dice started making a genuinely great game, great parkour mechanics, beautiful visual and a awesome soundtrack, then the entire development team must have decided to spend the rest of the time getting high or picking their noses, before shoehorning in some generic fps mission and a crap ending. This is without even mentioning the god awful cut scenes and forgettable characters. OK this is turning into less of a do-over and more of just telling the developers to start again, but the pieces were set for for a genuinely great game and what we got was disappointingly mediocre.

 

[Squilookle]

Jet Force Gemini
Its my favorite N64 game and everyone I know who's played it agrees that its one of the best out there. It had everything. Aliens, zombies, giant bugs, teddie bears, and it was gorey as hell.

You do realise that Rare went on to create Conker's Bad Fur Day, right? Which had ALL of those features you mentioned, and while not a dedicated third person shooter like JFG was, it ended up having better 3PS controls anyway? Not to mention it also had multiplayer, that you could deathmatch against teddy bear bots in, with blood and stuffing splattering everywhere?

 

[Your Fearless Captain]

Even though it was never released Megaman Legends 3 needs to be made in to a finished game at some point. FUN FACT: Someone at Nintendo Power got play the demo of it.

 

[The Madman]

Restored Content Mod basically puts it what it was meant to be, there wasn't much past that.

If only. The Restored Content Mod only implements content that was, to some unfinished extent, already on the game disk and had already been worked on by the developers to some vague degree. Unfortunately modders, including those of the Restored Content Mod, quickly discovered references both in the game files as well as the cut dialogue and content that refers to entire segments that were never put on the disk; namely an entire planet named M7-48 and an overarching plot involving the GenoHaradan from the first Kotor among other smaller bits of content.

To their credit the people over at Deadly Stream who made the The Restored Content Mod are trying to put those back into the game as well in an upcoming mod, but they're more or less working from vague references and guesswork as opposed to the developers original intent. We'll never know fully what Obisidian's real intentions were.

I just bought Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines during a recent steam sale, tho I figured I'd wait until I got it fixed up with mods before I start playing. What mods would you recommend?

Just the unofficial patch which is available here really. There are a couple decent mods out there for V:TMB but I'd recommend a more 'pure' playthrough first and by default all the patch above does is fix things up, although there is an option to do more.

Enjoy.

 

[Condiments]

Knights of the Old Republic 2

If you're ever played this game with the Restored Content Mod you'll know what I mean when I say this game had the potential to not just be better than the first game, but to absolutely blow it away in nearly every regard. The gameplay was more diverse and better balanced, the story was extremely compelling, the characters you interact with fantastically well realized. Only problem? Never finished. It was clearly shipped incomplete (Yes I know why!) and even with amazing mods like the above it's just never been allowed to reach that high promise.

Agreed. I remember believing the game mediocre when I played it upon release. I then recently went back to play the game with the restored content and was simply astounded at the quality of the material. Especially the story, which is easily some of the best fiction to come out of the star wars universe since the original trilogy. Its still slightly incomplete even with the additions(especially the ending), but it could have been so much more. Obsidian never catches a break...

If only TOR never came along....

 

[krellen]

Just the unofficial patch which is available here really.

Warning: that mod actually changes the gameplay from the developers' intent.

 

[CAPTCHA]

Call of Cthulhu, Dark Corners of the Earth...

Now do not get me wrong, this game is so fucking good! It is not just good, it is awesome, close to perfection... However, close but no cigar.

It is a great game, with good gameplay, however it is also dated. It deserves a do-over with modern technology, modern thinking.

Agreed, though perhaps not a return to Innsmouth. The whole story is a bit of an aberration from the usual Lovecraft stuff. I'd like to see a Dunwich themed game, or hell, one that deals with the Mi-Go. Just imagine walking around Yuggoth.