YOU CAN REMAKE MY FAVOURITE GAME, BUT YOU CAN’T REMAKE [YOUR FAVE ’80S MOVIE].
Remakes allow us to share and re-experience past glories in the current generation
Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy was the best-selling PS4 exclusive in 2017. Considering that was the year Horizon Zero Dawn released, it was a staggering achievement for the two-decades-old game. While a remake or remaster is by definition not an innovation, Crash paved the way for more remakes – which will continue into 2019 with MediEvil.
Film has a notoriously bad track record regarding remakes. Disney is currently remaking a number of its animated classics in live action, which hasn’t been well received. Arguably this is down to a lack of originality and for not exploring anything new with the source material.
If you want to watch your favourite film, you can access it with relative ease and enjoy 120 minutes of run-time that you’re able to recite backwards in your sleep. Unless a remake has access to groundbreaking technology, or significantly improves on or is truer to the source material, it’s generally considered a waste of time.
As players, we spend hours in game worlds – they are interactive experiences we build memories around, some of which we relive over and over again. This creates a bond with a depth films simply can’t match.
BACK FOR MORE
Unless you’re a hoarder like me (I’m clinging onto classic consoles and games for dear life), the chance to access these experiences again can be incredibly slim. Backwards compatibility has not been available for more than a decade on PlayStation, and subscribing to PS Now to get a classic title may not be your bag – that’s if the game you want is even available. This leaves a wider gap in the market for remakes, not only to sate older players’ nostalgia, but to bring an experience to a new generation of players, and allow them the chance to be taunted by those godforsaken Egg-Thieves.
Remakes and remasters are currently having their day in the sun, but the ‘lack of originality’ argument may catch up with the industry if it becomes overly saturated with nostalgia. However, for now, it’s wonderful to see a new generation of players experience the classics for the first time.