Welcome to another one of my Top [number here] Lists you wonderful individual! Joe here again, this time with my Top 5 Games that are in serious need for a Reboot.
To be clear, whilst many of these could be considered sequels, I’m talking more-so in the way that games like Ratchet and Clank, and Tomb Raider have been rebooted, both which garnered commercial and critical acclaim. Anyway, enough babbling; onto the list!
5) Bully (Canis Canem Edit)
When I first played Bully after Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, I saw the two as wholly different entities, with their own flavour, charm and style that helped to differentiate these two amazing, albeit similar games – With a focus on Upper / High / Secondary School culture, environments and social behaviours that were present in ol’ 1980’s America (Only dramatised and cranked up to 11), I truely believe that there is still potential for this one-hit-wonder created by the brilliant minds over at Rockstar.
Imagine this for a second – A British Bully game set in a slightly run-down boarding school, fit with all the social aspects of what fuelled kids back in the 1980’s / 1990’s; all of which being inspired by comics such as The Dandy and The Beano! Parodies of retro culture, social statuses and influences at the time such as musicians, technology and celebrities would definitely strike a chord with many, and give the kids of today an (Albeit parodied) insight into how different (Yet similar) school life was for members of their family.
Obviously, however, this comes with it’s own set of challenges, issues and obstacles that would have to be overcome by the minds over at Rockstar, and may not strike a chord with ‘modern’ gamers, but hey, one thing can be agreed upon – More Rockstar games can’t be a bad thing, can it?!
4) Final Fantasy Tactics
Final Fantasy Tactics, whilst beloved by many, is in some dire need of some new-found love. Having been seemingly forgotten by Square Enix for 10 years this year, it’s a real shame that Tactics hasn’t seen new life, especially given the availability of the Nintendo 3DS and PlaystationVita, as well as the upcoming Nintendo Switch – I’ve always been a massive fan of the Tactics games, starting off with Final Fantasy Tactics A-2, Grimoire of the Rift on the Nintendo DS before moving back to Final Fantasy Tactics on the PS1.
The art direction, gameplay and soundtrack of these games always fascinated me, yet for some reason they seem to have been lost to time? Why? Is it due to Fire Emblem’s deathlock on the franchise? Or is it because the market just isn’t there? We’ll probably never find out, unfortunately…
Imagine a fully fledged Final Fantasy Tactics game, set within the confines of Dissida, or perhaps Final Fantasy XIV / XV? It’d be truely amazing, being able to experience characters and settings loved by many, whilst expanding lore, and bringing some well needed freshness to the Final Fantasy franchise; something XV set to do in strides.
3) Spyro the Dragon
Now for the ‘Big 3′ that you’d most likely expect! Spyro the Dragon, in many gamers’ eyes, is just as important franchise-wise as Crash Bandicoot himself, inspiring a generation of gamers with it’s family friendly, semi-open format and bubbly character personalities and designs – Whilst it seems that Spyro has been condemned to the furthest reaches of Hell itself with his cemented inclusion in Skylanders (Not hating Skylanders, just Spyro’s involvement with it), there still may rest a hope that the purple lizard will rise from the ashes once more.
Bringing the childlike wonder and exploration to a brand new era, possibly open world with a range of new powers, designs, and reimaginings of beloved fan favourite characters could easily work in it’s favour, similar to how the Ratchet & Clank series worked just so well on it’s revival on PS4.
I hope that, as long at the Crash N’Sane Trilogy sells well, Activision may see the profit in reviving the lovely lizard into the modern day, bringing him back to his rightful place in the Playstation library.
2) Jak and Daxter
My pride and joy, which eventually unfortunately crashed and burned into the devil spawn that was Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier. Jak and Daxter has been with me since childhood, with The Precursor Legacy being one of the first games I ever completed 100%, with Jak II Renegade and Jak 3 being some of my favourite games of all time (Jak X was also pretty good!); however, with Naughty Dog cascading the franchise to High Impact Games to work on TLF, the series all but committed digital seppuku…
The world and lore is in need of a serious re-telling, especially given the literary talent that sits within Naughty Dog working on games like the Last of Us and Uncharted, it’d be interesting to see them tackle a fantasy-like setting based off of nature and ancient technology once again.
With the titular protagonists Jak and Daxter presenting a bromance unrivalled in the rest of the industry (In my opinion), I’d love to see a retelling or alternate story featuring the two, allowing them to flex their wings once more and bring us many, many more new enjoyable encounters, gameplay elements and environments to our PS4’s.
1) Medievil / Maximo
Medievil and Maximo, whilst two entirely different games, I believe are spiritual partners of one another – Similar gameplay, characters and humour all lend their way into making comparisons of the two; in the end of the day, I’ve decided to bundle the two together into one label simply due to the fact that they’re both great games that require either a reboot, or a third spiritual successor to join their lists!
It seems that, alongside the age of Platformers, the age of semi-linear hack’n’slash games has also abruptly came to an end; games such as Maximo or Medievil no longer find their way onto our systems, despite the room to grow and flesh out further than what was possible during the extremely limited times back in the PS1 and PS2 era – Whilst some attempts may be made, they’ve not yet surfaced their way onto the modern Triple-A market.
It’s truely a shame that games like this are on their way to being forgotten, with no sign of a true successor or continuation.
What games do you think should be rebooted? If at all? Let us know in the comments!