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Which Game Series Would You Reboot?
Franchise reboots are all the rage these days in Hollywood, and the trend is starting to creep into the games industry as well. The Guardian's games blog is running a story discussing a few examples and pondering likely candidates for future reboots. Quoting:
"If anything, the concept of the reboot makes more sense in the videogame sector than it does in movies. For a start, games are complex entities, with each new iteration in a familiar series adding many, many hours of fresh narrative content. Entering, say, the Zelda, Resident Evil, Half-Life, Dragon Quest or Metal Gear worlds at this stage must be massively intimidating — even if the developers go to great lengths to make each entry work as a singular, self-contained entity within the canon. Also, videogames are going through a paradigm shift in terms of popular appeal at the moment. The faithful audience of young males has been joined by new demographics brought in by the Wii, PC casual games, and now the iPhone. Many of these people may be vaguely aware of long-running game brands, but won't have a clue about the key characters, sign post events and basic gameplay mechanisms."
So, which series (or individual title) would you like to see rebooted?
Come on lucasarts - let's reboot the xwing series - xwing, tie fighter, etc..
make it have the same controls like before, joystick support, keep the simulation aspects, don't dumb it downor make it all consolitis.. I want to be able to manage my weapons shields and engines..
that would be awesome
Jumpgate Evolution may interest you, when it eventually comes out. A twitch-based space fighter sim MMO, with a pretty good sounding flight model.
I would reboot Final Fantasy and make many of the characters less cheesy.
If you think the characters are cheesy, that's one thing, but why do you think this needs a "reboot"? What does "reboot" even mean here, given that almost every game has nothing to do with any of the other games in the series?
I would also make the subject matter a bit darker
Which FF game are you talking about? A number of the FF games have had fairly dark plots underneath their superficially colorful graphics; FF6, Tactics, 10, and 12 all come to mind immediately.
the interactions more free form
So... you want the series to basically stop being like a Japanese RPG and be more like a Western RPG?
I think it would also be nice to have a non-turn-based combat option.
FF 4 through 9, 11, and 12 all fit that bill. If you didn't mean "turn-based" but actually meant, "I want a battle system where characters don't line up in rows and swing at each other", there's still 11 and 12.
I could be wrong, but it sounds like you're basing your opinion of the entire series off of just one or two of the games.
Karma: Terrifying (mostly affected by atrocities you've committed)
Despite a growing interest in piecing one together by it's fanbase; Zelda has no definitive timeline.
Nearly each iteration of the series is a reboot.
Zelda 2 was a sequel to Zelda 1. Majora's Mask was a sequel to Ocarina of Time. And I suspect that the DS games I haven't played are related (Oracle series, Minish Cap series?)
The rest are independent of each other. Hell, the intro to Wind Waker basically spells that out.
We're talking about a series of like 12 or 13 games, where only 3 or 4 are direct sequels, and none of the series has 3 in the same series.
Touch everywhere, even when inappropriate.
Deus Ex 3
Eidos Montreal is currently developing the third installment of the legendary series
http://www.deusex3.com/
Have you played the X Series games, like X-2 or X-3. I've never played Wing Commander, but X-3 is a whole bucket full of time wasting fun!!!
go here for a trailer: http://pc.ign.com/articles/100/1002275p1.html
There are about a hojillion XCOM reboots out there: some open sourced, some commercial. A common phrase is "spiritual successor." Honestly, you can't swing a dead cat on a google search without finding one.
UFO Aftermath was the start of a great series with both the strategic and tactical options, all set in a post-apocalyptic world. UFO Extraterrestrials is another. Then there's UFO2000, UFO:AI ... different games focus on different aspects of the game type.
XCOM is next in my line of reviews, so I've been gathering a ton of this information together lately. :)
Star Control II was remade into Ur Quan Masters... not a reboot with new graphics, but there is updated music and options to make it playable on any current system. I'd love a new sequel though. Go to Toys for Bob's sourceforge page and sign their petition for commercial development if you're moved to do so.