Sony confirmed on Wednesday that the PS2 classic first-person shooter Killzone would be getting released to the Playstation Network for the cheap price of $9.99. While I personally wasn’t a fan of the title, there are some franchises that I think could do well with either PSN or XBL re-release or HD upgrade. Here is a list that I put together of Xbox and PS2 games that need to be remade or re-released.
Disaster Report
Released in Japan during 2002, western countries saw the release of Disaster Report in early 2003. Primarily for a Japanese audience, the Disaster Report franchise has had two other iterations released in Japan and a fourth was due to release Spring 2011 the week of the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan.
Receiving below mediocre reviews from western reviewers, publishers became afraid to invest for a second title even though the second title was sold in North America but didn’t do as well as the original.
Based on a man-made urban island, governments came together to create the island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. A earthquake hits four years after it’s construction ends and destroys the island. Playing through different natural disasters, the game always keeps you on your toes with a few Japanese quirks that seemed to squeak by the ESRB.
Final Fantasy X
Released on the PS2 back in 2001, Final Fantasy X was the first RPG that I fell head over heels with. Before all of you rush down to the comments to let me know, Final Fantasy X is due to release on Playstation Network sometime during 2012. The re-released version has been confirmed playable for the Playstation 3 and Playstation Vita, but as for the original PSP nothing has been confirmed or denied.
Composed by Nobuo Uematsu, Final Fantasy X was the first time a game’s music for me actually had some emotion and meaning similar to how John William’s Star Wars scores for movies were but in video game form. Since going on sale in 2001, the title has sold 6,600,000 units worldwide. With the re-release next year, I expect at least an additional 500,000 sales pushing it over the seven million mark.
Final Fantasy X was the first game in the franchise to receive a direct sequel as previous titles just had repeating factors in each game.
Freedom Fighters
Released in 2003, Freedom Fighters was an alternative history based third-person shooter. Instead of the Americans discovering the nuclear bomb first, the USSR did. Eventually invading almost the whole world, the last country left is America.
IO Interactive and Electronic Arts has never released details on how many units were sold for the title. Being a big fan of politics and history, the variation of history combined with great gameplay in a squad-based shooter created one of the coolest shooter experiences for the previous console generation.
A remake or re-release isn’t necessary as the sequel that has been rumored since 2005. According to the last reports, IO Interactive still has the Freedom Fighters sequel on it’s list of games to make. If IO Interactive needs help pitching a plan for the sequel or variation of another title in the franchise, hit me up as I have several ideas from my high school notebook.
Burnout 3: Takedown
Coming out on multiple consoles in Fall 2004, Burnout 3: Takedown was the last Burnout that left me wanting more after each race I played. Unfortunately shutting down online access after a seven year run with several other original Xbox titles, you can only play the title only via one console.
Announced in an early 2005 EA earnings report, the game reportedly sold over one million units in Europe allow making us believe the title could have potentially sold three million units internationally since its replace.
With it’s local multiplayer options, it was last generation’s best alternative to Mario Kart on a non-Nintendo console. Burnout 3 also introduced the ‘Takedown’ function that has been heavily implemented into every iteration of the franchise (other than Burnout: Crash).
Fable: The Lost Chapters
The original title was released in 2003 but the 2005 version including the subtitle: The Lost Chapters. As Final Fantasy X made me fall in love with the role-playing genre, Fable: The Lost Chapters kept my heart pumping for the genre.
Though followed up with a 2nd & 3rd title in the franchise with a fourth off-title game still in development, none of the titles have bested the original. As of late 2006, Fable and The Lost Chapters had sold more than two million units.
So many gamers and game critics complain about how games don’t have innovative gameplay mechanics yet as the series continued with supposed innovative gameplay the titles received worse & worse admiration. Going back to the difficulty of the original title could create perhaps a great live-action RPG that hasn’t been made for the current console generation.
Indigo Prophecy / Fahrenheit
Released primarily as a European title, Quantic Dream attempted to change the industry with one of the most cinematic games to date. Released September 2005, Fahrenheit (as it was known internationally) had a different name in the States: Indigo Prophecy. Games like LA Noire have attempted to duplicate the difficult production process of realistic animation.
As recorded within the last year by Quantic Dream themselves, the title has sold above 700,000 units since it’s release about six years ago. Implementing God of War-like context-sensitive stick movements or button presses, the game is an easy pick up and play for any gamer looking for an interesting story.
Quantic Dream has also put out Heavy Rain which is a similar title but has a more complex storyline. If a character dies in Indigo Prophecy that means you get an end of storyline screen, as in Heavy Rain if a character dies you’ll continue as that consequence will alter the ending of your version of the story.
*All game box arts taken from each game’s respective Wikipedia page*
