To say that there is still a great number of older games that both crave and deserve a 4K modern remake would be something of an understatement to say the least. Certainly, for every Demon’s Souls from remake wizards Bluepoint Games there’s a Metal Gear Solid 3 just begging to be remade for contemporary gaming hardware. With that in mind, here are the games that we believe deserve a shiny 4K remake.
Batman: Arkham Origins
It’s no secret that the recently released Gotham Knights didn’t quite set the world on fire as Warner Bros. Games would have wanted it to. Nonetheless, a veritable Bane-sized stack of money remains on the table for the publisher to pull its Batfinger out and give fans a remake of 2013’s still highly enjoyable Batman: Arkham Origins, a title that has long been overlooked for a re-release despite the first two Batman Arkham games being re-released under the Batman: Return to Arkham label back in 2016. Depicting an origin story for the Caped Crusader (I’m sure the clue is in the title somewhere), Batman: Arkham Origins has players taking on a rogues gallery of supervillains on Christmas Eve as our punch-happy, Bat detective also attempts to prevent Gotham from falling into the hands of the nefarious Black Mask.
Boasting the series’ satisfyingly counter focused hand-to-hand combat together with a massively frosty open world to explore and a fresh focus on good ol’ fashioned detective work, Batman: Arkham Origins absolutely deserves to have its bat signal illuminate the sky once more. Oh and it’s set at Christmas which ostensibly makes it a Christmas Game. So it has that going for it too.
Brothers In Arms: Hell’s Highway
Brothers In Arms: Hell’s Highway still remains without parallel thanks in part to developer Gearbox Software seemingly forgetting how to make more Brothers In Arms games and everybody else failing to copy what Brothers In Arms: Hell’s Highway did all the way back in 2008. The third mainline entry in the squad-based, WWII tactical shooter series, Brothers In Arms: Hell’s Highway puts players in control of an American ground unit during the ill-fated Operation Market Garden that saw over 17,000 allied troops lose their lives.
Leveraging a surprisingly emotional story that anchors the entire experience while also touching on subjects such as loss and PTSD, Brothers In Arms: Hell’s Highway encourages players to mix up cover based shooting elements with broader, more macro tactics including everything from laying down suppressive fire to executing complex flanking manoeuvres from both first and third-person perspectives. In an era where most shooters are essentially increasingly flashy takes on 3D Whack-A-Mole, a 4K remake of Brothers In Arms: Hell’s Highway has never been needed more.
Burnout 3: Takedown
Though it was implausible enough that the absolutely, stoat-bangingly superb Burnout Paradise got a remaster in 2018, the fact that the other best game in the Burnout series, Burnout 3: Takedown, hasn’t seen a 4K remake is proof that we aren’t living in anything close to the best timeline. With its retina-searing speed, toe-curling crashes, relentless arcade racing thrills and furious, foot-tapping licensed soundtrack, Burnout 3: Takedown didn’t just mark a turning point for the series when it launched all the way back in 2004, but it also confidently injected itself into conversations as one of the best arcade racers ever made.
With contemporary racers either being too serious, or losing themselves to the hip, spine-realigning cringe of festival racing culture, the Burnout 3: Takedown sized hole in all of our hearts remains as unfulfilled today as it has for the past decade and beyond.
Grand Theft Auto IV
For years after its release many players have long since waxed lyrical about how they fell in love with the detail and palpable heft of Liberty City in Grand Theft Auto IV. A world away from the massive, Los Angeles inspired open (and often empty) spaces of its predecessor, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Grand Theft Auto IV would instead shrink its focus to fashion a hyper-detailed, fictionalised take on New York City that fans have craved a return to ever since its release in 2008.
Though publisher/developer Rockstar Games apparently recently nixed shiny new re-releases for both Grand Theft Auto IV and Red Dead Redemption, the relatively poor technical show of the former across PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 platforms nearly 14 years ago, means that we’re all still very much without a definitive take on Rockstar Games most underrated Grand Theft Auto title.
Jak & Daxter
Long before Naughty Dog would cement its reputation as the vanguard of PlayStation Studios first-party PlayStation efforts with the likes of the Uncharted and The Last of Us franchises respectively, the American developer would make a splash on PlayStation 2 back in 2001 with Jak & Daxter. A charm-stuffed, 3D platformer that captured the hearts and minds the world over with its hyperactive cast of characters, expansive vibrant worlds and enjoyable platforming capers, Jak & Daxter has long since been regarded as one of Naughty Dog’s most beloved series, though the law of diminishing returns arguably kicks in for every game in the franchise after the first one.
While we had the first Jak & Daxter re-released and remastered in 720p resolution for PS3 in 2012, followed by an annoyingly no-frills PS4 release of the PS2 version later on, the mind boggles at what Jak & Daxter could look like on modern hardware if it was rendered with similar fidelity to Ratchet & Clank: A Rift Apart. Just imagine it.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Just about any Metal Gear Solid fan will rate Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater either at the top of their ‘best MGS games’ lists or in the top three and for very good reason. Giving the series its best antagonist to date in the form of the Boss and providing players with a delectable 1960s Cold War era setting, new camouflage and survival systems together with a compelling origin story for series fan favourite baddie Revolver Ocelot, it’s clear why Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is so well regarded.
Re-released for PS3 and Xbox 360 as part of the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection in 2011, it’s fair to say that Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater still looked the part even with just a bump to frame rate and resolution. However, with modern graphics engines behind it, coupled with a redesign that targets the very latest gaming silicon, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater would very easily find a substantial audience in both fans new and old, it’s just a mystery as to why a 4K remake hasn’t happened yet. Maybe Konami doesn’t like money or something?
Outrun 2
It is an enduring and yet endlessly frustrating mystery as to why Sega hasn’t brought Outrun 2 to current gaming hardware. With its trademark Sega blue skies, bop-worthy soundtrack and drift focused arcade racing shenanigans, Outrun 2 wasn’t just a perfect sequel to the original Outrun, but it infused such a sense of visual style and speed to the proceedings that it brought the whole concept of classic Sega arcade racing kicking and screaming into the modern era.
Honestly, just a resolution bump is fine here since Outrun 2 has a timeless look and really, folks just want to be able to play the game again on as many platforms as possible. Can we do that please?
Red Dead Redemption
This is a puzzling one. One of the best open world offerings that Rockstar Games has ever come out with, Red Dead Redemption saw a release on PS3 and Xbox 360 but sadly not on PC, though the latter have been able to play the game via a number of variously terrible cloud streaming services in the interim. Anyway, Red Dead Redemption crafted an arresting portrayal of the Old West in its dying days, as players took on the role of the grizzled John Marston and pursued a bloody path of vengeance across the frontier.
Much more than just ‘GTA in the Wild West’, Red Dead Redemption rightfully earned acclaim for its bittersweet story and characters that all feel like they were pulled from the silver screen. The reason why a Red Dead Redemption 4K remake is so puzzling however is that though we know Rockstar has seemingly cancelled an impending remaster/remake of the game, almost the entirety of Red Dead Redemption’s world has already been re-rendered in Red Dead Redemption 2, which must surely cut down the work a port studio would need to do to make a 4K remake of Red Dead Redemption a reality? An absolute pile of money left on the table if there ever was.
SSX Tricky
Arguably one of the most enjoyable and accessible snowboarding games ever made, the loud, brash and gleefully satisfying SSX Tricky supplemented its bombastic audio-visual presentation with supremely fun arcade handling and tricks that made snowboarding fans out of folks that never even had a passing interest in the sport.
Fast forward to the present day and there’s still, *still* nothing like SSX Tricky, a fact that arguably underscores the dire need for someone, anyone, to remake SSX Tricky for modern hardware in order to remind everyone that snowboarding games don’t always have to be so eye-rollingly serious and deathly dull.
