An Attempt Was Made [Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes]
One of the most ambitious remakes of any generation, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes attempted to bring the old PS1 classic up to the graphical standards of MGS2. That meant full facial mapping, new first-person aiming controls, overhauled everything, and a completely redone voice track with everyone reprising their roles. But something just went wrong with this remake.
As developed by legendary hacks Silicon Knights, the game is fully-functional and basically works, but there’s no style to the design. Everything looks muddy, washed-out, and beige — the cutscenes don’t help the mood either, with absurd over-the-top action that feels completely out of place. Our hero backflips off a rocket.
The gameplay is partially busted thanks to the new first-person aiming, making some of the bosses much easier. That’s a forgivable change — but the facial models looking as terrible as they do is less understandable. The final nail in the coffin is the bored voice-over work. The original game’s awkward dialogue was much improved by the cast that tried their best to make everything work. In Twin Snakes, all the characters just sound so bored.
The Wrong Remake [TMNT: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled]
We were all severely disappointed in TMNT: Turtles In Time Re-Shelled for a very simple reason — they remade the wrong game. Turtles In Time is one of the most fun beat-em-ups of the SNES generation. And most of us SNES kids had no idea Turtles In Time started out in the arcades. The Super Nintendo version of Turtles In Time included a bunch of improvements, including awesome new levels like the Technodrome.
It’s the version we all wanted to revisit in 2009 when Re-Shelled was released and subsequently disappointed. All the new enemies and levels were cut. The new 3D environments looked great, but the mushy controls dulled the original game’s hard-hitting combat. Too many compromises were made to the original, wrecking any chance of this remake being better than the original.
When remakes go wrong. The list continues on the next page.
