A remake has many opportunities, especially in gaming. It's a chance for new players to experience a treasured classic. In addition, it's an opportunity to iron out any imperfections, making the game the best version of itself. New fans can enjoy a solid title from yesteryear, and old fans can remember why they fell in love with it in the first place. Sadly, not all developers take advantage of this second chance.
Some remakes maintain the issues of originals. They want to maintain the essence of the old version, which is admirable. However, this often affects playability. It becomes particularly apparent on modern consoles. As a result, the remakes are less nostalgic and more frustrating. It's a tragic waste not to put out the best product possible. The existence of a better version just makes these blunders sting more.
7 MediEvil (2019)
The cult classic MediEvil was largely limited by its time. It had an infectiously inspired blend of gothic horror and cartoonish comedy. The remake maintains that beautifully with expressive animations and environments rife with twisted detail. The developers should have shown the same care and attention to the other obsolete aspect: the gameplay.
The controls and physics were unwieldy in MediEvil, and they're virtually unchanged here. Sir Dan's heavy stiffness and lack of momentum make platforming an utter chore. In addition, weapons have little impact while simultaneously generating no invincibility frames from damage. This means enemies can drain all of Dan's health in one fell swoop. Meanwhile, players can do nothing but flail around and hope they hit something. Because of that, they don't want to explore the gorgeously creepy world the developers have created.
6 Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion
Fans have been clamoring for Square Enix to port this PSP gem for years, so bringing it back with the Final Fantasy 7 Remake engine and assets was a surefire hit. That's not to say everything in Crisis Core was worth keeping. The title has several mundane minigames which distract from the hack-and-slash RPG gameplay. Sneaking into an enemy base and shooting Shinra tanks with conveniently-placed sniper rifles are notable offenders. None of these are fun, yet they're all present and accounted for in Reunion.
The main adventure also has its issues. Crisis Core was made at a different time. That's clearly not just through the stiff animations, but the anime-style script. The dialogue is filled with melodramatic lines and awkward pauses. The developers have dialed these back in more recent Final Fantasy entries, making them more appealing to western audiences. FF7 Remake is a prime example. Applying the same tendencies to create a more naturalistic Crisis Core wouldn't hurt, especially since the new voice actor for Zack doesn't deliver the silly lines nearly as well.
5 Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain Of Memories
Setting the sequel to the PS2's Kingdom Hearts on the Game Boy Advance is a weird move, but weirder still is making gameplay hinge on a card system. This determines everything from attacks to the shape of the worlds. It's supposed to encourage variety and strategy. Sadly, it's easily exploitable at best and irritating at worst. When Square Enix remade the entry for consoles, they could have ameliorated these systems.
On the contrary, the frustration is alive and well. Fans can still breeze through the game with the same game-breaking combos (with occasional difficulty spikes for added insult). Not just that, but they fight the same enemies over and over to get the right cards to progress. If the developers were going to leave these problems as-is, they should have just took the same approach as the other handheld titles: package it as a cutscene collection with the mainline games.
4 Ratchet & Clank (2016)
This is the odd one out since it's simultaneously faithful and unfaithful. 2016's Ratchet & Clank is a remake of the duo's first adventure, but it's also an adaptation of the movie released the same year. That film presents an altered origin of Ratchet as a cadet in the Galactic Rangers. However, it feels obligated to have at least some familiar levels for the fans.
Thus, whenever the heroes visit a planet from the original game, the reasoning is completely arbitrary. The levels themselves are immaculately recreated yet ultimately pointless and hollow. The title is unsure of what it wants to be. The developers would have been better off picking one path and sticking with it. Trying to service both makes each seem undercooked.
3 SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle For Bikini Bottom Rehydrated
This SpongeBob title defied movie and TV tie-ins by being a fairly solid game. With the show still going (for better or worse), a remake is unsurprising and mostly welcome. This "rehydrated" edition boasts brighter colors, cleaner textures, and more animated character models. More than ever, it's like playing an episode of the series. That said, why couldn't the creators go all the way?
The game updates everything else about Battle for Bikini Bottom but keeps the old voice clips. That's not a problem in most cases since much of the show's cast reprise their roles. Unfortunately, that makes any replacements more noticeable. Fans still have to stomach the awful sound-alike for Mr. Krabs. This was a prime opportunity to fix that mistake, especially given Clancy Brown's prevalence as a voice actor. Alas, the remake sticks with the inferior imitation. Their reasoning seems less motivated by respect and more by laziness.
2 Mafia: Definitive Edition
To be fair, this "Definitive Edition" improves countless key aspects of the original Mafia. Modern graphics and sublime presentation bring these Depression-era mobsters to life like never before. Not to mention, the remake brings welcome gameplay tweaks to the table. It notably fixes the go-kart race, which was practically insufferable thanks to awful controls and wonky physics. Through these fixes, players can now get through the narrative with little issue.
The downside is everything outside the narrative. The game has a massive open world and a brilliant recreation of New York in the 1920s, yet there's nothing to do. The most that players can hope for are mundane collectibles and a handful of repetitive tasks. There are no extra activities or side missions to speak of. The developers could have taken inspiration from Grand Theft Auto or even Yakuza for these, but no. They waste this beautiful sandbox by relegating it to set dressing.
1 The Last Of Us Part 1
Since The Last of Us was released a decade ago, the Naughty Dog staff have been milking the IP for all it's worth. They previously put out an uninspired remaster and an underwhelming, pretentious sequel. Now, they have a remake that no one asked for and fail to justify its existence in any way. True, it has better graphics, but the original was already one of the best-looking games on the PS3, nearly achieving photorealism. Any improvements in textures or facial animations are negligible. By the same metric, the more advanced enemy AI is largely unnoticeable. The developers could have redeemed the remake through genuine additions, but they drop the ball.
The Last of Us is the same scripted experience it always was. It has unremarkable third-person shooting, simplistic melee mechanics, shallow crafting, and invisible walls aplenty. These aspects feel incredibly dated by today's standards. They exist solely to serve the story, which everyone and their mother knows by now. This makes the trite zombie tale even less replayable than it already was.