15 Games That Need A Reboot

2013 is the Summer of game reboots.  We are seeing reboots of Duck Tales, Ninja Turtles and Killer Instinct.  These games give us hope that some of the more creative retro games will get their chance as well.  Here's 15 games that would make awesome reboots (but probably won't get it).

15.  Bloody Roar

Published: 1998
Publisher: Hudson
Reason:  This franchise lost most of its audience after the 4th sequel tanked hard.  It was an arcade fighter that lived off the mechanic that your fighter can transform into a vicious animal.  The idea behind the game is fundamentally sound, but it has been ruined by companies that could not compete with  Tekken or Virtua Fighter.


Re-envisioned:  This game could look beautiful in HD.  Maybe it would be better as a party fighter.


14. Maniac Mansion


Published: 1987
Publisher:  Lucasfilm
Reason: This game was genius in its heyday.  Being an adventure point-and-click with whacky blue alien humor and multiple endings, this game has a story that can charm even the pickiest gamer.

Re-Envisioned:  Add a few horror survival elements, keep the whacky story and make it a digital download.

13. Bart Vs. The  Space Mutants

Published: 1991
Publisher: Acclaim
Reason:  The Simpsons' first game was a bit obscure.  You played Bart Simpson who had to fight space mutants by getting rid of things colored red.  By all respects, it had nothing to do with the sitcom cartoon, but merely an action cash in for the younger boys who watched it (similar to every horrible game Family Guy releases).

Re-Envisioned: Today, the game would be considered hip and innovative.  Imagine an updated version of this game where you have to use modern puzzles to turn a town a different color.  It would be an indie masterpiece that belongs right next to the De Blob.

12. Desert Falcon

Published:1984
Publisher: Atari
Reason:  This was a flight shooter that put forth a good effort to be mission based.  Following in the tradition of Warhawk, Desert Falcon could have easily been the top war game of the Atari.

Re-Envisioned:  Add a stellar war story about desert warfare, update the missions and tack on a multiplayer component and you could have a flight arcade game that all the college kids are buying.

11.  Metal Storm

 Published: 1990
 Publisher: Irem
 Reason: Metal Storm still ranks as my favorite sci-fi Nintendo   game.  Why?  Because you are a huge war mech that uses gravity to solve puzzles and destroy your enemies.  Gravity manipulation is still a gameplay mechanic that many games are afraid to use.  Mechwarrior ain't got nothing on this.

Re-Envisioned:  Make it a 3rd person, over the shoulder combat game.  Add a post apocalyptic war zone with anime inspired weapons.  Keep the gravity puzzles and play mechanics to give the game a Half-Life appeal.

10. BlackThorne

Published: 1994
Publisher: Interplay

Reason: BlackThorne was the Patrick Swayze of video game bad dudes.  He carried around a shotgun in the coal mines of a mutant infested area and blew away anything that moved.  This game was also famous for having the first duck and cover system for battle.  BlackThorne would be a welcome member of The Gears of War band and probably kick the living junk out of Duke Nukem.

Re-Envisioned:  Either 2D or 3D, keep the shotgun toting hero of the mines in the game and you will have a great throwback. 

9. Beyond Oasis

Published: 1994
Publisher:  Sega
Reason:  Style and comic book graphics put this game into a class that I truly believe had Zelda beaten.  Your hero, Ali, could combo with sword attacks, collect different spirits to fight and the boss battles were huge.  Carrying huge potential in Sega's golden age there is no reason why this game should have ended after the Sega Saturn.

Re-Envisioned:  All it really needs is an HD spitshine, a new story and a whole slew of dungeons and the game could fit in with any action role-playing game today.

8. Eternal Champions

Published: 1993
Publisher: Sega

Reason:  It is Mortal Kombat with a lot more class and style.  The only problem was that the game was too hard and moves were almost impossible to master.  This game was breakthrough because it had a gritty noir/sci fi design in its levels.  It also had fatalities that would have made 90's Nintendo cry.

Re-Envisioned:  If Killer Instinct can be rebooted then there is definitely room for this game.  Just make the difficulty and moves way easier.

7. Killing Time

Published:1995
Publisher: 3D0

Reason:  It might seem like a huge Doom clone, but Killing Time had 2 things going for it.  1) It had FMV story telling that gave it real characters. 2) It had one huge adventure level like Half-Life.  If the 3D0 was not so obscure and expensive, this could have been the Bioshock Infinite of the 90's.

Re-Envisioned:  An open world adventure FPS that involves 1920's weapons, ghosts and killer horrors?  I think there is room in today's market for that.

6. Geist

Published:  2005
Publisher: Nintendo

Reason:  I miss the Gamecube.  This was back when Nintendo was trusted by 3rd party companies and other companies wanted to try out new franchises.  You did not have to go to Halo to get a good shooter and you did not have to go to Final Fantasy to get a good RPG.  Geist was Nintendo's personal sci-fi shooter.  It was your average point and shoot, but the kicker was that you had to inhabit the body of npc's in order to solve puzzles and beat bosses.  This game is the first shooter where puzzle solving was actually more fun than the shooting levels.  It wasn't a Halo killer, but it had potential to be its own trilogy.

Re-Envisioned:  This game could have been a success and today's better understanding of the FPS genre ensures that Nintendo would get it right.  Add some tight shooting mechanics, deeper warfare elements, keep the innovative puzzle layout and upgrade the multiplayer to today's standards.  It would at least be better than Blacklight: Tango Down.

5. Spider-Man: The Video Game:

Published: 1991
Publisher: Sega

Reason:  If you sat down some developers and gave them the mission of making the Spider-Man franchise character rich, graphically appealing and fun to play they would come out with this game.  You played as Black Cat, Namor, Hawk Eye or Spider-Man and performed beat'em up combos on thugs.  The second half of the game turned into a 2D shooter where your character had to jump from building to building shooting bad guys.  This game put the X-Men arcade game to shame.

Re-Envisioned:  Make it a 3D beat'em up with great voice acting from heroes.  Then add some of the most epic villains in the game.  Keep all the rest and you will have a way better game than Spider-Man: Friend or Foe.

4. Brutal: Paws of Fury

Published: 1994
Publisher: Gametek

Reason:  I still prefer to live in a world where this game got all the sequels that Street Fighter got.  You have some bad astronaut cartoon animals that have "don't mess with me" written all over their kung-fu.  Unfortunately, this game was made before developers understood how thumbs worked.  The moves were too hard to complete.  I don't see any scenario where making MMA type urban animals fight each other with Street Fighter moves is a bad idea.

Re-Envisioned:  Make an HD version of the game, tweak the gameplay for today's standards, add a few fighters, simplify the moves a ton and make it a $10 download for XBLA.  Sold!

3. The Immortal

Published: 1990
Publisher: Electronic Arts

Reason:  I was afraid of this game as a child because of the way the wizard cut open demon enemies.  Now I see this game as a Skyrim/Survival Horror hybrid.  You played an unnamed wizard who walks around a punishing dungeon, looking for goblins to chop open.

Re-Envisioned:  If you were to add a First Person view, add a dash of some skill building and customization, I could see the idea of playing a violent wizard in a dark dungeon as a highly playable game.

2. Power Move Pro Wrestling

Published:  1996
Publisher: Activision

Reason:  Before the WWE scared away all competition in wrestling games, there were some creative fiction wrestling games that were highly playable.  Power Move had horrible graphics, limited moves and your player never got up after they were knocked down...but the ambitious style and the faithfulness to pro wrestling lore made it a ton of fun to experience (as long as you were winning).  In 1996 most wrestling games were arcade beat'em ups, but Power Move was a full 3D adventure with real wrestling thematics.  It was too ahead of its time. 

Re-Envisioned:  If the game industry isn't petrified to make a non WWE wrestling game than I suggest making this game over from head to toe.  You could restart that rematch between Egyptian Conniption or Malibu Mike.

1.  Clayfighter

Published: 1993
Publisher: Interplay

Reason:  In 1993 there was a game made entirely out of clay (the cel-shading alternative).  It promised humor, killer moves, a talking snow man and a blob that could turn into a saw blade.  Even the intro to the game had a theme song.  There was never a game with so much humor and off-the-wall zaniness like Clayfighter.  Even though it was not well received on the N64, it definitely has value now that we have games that can handle humor and theatrics.

Re-Envisioned:  Keep it 2D, keep it funny and make it beautiful.  That is all you really need to do.

Man of Steel: Was Anyone Represented Right?

That is always the question that is brought up after a comic book gets adapted into a movie.  I thoroughly enjoyed the dark romp with the Man of Steel and the portrayal of him as a hero.  Did they represent the Superman world correctly?

Ma and Pa Kent- Kevin Costner (actor who played Robin Hood) and Diane Lane are the home skillet, conservative foster parents of Superman.  They teach him homespun knowledge, while making sure he gets a  proper education.  The love they show Clark is so pure and supportive, but still a bit afraid of his super powers.  I liked the contrast between Jor-El's wisdom of Superman's divinity and Pa Kent's wisdom of Clark's humanity.  They get a B +



Lois Lane-  In the comic book Lois Lane is the hard nosed, workaholic, forgets-she-is-a-woman-sometimes reporter who will chase down any lead for her own curiosity.  In this movie she has it for about 5 seconds.  Then she meets Clark and becomes the damsel in distress who uses every minute to ram her tongue down his throat.  This feels more like DC trying to have their own "Thor babe" like Natalie Portman who gets to feel up the character.  For the purpose of this movie she couldn't be her hard nosed self, always leading Clark Kent on.  In that case, the female leading role could have been Lana or even Gwen Stacy.  If Zach Snyder doesn't care about who the real Lois Lane is than why should we care who he is macking on.  Also, they removed his secret identity from her, taking away the dual relationship between the clutzy Kent and the bodacious Superman.  This gets a D -

Clark Kent-  He doesn't exist in this movie.  Who we do get is an emo Chris Hemsworth who becomes Superman.  This deserves an Incomplete

Superman-  Zach Snyder wanted to focus on the young and studly Superman who uses his powers like a human battering ram.  Everything about Superman to his authority grabbing demands to the cops  to the fact that he charges into buildings without prejudice represent a more modern version of himself.  This guy does not save cats from trees, he only gets into galactic level fights with other enemies who cannot get hurt.  Despite the very literal interpretation of Superman's brawn they did nail the comic book character quite well.        This gets an A

Jor-El-  When you have Russel Crowe (actor who played Robin Hood) in your movie then you probably shouldn't give him the guy who dies in the first ten minutes.  Even when he dies in the first ten minutes he is given almost more screen time than Kevin Costner (who dies in the next twenty minutes).  The solemn, wisdom prophet of Krypton is well portrayed.  His purpose was more to explain the back plot to those who needed some interpretation between the galactic ramming scenes (AKA fight scenes).   Jor-El gets a B + for stilling being in the movie after he died.

Perry White-  I get it DC.  You need a man of color to even out the all white staff.  Who better than Laurence Fishburne, a man who has never been the star of any movie.  There was a homeless man outside of the theater that looked more like Perry from the comics.  He gets a C +

Zod-  I keep wondering why I liked this movie.  It's probably because Superman finally got a universe sized bad guy who had the power to mess up the world.   Zod was flavorfully crazy and irrationally upset, which added color to the very quiet and stiff Superman.  His plan was to destroy everyone on Earth so that Kryptonians would not have to painfully adapt to Earth's sun (a process that takes maybe 5 minutes of slight pain).  Zach Snyder is a genius when it comes to brooding and gloomy atmospheres and the movie would not have made sense if Zod was not there to fill that gloominess.  Zod gets an A+

History of Medal of Honor

One of the Most Successful FPS Games

The franchise that made it cool to shoot Nazis!

Medal of Honor (PS)

It started as one of the first FPS games that did not include the word "Wolf" or "stein".  It was produced by Stephen Spielberg who added his special cinema touch.

Medal of Honor: Underground (PS)

The sequel to the groundbreaking hit of 1999.  MOHU let you play as a female resistance fighter.  Like previous, the game had no checkpoints and the multiplayer was stunningly like Goldeneye.








Medal of Honor: Frontline (PS2, XBX, GC)

Praised for its glorious D-Day level in the beginning of the game, MoHF took a few steps back for having no multiplayer when it first came out.  It was heavily influenced by Saving Private Ryan.

It's PC counterpart, Medal of Honor Allied Assault had gotten praised over it.  You can actually save your progress in the middle of a level. 

Medal of Honor: Infiltrator (GBA)

The Gameboy Advance gets some WWII action in the form of a Zelda type explorer.  Reviewers say that it is actually quite good.  Strange.

Medal of Honor: Rising Sun (PS2, XBX, GC)

Praised for its intense opening attack on Pearl Harbor level, the rest of the game got mediocre reviews.  One of the first and last console games to have splitscreen coop.  Horrible hit detection.

One again the PC counterpart, Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault, rises above the console version on every level.

Medal of Honor: European Assault (PS2, GC, XBX)

MoH EA played with the idea that you could finish your objectives in any order.  Aiming was improved over the last game by leaps and bounds.  You could beat the game in a night because it was so short.

 Medal of Honor: Vanguard (Wii, PS2)

The last ditch effort of EA to give the game a memorable leave before hitting the next gen systems.  Vanguard did not score very well on any system.

Medal of Honor: Airborne (PC, PS3, XB360)

As Call of Duty was making the transition to Modern Warfare, MoH held onto its WWII roots.  Airborne let you fight a war in a very non-linear path.  It involved parachute mechanics and a level up system for weapons.  Game only had 6 levels.  None of them were that exciting.

 Medal of Honor Heroes 1 and 2 (PSP, Wii)

A miniature version of the console games.  The PSP tried to keep some of the magic of the MoH series for their portable.  The game was still really short, but the multiplayer was surprisingly fun.

Medal of Honor and Medal of Honor Warfighter (PC, XBX 360, PS3)

You can't win them all EA, but MoH made its eventual jump to Modern Warfare.  Removing all of its innovations and bells and whistles, MoH focused on realism and real war events.  It was one of the few games banned by the army (due to the fact that you can play as the Taliban).  14 years of shooters and the game still has no coop and can be finished in under five hours.