Saturday 27 January 2018

Command & Conquer - A classic reimagined

When the original Command & Conquer was released way back in 1995 it became an instant hit for the then Westwood Studios and spawned a huge franchise of Command and Conquer games and Red Alert varients.

Were the game to be given a modern makeover and released today it would certainly be a huge hit. The game would need to have a similar isometric view which made the original Command & Conquer so addictive to play. A modern graphic engine and hugely improved resolution options would bring the game up to date but wouldn't take anything away from the original gameplay dynamics which would come to define the RTS genre for years to come.

Saturday 9 July 2016

Castlevania Symphony of the Night - PS4 remake

Castlevania Symphony of the Night was a side-scrolling game released by Konami in 1997 on the original Sony PlayStation console. The game was a great success when it was first released and has become an all-time classic amongst retro gaming fans and is regarded by many as one of the greatest 2D side-scrolling action games of all time.

In recent years, we have seen many older games given a modern twist by changing them from their original 2D style into 3D. In many cases this simply has not worked as the original essence of the gameplay, which made the original game so playable, has been lost, in favour of 3D views or a first person perspective.

It would make a very successful game if a company were given the admittedly daunting task of recreating Castlevania Symphony of the Night with full 1080p sprites and backgrounds whilst leaving the gameplay style and general levels and areas untouched. This kind of thing has been achieved before with Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix where the sprites and backgrounds have been graphically updated but the gameplay which made the original so great has been unaltered.

Monday 2 September 2013

Diablo III - Second expansion

Blizzard added an all new Crusader class for its first Diablo III expansion pack, Reaper of Souls and it would be good to see more than one new class added in future expansions.

It would be interesting to see the return of a shape-shifting class in the vein of the druid class introduced in classic Blizzard game, Diablo II. A necromancer class with the ability to change into various forms would provide a completely different playing style to those classes already on the roster.

Following on from the addition of a well designed Act V in the Reaper of Souls expansion, Act VI would see a return to the graveyards and old ruined cathedrals as seen in Act I. The player would venture deep into the oldest catacombs and cathedrals and fight against the variety of enemies which made Act I of Diablo III so much fun to play.