In the past few days, the internet has been abuzz with news about the long-rumored Bioschock: The Collection. Now, an official trailer has surfaced (ocean pun intended) and is garnering even more attention. But do we even need a remastered edition?
The gaming industry has grown fixated on remastered titles lately. With rebooted, 1080p, 60fps, super-versions of older titles cropping up left and right, the question continues to be raised as to whether or not we even need these streamlined reboots. Bioshock seems like yet another title in a long list of unnecessary remasters. The original games are as great now as they were on the old consoles. If the remastered edition isn’t actually adding anything, what’s the point?
The Halo: Anniversary games have (so far) been amazing remasters because they actually changed things about the original. The gameplay and stories were the same, but the graphics were actually updated to modern next-gen standards. The cutscenes of Halo 2 Anniversary in particular, though pre-rendered, were nothing short of beautiful and put the graphics of the original to shame.
But the new Bioshock trailer doesn’t boast anything new. It’s just a slightly smoother-running version of the original. Even the dialogue in the trailer is just cut-up versions of all the old material. I guess it’s kind of cool to have all three games and their various DLC missions all packed into the same place, but what exactly was so terrible about the original?
How about developers focus on following Halo’s example and actually bring the older material to the next generation with new graphics? Sure it takes longer, but it’s guaranteed to look more impressive and capture more interest than a rehash of the same old, same old.
In Bioshock: The Collection, Rapture will still be exactly as creepy as always. Columbia will be just as idyllic as it used to be. The stories, characters, and music will be every bit as entertaining as the first time. So what, I ask, is the point of paying again for a game that offers nothing more than slightly better framerates?
For newcomers to the franchise, this is a good opportunity to dive head-first into an incredible series. But beyond that, I fail to see the appeal of playing perfectly decent last-gen games on a next-gen console. And don’t even get me started on the fact that PC has boasted these “next-gen” graphics since the beginning.
That said, this is only my opinion. I’m sure there are hundreds if not thousands of fans out there clamoring to return to Rapture in HD. Maybe I’m alone in my thinking. If so, I’ll just wait off in some corner somewhere and wait for Bioshock 4.
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