The best Remake - Remastered games for 2020!

Demon’s Souls

Demon’s Souls was one of the first kind of “launch” games for the new generation console, namely Playstation 5. Fans of the game were thrilled (and partly sad) when they heard that the reissue of Demon’s Souls is coming out for PS5, and rightfully so. Namely, although the game does not offer grandiose changes in terms of mechanics and gameplay, thanks to the changes that the game has brought, we were able to get an insight into what the "Next-Gen" games could bring us in the future.

Final Fantasy VII Remake

Although the Final Fantasy series of games has been very popular for a long time, it was only after the release of FF7 that the game soared. While fans were happy with all the extra content, what they wanted was a remake or reissue of the original. After more than two decades of waiting, they finally got it this year.

As with previous reissues done by Square Enix, the game is designed from the ground up and is visually almost unrecognizable compared to the original sequel from 1997. The reason for this is primarily huge improvements in terms of graphics capabilities. Despite this, the heart and soul of the original remained intact (mostly), even if the developers gave themselves some creative freedoms here and there. The Final Fantasy VII Remake marked a great success for Square Enix, more precisely the first part of the reissue. The second part should come out in the years to come.

Resident Evil 3 Remake

After the phenomenally successful reissue of the second sequel to Resident Evil, we expected Capcom to repeat the same with the reissue of the trio, which came out for the first Playstation back in 1999. It was a logical sequence of things. RE2R showed us that Capcom can and does know, so we expected the Japanese software company to repeat last year’s success, with the secret hope that RE3R could be maybe even a little better. And then we got Resident Evil 3 Remake.

In many respects, the reissue of the third sequel is nowhere near Resident Evil 2 Remake, nor close to the original, which turned 21 this year, primarily because the reissue of the third sequel contains about one-third of the original content, without puzzles, of many locations such as the park. clock tower etc.

Instead of a real reissue, we got the "Resident Evil 3 mini" (but to be realistic, Capcom also released a lot of content in the Resident Evil 2 Remake). Still, because of the graphics, the two extra weights, the story which is short but which seems to invite you to play it from scratch (even if you have nothing new to discover because there are no more of those choices we had in the original) and Jill which is now a lot more politically correct, and much less likable, Resident Evil 3 Remake won very good marks.

With the appropriate mods, the game is more than playable and much more similar to the original, as it should be. But even without the mods and cosmetic "let it look like modern RE3: Nemesis" changes, RE3R is quite a solid sequel from the RE franchise and one of the (best) reissues we had the opportunity to play in 2020.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 & 2

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater is one of the games that has left a strong impression on players over the years. This is especially true of the first and second sequels, which came out in 1999 and 2000, which many consider being the best sequels of the game. A handful of fun, a lot of tricks with a great soundtrack that further added to the quality of the games were the main reasons why we played and why some of us still play original games.

Although the series had various successes (and failures), this year's reissues of the first two sequels not only brought us back to childhood, but through better graphics and some new tricks, but also showed us why Tony Hawk's Pro Skater is the best skateboard a simulation that exists in the gaming world.

Mafia (Definitive Edition)

The Mafia series of games is one of the better GTA clones that has experienced the transition to the new millennium, but what’s even better is that the series has become a game unto itself over time. The first sequel to the game released in 2002 won very high marks, leading to two sequels, which we were able to play in the following years. Although the "Definition" releases were only "remaster" versions of the original games, Hangar 13 completely reworked the original, after which we got the Mafia Definitive Edition.

Mafia: Definitive Edition features improved visual details, a completely new voice setup, and a new soundtrack, which together help bring the gaming experience closer to the modern requirements of the genre. Although the reissue of Mafia did not go very well on computers, all in all, it can be concluded that this is a great reissue that is worth playing.

SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle For Bikini Bottom

SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom was first released in late 2003. The game boasted very good visual effects, especially for that era. The Adventures of SpongeBob sold more than three million copies, although reviews usually gave the game a 7/10 rating. All in all, it was a very good, but not fantastic SpongeBob game, which we could play then.

Unfortunately, the "remake" didn't get much better reviews from critics; some have strongly criticized the inability of developers to modernize reissues. Despite this, the redesigned edition still sold quite a solid number, ie more than a million copies in the first two months since its release, and was the 19th best-selling game in North America during June.

Trials of Mana

When it comes to reworking classic titles, one of the objections that can’t be made against Square Enix is that the company was lazy when it did this reissue. Because it's not. As in the case of the Secret of Man game released in 2018, Trials Of Man has been completely redesigned "from scratch." In addition to now getting a three-dimensional adventure, Trials of Mana has brought multiple improvements in other segments of the game, which were more than welcome. Thumbs up for the diligence of Square Enix.

Unfortunately, however, like Secret of Man before it, the ratings of the reissue reviews were much lower compared to the ratings of the original game. Given that the latter is one of the best JRPGs still in existence today on the Super Nintendo console, this might not come as much of a surprise. Although the game also received some very good ratings, most agree that the original is still much better. But playing a slightly worse version of a great original isn’t that bad either. 

Destroy All Humans

Before the release of Destroy All Humans !, a game that came out earlier this year, it had been 12 years since the last sequel. It first came on the market in 2005, when we were first given the opportunity as players to control an alien race known as the Furons, who had the collection of human DNA as one of their tasks.

The first sequel received quite good and positive reviews and sold more than a million copies. The reissue, which shares a name with the original game, did not win as high marks as the original, although it looks and has controls better than the original. Reviews have been mixed, although sales have still exceeded publisher expectations. Whether the sequels to the game will also experience reissues remains to be seen.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon

The Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games were first released on the Gameboy Advance and Nintendo DS in 2005 and allowed players to take control of up to six Pokémon. The games have sold more than five million copies, although they have received mixed reviews, and the DS version has received particularly poor reviews by some reviewers.

Fifteen years later the reissue of the game, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX, didn’t go much better. While his score of 68 on Metacritic is far from bad, it is also far below the standards set for Pokémon games. The title, however, offers a fairly large visual upgrade and includes mechanics from later sequels from the series. With that in mind, fans of the original should be quite happy with this reissue.

Panzer Dragoon

The original Panzer Dragoon titles were some of the prominent titles on Sega Saturn. The first edition was published in 1995 and was considered a masterpiece by many. The game won very high ratings, which is why five more titles followed, with the last one coming out on the original Xbox back in 2002.

The reissue of the first sequel was first announced in late 2018, with the game to be released for Switch earlier this year. Despite a major visual upgrade, the game received average reviews. Most critics lament the lack of innovation. Whether this will affect plans to rework the sequel to the game or not remains to be seen.