Gaming Makeover

[James Weatherby]

So let's pretend that you get to choose one game of olden times to receive a complete makeover. The game itself stays the same in all substantive regards (perhaps a tweak or two here and there, but overall same game in substance) but gets all the bells and whistles current technology can provide in terms of interface, graphics, voice acting (if needed) and so on.

Which saggy old game gets a facelift and tummy tuck?


Personally I'd like to see Master of Magic revisited with all its units, landscapes, spells, and heroes done up in full glory.



EDIT: Oops I thought I was over in VGO. This should go there.

[Demoralized]

Boothill & the Gammaworld of my youth

[Samaritan]

Ah, you mean videogames... hmmm...


Starflight (PC)
Mail-Order Monsters (PC)
Dodge Ball (NES)
Roadwar 2000 or Europa (PC)
Autoduel (PC... though I suppose Interstate '78 is a solid entry for this one)
Magic Candle (the ability to have different characters 'split off' and do their own thing was kinda cool)


Others as I think of 'em... I can't pick just one. :)

[Tylorva]

Ultima Underworld 1 + 2

[Epic Cave Slime]

X-Com (of course!)
Autoracing Construction Kit
Laser Squad

[StormBringer]

Ah, you mean videogames... hmmm...
Starflight (PC)


STARFLIGHT!!!

BLAM! (http://http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Maze/4979/starflight.html)

Further:

Starflight III (http://www.starflightcentral.com/)
Online database (http://starflight.choreo.home.att.net/)

I mention that last one because it is possible to find Starflight for download to replace your original copies that have been lost.

[Samaritan]

Autoracing Construction Kit


... do you mean Racing Destruction Set? Because that one was cool (and, incidentally, had a spiritual successor in the SNES game, Rock N' Roll Racing).

On a related note, Adventure Construction Set would be cool (RPGMaker games notwithstanding).

[Rutherford]

Legacy of the Ancients.

[Samaritan]

Legacy of the Ancients.

That was probably my favorite 'epic' RPG on the old Commodore 64, even beating out Might & Magic. :)

I'd love to see another Star Wars sim (of all the various ships) be made available.

[James Weatherby]

Ultima Underworld 1 + 2


Oh yes, that would be great. I really enjoyed the magic system in those games. Finding new runes rocked.

[DDogwood]

Yeah, Ultima Underworld would be sweet. So would any of the Starflight games, or the first two Star Control games. Autoduel would be awesome, too.

There was also an old, old game called Omega or something, where you designed a tank and then programmed artificial intelligence for it. Then you sent your tank out to find and defeat a series of stronger and stronger enemy tanks with better and better AI. I remember playing that game for ages, even after I beat it, just to see how I could beat the enemy more efficiently.

[Samaritan]

There was also an old, old game called Omega or something, where you designed a tank and then programmed artificial intelligence for it. Then you sent your tank out to find and defeat a series of stronger and stronger enemy tanks with better and better AI. I remember playing that game for ages, even after I beat it, just to see how I could beat the enemy more efficiently.

I remember that game!

It made me feel stupid. :o

(As an aside, this thread makes we want to go peruse Home of the Underdogs some more...) :)

[suedenim]

Lots of good suggestions here. I'd add:

Crush, Crumble, and Chomp! - Controlling a giant monster on a rampage through a big city seems like such a natural that it's amazing how few games have been made about it.

M.U.L.E. - I'd love to see this as a modern multiplayer game, though it's one where going too overboard with fancy graphics might be counterproductive. The theme song still rocks.

[nonsense]

I've wanted an updated version of Master of Magic for a long time.

[Yavassk]

Loom.

Because we don't have enough puzzleish games currently that don't actively try to dick the player and I love the world.

[Heronymus]

XCOM.

That's pretty much it.

[Ramien Meltides]

Folks who want an update to Master of Magic should check out Age of Wonders (particularly Age of Wonders 2 and AoW2: Shadow Magic). Pretty much Master of Magic XP style.

Folks who want to see XCOM updated should check out UFO: Aftershock.

[Loki Dodges-Their-Claws]

I'd like an upgrade of Suikoden and Suikoden 2, myself. Not only better graphics and all that, but hopefully expanded storylines, especially in the first.

[Bahama'at]

Folks who want an update to Master of Magic should check out Age of Wonders (particularly Age of Wonders 2 and AoW2: Shadow Magic). Pretty much Master of Magic XP style.No, they really really aren't. Own both, played both, uninstalled and shelved both. They are not MoM in any of the ways I liked the game (customized wizards, city building, duo-dimensions, etc).

So, my list (4x Heavy):
Master of Magic
Master of Orion (better graphics, better code but actually keep it light on game length, tech tree and such - sometimes you feel like a 90 hour+ marathon and for that we have GalCiv, sometimes a quick and dirty 90 minute game is all the depth and challenge you want)
Alpha Centauri (aka SMAC/X)

Brought up to the latest standards?
the golden age Bioware games (KOTOR 1 and 2, Baldur's Gate - NWN 1 was nice and sandboxy but I'm looking for games with real depth of NPC experience and plots, bring the games up to graphical par, use the better hardware and code to make things more interesting, clean up the undeveloped sections, maybe a bit more plot, etc).

- Ma'at

[Slortar]

Deathlord. I played that game for years and still didn't fully explore all of the dungeons. It was beyond awesome.

I have to emphatically second Legacy of the Ancients if only because even after 20 years I still can't get the theme music out of my head.

[nonsense]

No, they really really aren't. Own both, played both, uninstalled and shelved both. They are not MoM in any of the ways I liked the game (customized wizards, city building, duo-dimensions, etc).

I find Shadow Magic in particular was very, VERY similar to MoM. Definitely a spiritual successor. The other AOWs (1 and 2: The Wizard's Throne, as opposed to 2: Shadow Magic) were more their own animal.

There are still some omissions I find sad (for instance, I love the MoM population growth/unrest model), but SM does a pretty good job.

[Thornhammer]

STARFLIGHT!!!


Awesome. Starflight was the first home computer game I ever played.

I had a BLAST playing it. I remember one game where I decided to say screw the mission and just hit one of the far corners of the universe. So I went to that little red star in the bottom-right corner of the map. IIRC, there's a planet just STUFFED with Endurium.

-Thornhammer

[NoCarrier]

Sword of the Samurai.

If someone would combine (a simplified, perhaps) Shogun: Total War with Bushido Blade, or maybe a game like that one in which you play a knight errant and his party (Sword & Lance? Something like that), I would die a happy man.

[Mr_Pleasington]

Bionic Commando.

[James Weatherby]

I find Shadow Magic in particular was very, VERY similar to MoM. Definitely a spiritual successor. The other AOWs (1 and 2: The Wizard's Throne, as opposed to 2: Shadow Magic) were more their own animal.


I played Age of Wonders and didn't find that it scratched my MoM bug, but having just looked into Shadow Magic the fact that it has added a Random Map Generator and an alternate dimension to gameplay suggests it may well do the job. At any rate I just ordered it, so I'll find out when it arrives.

[nonsense]

I played Age of Wonders and didn't find that it scratched my MoM bug, but having just looked into Shadow Magic the fact that it has added a Random Map Generator and an alternate dimension to gameplay suggests it may well do the job. At any rate I just ordered it, so I'll find out when it arrives.

SM is significantly different from the other AOWs. I think you'll like it; it really is as close to MoM as one will get (right down to Shadow Demons looking surprisingly like Klaxons).

[Ace of Diamonds]

Goldeneye 007.

[James Weatherby]

SM is significantly different from the other AOWs. I think you'll like it; it really is as close to MoM as one will get (right down to Shadow Demons looking surprisingly like Klaxons).


*fingers crossed*

[MonkeyWrench]

The old Quest for Glory games from Sierra.

[Vigorous Ape]

Chaos, the best game ever. Bar none. I still play despite it being over 20 years old.


Flash emulation of it (http://www.mykeblack.com/flash/chaos/chaos_content.html)

[coeli]

Personally I'd like to see Master of Magic revisited with all its units, landscapes, spells, and heroes done up in full glory.
And a real diplomacy system, where how you behave toward the other wizards actually affects how rapidly they attack you.

[BuzzW]

Master of Orion 2. I felt it hit the perfect level of complexity. (I got bored with the relatively fewer variables in GalCiv 2. Ship design especially, although I like customizing the looks of the ship.)

[woodsmoke]

I'm both shocked and ashamed that no one has yet mentioned TIE Fighter.

[Weltenreiter]

I've wanted an updated version of Master of Magic for a long time.Seconded. And no, while nice in its own right, AoW and other clones don't really compare.

Xcom would be second pick.

[beachnik]

X-Com by a country mile

After that, there's an old Microprose RPG called Darklands. It was great, your end goal was to become a famous hero. To that end you could:

Defeat evil dwarves that were undermining the country's iron mines,
Fight and kill the evil Robber Barons
Find little hamlets with satanic cults and put them to the sword.
Go down into hell itself.

It was a great game that was so immensely open-ended. My characters ended up getting hideously rich by investing the ludicrous quantities of gold that I stole from the evil robber barons, and donating vast quantities of it to the church to get the blessings of the various saints.

Awesome game.

[JakeMorley]

Autoduel (would be fantastic as a hardcore MMO, a la EVE Online, too!)
X-Com
Master of Magic
Sid Meier's Colonization
Ultima Underworld series

Funny how many of these are on everyone's list...

[Bobus X]

Sword of the Samurai.

If someone would combine (a simplified, perhaps) Shogun: Total War with Bushido Blade, or maybe a game like that one in which you play a knight errant and his party (Sword & Lance? Something like that), I would die a happy man.

Wow! I thought I was the only person that had played that! I spent years playing that game for hours on end. I think I have still played it more than any other game I have ever owned. In the end, my parents gave away my 286 while I was away, so it was lost to me forever. :mad:

[suedenim]

After that, there's an old Microprose RPG called Darklands. It was great, your end goal was to become a famous hero. To that end you could:

Defeat evil dwarves that were undermining the country's iron mines,
Fight and kill the evil Robber Barons
Find little hamlets with satanic cults and put them to the sword.
Go down into hell itself.

It was a great game that was so immensely open-ended. My characters ended up getting hideously rich by investing the ludicrous quantities of gold that I stole from the evil robber barons, and donating vast quantities of it to the church to get the blessings of the various saints.

Awesome game.

Oh, yeah, absolutely! I think it was a game that was a little ahead of its time. I loved the setting, which was not some fantasy setting, but medieval Germany, from "our" world, the only conceit being that what common folk believed back then was true.

[Darting Flea]

Speedball 2

[Jeremy Cole]

Yeah, I'm going to go with a minor variation and say XCOM Apocalypse. I liked the real time mode more and loved the single city with its factions... it could be done so much prettier today.

Also, a new Syndicate would be great, and so very pretty.

[Des]

XCOM, of course.
Chrono Trigger
Oregon Trail: I mean, c'mon, it was funny enough when your pneumonia ridden, all four limbs broken pioneer staggered into oregon with the corpses of all those he ever loved keeping him company, but imagine how much greater it'd be in 3D with a voice actor screaming "KILL ME!" every couple minutes.

Okay, I'm a bad person. I liked to torment my sims too.

[fearthehat]

I think a remake of System Shock 1 would be great. Its aiming system could be translated to the Nintendo DS really well.

[Bahama'at]

After that, there's an old Microprose RPG called Darklands. It was great, your end goal was to become a famous hero. To that end you could:

Defeat evil dwarves that were undermining the country's iron mines,
Fight and kill the evil Robber Barons
Find little hamlets with satanic cults and put them to the sword.
Go down into hell itself.

It was a great game that was so immensely open-ended. My characters ended up getting hideously rich by investing the ludicrous quantities of gold that I stole from the evil robber barons, and donating vast quantities of it to the church to get the blessings of the various saints.

Awesome game.It was. I loved how it tried to work as much realism into the game as possible given all the magic and such (you couldn't really cast spells - you had alchemists who made elixirs and people who could pray to saints, the whole calendar year was filled with actual saint feasting days, etc). Shame they never made the intended sequel (set in France in the same time period).

[suedenim]

It was. I loved how it tried to work as much realism into the game as possible given all the magic and such (you couldn't really cast spells - you had alchemists who made elixirs and people who could pray to saints, the whole calendar year was filled with actual saint feasting days, etc). Shame they never made the intended sequel (set in France in the same time period).

IIRC, it was viewed as a pretty major flop at the time, being released with lots of pretty severe bugs. Which were all fixed eventually, but (going back to the "ahead of its time" comment) the marketplace was a lot more inherently unforgiving in those pre-Internet days. There weren't any really good, commonly-used channels for even getting information *about* a patch out back then, much less distributing it, and instead of "downloading a patch," I believe you ended up arranging for a mail shipment of, like, ten 3.5" floppy disks!

I played it long after its release, getting it from my brother after he went through all those painful bits.

But it was a great game.

[Kid Twist]

Zork. I'd either want to do it in an immersive 3D environment, or rewrite the setting to be more elaborate and try to have things make sense.

[Dead Parrot]

The old SSI Gold box games...just update the graphics/add voice overs and keep the game play.

[Soul Of Lost]

SSI had the Wargame Construction Set. I have longed for a updated replacment to it.

[Ineti]

Two come to mind...

The classic EA game EOS (Earth Orbit Stations)

and

LucasArts's X-Wing.

[Gears]

I think an updated version of Sid Meier's Covert Action would be awesome given the current geo-political scene.



And I heartily second the votes for Sword of the Samurai, Darklands, Xcom, and MOM.

Oh, how I long for the games of myne youth.

[suedenim]

LucasArts's X-Wing.

I frankly find it rather astonishing that LucasArts doesn't just keep this series going as a "perennial" - by my way of thinking, you ought to be able to walk into Best Buy, whatever the year, and buy a "jump into an X-Wing or TIE Fighter and shoot things" game with reasonably current technology - and it should be a perennial seller, too. I really never have understood why that's apparently not the case, or for that matter why "Wing Commander XIII" or somesuch isn't on sale now.

[dohnut king]

Sword of the Samurai.

If someone would combine (a simplified, perhaps) Shogun: Total War with Bushido Blade, or maybe a game like that one in which you play a knight errant and his party (Sword & Lance? Something like that), I would die a happy man.

Well said. Also Master of Magic, Master of Orion, and Wing Commander.

[Durandal]

Hmm, this is a really hard decis... Oh wait no it isn't, Marathon (The whole trilogy)!

I want to see this game given the Halo treatment and I want it now! The only problem is finding just the right voice actors to play the AIs. This game is a true classic and I hope Bunie re-does it one day (Their lead designer expressed that he kind of wanted to in an interview years ago).

[Jiawen]

IIRC, it was viewed as a pretty major flop at the time, being released with lots of pretty severe bugs. Which were all fixed eventually, but (going back to the "ahead of its time" comment) the marketplace was a lot more inherently unforgiving in those pre-Internet days. There weren't any really good, commonly-used channels for even getting information *about* a patch out back then, much less distributing it, and instead of "downloading a patch," I believe you ended up arranging for a mail shipment of, like, ten 3.5" floppy disks!

I played it long after its release, getting it from my brother after he went through all those painful bits.

But it was a great game.My vote is also for Darklands. One of the best computer RPGs ever, by a long shot. I loved that game. Still do. In fact, I'm going to go play it right now...

[Silent Wayfarer]

I'd like to see FF6 and Planescape:Torment redone. With FF12-style graphics.

[Whollyrandom]

Darklands, Master of Magic, X-Com original. However, I wonder whether I wouldn't find the sheer difficulty level of Darklands offputting now that I don't have the free time to start the game over and over and develop a party with strong fighters, decent alchemists, a worthwhile priest et al that doesn't get wiped out in yet another futile stumbling-onto of a Satanist village in full sabbat. Games without resurrection of player characters are, it seems to me, unusual now.

Ultima Underworld is also seconded; I don't think I've ever played a game that made me feel that I'd worked so hard for a new magical ability (rune), or made me feel so rewarded when I found one and started trying to use it to create new spells.

[Whollyrandom]

Also, James, I'd love to hear what you think of Shadow Magic. I loved X-Com, and think that I have a copy of Shadow Magic sitting on a shelf somewhere, or possibly in the garage. As I recall, I bought it as a budget release at about the same time that I first started playing World of Warcraft, so I never really tried it out.

[James Weatherby]

Also, James, I'd love to hear what you think of Shadow Magic. I loved X-Com, and think that I have a copy of Shadow Magic sitting on a shelf somewhere, or possibly in the garage. As I recall, I bought it as a budget release at about the same time that I first started playing World of Warcraft, so I never really tried it out.


It's in the mail to me right now. When it comes and I've played it for a while I'll post my thoughts.

[Jiawen]

Darklands, Master of Magic, X-Com original. However, I wonder whether I wouldn't find the sheer difficulty level of Darklands offputting now that I don't have the free time to start the game over and over and develop a party with strong fighters, decent alchemists, a worthwhile priest et al that doesn't get wiped out in yet another futile stumbling-onto of a Satanist village in full sabbat. Games without resurrection of player characters are, it seems to me, unusual now.Get a group with at least two (hopefully three) archers and one alchemist who knows a Sunburst formula. Camp and make a nice big batch of Sunbursts. First thing in combat, have your alchemist throw the Sunburst somewhere close. The enemy -- pretty much regardless of what kind -- will be stunned and your archers will get easy shots. Keeping throwing the Sunbursts and make sure your archers have enough arrows.

Getting the money for the ingredients for all those Sunbursts is hard at the start, but once you do, it's pretty much smooth sailing until you want to fight a dragon or the Templars. Who needs resurrection when you can just avoid dying?