Best HD Collection, Remake or Remaster of 2015 - Article
by Brandon J. Wysocki , posted on 04 January 2016 / 6,879 Views
2015 featured plenty of excellent entries in established series, as well as a number of promising new IPs; however, some outstanding experiences were also to be found in a series of HD collections, remakes, and remasters of some of the finest games from prior years. A common criticism of HD collections and remasters is that they're basically easy cash-ins for publishers, require little work on the part of developers, and/or indicate an all-round lack of fresh ideas.
Depending on how the individual title is executed, these can all be valid criticisms. However, when done thoughtfully, HD collections, remasters, and remakes can all be excellent ways of bringing proven IPs to new generations, and act as an opportunity for developers to improve aspects of their games that they were unable to before - be this due to timing or technological restraints - and deliver a definitive version of their most beloved titles. It allows gamers to revisit nostalgic games and moments, and share those with younger and newer gamers who have not yet experienced them.
The Nominees:
Tearaway Unfolded
Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D
Rare Replay
Homeworld Remastered Collection
Gears of War Ultimate
And the winner is…
Rare Replay
Community's Choice - Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection (27% of the votes)
All of the nominees above include excellent games from years past, but none offers such a comprehensive collection of titles as Rare Replay - 30 in all, spanning Rare's 30 years of development history, and all at a budget price.
Rare Replay is a feast of nostalgia with games from old, obscure consoles that many of us may not recognize, to arcade games, several classics from multiple generations of Nintendo consoles, and every non-Kinect title the company made for both the Xbox and Xbox 360. To further compliment the warm memories it elicits, the package also includes some interesting looks at Rare's history, including cancelled projects and making-of featurettes. This excellent value package is our Best HD Collection, Remake or Remaster of 2015.
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Brandon J. Wysocki is a writer for VGChartz. You're invited to contact Brandon (username SpaceLegends) in the comments below or through private messages on VGChartz, or even at his barely ever used and effectively dormant Twitter account @BrandonJWysocki.
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36 Comments
Poor Tearaway can't catch a brake. An incredible game with 50% new content reduced to a Remaster/Remake category and not even winning that. Oh well.
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Right? Tearaway on the PS4 isn't a remake, remaster, or HD port. It uses the base game and essentially builds a completely new one. I don't mean textures, but content, features, and the general way the game is played. It's a brand new release that had to be changed for the PS4, and a brilliant job was done getting it to that state. Yet, it will remain woefully underappreciated by those that can't seem to figure even this much out.
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Yup. I bought it last week and I can't believe how much I'm enjoying it. It's even better than the vita version and that's my favourite vita game to date.
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@kooltrex It's somewhere between a remaster and a new game. A lot of new content was added, and almost everything brought over from the Vita version was changed in some respect. At its core it's still the same game, but there's enough different amount it that calling it a 'new' game isn't strictly speaking wrong.
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So the thing is ive never played it would you still recommend the vita game?
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I'd recommend the Vita version over the PS4 version. Feels a lot more personal, which is important for this game.
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Ok ill put it on my wishlist thanks! One more question is there any DLC that is available for free on the PS4 version?
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@kooltrex Outside of some cosmetic bits and bobs, and i'm not aware of any DLC for either version.
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How can they not put grim fandango in this list, its one of the best adventure games ever and it looked really good in HD and its an actual big step up.
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Never in a million years was an RTS remaster/remake/collection ever going to win any award lol.
I would love to see a classic Dragon Quest collection remastered for consoles here in North America.
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Only played Tearaway & Majora, one of those should have won imo. Also I think remasters and remake shouldn't be put togther
"This excellent value package is our Best HD Collection, Remake or Remaster of 2015" The only game on the entire disc that got upgraded to natively run on the Xbone is Grabbed by the Ghoulies, so how does having one upgraded game and 29 emulated ports qualify it as "Best HD collection, remake, or remaster"?
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Rare Replay completely deserves it the amount of content and value you get is unbeatable with many great games for everyone.
Excuse me, but Majora was on this list, and you seem to have incorrectly labeled it anything but the winner.
Comments below voting threshold
I think Rare Replay is a great deal, even though I NEVER supported any of these individual games on their inital release! And fuck all the Indies that PS4 has to offer!
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You sir, need to watch your language. PS4 and X1 both have great game.
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I think Rare Replay is a great deal, even though I NEVER supported any of these individual games on their inital release! And fuck all the Indies that PS4 has to offer!
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You sir, need to watch your language. PS4 and X1 both have great game.
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