Ten PlayStation/ PS2 games that deserve PS3 HD revivals

The games industry has gone HD-remake crazy of late, with all kinds of PS2 classics being updated to take advantage of the vastly superior PS3 hardware. It’s good for everyone, newcomers get to enjoy improved versions of the games they read about on gaming sites, and those who have fond memories of the various Team Ico, Prince of Persia and Silent Hill games get to re-experience them.

But there are a lot of PlayStation and PS2 games that have been all-but forgotten to history. Fans remember them, but is it likely they’ll get remakes or HD versions? Probably not.

Still, we can dream. Here’s 10 games from the PlayStation/ PS2 eras we feel deserve HD versions.

Magic Carpet is still so much fun today, it would be a pity if EA never brought the franchise back to life. An arcade-style FPS that was set in the sky, the game has everything going for it; fast action, destructible (and morphable) terrain, some real challenge and so many different “spells” (weapons) that there is a wide range of successful play styles available.

What lets the game down in the modern environment is its primitive multiplayer, which is where a remake could come in. 8 player death matching with this kind of game could be endlessly readable on the PlayStation network. While I realise that this isn’t the kind of game that goes down well with the modern day ‘tunnel and shooting gallery’ style of FPS, it would surely go down well with people looking for something a little bit more intelligent than the Call of Duty games.

Yes, Kessen is a Tecmo Koei IP, and most people in the west would rather see its games go away entirely. Bu they’re popular in Japan, critically acclaimed and best sellers. Judging from the time I spent in Akihabara, and the walls of shelves dedicated to Tecmo Koei games, very popular indeed.

And yet Kessen, far more grand in scale than the musou – Warriors – games, and closer to something like Bladestorm, has been left to history. Time to bring it back, because it’s crying out for high res armies and online functionality.

Even better, Kessen was a trilogy. Trilogies work nicely for the HD remakes, as stuff like Tom Clancy Splinter Cell has shown.

Square Enix owns this license now, and it’s about time it got the same attention as the likes of Thief, Tomb Raider, and Hitman. Soul Reaver was an incredible action Gothic romp with some real edge. Yes it had its flaws (like most PlayStation games, the platforming was poor), but as one of the first games that really gave you the chance to relish being a Vampire, the horror overtones went down a treat.

Why would this game benefit from the PS3 treatment? Better camera controls and platforming for one thing, but mostly the dark atmosphere really would work better in HD or 3D than the blocky polygons and ugly textures of the PlayStation era.

Oh, where has Warhammer gone to? Games like Shadow of the Horned Rat were awesome. Taking control of whole units with unique personalities and customising a battle army based on what you can afford and train up was a superb, balanced and challenging experience. Branching paths and permanent deaths if the whole unit was destroyed meant that no two levels were alike.

And on the PlayStation, the PS Move could be used to great effect. The problem on the original PlayStation was that if you didn’t have a PlayStation controller this game was difficult to play. That’s resolved with the Move, as games like R.U.S.E shows.

Unfortunately it looks like all we’ll be getting from Warhammer into the future is silly shoot ’em up games. Pew Pew.

The black sheep of the numbered Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy X-2 is not everyone’s favorite game in the series. I don’t understand why. It’s short, yes, but it was never meant to be an epic. In fact it was quite deliberately a fun and frivolous game – the poor reception was more due to unfair expectations than anything else, I suspect.

Which is why a HD version through the PSN makes sense. Charge a little less than a full game, get to experience the quite excellent battle system and costume changing (a precursor to FFXIII’s superb paradigm system) over again.

Plus, Rikku in a 1080p yellow bikini.

We have Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls, two spiritual sequels to From Software’s classic King’s Field formula, but it would be nice to see this hugely underrated RPG classic get the HD makeover. After the success of Demon’s Souls, critics might even give it a fair review this time around.

It’s much the same as the spiritual sequels, with slow, methodical pacing and incredible, unrelenting difficulty, but personally I found King’s Field IV to do a better job of building mood, with a superb soundtrack, the personal, first person perspective, and the best level design in an RPG, ever.

Not many people know of this weird and sometimes nasty little Japanese animation, but its awesome n the same scale that puts The Trap Door on awesome. It’s a short, 5 minute TV filler animation with some truly classic characters and a distinct art style.

When it came time for Capcom to make a game of it, it didn’t put a foot wrong, and the PS2 Gregory Horror Show is a game with a style we still haven’t seen again. In short, it’s a hide and seek game. Each inhabitant to a small, ghosty

It is a compelling and often challenging formula, and as a PSN HD release this game could find it’s niche all over again.

Little-known fact: this game is one of the last projects for legendary Japanese filmmaker, Kinji Fukasaku, otherwise known for Battle Royale in the west. It’s a transgressive game in a lot of ways; a horror game that really is about survival, unlike the Resident Evils of the world, and a game with some especially nasty villains and an especially innocent lead character (serial killers modeled on real history and a defenseless school girl, respectively).

It was never received that well, partly because it was very light onthe action, and partly because it was over quickly, but this is a game that would do really well in HD and surround sound, and would finally bring the PS3 a horror game about running away and hiding.. A sub genre that has been all but forgotten in a world where people just want to shoot uglies. I’ll never understand why people call that horror, but I Digress. Capcom, bring back Alyssa kthx.

R.I.P Cavia, Square Enix’s brilliant developer that unfortunately got shut down after the awesome Nier. This was the game that brought it to prominence in my mind, and it’s a game that desperately needs a revival.

Drakengard is a bit of a mix of a Dynasty Warriors-style game, and being able to jump on a Dragon and burn everything in sight. The best thing about the game was that the hero felt really powerful to control, the action was interesting (if heavy on the button mashing), and the quest was reasonably interesting.

There was a sequel, but it faded into obscurity quickly. Fingers crossed a HD remake happens at some stage.

Capcom really did dominate in the PS2 era. This game is often ignored for its superficial resemblance to Devil May Cry, but that was unfortunate as it was a far better game.

Chaos Legion took its inspiration from the opera, and the soundtrack and disjointed cut scene style certainly backed that up. In short it was a visual and musical spectacle, and just cries for the HD treatment.

Digging into the gameplay revealed a game that took some of the basic ideas of Devil May Cry, and turned them to 11. Here, the main character (Victor) collected summons creatures, Legions, that would join him in battle. The fulfilled a number of roles, from providing shields, to engaging with swords, and firing with crossbows. Different situations demanded different approaches, so as action games go, this was an intelligent one.

There was a rudimentary level up scheme, and frankly this game rocked. Bring back Victor.

Are there any games you’re hanging out for HD revivals of? Let us know on our forums (or, of course, in the comments below)