Although 2015 is not completed yet, even in the quarter, from its beginning as many as three (actually more, but this does not apply to the subject material) remake managed to present the developers of video games: Heroes of Might & Magic III – HD Edition, Homeworld Remastered Collection, Oddworld Abe’s Oddysee.
All titles are somehow related to the classics, originals at one time have been named and a “masterpiece” and “a breakthrough in the genre”, and “blockbuster”. However, in modern conditions rightful place, they were by no means guaranteed – too changed the tastes of gamers, and the game itself has become a different audience.
Three remake mentioned above show three different approaches to the question of reprinting. The result is a three not similar to each other stories.
HEROES OF MIGHT & MAGIC III — HD EDITION
It is generally accepted that the third part of the saga strategy Heroes of Might and Magic- the top of the series, shining in the clouds. Introduced in 1999 as the original story
The Restoration of Erathia, she quickly gained the missing items in Armageddon’s Blade addition, completed the polishing sheet and functionality in The Shadow of Death and live in Heroes Chronicles whole eight episodes – as long as the offended fans not We decided to make its “Heroes» – Heroes of Might and Magic 3.5: In the Wake of Gods.
It is in the form of Heroes of Might and Magic 3.5: In the Wake of Gods game has survived as an indisputable eSports discipline strategic genre. Over the past fifteen years, the project pulled to bits, studied and turned into a sort of standard intelligent entertainment.
Like chess, Heroes of Might and Magic 3 (in WoG version) is interesting wealth of features, clarity of rules and balance perfect. As for the graphics, and in 1999, it seemed only decent within the genre of turn-based strategy, then it from fans of the game for a long time developed a completely application view.
Оригинальная Heroes of Maght and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia
Of course, Ubisoft is well aware of the underlying reason the whole situation with Heroes of Might and Magic 3: and total dominance in the minds of fans of the audit
In the Wake of Gods, and the relation of the real fans of the series to the chart. However, the principal findings, it was decided not to do – as indicated by the name of the contractor, whose publishing house hired for the production of the remake: DotEmu.
DotEmu studio is professionally engaged in the rapid porting old games. In their portfolio at the time of working on Heroes of Might and Magic III – HD Edition number of projects such as Boulder Dash Classic and Arcade, Street Fighter II – Champion Edition, Gobliiins 1-3.
Fragment screenshot of Heroes of Might and Magic III – HD Edition a width 650 px
Update Heroes of Might and Magic 3, it was decided from the version of The Restoration of Erathia. According to UbiSoft, source code is saved only for this part, as well as a rapid porting does not involve writing of code for inclusion in the remake of the additions Armageddon’s Blade and The Shadow of Death could be no question.
In addition to the adaptation of the code The Restoration of Erathia under the features of modern Windows versions and under the operating system Android and iOS, DotEmu redraw all the graphic elements of the game: titles card interface, images of characters and so on. Recall the original lineup of projects Heroes of Might and Magic 3 has been drawn under the resolution of 800 by 600 pixels and use 16-bit palette of 65536 colors.
In addition to graphics, and UbiSoft released DotEmu Heroes of Might and Magic III – HD Edition implemented the ability to play online via Steamworks service.
Scheme work done by the studio DotEmu
I must say that working with high resolutions in Heroes of Might and Magic 3 has been possible in the past – thanks to the unofficial modifications.
The most famous of them – HoMM3 HD mod, developed since 2009. As with almost everything that comes within the framework of people’s initiative, the installation of these modifications is associated with reading the instructions and advice of forum. To see the beauty of Heroes of Might and Magic III – HD Edition can do without, “dancing with a tambourine.”
In general, the history of Heroes of Might and Magic III – HD Edition is as follows. Publisher UbiSoft has released the original Heroes of Might and Magic 3: The Restoration of Erathia to redraw at higher resolution graphics and advanced network mode. As a nice extra, Heroes of Might and Magic III – HD Edition was officially ported to the Android and iOS platforms.
Unfortunately, development of the rule of the game Heroes of Might and Magic 3 in 2000-2015 years has led to that today, The Restoration of Erathia – this is probably the most unfortunate part of it.
It does not have many neutrals and faction creatures in it a weaker balance, there are no prefabricated artifacts, no major control functions of the random maps and a block for mounting their own campaigns. Compared with the same In the Wake of Gods, is rather primitive game.
Of course, upgraded graphics remake looks good. But the visual range, as has been said, has long moved away for fans of “Heroes” by the wayside. And offering in Heroes of Might and Magic III – HD Edition only the developers and publisher have made a mistake.
By and large, the most important advantage Heroes of Might and Magic III – HD Edition is that it has become an occasion for the formal appearance of the series Heroes of Might and Magic 3 on mobile platforms. However, we have, for example, does not believe that the gameplay “Heroes” will be so popular among owners of smartphones and tablets.
HOMEWORLD REMASTERED COLLECTION
History with the release of a remake of Heroes of Might and Magic III – HD Edition could be completely different, attach its creators a little more effort. An example of this – the case with the release at the end of February this year Homeworld Remastered Collection.
Background and implementation of the scheme in the Heroes of Might and Magic III – HD Edition and Homeworld Remastered Collection miraculously coincide. At the heart of a remake Homeworld Remastered Collection is also a strategy game in 1999. She came at a time when the genre of real-time strategy experienced a golden period and the number of projects coming out every month went to the top ten. Among them were complex and simple, beautiful and terrible – they are often collectively called C & C-clones.
Example graphics processing in Homeworld Remastered Collection
But no one turned then language called Homeworld «C & C-clone about space.” And it was not only a fantastic polygonal graphics with huge expanses of space, not only in the grand battles with dozens of participants and not only in the revolutionary process of the game, taking place in three dimensions. Homeworld took the quick sweep genuine plot, deep, tragic, whole. Video sequences intertwined with the mission of the Campaign, and through the polygons flagships looked through living the fate of the characters.
One more example
A year later, the game has received an independent plot addition Homeworld: Cataclysm, and in 2003 returned to to the roots in the continuation of Homeworld 2. The sequel was made on the modified engine has an improved interface and doctored balance.
Great story, advanced graphics, space theme and interesting from the point of view of strategy gameplay with three measurements made Homeworld series of cult. We can not say that it continued to play in the late 2000s and early 2010s, but in the memory it is the players, of course, continued to exist.
After a series of financial disasters, the right to Homeworld universe and the old games in the hands of Gearbox Software Studio. Use the new property she decided to making a remake.
Homeworld Remastered Collection includes storylines and campaigns both games of the series: Homeworld and Homeworld 2. Since, as mentioned above, the engine of the sequel, the interface and the balance was better technical basis Homeworld Remastered Collection became exactly it. In an addendum to the Homeworld 2 engine in a remake were completely redrawn texture and space ships, new modern special effects, modernized music, voice rewritten, redrawn under the standards of today’s movies. Homeworld Remastered Collection comes in resolutions up to Ultra-HD and uses for multi-mode single service platform Steam.
In general, everything that is devoid of Heroes of Might and Magic III – HD Edition is made in Homeworld Remastered Collection. In principle, and he and the other remake does not offer anything special in addition to improved graphics. But it turns out such a simple thing can be done carelessly, and can be – professionally and with respect for themselves and users.
ODDWORLD: NEW ‘N’ TASTY!
Surprising for an alien race name – mudokony – did not prevent the game Oddworld Abe’s Oddysee become become insanely popular in 1997, including in Russia. A bold experiment mixing arcade platforming and puzzle games attract not only of the concept, but also the embodiment. In Oddworld Abe’s Oddysee felt scope inherent in well developed gaming universe: Numerous details have been thought through and well adjusted to each other. This created a whole atmosphere, so you can easily succumb to the empathy the main character and his suffering brethren in captivity. Finally Oddworld Abe’s Oddysee fall in love with the players graphics. Excellent drawn in not ashamed to resolution 1997, she took the quick smooth, realistic animation.
After Oddworld Abe’s Oddysee its developers, studio Oddworld Inhabitants, released a few games of mudokona Abe and his friends, however, the stated goal – Pentalog Oddworld – have not been implemented.
But now as a publisher Oddworld Inhabitants has released a remake of the game in 1997. He was named Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty! For the project team was responsible Just Add Water, consistently embodied the plans for the platforms Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.
Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty! – a remake in the canonical sense of the word. The new game is not a single bit of the old code, although the plot, gameplay and, as far as possible, the schedule remained intact.
Oddworld Abe’s Oddysee и Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty!
The term “graphic” we mean images of heroes, interior design, all of the same animation. From a technical point of view, Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty! – is a completely different game. It uses a modern three-dimensional engine Unity3D. In this case, the levels continue to mimic the flat image, so that graphics remake more accurately be called not a three-dimensional, and polygonal.
By revamped character models Unity3D adds many special effects, permits the support with a high level of detail and the ability to create “continuous” game world – unlike the original Oddworld Abe’s Oddysee, where each screen is loaded separate locations.
Another direct comparison of the original and remake
Although Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty! without any tricks can be called absolute remake of Oddworld Abe’s Oddysee, several important changes to the gameplay developers Just Add Water is still made. Firstly, the new incarnation of adventure Abe appeared option to save the player chooses. Secondly, the game added a level of complexity. Thirdly, the famous “Call” Abe is now acting on several mudokonov immediately and our hero does not need to bother with every relative of separately.
The fourth innovation – is to increase the prisoners themselves mudokonov in the game. However, as before, lead to a happy ending do not need less than half of the livestock.
If you listed above seemed too revolutionary – and the new Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty! Seems too easy, do not worry. Have Just Add Water in stock trump: the fifth variation. The fact that the developers have made some changes to the control circuit and is now much easier to Abe goes from walking to running. That project in the heat of a platform is not always a plus.
In general, Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty! – is a masterpiece among remakes. There happened to catch the essence of the phenomenon, when many years later you launch the game and plunge into the stream of the same sensations. And the difference in graphics, gameplay features and nuances of working on the story, to show the past few years did not exist. Actually, Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty! do not even look like a remake – if you do not know what the original game came out earlier, you can take it for a completely new and relevant project.
