Roundtable Talk #15: Games We’d Love To See Made
We all have those pipedreams of games we’d like to see announced at the next big showcase or E3 presentation, whether it be a remake or remaster to one of our beloved childhood games, a well deserved sequel that never came to fruition, or an existing IP from another entertainment medium that we think would translate nicely into a game. The Controller Crusade staff put our heads together and came up with just a few of the many games we’d love to see made.
George’s Pick: Remaster or Remake of The Simpsons: Hit & Run
I knew my answer to this week’s roundtable as soon as I saw the question. It’s easy. I would love to see the Simpsons Hit and Run remastered/remade for contemporary consoles. I would even love a mobile port of the game (so long as we get console versions too of course.) Hit and Run is actually one of my earliest gaming memories, so I will admit that a lot of nostalgia is driving my want of a remaster. I received it when I was gifted a PS2 many years ago, and I have loved the game ever since. In fact, I have never actually completed the game. The game is level based, cycling through a different part of Springfield and the cast of characters. I always liked the first level, driving around as Homer and exploring the area around his house (the power plant, school, Kwick E Mart) and would start a new game whenever I progressed to the next level.
Over the past year and a half, I have been occasionally searching for any news about a remaster but it seems that rights are an issue to its rerelease. However, there definitely seem to be people, who were involved in the game’s development, keen for a modern-day release. Just recently, YouTuber reubs attempted to remake the game in Unreal Engine, and it looked awesome. So awesome, the lead designer of the game, Joe McGinn, commented on the video to praise the effort. However, he also expressed how the issue surrounding rights to the game might make rereleasing the game difficult. Hopefully Disney saw reubs’ video and realise there are people who want to see this game again!
Allison’s Pick: A Ready Player One Game
Ready Player One has been one of my favorite books ever since I first read the novel back in high school. The phenomenal characters, hilarious writing, and iconic 80’s references tapped into the same magic and nostalgia that I often feel when playing a video game. In addition, the immersive world-blending between a crumbling Earth and the seemingly perfect simulation world of the OASIS leads me to believe this would be an incredibly gripping game to play.
Though the book itself is technically considered a dystopian novel and is set in 2045, Wade Watts’ struggles and pitfalls feel all too relatable. The crumbling economic collapse surrounding him captures the reality for most people in the 21st century – a desire to escape the mundane and horrifying world for something better.
I feel like the entertainment industry tried to capitalize on this realization with the movie Ready Player One. Still, it fell flat for many fans that actually read the books themselves. I personally think this media would be well adapted for a game, especially for VR headsets. Of course, a game of this caliber would be a nightmare to develop, but definitely not impossible. Plus, it would be so surreal to experience and discover the OASIS for yourself. Hopefully, this time it won’t be overrun by tyrannical corporations and mysterious Easter Egg hunts.
Josh’s Pick: The Punisher Developed By Naughty Dog
My absolute dream game was already made in 2018 with Marvel’s Spider-Man from Insomniac Games, however one of my other favourite comic book characters has been absent from video games for far too long: The Punisher. The last time we saw Frank Castle in a solo game was 2009 with a very terrible PSN game that was delisted two years later. With Marvel gladly handing out their IP’s to different developers (with varying success) it only makes sense for The Punisher to make his much-anticipated return – and I know just the studio for the job.
With Neil Druckmann already throwing his hat in the ring and expressing his interest in creating a game based on The Punisher IP, my mind immediately went to Naughty Dog as the studio of choice, but not for just this reason. The Punisher’s story is grim, depressing, brutal, and full of vengeance, and who does grim, depressing, brutal, and vengeance better than any other studio? Naughty Dog.
I think The Punisher would work best as a 3rd person cover shooter, another checkmark for Naughty Dog, and I would absolutely love if they were to get someone who has experience with the role to reprise the character in video game form, especially Thomas Jane or Jon Bernthal.
Please Marvel, hand over the keys and let Naughty Dog make the Punisher game of every comic book fan’s dreams.
Justin’s Pick: Doctor Who by Telltale
Telltale still exists. Kind of. The developer of The Walking Dead declared bankruptcy in 2018, but the name was passed around until it finally settled with another studio made up of former employees form the original Telltale. It’s complicated, but it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that the Telltale formula would make for an incredible Doctor Who game.
For those unfamiliar, most of Telltale’s games follow a similar formula: They’re broken into several chapters (called a season, obviously), where you guide a character through a story and make choices that will affect things in future episodes. Telltale’s games were a modern take on the adventure genre, mostly consisting of the classic point and click style of gameplay with some light puzzle solving.
Telltale would take licensed properties and turn them into games. It didn’t always work, but when it worked it really worked. The Walking Dead won countless awards in 2012. 2014’s Tales from the Borderlands is, for my money, the best thing to ever come out of the Borderlands IP. In my mind, a Doctor Who game would turn out just the same.
Doctor Who has never really worked in videogame form before, but I think it would with Telltale at the helm. Their style of gameplay works in tandem with what the Doctor is best at: solving problems. Taking in a scene, examining it from every angle, then coming up with a crazy solution to get him and his companion out of their current situation. Throw in an inventory of objects that don’t seem important now but become useful later, some wild alien designs, and far-off planets that always wrap back around the modern day London and baby, you’ve got a game going.
It’s not just the scenery and characters that make Doctor Who. It’s the stories. A typical episode can fire up your imagination. It can string you along with a great mystery, mixing in profound insights into the human condition with little jokes to keep everything grounded – something Telltale excels at. Again, look at Tales from the Borderlands. It starts as a lighthearted adventure through familiar landscapes, but quickly shows emotional depth and a sense of pathos. That’s exactly what we want from Doctor Who.
I’d like it even more if it starred the best Doctor: David Tennant. Fight me.
There is just four of the many hundred games we’d love to see announced in the future. Do you have a game that you’d be the perfect candidate for a remake or remaster? Have you read a book or watched a tv show recently that would make a great game? Do you want to fight Justin for his love of David Tennant? Let us know your answers to all these questions in the comments below!
