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10 old PC game franchises we want rebooted
Our favorite classic PC series that we'd like to see reinvigorated.
GamePro staff (GamePro (online)) 24/08/2009 14:24:00
Wing Commander "Part flight simulator, part space opera, the Wing Commander series was light-years (ha!) ahead of other flight games of its time. By sharing the focus between the personal interactions with your squad mates and fast paced, white-knuckles-on-joystick action, the WC games made dogfighting through the stars against the Kilrathi Armada a believable and truly emotional experience, one which I would love to find myself in again." "A little known fact: Wing Commander III (featuring everyone's favorite star-walking nerf herder, Mark Hamill) holds the distinction of being the first video game to garner a full-on motion picture worthy budget of $4 million, a pricetag unheard of back in 1994. Imagine what they could do with today's graphics technology and resources? R.I.P., Origin Systems. We miss you." --Arthur "Arturis" Orneck (Follow me on Twitter here!)
<h2><a href="http://www.gamepro.com/games/psx/103413/wing-commander-iv-the-price-of-freedom/" target="_blank">Wing Commander</a> </h2><br><br>"Part flight simulator, part space opera, the Wing Commander series was light-years (ha!) ahead of other flight games of its time. By sharing the focus between the personal interactions with your squad mates and fast paced, white-knuckles-on-joystick action, the WC games made dogfighting through the stars against the Kilrathi Armada a believable and truly emotional experience, one which I would love to find myself in again." <br><br>"A little known fact: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wing_Commander_III:_Heart_of_the_Tiger" target="_blank">Wing Commander III</a> (featuring everyone's favorite star-walking nerf herder, Mark Hamill) holds the distinction of being the first video game to garner a full-on motion picture worthy budget of $4 million, a pricetag unheard of back in 1994. Imagine what they could do with today's graphics technology and resources? R.I.P., Origin Systems. We miss you." <br><br> --<b>Arthur "Arturis" Orneck (<a href="http://twitter.com/LordArturis" target="_blank">Follow me on Twitter here!</a>)</b>
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  • Ever since Piranha Games, the team behind the surprisingly fun video game adaptation of the wretched Transformers sequel, announced that they were bringing back one of the greatest classic PC franchises, MechWarrior, we started wondering, what else might be rebooted? From the countless PC franchises that have fizzled out over the years, we've handpicked only the best games that deserve a reboot. Read on to find out why.
  • Wing Commander "Part flight simulator, part space opera, the Wing Commander series was light-years (ha!) ahead of other flight games of its time. By sharing the focus between the personal interactions with your squad mates and fast paced, white-knuckles-on-joystick action, the WC games made dogfighting through the stars against the Kilrathi Armada a believable and truly emotional experience, one which I would love to find myself in again." "A little known fact: Wing Commander III (featuring everyone's favorite star-walking nerf herder, Mark Hamill) holds the distinction of being the first video game to garner a full-on motion picture worthy budget of $4 million, a pricetag unheard of back in 1994. Imagine what they could do with today's graphics technology and resources? R.I.P., Origin Systems. We miss you." --Arthur "Arturis" Orneck (Follow me on Twitter here!)
  • Ultima "Ultima III was a watershed moment for old-school PC gamers like myself. I'll never forget finishing the game because I had a posse of cheering friends around me when I finally approached Fire Island and beat Exodus, the game's main villain." "The Ultima series introduced some fairly advanced gameplay mechanics. Non-linear, open-world adventuring. Notions of light/dark morality - shooting a fleeing character in the back made you evil. Later on, the series even had a free market system. But what really captivated me was the series' universe itself. The land of Brittania was a fully-realized, dynamic world with recurring characters (like Iolo and Lord British) and towns and castles and villains. To this day, it still feels like the closest North American RPG to the Final Fantasy series." "When he finished the highly controversial final installment of the game, Ultima IX, Richard Garriot put the series on hiatus. Electronic Arts still owns the rights to the game, while Garriot retains the rights to some of the characters. I say it's time for the two sides to work out a way to bring this legendary series back. The story, characters, and lore have already been created. Feels like a guaranteed hit to me." --George Jones (Follow me on Twitter here!)
  • The Journeyman Project "Okay, so maybe the old school point-and-click adventures are a dying breed, but I can easily see the Journeyman Project being a great first-person puzzle-mystery adventure like Portal. I remember actually opening history textbooks so I could follow along with the cool time travel storylines." "Aside from the gorgeous historical cities and the awesome writing, a next-gen version of the Journeyman Project would also have to bring back the hilarious live-action cutscenes. They were cheesier than Battlestar Galactica, but still ball-bustingly funny. Give me back my Chameleon Suit with another time traveling sci-fi epic on my Xbox 360 or PS3 and I'll be a happy man." --McKinley Noble (Follow me on Twitter here!)
  • Baldur's Gate "Few fantasy worlds hold as special of a place in fan's hearts than the medieval realm of Dungeons & Dragons. Eleven years ago, Mass Effect-creators BioWare made history with the simply astonishing Baldur's Gate - a trail-blazing point-and-click role-playing adventure of epic proportions set firmly in the heart of the D&D universe." "From the game's richly detailed world to its intricately crafted plot, Baldur's Gate paved the way for modern RPGs as we know them. Even though we'd see a successful sequel four years later, as well as numerous action-oriented spin-offs, no game has truly captured the magic that entranced players with 1998's Baldur's Gate. And while there's still no Baldur's Gate game coming, BioWare is working on the next best thing, BG's spiritual successor, Dragon Age: Origins." --Will Herring (Follow me on Twitter here!)
  • System Shock 2 "Why? Because it's the scariest, smartest, and best-written RPG/shooter ever created. System Shock 2 was ahead of its time in 1999, so a potential remake/reboot wouldn't have to change much. The story, characters, and dialogue are already pitch-perfect, so a series reboot should be purely focused on the presentation and gameplay tweaks." "Implementing real-time lighting a la Doom 3 would be crucial to enhancing the series' already spine-tingling horror mood. The combat system could use a tune-up, too, with the Psionics skill branch veering closer to BioShock's Plasmids, while the gunplay should take a cue from splatterpunk games like Dead Space. With these upgrades, System Shock 2 could seduce a whole new generation of fans who grew up with Fallout 3, Mass Effect, and BioShock." --Sid Shuman (Follow me on Twitter here!)
  • Heretic / Hexen "Texas-based FPS masters id Software, who've developed and produced numerous successful shooter series like Quake, Doom, and Wolfenstein, has never stopped working on bringing us new games in their franchises... that is with the exception of the Heretic/Hexen series." "What I loved the most about Heretic, Heretic II, Hexen, and Hexen II, was that it took a number of things that made Doom so badass (hideous enemies, a big assortment of weapons, diverse level design) and placed them in a dark fantasy-themed setting. The games kind of felt like a gory version of Lord of the Rings. If fresh ideas can be applied to the MechWarrior series for a reboot, I don't see why the same can't be done with the Hexen/Heretic franchise. The real question is what will they call the new re-imagining: Heretic, Hexen, or maybe Herexentic? As a huge fan of the series I'd jump at the chance to once again incinerate enemies with the fire-spewing Hammer of Retribution or just beat them to a bloody pulp with the spiked gauntlets." --Patrick Shaw (Follow me on Twitter here!)
  • Descent "I usually have short-lived infatuations with flight combat games -- while I enjoyed games like Ace Combat and Star Fox 64, I've found that those kinds of games are only immersive during the short period that they're graphically impressive. One game that's defied that for me is Descent. This classic PC franchise continues to be a cool, claustrophobic white-knuckle adventure, and it's due to the series staple -- corridor based flight. We're more than due for an update, and luckily, it seems like Interplay may be up for that challenge due to the infusion of cash from licensing Fallout." --Dave Rudden (Follow me on Twitter here!)
  • MDK "I've always had a proclivity for the sniper rifle when it comes to shooters. Picking of hapless soldiers/aliens/zombies from afar has always seemed more fun than getting up close and potentially killed. But while Left 4 Dead and Halo have had some sweet sniping action, MDK remains the king of long-distance killing. Even over a decade since its original release, the stage spanning scope remains as technically impressive as it is fun to wield. But if you wanted to get up close to your enemies, there was the almost-as-memorable retractable parachute that made stage traversal a blast. Give this classic a new-gen spit and polish, and I'll be there, cash in hand on day one." --Travis Moses (Follow me on Twitter here! )
  • King's Quest "My home PC was always behind the times when I was growing up, but while my friends were playing games like DOOM and Quake, I was more than happy playing King's Quest titles. I may have caught some flack from friends, but that didn't deter me from enjoying the crap out of Roberta Williams' classic adventure games. So, now that Guybrush Threepwood gets his next-gen makeover, is Sierra going to let King Graham and the rest of Daventry go the way of the dodo? For an adventure series that practically invented the idea of allowing players to roam in a pseudo-three-dimensional world, I think that would be a tragedy." --Andy Burt (Follow me on Twitter here!)
  • Star Wars: X-Wing / Tie Fighter "This is, without a doubt, the best PC action-flight franchise ever. I know there are other awesome ones like Freespace but for my money, it's all about Star Wars: X-Wing and Tie Fighter. Seriously, who wouldn?t want to hop into the cockpit of one of these iconic spaceships and dogfight in the depths of space? This franchise seriously needs to make a next-gen comeback. It would round out the Star Wars library, fitting in right alongside the MMOs, the RPG's and the Battlefront series. Upgrade the visuals, tighten up the flight mechnics, throw in some massive online multiplayer battles and the ability to customize your starfighter and you're done." --Tae Kim (Follow me on Twitter here!)

Ever since Piranha Games, the team behind the surprisingly fun video game adaptation of the wretched Transformers sequel, announced that they were bringing back one of the greatest classic PC franchises, MechWarrior, we started wondering, what else might be rebooted?

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