Reboots have become more common recently, bringing older titles to modern audiences with some tweaks and innovations to hold its own. This is usually done for more big-budget titles like Call of Duty , but underrated franchises that never got a large following would benefit greatly from this. Ranging from cult classics to more modern titles, here are 10 underrated franchises that need a reboot.
As Xbox rose to dominance in the Xbox 360 console generation, the console received so much third-party support that the number of first-party exclusives started a decline with Xbox having fewer of its own unique IP. By the time the current Xbox One generation came along, the lack of first-party support only seemed to increase. But in recent years, under the leadership of Phil Spencer, Xbox has acquired multiple studios to build out its exclusive game portfolio. This should start paying off in the next Series X generat
It does present a new host of challenges for the game. Fable ‘s abilities have been dependant on a character’s alignment since the beginning, with evil characters getting bonuses to certain abilities and vice versa. The morality system is a defining element of the franchise, and arguably what players associate with it the most. Fundamentally changing it is going to be a difficult task, and one that not all players are going to l
It is hard to talk about Driver: San Franciso without mentioning how hard it is to obtain. This incredible driving game from Ubisoft can only be obtained through sketchy grey-market websites or through pirating a copy.
L.A. Noire has more in common with some of the investigative mechanics in the Yakuza spin-off series Judgement. However, fans of Yakuza love deep character stories and crime dramas filled with twists, turns, and betrayals. This late 1940 set drama is an easy recommendat
Xbox has shown that a freedom-driven, open-world experience can be accomplished with its first-party game Sea of Thieves from developer Rare (another UK-based studio like Playground Games, by the way). While Sea of Thieves had its own ups and downs, Rare successfully reinvented the game. Again, not that a next-gen Fable should copy Sea of Thieves , but hopefully learnings (and maybe even technology) from that game could be shared between Xbox’s studios to influence Fable in a way that gives players that sense of freedom and helps the game achieve the grand RPG path that was originally envisioned with Project
When the original Fable was in development, the game’s director Peter Molyneux talked about his plans for the game, Albion lore which at the time was codenamed Project Ego. The main idea was that players would pick up the controller on a 15-year-old whose parents were killed, and in a journey of revenge, players would guide their avatar through an RPG experience shaping their avatar from a teenager to an adult with total freedom of their path. Their avatar would grow up along with the world—there was a famous example that players could plant an acorn as a child and then see it grow into a tree by adulthood—and eventually have to save the entire world on their journey. It was a lifelong pursuit, with players raising up a character from childhood all the way to old
Meet Destroy All Humans , a game that revolves around controlling an alien and blowing everything to smithereens. Buildings, people, cows, nothing is safe from Crypto. There is a story in each game, but it takes a backseat compared to the ludicrous amounts of fun the game lets you have. You can fling humans to walls, blow up skyscrapers, and use your flying saucer to take out armies of soldiers. The game doesn’t take itself too seriously, which helps with the fun factor. There is a remake for the original title that should release this year, so hopefully, that will generate enough interest to get this series back on people’s radars.
It’s true that Rare largely struggled to produce compelling experiences since Microsoft’s acquisition in 2002, but one exception is Viva Pinata . A bizarre take on the life-simulation genre, Viva Pinata sees players raising and breeding living pinatas while completing a variety of objectives. Noted for its eye-catching art style and quirky humor, Viva Pinata spawned sequels and even its own television series. A new Viva Pinata could fill a niche on the Xbox Series X and appeal to the more casual gamers out th
Many praise Goldeneye and Perfect Dark for their superb gunplay back on the N64 and older consoles. What many don’t know, though, is that many of those developers went on to create a spiritual successor to those titles called TimeSplitters .
In fact, it is one of the most pirated games Ubisoft has ever created. Why? Because you can’t buy it legally anywhere. It’s missing on Steam , GOG , and even Ubisoft’s own UPlay store. It receives that attention for good reason, though . This game allowed players to control any vehicle on the road, allowing for some creative puzzles and narrative elements no other driving game has since attempted. It is also the only video game to attempt a second-person perspective for a level. This game was truly innovative and creative, which makes it even worse that you can’t legally purchase it anymore.