DAILY MANIFESTO

HD Collections Are Getting Out Of Hand

Posted on Sunday, March 25 @ 10:30:22 Eastern by Jonathan_Leack

When I first played the God of War Collection I couldn't help but become excited. The thought of being able to play some of the games I missed out on last generation with improved visuals was just about the second best thing to backward compatibility. After beating my first collection I immediately began thinking about what other games I'd like to play, and given how massive the PlayStation 2 library is my list was nearly endless.

Here we are a couple of years later and dozens of these remastered collections have released, from Tomb Raider to Prince of Persia. It's gotten to the point that you can count on another collection coming out this month and next month. Low and behold, we had the Silent Hill HD Collection this month, and in April the Devil May Cry Collection will release.

One of my biggest pet peeves with some of these collections is their quality. The Silent Hill HD Collection which released last week is the most recent example with its array of glitches and poor presentation. Not only is the game glitchy, but it freezes a lot, and worst of all the absence of several special effects has damaged its atmosphere which previously was its greatest asset. Outside of the HD facelift the collection is actually worse than the original releases, and given that I'm a fan of the series that's just about the worst thing that can happen.

The Art Director for Silent Hill, Masahiro Ito, feels my pain and commented that the HD collection was "poor". He isn't exaggerating, and as you can see in the below comparison, the next-generation remaster looks far less scary (HD Collection is on the left). This is just one example of where an opportunity to improve a previously great game has fallen flat on its face.

The Silent Hill HD Collection isn't the only game that suffers from issues, either. The Prince of Persia Collection similarly freezes a lot and the Splinter Cell Collection is missing key options such as axis invert. The worst part is that the original games for each of these collections weren't inhibited by these same design issues despite being made years ago. Heck, if anything the originals are an improvement.

After so many collections and disappointing new games it's really beginning to feel like this generation is going nowhere. Sony and Microsoft seem to be content with sticking to what is already out, but when you see this many last-generation games coming out and so few new ideas, it really makes you wonder what they're waiting for.

Hopefully this whole HD Collection trend is just a fad, because it isn't doing much good for the industry, and after seeing one of my favorite series actually become worse, I wonder if a Final Fantasy VII remake would even be a good idea.

Related Games: Silent Hill HD Collection

Comments

WILLS_COOL_MODE
Joined: Oct 2010

Posted: Mar 25th, 2012 at 4:39 pm
I saw that picture before you made this post and had assumed it was fake, but I guess not. That is some seriously low quality porting, I mean you can see the edge of the water and that rope now ends in mid air. Apart from that, the graphics literally look exactly the same. Why anyone would get this collection is beyond me, especially since you can already get these games on the PC at a higher resolutions than the PS3 is capable of.

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NecroWolf
Joined: Oct 2005

Posted: Mar 25th, 2012 at 5:07 pm
I agree with everything said here. Every bit of it.

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Jonathan_Leack
Joined: Jan 2012

Posted: Mar 25th, 2012 at 5:09 pm
Thanks for the comment.

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Rinnon
Joined: Nov 2005

Posted: Mar 25th, 2012 at 6:07 pm
Just to play the devils advocate here, I picked up the Metal Gear HD collection, and I was VERY pleased with the porting done there. I've only played through Metal Gear 3 at this point, but it was solid in every respect (pun intended). There were no problems, and the whole game looked amazing. Granted, it was a good looking game to begin with, but I really thought they did a good job.

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Jonathan_Leack
Joined: Jan 2012

Posted: Mar 25th, 2012 at 6:48 pm
The Metal Gear HD Collection and ICO & Shadow of the Colossus Collection are both must-haves in my book. I agree with you in that regard.

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drathbone
Joined: May 2011

Posted: Mar 25th, 2012 at 6:09 pm
Yeah I don't see a difference....It just looks like the brightness is turned up on the right one or its foggier or something.

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Jonathan_Leack
Joined: Jan 2012

Posted: Mar 25th, 2012 at 6:50 pm
Notice the rope that is just randomly floating in the air? Yeah, it was hidden by fog before...

Oh, and don't get me started with the water effects. I'll post a screenshot if you're interested but just imagine the worst water of all-time. It wasn't a problem on PS2 but the lack of effects on the PS3/360 versions makes it look hideous.

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thedarkstar
Joined: Feb 2011

Posted: Mar 25th, 2012 at 6:14 pm
Wow, that sucks. The screenshots are from 2. Does 3 suffer the same issues graphically and with freezing?

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blake_peterson
Joined: Oct 2011

Posted: Apr 6th, 2012 at 9:03 pm
3 looks visually gorgeous, but has significant problems with gameplay slowing down, and lip-sync drift during cinematics. I still thought the games were really excellent, though.

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LawnGnome
Joined: Apr 2007

Posted: Mar 25th, 2012 at 6:49 pm
Sounds like what they really need to do is regulate what constitutes & can be labeled "HD".

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Imnickson
Joined: Jul 2006

Posted: Mar 25th, 2012 at 6:59 pm
It's unfortunate that one screenshot is being criticized so negatively. To really get a feel for the look of a game you really need to see it in motion and honestly the game doesn't look bad, it just looks like a game that came out 10 years ago. The developer is not going to retexture the entire game, all they did was upscale the resolution and make the framerate a sold 60fps. What else did you expect, a new game? I do love that these games are relevant again and can be played again on a console that is still relevant.

Since I saw this article we are going to be talking about it on the next podcast, www.everythingstentative.com

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WILLS_COOL_MODE
Joined: Oct 2010

Posted: Mar 25th, 2012 at 7:10 pm
The reason it looks like a game that came out ten years ago is because it did come out ten years ago. This, however, is an HD collection which is why people are rightfully criticizing it. I have this game installed on my computer right now, as I have for the past 5 years, and for those 5 years it has looked better than the rerelease looks now. They are asking people to pay $40 for this.

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Imnickson
Joined: Jul 2006

Posted: Mar 25th, 2012 at 7:25 pm
If you want the developer to retexture the entire game then everyone should expect to pay $120. Forty bucks for two of the best games on the PS2 running on the PS3 at 60FPS is well worth the money!

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WILLS_COOL_MODE
Joined: Oct 2010

Posted: Mar 25th, 2012 at 7:52 pm
Why would we expect to pay $120 for textures? I would gladly pay $40 if the games actually were retextured (and actually worked properly which they don't) but in what universe is a retextured game worth the price of a brand new game? Retexturing is so simple modders frequently do it for free.

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Kakulukia
Joined: Nov 2005

Posted: Mar 25th, 2012 at 7:26 pm
We expected fog in Silent Hill. That's kind of the game's trademark. The developers (or remasterers, or whatever those idiots are supposed to be called) didn't even try to find a way to make the fog work in the new version.
That and the sound cutting out all the time and the framerate being completely butt****ed everytime you unlock a trophy or you fight more than two monsters in an empty room.

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Imnickson
Joined: Jul 2006

Posted: Mar 25th, 2012 at 8:40 pm
I have come across no glitches, freezes, or framerate hiccups in my play through.

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wildmario
Joined: Jan 2007

Posted: Mar 25th, 2012 at 8:33 pm
This is like the FF7 PC port all over again.

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Ranim
Joined: Nov 2005

Posted: Mar 26th, 2012 at 12:02 am
I've been under the impression that they've been doing it because GOG proved that the classics could still sell. GOG on the other hand deserves all my money. Holy crap I love them.

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drathbone
Joined: May 2011

Posted: Mar 26th, 2012 at 12:25 am
Discovered GoG the other day. Great money sink :)

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Chunibrow
Joined: Mar 2010

Posted: Mar 26th, 2012 at 1:41 am
Truly. I think I actually cried the day I discovered GOG

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spanky1113
Joined: Mar 2008

Posted: Mar 26th, 2012 at 2:28 am
Is it bad that I skipped the text, went right to the picture and thought that the right side was the HD version?

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Lars
Joined: Oct 2005

Posted: Mar 27th, 2012 at 12:17 pm
It sounds like you're just upset because the Silent Hill collection was disappointing. I'm there with you, but this kind of reactionary anger is a bit ridiculous. I like HD collections, but that doesn't mean I'm going to buy all of them. It was really nice to be able to get Ico and Shadow of the Colossus brand new, in HD, with framerate fixes and such for only a little more than what used Ico games were going for on the PS2. I have a first generation PS2 and it's showing it's age. I really would like to carry over some of my favorites into the new generation without having to shell out the cash for another old system that I'll have to keep around.

It's sorta like releasing older movies in Blu Ray. The Star Wars pack was offensive, but I don't hear anyone complaining about being able to see countless other movies in 1080p with uncompressed audio and whatnot. Stinkers will be stinkers, and we'll always have them no matter the format.

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Lars
Joined: Oct 2005

Posted: Mar 27th, 2012 at 12:18 pm
Also you better believe the Zone of the Enders HD Collection will be mine the day it comes out. Oh my god...

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