Mail-order Monsters!
This I do agree with, Star Control 2 (Urquan Masters) was my first thought… Though, honestly, I wouldn’t do a remake, but a proper squeal with the original designers.
Actually, a proper sequel to Starcon 2 has been on my “If I win the lottery” list since the late 90’s…
Pretty sure there’s a modern re-take on Harpoon either out recently or due soon. That’s the one I was thinking about, but while looking for it I stumbled upon this and this.
The two latter seem pretty darn grognard-y at first glance, but then Harpoon already was on the grognard side, so…
Anyway, knock yourself out !
I’d also like a new version with multiple campaigns – I hated the relative lack of campaigns in most versions of PG. Perhaps include multiple campaigns for each country! Also, ideally it would also crib from Medieval: Total War and include a unit maintenance cost in a unit’s cost, so once you lose a unit you don’t feel its effects so badly each and every next turn in the campaign. And of course so if your army gets too big, you don’t get as many resources to buy new units because they’re all being used to maintain the stuff you do have.
Ooh, thought of another one: Battle Bugs, a sort of semi-real-time strategy game. Each level began paused, and you’d map out the battle plan, what you wanted each of your bugs to do. Then, unpause, and see what happens. You could pause the game at any time to change your orders.
I think the Total War games are kinda similar, anyway, having the whole “strategic map that zooms down to tactical combat” thing, though a whole lot more complex.
MAN. I would LOVE an updated Starflight. I’m a sucker for space trading type games, and it annoys me somewhat that people keep trying to conflate them with the “Privateer” space dogfight genre.
I’d love to see someone license EVE Online and apply its engine to Autoduel. Have everyone start out in subcompacts and study skillbooks in order to unlock better vehicles, with cargo helicopters at the top.
How about Shadowgate? No game made death so enjoyable, between the descriptions and the music.
That poor landfill.
Why the The Gorgon Alliance? Under Reception, the Wikipedia article says
I haven’t played Genghis Khan, but I played some other Koei historical games, like Nobunaga’s Ambition and L’Empereur. Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the best known. Wondering why you mention this one as deserving a remake as well.
I have a hard time imagining a remake of The Ancient Art of War that doesn’t increase the complexity so much that it may as well not be called a remake. Maybe as a casual game?
Specifically Wing Commander 2 - it has more plot than WC1.
Questions, questions…
Well, Gorgon’s Alliance was a game that I thought had innovative ideas that were poorly executed. It was a strategy game whereby you tried to expand your kingdom and sieze the throne through diplomacy, trade, intrigue, magic, warfare, etc. You could build armies and fight quasi-realtime battles, though the battles were presented very simplistically and the graphics were ugly. A remake could have huge turn-based battles, or Total War style battles. In addition, you could take your sovereign and a group of adventurers on FPS, D&D-style dungeon crawls in search of artifacts. This part was handled the worst, as they made lousy use of the Doom II engine. I really feel like a combination turn based strategy/RTS/FPS game could be a winner if executed properly. Gorgon’s Alliance did not achieve this, but I admired the idea.
As for Genghis Khan, I had it for NES and it may have been my first strategy game. You got a hex map with terrain and unit counters and everything. It may be more nostalgia than anything, because I seem to remember having a very hard time uniting Mongolia. On the other hand, I may have been the only kid in my elementary school to know who the Merkits and Uighurs were.