EA is sitting on a lot of classic games (pic: Microsoft)
A reader starts listing games that deserve a remake or remaster, before realising they’re all EA titles – from Def Jam: Fight For NY to Burnout.
When writing this feature, I picked some random games I had enjoyed in the past. It wasn’t until I had written about the first few titles that I realised they were all EA titles. EA are sitting on some amazing franchises that aren’t easily available on next generation consoles (side note: Xbox Games Pass does offer a few). So here is my list of those games that deserve to be remade, remastered, or re-released.
Def Jam: Fight For NY
The first title in the series was an arcade wrestler similar to the WWE games of the time, with the twist being it featured artists from the Def Jam music label from the early 2000s. The second title arriving only a year or so later transformed the title into more of a beat ‘em-up, featuring more artists and an expanded story.
The fighting had a surprising amount of depth, with different styles to use and blend together to create your own fighter. The story mode featured a classic 90s tale of fighting your way up from the bottom to become king of New York.
SSX
Tony Hawk’s on snowboards it may be, but this had a lot to offer. The gameplay was fast and fun, with a variety of race types to choose from and although it had a pick-up and play style, to master a track would take a lot of practise and skill. The courses had some great designs, with an increasing difficulty which would push your skills but never seemed unfair.
Special mention to the online mode which had some really cool ideas, including time trials which could last anywhere from days to minutes, ensuring that everyone had a chance to finish top of the global leaderboard at least once if you played regularly.
Need For Speed Underground 2
Although not the most highly rated of the series, it was my favourite. The first entry to feature an open world, which is now the norm for nearly all racing games, with different parts of the map becoming accessible as you progress through the story. Underground had a variety of race types including drift, circuit, and my favourite: the drag. In this race type you would have to use a manual gear box, only being allowed to switch lanes in a straight line sprint to the finish.
Underground also appealed to the car culture enthusiasts by enabling customisation on both the outside and inside. So much, in fact, that you could park up, pop the doors open, and have pictures taken for the in-game magazine.
NBA Street
With the death of the NBA live games at the hands of the NBA 2K series, EA had another basketball franchise it let slip by the wayside: NBA Street. Popular enough that they tried the same formula with the NFL and football (which is still found in FIFA games today as Volta), the games were a fast paced 3-on-3 face-off in a race to score 21 points. The main mode, Become a Legend, would see your created player and team take a tour of USA, playing pick-up games until you were crowned a street legend.
The game had an emphasis on flair moves, with various tricks and dunks being unlocked as you progress. Due to the short length of games it was also a fun couch multiplayer game (when that used to be a thing) as the games would only last a handful of minutes, setting up a ‘just one more game’ style of attitude.
SimCity
Let’s face it, the last SimCity was a disaster, so much, in fact, that retailers such as Amazon refused to sell it. EA let customers have any game from their library as compensation and there hasn’t been another entry in nearly 10 years. Although Skylines is a good alternative, it’s not the easiest of games to get into, with a lack of tutorials making it difficult for new players. SimCity 2000, on the other hand, had the ease of being able to create a busting metropolis in a small amount of time.
As time progressed in-game so did the technology and before long you had arcologies littering the landscape, housing thousands whilst dealing with disasters and even giant robots attacking your city. Much like other EA games from the time, it was easy to pick up and play and had plenty of depth to be found.
Command & Conquer/Red Alert
What do Ric Flair, Gina Carano, James Earl Jones, and the Oscar winning J.K. Simmons all have in common? They were but a few of the famous faces to star in the Command & Conquer and Red Alert series, which were at one point the most famous of all real-time strategy games. Although the missions were bookended with some cheesy cut scenes the actual games were a blast to play.
It had the right mix of arcade pick up and play, with added depth and tactics to be found. The basics would be setting up a base, farming for Tiberium, creating units (soldiers and vehicles) and eliminating the enemies on a map. You also had the ability to play the through multiple times with different factions and campaigns. There are around 14 games and add-ons which are currently unavailable.
Fight Night
Being a boxing fan is not easy, in just the last few months we have seen major fights cancelled despite being advertised. Fight Night used to be the place where dream bouts could become reality, a large roster of boxers past and present and a character creator which could be shared online. The games always had amazing graphics and a unique control scheme, with each analogue stick representing one arm of the boxer.
Earlier titles had a mid-round mini-game to heal your boxer, until being replaced by a points system that wasn’t quite as fun. The last title added a story mode which was actually very effective, fighting your way from bare knuckle prison fights to sold-out arenas in a quest to avenge you name. The career mode offered the opportunity to play as a created or current boxer using mini-games to increase strength, as you progress up the ranking to become the G.O.A.T. The only thing missing was some official Rocky DLC.
Burnout
The Burnout series was at one point the pinnacle of an arcade racer (honourable mention to Split/Second: Velocity) where taking down your opponents was a key mechanic. Most games were level based but Burnout Paradise introduced an open world with billboards to crash through, a variety of race types to engage in, and at any moment a rival car would appear on the street, where taking it down would unlock it.
Paradise also introduced an online mode where groups of players would travel to a certain point of the map to race, takedown each other or perform a stunt run to link together drifts, jump and stunt to achieve the biggest score.
Finally, an honourable mention to one of my favourite Mega Drive titles, Road Rash. But I will put a pin in that for another feature.
By reader Hollinho (Twitch)
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A reader starts listing games that deserve a remake or remaster, before realising they’re all EA titles – from Def Jam: Fight For NY to Burnout.Â
