The Fall of HD Collections, Part 3: From PSP to HD

Did you know
there was supposed to be a third installment of these? You probably didn’t, but
the feature about the PSP Remasters was supposed to be posted a few weeks ago,
shortly before TGS approached. There’s no real reason why it took so long; I
just forgot, so whoops.

 

There’s also
a game from the previous two features that I forgot to mention, so that will be
included as a bonus.

 

When the
PSP Remaster program was announced by Sony back in May, the only game
announced with it was Monster Hunter
Portable 3rd HD Version. Sony obviously didn’t create this brand for one
game, so the question was what other games would be upscaled through this
method. Interestingly enough, upon looking at all the other games receiving
this treatment (which is curiously small thus far), MHP3 HD is easily the
laziest job.

 

And no, it’s
not solely because it doesn’t have trophies (although that’s part of it), but
it’s lacking in a few areas. There
are backgrounds and parts of the GUI you can tell were clearly made for the PSP’s
480×272, but weren’t redone for HD resolutions. Additionally, the
instructions for transferring (or “transfarring,” if you prefer) PSP saves to
the PS3 version weren’t clear, which resulted in some players losing their
saves. Capcom upscaled it and gave it some control enhancements, and did
absolutely nothing else for this version. There’s still no word as to whether
this will leave Japan, but its prospects aren’t looking good.

 

And then you
have something like the God of War:
Origins Collection for PS3 (God of
War Collection Volume 2 in Europe) that really put MHP3 HD to shame. Developer
Ready at Dawn gave both God of War:
Chains of Olympus and Ghost of
Sparta the grand treatment in upscaling them to HD. The games run in 60fps
and in full 1080p with 3D support, and the story scenes were redone with the God of War 3 engine. Many fans of the
series are just glad to be able to play GoS for the first time, considering no
one brought it on PSP. It’s also pretty inexpensive of a collection at $39.99,
and though CoO is pretty short, GoS is as meaty as the console games. And they
both have trophies too, since that’s important for some of you. This package is
available now.

 

The final
example is Metal Gear Solid: Peace
Walker HD, which is hitting both PS3 and 360. Despite being sold separately
in Japan, it’s being bundled with the Metal
Gear Solid HD Collection in America and Europe. The rumor going around is
that Sony’s American and European offices won’t approve single releases for PSP
Remasters, which would explain the lack of a localization announcement for MHP3
HD. But remember, that’s only a rumor.

 

Peace Walker
has been given some reworking for its HD iteration as well. The original PSP
game ran at less than 30fps, but the HD version will run in a full 60fps to
make the game look far more smooth. It will also be far more playable
considering you can use the second analog stick to aim rather than the face
buttons. Trophies and Achievements have been added to this version, though you
won’t get them if you transfe…excuse me, transfar
your data from PSP to PS3. Unfortunately, the Ashley Wood-drawn comic book
animated cut scenes are simply being upscaled. According to Ryan Payton (who
used to work for Kojima Productions) on one of the recent 8-4 podcasts,
Wood originally drew the scenes in 1080p. But they were only animated for the
PSP’s much smaller aspect ratio, and Kojima Productions felt it would take far
too long to reanimate every scene. They
won’t look bad, but they
won’t be on par with what they could be.

 

On the other
hand, this
version will still include the Monster
Hunter missions. You’ll get to play Monster Hunter in HD after all,
westerners! The collection comes out on November 8th.

 

The one I
ashamedly forgot in the last two entries was Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, a retooled version of the
original Halo for Xbox 360 to
commemorate the franchise’s 10th Anniversary. It’s being developed
collaboratively by 343 Industries and Saber Interactive.  In addition to the usual new features like the
textures being redone and achievements, this version will allow players to play
co-op and multiplayer over Xbox Live. Microsoft is basically giving Halo fans
something they wanted for years, and they’ll have a chance to experience it on
November 15th.

 

It’s
possible that we’ll see more PSP Remasters, but they’ve coming at a much slower
pace than most people thought. Hopefully a few more come around, especially for
games that were either never released outside of Japan, or definitely won’t be.