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Restart? Franchises ready for a next-gen resurrection

So, Xbox One's Halo isn't carrying a numeral after it.

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Even though we expect the game to be a direct sequel to Xbox 360's Halo 4, the lack of a numeral at the end of that E3 trailer isn't accident. Don't be surprised if we get a soft reset of the franchise. We'll be two generations and thirteen years since the original Combat Evolved when "your journey begins" on Xbox One.

Besides, 'Halo' has a nice ring to it. 'Halo 5' doesn't has the same resonance of a trilogy number, and instead suggests a franchise long in the tooth. (Note Call of Duty never continued a subtitle past 3).

Halo may be the softest of restarts, but it did start us thinking. About publishers rebooting franchises. Eidos Montreal believe that next-gen is "good time to reinvent classic games", using the numeral-less Thief as prime example. Familiar name, similar experience, brand new game.

Next generation arrival marks a perfect point for publishers to refresh their portfolio with new, but familiar, franchises. Here's a few that have gathered dust long enough and with next-gen tech, could be something special.

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Colony Wars

Restart? Franchises ready for a next-gen resurrection

Then: Back in the PSOne era, now defunct Sony developer Studio Liverpool released three space-faring arcade-style shooters replete with the team's signature neon noir-cool art style.

Reboot: Keep the visual style, and the lone fighter angle. Don't dabble with multiplayer, and instead deepen the story and add extra upgrade options to your ship. Pair the new version with Occulus Rift. Throw in a couple of flight sticks for the authentic experience and you'll have massively immersive sci-fi shooter.

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Secret of Mana

Restart? Franchises ready for a next-gen resurrection

Then: Square-Enix's other RPG classic coupled real-time combat along with a still-to-be-copied multiplayer component. A Japan-only sequel removed the three-player option but offered a selection of six character to form a trio from, that choice impacting the game's story as empires went to war. Inferior sequels and offshoots have seen the series buried in obscurity and fan dismissal.

Reboot: The fairytale top-down visual stylings can be kept, but with a HD paint job. Local or online multiplayer is a must, but the title should tackle Secret of Mana 2's ambitious six player choice to great a 40 hour plus RPG that demands to be replayed to see every permutation. Free exploration across a sprawling world sliding into war. Go multiformat with the title and - here's the sell - allow for cross-platform play so you can link up with friends no matter what console you're on.

Breath of Fire

Restart? Franchises ready for a next-gen resurrection

Then: Capcom's turned-based RPG series breathed its last during the PlayStation era, but had shone bright with four entries split between Sony's machine and the SNES were the franchise was birthed. Similar to Final Fantasy, each entry shared similar themes (a main character called Ryu who could transform into a dragon) and concepts.

Reboot: Two schools of thought here. One, with Final Fantasy slipping further into action adventure territory, Capcom could reintroduce the epic, but no less traditional, RPG to a home console and PC audience that has a fully realised - and unique - fantasy world with Unreal Engine 4 support. There's a gap in the market for it. Alternatively with 3DS finally picking up, migrate the series to handheld ala Dragon Quest as another key exclusive to the Nintendo machine.

Space Channel 5

Restart? Franchises ready for a next-gen resurrection

Then: Child of Eden and Rez creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi crafted a bizarre sci-fi action rhythm title for the Dreamcast as space-age reporter Ulala's got to file the story (and at the same time save hostages) about kidnapping aliens.

Reboot: With Kinect, PS Move and Wii Remotes abound, going motional control is a shoe-in for a return of the series. It'd be a controversial choice, but alongside another crazy campaign mode with original music for the game, fold in a Karaoke mode hosted by Ulua that covers more well-known dance tracks and crazy J-Pop and rock songs to form a multiplayer party mode.

World of Illusion

Restart? Franchises ready for a next-gen resurrection

Then: Pegged as a sequel to early Mega Drive platformer Castle of Illusion, World of Illusion introduced two-player co-op mechanics and a visually lush world that, for the tech at the time, was pretty damn close to Disney-level animation.

Reboot: With the NES take on DuckTales being remastered, and a new Castle of Illusion being made as well, we'd stick with the digital download release. It might be all too easy to simply give the original a HD paint job and have done, but there's scope not only to build on the puzzle elements of the first, but pillage the Disney films (and other studios' work they now own) that have been released between then and now as basis for worlds to visit.

Perfect Dark

Restart? Franchises ready for a next-gen resurrection

Then: Post GoldenEye, Rare took what they learnt in the FPS genre to mould a sci-fi shooter that earned as much critical acclaim, if not the long-term legacy. When Rare was swiped by Microsoft, the studio released Perfect Dark Zero as a Xbox 360 launch title that didn't live up the original. A repackaged original was re-released on Xbox Live, but Joanna Dark's disappeared off the radar for many a year now.

Reboot: This is one franchise in this list that has a better than average change of reappearing in some form come Xbox One. With the emphasis on sprawling multiplayer shooters such as Destiny for next-gen, Perfect Dark could be restyled as a (unique) single player story-heavy espionage thriller, pushing branching conversation paths as much as shooting, and using the added heft of Microsoft's new machine to produce a game that matches Blade Runner for spectacle and futuristic weaponry and infiltration gadgets. Imagine Deus Ex, but with Rare trimmings.



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