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Video games are in a unique position as a medium when it comes to restoration and reproduction. Unlike other major forms of entertainment, such as music and film, games have the inherent capacity to be dramatically improved upon without compromising the original vision - hence the arrival of HD re-releases for modern consoles. At their best, these compilations allow us to preserve classic games and experience them in a way that was previously unattainable. Unfortunately, even the best intentions often fall prey to poor business decisions and result in collections which fall short. Zone of the Enders HD Collection - released almost one full year ago - was one such release.Comparable to the shoddy work we received in the Silent Hill HD Collection, the ZOE remasters were saddled with an unplayably low frame-rate and an inaccurate presentation which didn't respect the look of the original games. High Voltage Software, the company responsible for this iteration, failed to meet, let alone exceed the original PlayStation 2 version of the game and many were concerned that it would be left at that. After all, Konami never fully addressed the problems with Silent Hill, so few expected them to bother improving things here. Perhaps as a result of a fan backlash or even as testament to how much Kojima Productions cares about their products, it was quietly revealed this past May that a patch was in the works to repair the original release.
What makes this situation unique is the shift in development duties from High Voltage Software to the Japanese studio HexaDrive - a small company formed by a number of ex-Capcom R&D employees. Previously responsible for the HD releases of Rez and Okami, HexaDrive was challenged with fixing a codebase which had passed through multiple teams across multiple platforms in two different countries. However, the improvement is dramatic thanks to the development of an entirely new renderer designed to take full advantage of the PlayStation 3 which gives the Kojima fanbase the respect it deserves - up to a point. Owing to budgetary issues, only Zone of the Enders: The Second Runner received this treatment and even then it's only the PS3 version that benefits - the Xbox 360 game was not updated, and the original ZOE remains untouched on both platforms.
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