It’s becoming somewhat commonplace to see remasters and reissues of games from years past. After all, our industry has a rich well of excellent games to draw from, and it’s often a fun exercise to experience the great games of the past (even the recent past) with a modern, updated spin on them.
Some reissued games, of course, do much more than simply present you with updated graphics bundled with previously released downloadable content on a new platform. The nominees for our Best Reissue category have all gone above and beyond the call, not only putting graphical spit and polish, but also adding new, innovative, and interesting content on top. Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire completely updated the look of the originals, while adding many new, modern conveniences, Metro Redux took two excellent games and gave you different ways to experience them. Diablo 3 Ultimate Evil Edition for current-gen consoles added so many features that it became possibly the best version of the game. And Fable Anniversary breathed life and new controls into a modern classic.
But Grand Theft Auto V for the PS4 and Xbox One stands above these others. Not only is there new content to explore in the gorgeous, high fidelity world of Los Santos, but the addition of first-person mode is one of the true revolutions in the Grand Theft Auto series’ long and storied history. Adding a first-person perspective is as big a move for the series as when it first moved from top-down to third-person so many years ago, and living in Grand Theft Auto V through the eyes of its characters feels amazing. It would have been easy for Rockstar to simply add a graphical update to GTA V and call it a day, but what they’ve provided us with GTA V for current-gen consoles is nothing short of outstanding.