I do not hate the remake, even kind of like it, it's great as long as you're replaying it sparsely for the nostalgia.
A few key features are missing and i played the Emulated Genesis version to make sure i remembered right.
- I really miss the SE when starting a game, it conveyed a sense of urgency and tension.
- You get to see the results after a game but you can't check them at will
- Same for the last game stats
- I really miss the Recruit button buzzing when new recruits are available
Decline Features of the HD version
- It's easier, each season is shorter too but the career last longer
- Coin drop rate nerfed
- No Manager mode (where you don't play yourself, just manage the team) but as they dumbed down the management part, i can see why, well, it's not like i played that mode so i don't care about this one
- Worse part being the recruits, best players want to join your wicked team day 1, what the fuck ? Of course you can't afford them but that's real decline man, best management part was that buzzing sound and checking the new potential recruits.
Incline features (updated)
- The music is less aggressive, original was good but you had to turn it off after a while (first part being great while the second more aggressive part was annoying fast), i wished they saved the first part of the original music.
- Graphics are fine, really, just check what they did with Realms of Arkania HD or Wasteland 1 remake ...
- UI is simplified, original was good for it's time, really good but it was improved, a shame they seized the opportunity to dumb it down too
- In spite of the flaws, the experience is good, not great but good enough, specially if you're replaying it for nostalgia purposes and don't want to play and re-play the championship
- Inter Galactic Cup
- Champion's League
- You can stop any cut-scenes, like wounded players evacuated (you can't in the original)
- It's slightly slower, just enough to prevent some own goals and shooting in the wrong direction.
- Maybe an emulation problem, with Kgen (Megadrive/Genesis rom), the screen isn't perfectly centered on the ball at all times, when you're going toward the opponent's goal, you have less visibility forward
Conclusion : (updated)
It's worth playing a season, with the Inter-Galactic Cup and the champions League, there's enough going on.
The big difference with the original is not being able to check games stats and Rankings at all times and the loss of the dynamic transfer system (you can hire max stats players as soon as you have enough money instead of being available progressively)
Also, i miss the coins spawn rate, it was fun to run in circle around the field to collect 1K.
I guess they could have shortened the career and increased the coin spawn rate but it's nitpicking.
Great remake, not perfect but close enough.
Difficulty : (updated)
People talk about the AI in their review.
One true thing about the AI : it's less focuses on the ramps, i guess they wanted to make it more about scoring.
Other than that, it doesn't feel like the AI is dumber at all.
This version is slightly slower and opponents have clone players with almost the same scores, they only use the gym and don't recruit, it changes from the original where early, some teams would have trash players just like you and a couple of stars.
Jaesun in case you're interested in a more in-depth review.
Edit : by the way,
dehimos it's on GoG too.