Remastering a game can be a difficult process. There are a lot of little things to change and often times there is work needed to be done to make the game work on new hardware or with modern API's. Most of the time, we don't see that and instead get a visually improved, and perhaps gameplay improved, game that hides all that work with a coat of polish.

Sometimes, however, something goes awry.

That seems to be the case with Assassin's Creed: The Ezio Collection, in particular with Assassin's Creed 2, which recently released. While the architecture, lighting and other aspects of the visuals have been improved, there have been some significant downgrades in character models and some oddities with animations. This picture, from Polygon who first reported on these issues, shows that Ezio's model has been changed somewhat for the worse, and the character beside him looks like he belongs more in the newest freak show then on the street.

Image from Polygon

The original on top's character models are significantly better, although we can see improved draw distance and sharper image quality with the buildings in the background. From some of the conclusions drawn, it appears that the game may be loading different models to fill in who is standing beside Ezio, meaning that it won't appear all the time, and it hasn't been spotted on PlayStation 4, although the model changes are universal.

Of course, this was not the only issue spotted, as there was also a change in the climbing animation that is making Ezio climb much quicker, and may be related to an issue with him getting stuck on buildings occasionally. Again, this hasn't been seen on PlayStation 4, but it is consistent throughout reported experiences in The Ezio Collection on Xbox One. You can see the animation difference as part of the video below, featuring Ezio scurrying more like Spiderman than an assassin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmnJvv-peF4

The work on Assassin's Creed: The Ezio Collection has been done by Virtuous who has been focusing on remastering works of late. Previous work from them in this field include Batman: Return to Arkham, and Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD, and they are currently working on a remaster of Final Fantasy XII.

We've contacted Ubisoft about these issues, to inquire if they are going to be fixed in an update, and will share more information if we get any.

What are your thoughts about these issues with Assassin's Creed: The Ezio Collection? What do you expect from remasters? Share your thoughts in the comments below!