The Rebirth Of A Classic Survival Horror // Resident Evil 2 REmake

January 30, 2020

The Rebirth Of A Classic Survival Horror // Resident Evil 2 REmake

A few months back I wrote about my experience with the REmake of the original Resident Evil game that you can read by clicking here and how much of an amazing survival horror experience it was that used its fixed camera and tank controls for its own advantage to deliver the horrors present throughout the Spencer mansion.And here I am finally talking about the second installment of the game that takes place 2 months after the events of the original game Remade from scratch using Capcom's latest RE Engine that they first used in Resident Evil 7.Resident Evil 7 came out in 2017 and was my first Resident Evil experience and was probably the beginning of the redemption arc for Capcom who have been heavily criticised by the RE fandom for ditching the survival horror aspect of the series and focusing purely on the action element after the first three games in the series to the point that Resident Evil 5 & 6 are purely considered as generic action games instead of horror.But ever since Resident Evil 7, the game that brought the series back to its survival horror routes, Capcom has gained back the trust of the community and they had set a really high bar when they announced a complete REmake of the original Resident Evil 2 from 1998.Here I am fully done with the game and yes I am one year late to the party.The REmake came out in January 2019 and I played it in January 2020.

Just like the first game, this one has 2 separate playable protagonist, Leon S Kennedy who is a rookie cop and Claire Redfield who is a collage student and the sister of Chris Redfield, the protagonist of the first game and each have 2 campaigns and so the game has 4 different campaigns, Leon A,Claire B which are connected and Claire A,Leon B which are connected, hence a 2 set campaign.The games takes us back to the Raccoon City Police Department(R.P.D) which is the main location in the game and it is just fascinating to see a completely remade version of the R.P.D and then comparing it with the 1998 Playstation 1 version and it is just fascinating to see how far game graphics have come in the last twenty years.I bet the guys who played this in 1998 never would have thought that this would ever be REmade twenty years later in the future with modern graphics and again just comparing the layout of the R.P.D with the 1998 version both graphically and from design perspective is just amazing.It is a faithful recreation of the 1998 R.P.D.

The R.P.D Main Hall 1998 vs 2019

Perhaps the biggest change in gameplay from the original RE2 is that fixed camera is gone and now the game is played in third person over the shoulder perspective which a lot of people were mad about before release but everyone loves the game now.I do believe that the fixed camera angle is more of a niche and a thing of the past but hey it would have been awesome if Capcom added a classic mode with the fixed camera but in modern times, third or first person is the way to go and third person works really well in this game.It allows us to admire the mysterious environment much more closely and it also allows us to admire the level of detail and the high resolution textures that simply would not have been possible with fixed camera.The attention to detail that the developers have put into this game is simply brilliant.Despite having third person view, shooting your enemies is a slow process as you only get a pistol with limited ammo in the beginning and the zombies do not really die fast unless you blow their heads with a shotgun and it takes time for the player to land a critical hit.Perhaps the most smart use of the over the shoulder view is when the player has to go through completely pitch black rooms using a flashlight light which kind of creates a some scary moments specially in the first playthrough because the surroundings are completely dark.Another major gameplay element that Capcom has ditched is the limited Ink Ribbon save system which is now exclusive to the game's HARDCORE difficulty.The Hardcore difficulty is actually pretty cool with even more limited ammo, limited saves forcing you to decide when to save and enemies that are bullet sponges and it is not possible to kill every enemy,unless you want to run out of ammo ofcourse.Despite this,I believe that Hardcore is not that hard and it is all about more strategies and thinking.Hardcore on first Playthrough is very punishing though.And the atmosphere is amazing!The gloomy and dark environments of the Police Station along with unthinkable monstrosities really create a feeling of being trapped alone and it adds to the tension.You never know what is lingering at the corner of the hallway.It is also fun to just read the letters that give us some backstory about the happenings at the R.P.D.And all this is elevated by the amazing sound engine of the game.The Sounds made by the zombies specially the female zombies are straight up horrifying and the sounds of all the monsters are just the worse and with a proper surround system, it is actually possible to pin point the location of each and every sound.Even the environmental sounds are very realistic and fine tuned.The sounds of footsteps,the sounds of the doors opening,the sounds of the creaking floors,the sounds of water and rain,etc all elevate the atmosphere.

1998s Fixed Camera

2019s Third Person Over The Shoulder Camera

AND THERE WAS THE MIGHTY TYRANT ALSO KNOWN AS MR.X

The Tyrant a.k.a Mr.X

Perhaps a weapon of pure destruction send by the Umbrella Corporation to remove all the evidence of the Raccoon City incident,The Tyrant also popularly known as Mr.X is an unstoppable force to not be messed with. Mr.X spawns sometime mid game and adds a layer of additional tension and anxiety to the gameplay as he cannot be killed and he will relentlessly stalk the player throughout the Police Station and his own mini dub-step music plays in the background.He has massive footsteps and he can track the player through the sounds that player makes be it running around like a fool or shooting guns or using explosives and once he sees the player, he will chase you unless you lose him.Thankfully he just walks but in Hardcore difficulty, he has the ability to walk really fast which is almost as fast as the speed of the player running and he will also have the ability to speed walk which allows him to be faster than a running player.Mr.X really adds a rush element to the gameplay and what is worse is that he can forcefully make the player run in a room where the player has not killed all the enemies which is just painful.In the 1998 game,Mr X only appears in the B campaign but in this REmake he is in both A & B campaign but he is more prominent in the B campaign.

Mr.X 1998 vs 2019

Resident Evil 2 REmake is a faithful recreation of its 1998 original and gives the players who did not play the original game the option to experience it with modern technology and graphics and is also a nostalgic experience for players who did play it back in 1998.It is true survival and although it is nowhere as the hard as the original games, it still maintains the feel the of the original or atleast that is what the OG's say.A great game that I had a lot of fun playing.Capcom is right now the god of REmakes and they have received so much support that they have made the Resident Evil 3 Remake which is due for release in April 2020 and I cannot wait for that!
Here are a few more comparisons to show you how far our technology has come!