Reviews

Being a fan of both the past two types of RE games (survival horror and action-oriented), I was quite curious to see how Capcom handled these “back to the horror roots with a tweak on action” remakes. Having not played the RE 2 remake or RE7 I didn’t know what to expect, but to the very least, it looked good on a superficial level. After a few nights of energic playthroughs, I was happy with the result, yet like a leech crawling in your back, I encountered some details that I couldn’t shake off.

The horror aspect in the series has always been attributed to the first three games (4 if we count Code Veronica) still, I firmly believe that from the very second game, Capcom was looking to change the course to action instead of horror. RE 2 did a great job on intensifying combat and maintaining the survival part, RE 3 Nemesis, however, did struggle to keep a steady ground between the two of them, although it was experimental, some mechanics felt pretty hit or miss. Battles and enemies were more intense than the past games, but your movement was still the same, so it was more a feeling of frustration rather than horror and hopelessness. They added an evading maneuver that was neat in theory but clumsy and random in its execution. Its biggest selling point: a stalker OP creature called Nemesis, starts good and gives you uneasiness, but at some point, it becomes a repetitive and cumbersome mechanic. Still, with all its flaws the 3rd cannon game was fun and one can only praise its ambitions even when they fell short, or as Shinji Mikami said in an interview to Archipel, and I’m paraphrasing: “It was more an experimental game with an indie spirit”. Generally speaking, it was a good game with prominent flaws that felt too ambitious for the hardware limitations.


Metamorphosis

This remake, on the other hand, seems to be what developers were looking to make back in 1999 and for some instances even more. The most notorious overhaul is its gameplay, using the 3rd person perspective that the series has been using for a long time, is hard to go wrong. Even when they are slow, zombies move erratically, and it’s not as easy to make headshots, so you want to take your time while dealing with them since ammunition is somewhat scarce. I don’t know if this is a mechanic introduced in RE 2 remake or RE 7 but, if you steady your aim without moving, after a couple of seconds your aim becomes more focused and, for that single shot damage will increase and are more prone to make critical hits. I find this mechanic rewarding and make combat all more fun, as being in the same place increases the chances of you being attacked or ambushed, it is a clever way to weight your decisions and style of gameplay.

The evade action is back and thankfully, it is now a unique button to activate it. The way it works is similar to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild as if you dodge an attack with good timing, time will turn slow and, you will be rewarded with one aimed hit or maybe a couple of normal ones. It is not as easy to trigger as in BOTW where basically you could activate it for each enemy blow though it is not as hard and it has some drawbacks as it doesn’t work to break through enemies. Foes telegraph their movements with manageable clarity, however, a type of enemy that appears in the middle of the campaign can be unfairly punishing as it is pretty quick and their attack patterns too irregular. Nonetheless, this mechanic is useful and fun to master.

Different from the original game on which Nemesis appeared from the very game’s title, here it is not featured on the name but it’s still one of the stars, maybe one of the reasons that a lot of people will play this game. In the original, it started as a good antagonist as his appearances were incredibly tense and, they felt random (like it should be because it keeps the element of surprise), though the more he appeared, the more it was an annoying mechanic than an enemy. Here Nemesis is still a force to be reckoned with, so you will likely run from him whenever he appears or attack him with grenades to get useful loot. Since the camera is not fixed and you have better mobility, these encounters are a little easier than the original so, they also threw zombies to limit your space. In the original, in most of these appearances you are asked if you want to confront him or run away, here you’re not asked but if you want to fight him you’ll be rewarded with a nice weapon upgrade (like in hard mode of the original), it makes for a bet worth having. I also like that all the boss battles are focused on Nemesis, and every time you beat him he’s angrier in the next one, it makes this “rivalry” more organic as if Nemesis is trying to kill Jill not only because he is programmed to but because of a grudge, it’s not only better handled but it makes the plot moving forward.

However, even when in the original game his appearances were annoying, you always had this sensation of dread or being stalked, since it has an element of surprise and randomness to some degree. In this game, I never felt like I was being stalked or chased by Nemesis ever. Each time he appeared was too obvious and unsurprising that it felt scripted, not that in the original you couldn’t tell when he was going to attack but here, the clues are way too evident. Still, his chases were fun even when you were waiting for them to start. Normal difficulty is a little challenging but not too much to the point that you’re most likely see a few continue screens here and there, but also not so easy that you’ll be wandering around as if you owned the place. Ammunition and health items are kind of limited but I didn’t encounter a time where I needed bullets, although I tend to save stronger ammo for boss fights so I end up with a lot of extra grenade shells, maybe if I was more flexible with my stronger weapons I could even have more normal ammunition. Here’s where they tried to balance horror and action and at least for this game, in particular, it is in a safe middle ground with a small lean towards action, so in the end, even when it is good, it never excels with the horror nor the action. It is not as action and horror can’t be mixed, a good example of a game excelling in these two aspects is Bloodborne, you’re always hacking and slashing your way through but the atmosphere and the fact that every encounter could result in being killed raise your tension and plays with your physique in a way that few other games that are completely focused in the horror achieve. It is weird to say this but, the moments that I enjoyed the most with RE3R were the action-focused ones, to the point that I wanted to switch and play RE4 or RE6 instead. Yet, as I say, it plays in a comfortable middle ground, so it is still a great time, just maybe a little too comfortable.


A New Threat is Born

The story on this remake is more or less the same, but it has some tweaks that made it more appealing to modern sensibilities, long is gone the corny dialogue and bad acting from the first entries, you will also find some differences between the original and this game so “veterans” will get some new stuff too. I like better the full-on action of the past timeline, however, drama and story is better handled here, to the point that I care. In the original, I didn’t buy Jill and Carlos’s relationship but here I find it very charming. I was also surprised to root and care for other characters that don’t have a lot of screen time, but they still managed to stand out in a good way. The game manages to stay in a safe middle ground and that also is true for its rhythm progression. Now the transitions between Jill and Carlos have more synergy and don’t feel like two separate segments. My only concern is that towards the end, this kind of back-to-back succession can be a little repetitive but nothing too serious.

Environments and atmosphere look great, even when everything is industrial and urban, there is a lot of versatility in regards to the places where you go, despite they cut out one of the unique segments of the original game. The music was good and it sounds like a Resident Evil game should be, but it has a blockbuster sound to it that stains the horror with its familiarity. The game would benefit a lot if in some places the music was completely muted out and it was just your footsteps and the eerie sound of enemies and ambient.

I played with the Japanese voice over and it was great as expected, at first I struggled a little to get accustomed to Jill’s voice since I know her only for her English VA from the past games, the only issue I encounter with this VA is that in the subtitles Jill curses more often than not, but her voice in Japanese didn’t sound that worked up, I’m no Japanese expert, but it seems that the localization team made her sound ruder to make her more badass or something? I’m not sure and maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t prefer that much when localization makes this kind of tweaks because they reinterpret a character different from the original creator’s vision, still, is just a nitpick but I think it’s worth noting it. The rest of the cast is also fantastic and if you’re an anime enthusiast you’re going to hear some familiar voices. I normally don’t prefer the English dub on Japanese games but there is something about the Resident Evil games that always make a great job. I played the 2nd round in English and it is also great, I still prefer the Japanese, but the actors and the direction they had for the English counterpart were also pretty good.

The length of the campaign is similar to the original: short, depending on your difficulty and your experience with this type of game you’ll likely complete your first run in 7 to 9 hours, so it is a short game compared to other AAA or big studio games. When you finish the game, in typical Resident Evil Fashion you are scored with your play style and give the option to buy upgrades and skills with in-game currency to give you a sense of replayability, I would prefer that these upgrades were attainable in the campaign and the fact that you only have one unlockable costume for Jill and the other one (the classic outfit from the original PS1 game) can only be bought with real money, make me think twice to restart the game again. The game is also “bundled” with a download for a multiplayer complement called Resident Evil: Resistance, on which 4 vs 1 player matches take place, the premise sounded interesting but playing it was another story, it didn’t help that all the other players were always too experienced and I was always the novice, so I did quit after some runs. I imagine this was Capcom’s way to justify a $60 USD price for a game so short, I don’t prefer this type of complements as in a few years when the servers are down you will no longer get access to it, but I imagine that other people would prefer it, so that’s that.

No Other Way

It may sound that I didn’t like this game but I did enjoy it quite a lot, the things that I don’t like are trivial for the most part, I’m not sure it is the definitive version to play part three of the series as it offers a lot of new stuff while cuts other from the original, but I prefer this remake better, it sure plays it safe but it also looks like a lot of the original intentions that couldn’t make the cut were implemented while it maintains the original’s essence. I don’t think that its short campaign will appeal to everybody, but it has an arcade aura that challenges to play it faster and better that is kind of hard to not do it because of its short length, I still don’t think that’s enough to a $60 ticket, but I’m not an arcade person, and surely a lot of people will find this option too irresistible. As far as remakes go, this one might be one of the most respectful out there that also builds and propose new stuff from the source material, while maintaining its spirit. It is not hard to recommend it to both newcomers and veterans to the series, the plot is more centered on character development than its lore so is easy to pick it up and play without any before knowledge. Even when it has things I don’t prefer, I like where this new direction is going and with some refinements and tweaks, I believe the future entries and remakes could achieve a true horror and action experience.