YuggOH
1 review liked by YuggOH
Resident Evil
2002
I'm a huge fan of Resident Evil '96. I've played it beginning to end at least 6 times at this point, and I don't plan on leaving it behind anytime soon. That being said, I actually never properly sat down to fully complete a run through of it's 2002 remake. If you're familiar with me, you know I have…. choice words about the implications of a remake and how they influence the games industry, but REmake 1 in particular always looked like the one to break the mold of issues MOST remakes have. And I'm glad to say that after playing it, it pretty much did everything I wanted out of the experience and more.
I need to start things off by saying how fucking BEAUTIFUL this game looks. This is a game that looked a generation ahead when it first came out and visually speaking it's still one of the best games out there. The backgrounds are all pre-rendered images, meaning that the game can run higher quality character models over them compared to fully 3D games at the time and it is drop dead gorgeous. The best looking classic RE by a mile, not to discredit the fantastic backgrounds of RE2 or 3 though.
Every single area has been greatly expanded, tons of new puzzles, items, etc. The first mansion visit is still the meatiest and nonlinear part of the game, just like the original, but I do think that the succeeding areas are still given a good upgrade. Pretty underwhelming segments from the original like the shark arena, or the caves for example are a significant improvement here. Also worth mentioning that the new puzzles are probably some of the trickiest in the classic entries, and some are extremely tense too!
The biggest new addition adds to the increased tensity of this remake, that being the crimson heads, transforming one of the weakest enemy types from the original game, the zombie, into a ticking time bomb that is ready to strike once more after you've "killed" it. Would you rather let it rise once more, or waste your precious kerosene to permanently be rid of one…? REmake is a genuinely scary game, the amount of new jumpscares and door opening enemies makes truly any room feel unsafe, you can't always have a breather area anymore. I felt tense my entire playthrough, even shaking a bit in some areas like the caves.
But what is without a doubt the most genius aspect of this game to me, is how it works as a REMAKE. Unlike plenty of other remakes across the years, this one does not fall into any of the common traps that they usually do. It's a full realization of the original artistic vision, it preserves all the prior content while adding ONTO what was there originally to such a natural degree it's hard to believe it wasn't there to begin with. All of the changed puzzles, item placements, and scares also makes this an astounding HORROR game remake, because even veterans of the original game have no idea what to expect, it's like actually so crazy how well this remake really works.
Alongside the 1996 original, REmake has easily placed itself among one of my favorite games of all time. Please play this game, and if you can, play the original too! Because all it does is elevate an already fantastic survival horror experience. It's among Capcom's finest and easily one of the best games I've ever played.
I need to start things off by saying how fucking BEAUTIFUL this game looks. This is a game that looked a generation ahead when it first came out and visually speaking it's still one of the best games out there. The backgrounds are all pre-rendered images, meaning that the game can run higher quality character models over them compared to fully 3D games at the time and it is drop dead gorgeous. The best looking classic RE by a mile, not to discredit the fantastic backgrounds of RE2 or 3 though.
Every single area has been greatly expanded, tons of new puzzles, items, etc. The first mansion visit is still the meatiest and nonlinear part of the game, just like the original, but I do think that the succeeding areas are still given a good upgrade. Pretty underwhelming segments from the original like the shark arena, or the caves for example are a significant improvement here. Also worth mentioning that the new puzzles are probably some of the trickiest in the classic entries, and some are extremely tense too!
The biggest new addition adds to the increased tensity of this remake, that being the crimson heads, transforming one of the weakest enemy types from the original game, the zombie, into a ticking time bomb that is ready to strike once more after you've "killed" it. Would you rather let it rise once more, or waste your precious kerosene to permanently be rid of one…? REmake is a genuinely scary game, the amount of new jumpscares and door opening enemies makes truly any room feel unsafe, you can't always have a breather area anymore. I felt tense my entire playthrough, even shaking a bit in some areas like the caves.
But what is without a doubt the most genius aspect of this game to me, is how it works as a REMAKE. Unlike plenty of other remakes across the years, this one does not fall into any of the common traps that they usually do. It's a full realization of the original artistic vision, it preserves all the prior content while adding ONTO what was there originally to such a natural degree it's hard to believe it wasn't there to begin with. All of the changed puzzles, item placements, and scares also makes this an astounding HORROR game remake, because even veterans of the original game have no idea what to expect, it's like actually so crazy how well this remake really works.
Alongside the 1996 original, REmake has easily placed itself among one of my favorite games of all time. Please play this game, and if you can, play the original too! Because all it does is elevate an already fantastic survival horror experience. It's among Capcom's finest and easily one of the best games I've ever played.