A silky-smooth, incredible-looking and updated engine version of one of my favorite games ever made, this was an easy 5 star rating from me.

As someone who feverishly consumed the original on Gamecube in 2005, there was no way I wasn't going to love this. I knew the game like the back of my hand, even doing a just over 2 hour speed run of the game with the Chicago Typewriter and infinite rocker launcher. It's been many years since I've played it, but so much of it is engrained in my memory that revisiting it here in ways both faithful to the OG and also revisited in a whole new light, was incredible to experience.

The ability to crouch and parry is a huge update here, making encounters feel even more action-packed and tense than they already did. This game also just feels huge, with every major section of the game so full of things to find, extra tasks and enemies to encounter, and branching paths to explore. It's such an amazing feeling to turn a corner and be like "ah.. I remember what happens here!" and it either be exactly as you remember it, something slightly changed, or just completely different altogether. You never know, and it's almost always done perfectly. There are a few that were changed or removed that I wish weren't, but as a whole I can't fault or disagree with how it's done.

I loved Luis here, Ashley is so much better, the villains are all gross and awesome to root against, the Merchant is much livelier and chatty (the shooting galleries were so much fun, got S rank on all of them bad boys), and of course Leon is cool, calm, collected, and full of spunk and one-liners even when faced with a gooey, multi-limbed monstrosity that would scare any normal person into unconsciousness.

I did a normal playthrough and took my time, tried to see and collect and do as much as I could. I missed a couple treasures, but was able to (almost) upgrade and collect basically every gun, and do every single Merchant task, which were a ton of fun and a welcome addition. With other games on my list to play next, I'll come back to this one for sure to do more playthroughs, but the Platinum trophy is a decent challenge here and one I might not be able to get. Honestly, this game is tough! I know I only did one playthrough, but I died a considerable amount, and the ammo and health items I was just able to find or craft in time for a few of the boss battles. I'd love to do a playthrough with the powerful unlockable weapons, blasting through everyone and run through the game, but that will take some time to unlock, so the Plat is a big maybe for me. Can't wait to hop into some Mercenaries rounds soon though!

But yeah, this is a perfect Resident Evil game, and one that will go down as one of the best video games ever in my opinion. I can't pick between this and the original in terms of which is "better", but combining the two, they make the perfect little package.

Reviewed on Apr 28, 2023


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