VideoGame R E2make: Mechanically Strong, Spiritually Weak
Unlike most on the internet, I will not be gushing over the 2019 remake of Resident Evil 2. Mechanically, it's an extremely solid game, which plenty of other reviews will talk about in length. But is it a satisfying remake? I would say not.
The story is atrocious. Yes, the same basic ideas of the original story are present, but whereas the first RE 2 told a pair of complete stories through the use of its zapping system and interlinked Character 1 A and Character 2 B stories, the remake tells the same story twice with minimal changes. Literally the only differences between Leon and Claire's story, aside from cosmetic changes to their interactions with Marvin, are the final bosses they fight, the brief side-character segment associated with them, and who is on which side during the three scenes where they interact in the game; at the doors of the gas station, at the locked gate on the eastern side of the RPD, and on the other ends of a monitor screen before the final boss fight.
2nd Run is even worse, because story-wise it just gives you a stripped down version of the chosen character's story mode. Capcom should have either brought back and embraced the zapping system & A/B scenarios, or stuck to their guns and made each character's campaign entirely separate. This lame attempt to appease both sides fails to appease either.
But my biggest complaint is related not to the mechanics, but to the very spirit of the game. In trying to pursue a "realistic" game, Capcom has abandoned the very essence of Resident Evil, which was always a B-movie style horror-action world. Even in Resident Evil, you still had enough ordinance to fight the battles that mattered, and were facing off against such unrealistic, unnatural creatures as genetically engineered bug-men and Lizard Folk, zombie sharks, Giant Spiders and a Man-Eating Plant. "Realism" isn't Resident Evil's thing, and shouldn't be - that's what games like The Walking Dead are for. Instead, Capcom's cut some enemies and changed others for the sake of "realism".
R E2make is a decent enough Survival Horror game. But as a remake? It could have been much better. Resident Evil 6 is a better successor to the RE heritage than this.
VideoGame A newbie's review
The title says it all: I'm somewhat of a newbie to the series. I've only really gotten into RE as a whole starting with 4, and I'm not very knowledgeable of the lore of the older titles. I've never actually played the original RE2, and my knowledge on it is limited to the segmented playthroughs I've watched of my brother ages ago, so for this review I'm basically going in fresh.
From the get-go, I prefer the over-the-shoulder perspective over the classic fixed camera view, and you can fight me on that. I liked how the remake offered a mix of old and new, and on a technical level the gameplay is very enjoyable, though I'm not very happy about how key items you don't use cannot be discarded if you pick them up by mistake (Diamond Key). Not a very big gripe, but it does hurt Minimalist/Speed runs where you cannot use the item box.
Story-wise, I'm not very familiar with how the original handled A/B runs or the zapping system, but I do notice some inconsistencies and mutually-exclusive events that don't mesh together if you put the scenarios next to each other. Others could, and probably have, explained things better than I can, so I won't be going into that. As for what I liked, I think the new dialogue is better written than most RE games I've played before, and also appreciated the remade environments. They are quite accurate for the most part to what I can remember, so that's a lot of fanservice right there.
Instead, what drives me up the wall a LOT in this game is how incredibly tanky everything is, how fast their attacks are and how slowly you recover. It can give them a lot of cheap shots in without letting you breathe at times (Lickers, Dogs, Mr. X), so a lot of the times dying can be very frustrating. There's Lightning Bruiser, and then there's this. G-4 Birkin is very annoying because of this, which says something because the other 4 forms are rather simple to beat. That being said, I didn't have a lot of trouble with Mr. X, in fact I've even made sort of a quasi-sport in trolling and out-moving him, hat on or not, although I can see why some hate running into him so often. Makes me wonder what will Nemesis be like if Capcom were to remake RE3.
In short, as a newbie to the game, there are many things I liked and didn't like about the remake, none of them have much to do with the accuracy of the work done. My complaints are mostly technical, which can hurt the potential for new players to enjoy it. I don't review games very often, but overall I mostly enjoyed it and can appreciate the effort put into making it both refreshing and nostalgic; it's not perfect, but a very good game.
8.5/10
VideoGame The best remake ever
Tittle say's it all. Buy it. Buy it just so the action fans lament in horror that their sub series is going to die. Not to mention it's an amazing game, gameplay, horror, and atmosphere wise.
VideoGame This is how you do a Remake
Made an account after lurking for a long time just to give support to this game. It's fucking amazing. Everything has been remade so lovingly, and amazingly. This is Resident Evil at it's best, and i'm glad they've finally stepped away from the trash introduced in 5 and 6. Capcom's back, and it should be celebrated!
Redesigns that stay faithful to the original. Tense and amazing gameplay. Full of atmosphere and tension, Survival Horror has never been done so well.
The amount of complaints are negligible, and I honestly think this remake is a perfect game. Great job Capcom!
VideoGame Overhyped and Underwhelming
Resident Evil 2 Remake has earned plenty of accolades. And, to an extent, it has earned them - whilst I feel the game relies a touch too much on Fake Difficulty, that's a matter of personal taste. It's an extremely solid Survival Horror in its own merit... but, as a Resident Evil remake? I think it's nowhere near as good as it could be. Honestly, I think most of the hype for it comes from the extremely vocal fanbase who hated the more Actionized Sequel parts of the series (Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6 especially), and in fact it's an inferior remake when compared to the original Resident Evil 1 remake.
I'm not complaining about the switch to over-the-shoulder perspective, or the loss of tank controls. But the RE2make simply isn't as good as it could be, and certainly does not live up to the original RE1make. Why? In short, the RE1make added lots of new content; new enemies, new bosses, new areas to explore, new mechanics and new lore. The RE2make, in comparison, mostly cuts content. It removed three enemies, changed a boss into a recurring enemy, and completely reworked the Ivy B.O.W. into the Ivy Zombie, which changed its appearance and tactics whilst also retconning the lore. But the biggest and most notable cut is how sharply it cut into the story of the original RE2.
Now, let's be honest, there were puzzles that repeated themselves between A and B scenarios in RE2-1998, but they still used distinctive cutscenes and missions in the two scenarios to make for a unique story that, puzzles aside, still meshed together well to make a chronologically viable course of events. And I would know, since I wrote the Recap page. Playing the different halves of the linked campaigns would give you distinctly different sides of what was going on.
The RE2make? It doesn't have that. The only unique segment in the game for each character is the brief one that you play through after first reaching the garage. Literally the only difference is that one little segment, and which unique final boss they fight. As for "2nd Run"? It's a pale imitation of B-Scenario - apart from starting at an alternate route and missing out the cutscenes with Marvin, it's identical to the 1st Run - literally pointless unless you're going for an achievement run or want to fight G-5. Add in that the frequent cutscenes of physical or radio interaction between Claire & Leon were reduced to two cutscenes and two 2nd Run-exclusive notes? I am not happy with the direction this remake took for its story at all.
All in all, this game did not live up to my hopes. It's definitely a solid game... but if I wanted a fun Survival Horror game? I'd play The Evil Within 2 over this. If I wanted a fun Resident Evil game? I'd sooner play Resident Evil 6 or Resident Evil: Revelations 2.