Resident Evil 2(2019) Review

I remembered being so hyped by the very idea of this remake. Back in a time period where I was against tank controls and thought, "this remake will give what the original game had but with better controls". Little did I know, it didn't really give me that. The changes like the tougher zombies, camera shaking when grabbed, Mr. X no longer being scripted and especially A and B games being heavily gutted caused me to have a strong dislike for years to come. This was one of the games that did teach me to never get overly hyped for anything. I have bashed this game many times in my past write ups too. I decided to replay the PS5 version years later. I was dreading that I was going to have a miserable time but surprisingly I enjoyed it much more this time around. It still has the problems I mentioned but a lot of them aren't as big of deal breakers except the A and B scenarios being a red herring now. The best comparison I can make is that this is something along the lines of Tomb Raider Anniversary, a flawed but enjoyable remake.

REmake 2 keeps mostly everything that makes the original game great but what makes it stand out is how it plays with your expectations. If you never played the original, you'll of course get a new experience but if you did, there's lots new to find where it doesn't like you are playing the same game in a different perspective and controls.

RPD Police Station has been redesigned but the general layout remains the same. You still got the Main Hall that connects to a West and East side but the rooms are all fully rendered in 3D rather than the prerendered backgrounds of yester year. The order in which visit iconic places in the story changes too. For example, Kendo's gunshop doesn't appear until late game, you go through the RPD again but with Mr. X stalking you, or even a puzzle where you need different number keys to unlock certain doors in a weapons locker.

The spirit of the original game and the RE of old before 2005 is kept intact. You got inventory space and you have to make a concious decision of what to take with you. What do you prefer? Lots of healing items or ammo? Do you take lots of puzzle items instead? Do you try to try to fit in a few of each? A new addition this time around is that you can get hip pouches to add more space to your inventory.

You will backtrack, fight enemies, solve puzzles some being smaller ones within a giant puzzle.

This is the part where I address the combat and when I first played the game, I was annoyed by many of REmake 2's "quirks". The first major one being how the zombies take multiple hits and especially multiple headshots before dying. I discovered this time around that the game has a dismemeberment system especially when you shoot them in the legs. A common tactic was to immobilize them and then finish them off with either a knife or a few headshots. They weren't as annoying as I once thought.

Camera jerking became less of a problem because I got grabbed much less due to this said tactic. It does become a problem when surronded by many zombies by those scenarios are too few to even notice. Lickers do take a lot of damage but they don't pop up too much either and you'll be decked out with firepower to take them down easily. Surprisingly dogs were easier to run away from than to fight since the survival horror decision making of, "take some hits so you can save bullets" popped into my mind.

Mr. X? This was the biggest surprise, if you keep moving througout the map like you have a purpose, you won't really encounter him that much. Maybe at the library at the most but that seems to be his most common spawn point. It's rather surprising that what was once something I strongly dislike about this remake is barely an issue now.

With that said, it's not all sunshine and rainbows. The parts where you play as Ada aren't particularly interesting since they are mainly just scripted sequences that have nothing to do with the core gameplay. That and I'm not a big fan of the much longer and expanded on sewer section. The layouts can get very confusing and at times even labythrine. The map also isn't as helpful here as it should be do to the disjointed presentation of it. You also fight a lot of damage spongey enemies and super padded out plug puzzle.

Luckily the Labratory is where things wrap up and isn't as dragged out.

The biggest issue is how the A and B scenarios are red herrings this time around. Capcom added them due to fan backlash when they should've just stuck to their guns since there's this weird inbetween. The true ending is unlocked after you do Claire's run. This isn't worth it due to the contradictions in the story and how everything is mostly remixed as opposed to being, "what Claire was up to while Leon was on his adventure". I know I would get annoyed and looked up the final boss and ending on Youtube.

Overall, I'm much kinder on REmake 2 but the botched zapping system holds it back from being on par with the original.