Good news! Resident Evil 2 is officially getting remade, according to this video from Capcom’s 1st R&D division and producer Yoshiaki “H” Hirabashi. This is exciting news, considering Resident Evil 2 is widely considered one of the best in the series, and it’s one of the most quintessential games in the genre. Leon, Claire, and company will get a new coat of HD paint, meaning we may finally get to see William Birkin’s face as something that doesn’t resemble a flesh-colored porygon. But the changes really shouldn’t stop there.
1. Control Scheme/Camera Angle
One of the biggest barriers to entry to playing the old Resident Evil series entries are the controls. The old industry standard “tank controls” – a scheme that made the on screen character the point of reference for directional control instead of the camera – were difficult to navigate compared to contemporary third person control schemes. Going from modern RE titles to the old ones requires learning how to walking again. Even if you grew up in the era of tank controls, nostalgia alone is often not worth the hassle.
Last year’s Resident Evil HD Remaster addressed the control issue by adding a second scheme that made the character the point of direction reference, a la Devil May Cry, but with this Resident Evil 2 remake being a complete overhaul of the game, it’s time to really embrace the best adjustment to happen to the series maybe ever, in the over-the-shoulder camera angle made popular by Resident Evil 4. Not only does navigating spooky hallways become a more visceral experience when you’re doing so from the character’s perspective, you can also accurately aim at things. Pretty important when so many RE creatures have location-based weaknesses.
2. Voice Acting
Voice work in the Resident Evil games have been hit or miss throughout the series. Later entries got more consistent, but always sounded like B-list horror movies in execution. Listening to Wesker almost literally hiss as Chris Redfield in Resident Evil 5 makes their general animosity towards one another hard take seriously. Not to mention that this is probably happening in a volcano, which, well. You know…
The overarching story of Resident Evil is incredibly obtuse and convoluted, but being invested in it becomes a way easier task when the characters are likable. An easy way to do that, is to do a great job casting their voice actors. If they have to have voices, they can’t be distracting or grating (unless the character is supposed to be this way of course.) Also: if there is going to be audible dialogue, make sure the writing is worth hearing.
3. Item Management
If there’s anything besides the movement controls that newer Resident Evils do better than older Resident Evils, it’s the item management. Resident Evil 6 took guns out of your inventory completely, letting you focus more on the items. It also streamlined healing items a bit, allowing your to throw uncombined herbs into a “pill case” for quick use. RE 5 allowed you to map weapons to the d-pad, which made cycling through your guns a relative breeze. With the faster paced action of the last two entries (that may intrinsically come from that sort of control scheme) being able to move through your item list quickly is a must. The days of combining clips and weapons in an inventory screen has to end.
4. Bosses (and enemies in general)
Every boss battle in Resident Evil 2 pretty much plays out the same way. Step 1: Giant Monster shows up. Step 2: Unload your strongest gun into it. Step 3: Run away when it gets close. Rinse, repeat. The colorful baddies are far more interesting to look at than to fight, and this should really change on a second redesign. You fight William Birkin five times, and the only thing that changes about how you do it is where you do it. That’s not good enough, anymore. Especially in the shadow of Resident Evil 4, which had very cool boss fights.
RE 4 also had varied enemies throughout the game. You couldn’t fight a normal villager the same way you fought a blade wielding, armored garrador. In RE 2, though there were various different types of enemies, “shoot them in the face with your gun” is always the default strategy. Forcing us to think outside the box would really do wonders for breathing new life in the game.
5. Mercenaries
The Mercenaries is a mode that started in Resident Evil 3, but really shined in RE 4 and beyond. The control scheme upgrade is probably the culprit, and an RE 2 remake version can only really happen if the game is designed with modern third person shooter philosophies in mind. It’s a fast paced, beat-the-clock, gunslinger’s paradise, and is commonly the best part of these games. Another iteration in RE 2 would be a welcome addition, especially if Capcom truly embraces some of the really weird ancillary or hidden characters of the game and makes them playable (I’m looking at you, Tofu.)
What do you think should change in the Resident Evil 2 remake? Comment below or tweet us @CurseGamepedia.