We’ve been away for a bit, but we have a lot to talk about. We have a different subject to cover and no it’s not Intergalactic: Girl Bosses in Space. We need to talk about remakes again.

In 2019, the Resident Evil 2 remake came out and was instantly praised. Critics said this is how remakes should be done. I have to disagree with that and after finishing it, I really disagree.

Resident Evil 2 keeps most of the content from the original and thats an issue. One thing we’ve said about remakes is they need to keep the spirit and charm. At the same time they should make logical progression in areas like controls, camera and level design. That doesn’t mean go after trends like adding a sprint or dodge feature.

I first played the game in 2019 and put it down. I got to the 3rd Birkin fight, then just gave up and the other day, I picked the game back up and finished it. The game has cool areas to explore and a decent but predictable story. Most of the game was a boring slog that was patted out by a ton of backtracking. I know that is the a hallmark of Resident Evil, but it kills the pacing. My playthrough was 9 hours and it felt like double that. 

Mr X is in the game on the first playthough and to me it hurts the game. I wanted to explore many of the areas and he forces you to go for a save room. It would be cool for later playthroughs as a change up, but I don’t like it in the first one. This also changes the story cannon with the scenarios since Mr X is suppose to be in Claires scenario.

Another issue was the boss fights. Why do we need to fight Birkin 3 times? In the old game, when you fight him each fight is short. In the remake, the fights are longer and can get frustrating. The one with the container is annoying to get the timing right. The final one in the cramped basement can get you spammed with hits and die.

One thing many of the old survival horror games need to stop doing is going third person. Keep the new controls, but use a fixed camera like in God of War. That would be a cool way to distinguish the tank controlled games from newer ones. Remakes like Until Dawn and Silent Hill 2 went to a third person camera and became less scary and atmospheric. Silent Hill 2 felt like a mod for RE4 remake.

The RE2 remake was another game that blinded people with nostalgia and a leap in graphics. Not every game needs to be like Resident Evil 4. It’s an ok remake with some good ideas that didn’t fix issues with the original game, and suffers from it. What was changed was either unnecessary or gave a more a generic feel, with a touch of what RE is known for.