Resident Evil (2002) or: The REmake

I started this journey through survival horror just over a year ago and I've finally made it right back to where I started: the original Resident Evil. It's taken longer to get through these than I'd planned on (how was I supposed to know 2023 would be full of so many incredible new games?!) so I'll admit that game's not as fresh in my mind as I thought it might be by this point in my journey but, even so, playing through the remake of the first game was incredibly enjoyable.

The version I played was the PS4 port of the remake.

As a bit of a disclaimer I'm not exactly discussing the 2002 GameCube game but, rather, the 2014 PS4 port of said GameCube game. Outside of higher resolution assets I've been operating under the assumption that the game I played was effectively the same thing though so I feel like nothing I've got to say about it should seem too off-base.

Wherever you decide to play it, Barry won't be much help

Now, with all that preamble out of the way, let's talk Resident Evil. I feel like the distinction between what constitutes a "remaster" against a "remake" can occasionally get blurred but this is something I'd absolutely consider a remake. The basic structure is the same and the plot and progression are near-identical but it's more than a simple remaster. The layout of the mansion and surrounding areas has changed in some very noticeable ways and there are new enemies and mechanics that significantly change the way you move through the mansion.

The largest difference, in my eyes, is the addition of "Crimson Heads". In prior games a dead zombie was, well, a dead zombie. Once you saw a pool of blood form beneath them you knew that they would no longer be a threat and you could wander around that area safely (provided no new enemies spawned in). Here, however, each zombie corpse is a ticking time bomb of sorts that, if left alone, can resurrect as a faster, more powerful creature that poses an actual threat. There are ways to dispatch zombies that can eliminate the chance of a Crimson Head appearing such as the fact that a critical hit can make their head explode and that you're able to burn corpses to make sure a given zombie will stay dead, but you can't rely on inconsistent critical hits and there's only so much fuel to go around.

Because fuel is limited you're incentivized to group corpses together before burning them.

I have mixed feelings on this mechanic. It's a cool idea and I see why they wanted to implement it (needing to think on your feet and manage resources is part of the fun of survival horror games) but, early on at least, it felt tedious and frustrating. Maybe this is just a "me" problem but I've found most of these games significantly more difficult at the beginning than at the end (or, even, the middle) so adding a complication that more heavily impacts the early game felt a bit like kicking newcomers when they were down. Adding new variables for you to deal with before you've even been able to establish a foothold in the mansion meant that I would frequently replay the early bits because I just didn't have enough resources to deal with the obstacles in front of me.

The newly added defensive weapons are a great way to counter this, provided you have any

The game wants you to kite around zombies and dodge their attacks but most of the mansion is filled with hallways that aren't wide enough to let you skirt round them and evading their attacks always felt like a gamble as I could never fully predict how they were going to behave, so I would get grabbed frequently.The game gives you numerous health items so the assumption is that you're going to need to take some damage at some point, but in the early game I found the resources were simply way too sparse.

As for Crimson Heads, the game already had a strategy for making "safe" areas dangerous again and that was by spawning new enemies in there upon (some) subsequent visits, and this game still also does that. I know it sounds like I'm hard on this game, and maybe I am, but this is a contender for my favorite in the series (that I've played to this point) so take all of the above criticism with the knowledge that I, eventually, got over myself and was able to enjoy the game.

RE1 Jill, creeped out ...

A big reason for that was that this game has probably the best "feel" in the series. While I love tank controls and think they serve a specific purpose in this and games like it, the added option for direct-control is incredibly significant. In addition to importing the quick-turn from RE3, there is a setting for "modern controls" lets you freely move with the joystick but, importantly, the d-pad is still restricted to tank controls so you have both at your disposal. This means that you can suddenly make sharp turns and quick movements that would have simply been impossible in the old games and as a result boss fights feel significantly less awkward.

... and REmake Jill, unafraid of pottery.

As much as I love chunky polygons and shimmering textures, the improved visuals in this help in making it feel like a "next-generation" game, as hokey as that may sound. It still seems to rely on pre-rendered backgrounds but these backgrounds are so much richer and more detailed than what was visible in the earlier games and there are sequences that still look good to this day. It also has new voice acting but I'm not entirely sure if I'd say it's an improvement. A lot of these new line reads are, unfortunately, just as clunky and wooden as they were in the original.

The new lighting and character models really help sell these pre-rendered backgrounds

Revisiting the Spencer mansion again was a treat (even if I've already kind-of revisited it with Code Veronica and Survivor 2) and the added touches to try to connect it to events in later games was also appreciated. This is just, all around, a really well put together remake and I see why it's so well-regarded. I think that's effectively all I have to say about this game. It's good. It revisits the events of the first game and makes them (slightly) more user-friendly while also adding enough new content and mechanics to make someone who's already played the original to want to give it a second go. 

The time for dinking around has passed.

I've included my clear screens below, first as Jill on Normal, sorry, "mountain-climbing" mode, then Chris on Hard or whatever-one-step-up-above-Normal-was-called. I know my frustration with this was at least in some part due to the difficulties I selected, so it seemed worth mentioning. One last detail: I actually ran out of ammo as Chris during the final boss battle so I had to whittle its health down with just the knife so, yeah, those higher difficulties are no joke.