As there is very little left of the year 2018, it is time to start looking to the future to see which games will be destroying our bank accounts in 2019. One of those games for so many will be the remake of Resident Evil 2. Though this is a game that many of us have played before, it is now quite different, making it seem brand new. Yet there is much that is still the same ensuring that it will still give the sense of nostalgia we all crave. If you are too young to have played this when it first came out, please don’t tell me.
Way back when, Resident Evil was known for creepy zombies, save room music, and fixed camera angles. While two of those remain, one is being abandoned to give the game a more modern feel. The fixed camera angles are gone, much to the chagrin of many. Personally, I like the change. This is not a rerelease, but a remake. Therefore getting rid of a lot of the more archaic features is necessary if you want to please your fans both new and old.
There will also be new ways in which the zombies can get you. At the beginning of the game, you must navigate your way through the streets of Raccoon City dodging as many blood-thirsty bastards as possible. This is in both the original and the remake, but now evading them will be significantly harder. They are more responsive now than they used to be which probably means that conserving your ammo will prove to be more difficult.
If you want to survive, a new mechanic is being added. Since you had to dodge the zombies on the streets outside, it is only logical to believe that they are still out there when you enter the police station. Because of this, boarding up windows will be a component so the damned things don’t just break through the glass and take a bite out of your exposed neck.
But of course, the zombies will not be the only supernatural entities you will see. Just like in the original, there will be Lickers moving about the place to ruin your day. The new camera will make shooting those even worse than we remember. Mr. X will also return as will the giant alligator when we get down to the sewer. Let’s hope the giant spider gets chucked in the bin where it belongs. I have no desire to see that with modern graphics.
However, not everything has to be so serious all the time in Raccoon City. There are going to be a whole number of outfits for Claire and Leon to wear. These costumes (the ones I will be talking about here) are included if you buy the Deluxe Edition of the game. There are five in total: three for Claire and two for Leon.
Both Claire and Leon will be able to wear the “Noir” outfit, but they are not exactly the same. They will both have the crisp white shirt and tie. Leon will also be wearing a debonaire vest to complete the look. Claire, on the other hand, will don suspenders and a jaunty hat. I happen to love the whole noir theme so these would be the outfits I’d be choosing most of the time.
Claire also has an “Elza Walker” costume as an homage to what her character almost was. Elza was going to be a motorcycle riding university student when the game was first being developed. Eventually, the idea was scrapped and the Claire we all know and love was born.
The last outfit for Leon is the “Arklay Sheriff” in which Leon dresses up like a Sheriff. It’s a nice looking costume, but Leon is a rookie at this point and maybe 20 years old. He looks a bit like a little boy playing dress-up. But I suppose that will go away when he’s shooting body parts off of zombies. It might also make you feel like you’re in the Undead Nightmare of Red Dead Redemption 2. Now that I’ve said it, I can’t help but think that would be an interesting business proposition between Capcom and Rockstar.
Recently, Capcom shared the last Claire outfit. It is the “Military” outfit, which admittedly doesn’t make a lot of sense since Claire never served as a soldier. But this is Resident Evil. The costumes frequently don’t make any sense. Does anyone else remember being able to play as a sentient piece of tofu? Apparently, all the zombies turned vegan just so they could have a nibble. And of course, who could forget Chris Redfield’s sailor costume where he looked like a sexy Popeye? The crazy costumes are all part of the fun.
I could go on for hours about all of the things that we have seen and hope for in the Resident Evil 2 remake. In fact, I have but my friends keep telling me to shut up. So before I start going into any more unnecessary detail about the little things that don’t matter, allow me to end on this note. Resident Evil 2 will be coming out on January 25, 2019, on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.