This fantastic REmaking of a classic has already set the REmake itself to, in time, become a classic in its own right.
REmake as to no surprise, is a REmake. Its a REmake of one of the very first altations of the survival horror genre and infact even gave the questionable genre a title, coining the phrase survival horror for all to then follow through on.
Resident Evil REmake tells the same story from the original Resident Evil about the STARS squad investigating Raccoon Forest on the reports of some grissly murders. BRAVO team where sent in first, but back at the RPD they lost all trace, thus the ALPHA team is sent in to try and find out what happened to their compadre's.
They land in the forest and search for any clues only to come across BRAVO teams helicopter, abandoned and all that remains is a musty smell and a dead comrade. Soon after the team is ambushed by severly hostile canines that which maul to death one of the ALPHA teams own. The remaining members run for safety to a close by Mansion.
Whats worse though that yet another of the ALPA team has left the ranks, Barry Burton when playing as Chris and Chris Redfeild when playing as Jill have mysteriously dissapeared leaving only the three of you from an intial squad six.
Then of course begins the HORROOOR! :P
So as etheir Chris Redfeild or Jill Valentine you must explore the Mansion looking for clues as to what happened to the BRAVO team and any missing ALPHA team members, all the while struggling to defend yourself against the monstoroties that lurk within the Mansion...
How this all plays out is of course much like a classic alteration of survival horror. You have a 3rd person perspective though its set through altering camera angles that switch once around once you make your way to different angle. The controls are still the same 'tank' $tyle like the Re series is known for which to some is quite an annoyance but for people like me and other hardcore RE fans isn't even noticable.
So with your camera angles set and movement restrictions in place :P....you then must begin your mission.
How the gameplay acts out is 3 different gameplay segments consisting of exploration/combat/puzzle solving. The exploration is what it is, exploring the mansion hunting down key items and any ammunition or healing items and generally backtracking around unlocking doors ect. The combat is where you will usually play the defensive player, ammo is rather scarce so usually you must try your best to avoid the many enemies you'll encounter. You may still of course choose to fight off some of the enemies since its not like ammo is completly devoid, but still its not such a great idea to go around everything that comes into your sights.
The puzzle solving of course goes hand in hand with the exploration. Throughout all your key hunting and zombie slayage you will come across some rather peculiar puzzles and traps and the like. Completing these is neccesasry to continue the game though but they still at least change the pace from 'don't think just run' to 'Think I'll run over to the FAQ section' lol :P
No the puzzles are exactly mind boggling and thus should be easy enough for puzzle extradionares and RE veterans alike. Their all unique in some way and some add the extra danger of even causing harm to your character if you say happen to make a wrong move or press that particular button.
That is basically the whole gameplay throughout, there will of course be many different boss encounters throughout your 'stay' at the Mansion which all will require different tactics for defeat. While most usually require you to shoot the undead crap outa them theirs now some that might be able to be beaten through abit of puzzle solving.
Now to anyone who hasn't played the REmake but totally has the entire original Resident Evil glued inside their brain would think that theirs nothing new here.
But on the contrary REmake has added a surprising amount of new features to the old formula.
One key change is of course the jaw-dropping graphics, theres no more pixilated faces here and strange over-exadgerated hand gestures. Nope the characters all respond in fluid design with superb animations and facial expressions. The enviroments too are beyond fantastic, the Mansion this time has many eerie dark hallways and shadows looming over every crevace. Even abit lightning outside has been added in for good measure too.
But again this isn't just Resident Evil but with art defying graphics.
A number of alterings have been made to the story to include many new theorys about umbrella and to give some more insight into their devious experiments. Even things such as certain characters surviving a little longer can be noticed in REmake. The majority of puzzles have been changed and the Mansion on a whole is also much larger this time around with many more rooms and corridors to 'tank' your way through.
The gameplay changes though aren't all that groundbreaking but still a worthy addition. Defence items now are available that are kept in a seperate item area, basically they work when your about to be bitten for example, your character if he/she has a 'dagger' equipped will then force the dagger in the zombies skull buying you a quick geteway or simply a chance to finish him off.
Both Chris and Jill now even have their own personal item too much like every other RE these days with Chris having a traditional lighter and Jill to (eventually) gain herself a handy lockpick.
Varieing difficulties have now been added too ranging from your standard easy, normal and hard modes. Sure Chris' version is still much tougher than Jills but at least you may now swim through even Chris' story with no grenade launcher quabbles.
Voice acting too has luckily been re-done to apparently give a more serious tone. Though its still sort of mixed for me, for example while Chris and Barry's voice actors give pretty decent performances Jill belongs to be hanged on a metal hook shes so hammy, while Wesker could probably house a little birdhouse hes do damn wooden. But still overall its a major improvment over the original with the script being much better this time around, though still keeping some classic quotes :P.
Now thats all great n all but still of course even REmake for me has its downfalls, such as a small inconveinence theres no ranking system at the end of the game, once you complete the game your simply given an overall time and thats it, no more S ranks to hunt down this time :(. The length of the game is fairly good with it probably taking around 10 hours per character, but sadly theres not all that much motivation to bring you back. Theres still the many, not so, radically different endings to watch, theres also a couple of costumes to unlock and a pair of infinite ammo destructive mutha****s to play around with too. But theirs no minigames or anything of the sort which is where the RE games usually shine after a completion. The costumes are both pretty cool, but the weapons aren't exactly all that fun, no gatling gun this time :'(.
But besides those short-comings with replay value, REmake is still a superb survival horror game and easily one of the best RE's out there.
Its adds more depth and story to series and is simply a more fun and more accesible way to play the original Resident Evil at that too.
Final Score-9.4