Suffice it to say I was excited when they announced the Resident Evil 2 remake, as when I was a kid I played the Nintendo 64 version relentlessly. Knowing the new version would have ultra high definition visuals and 60 frames per second, I had high hopes for the remake. After finishing the game this weekend, I am happy to say that I was thoroughly pleased with every aspect of how it turned out.
First and foremost, the visuals on the Xbox One X are incredible. I turned the game on and my wife thought I was watching a movie at first. Everything about it just looks so good, from the regular zombies to the boss enemies, it just looks great. Countless times I was amazed at how grotesque some of the scenes in this game were and I loved every minute of it.
Frame rate on the Xbox One X is excellent also. I didn't notice any significant hitches while I played. There was a couple of instances where the frame rate took a hit, but all in all it runs at a smooth 60 frames per second. Between the excellent visuals and the solid frame rate, the presentation of this game is simply superb.
Character animations are extremely well done and the voice acting is quite good as well. During cutscenes, the characters facial animations are excellent and well suited to the situations. When a new creature appears for the first time, your character will say (very understandably) things like "what in god's name...?" or "what is that?" My favorite is toward the end of the game when a familiar face appears and your character says "not you again!" The voice acting is well done and paired well with the character animations.
There are some noteworthy changes from the old game, but mostly the story is still intact. In the old version of the game, the tank controls were awful. Of course, back then it didn't seem bad because we didn't know any better. Playing 3rd person and shooting off zombie limbs with ease is a ton of fun and helped you to determine the best way to handle even regular enemies. This also made boss encounters a lot more intricate as you can shoot weak points easily to make the most of your ammunition, really adding to the survival horror aspect of ammo conservation. Sub weapons are also great, something that wasn't featured in the original. In classic RE2, you had a knife, but it was a joke. In this game, if a zombie grabs you, you can put it in their neck to avoid damage. Same with grenades, which obviously have a much more fun impact than a knife does when a zombie or other enemy grabs you. In the original game, Tyrant was a B scenario exclusive. In the remake, he makes an appearance in both scenarios of the game, as does William Birken. The overlap of those two antagonists takes away a bit from what I thought really made A and B scenarios special in the original, but this isn't a deal breaker and boss encounters are still mostly varied in the different scenarios.
There could be moments of frustration with the game, like situations where you are low on ammo despite your best efforts to save it. In these times, a zombie would be in a room where you need to do something to advance the story. Despite having removed all 4 limbs of said zombie, they can still bite you and be an annoyance causing you to have to use ammo to actually eliminate the problem or have to use a health item from that damage you took. Other situations where Tyrant would be chasing you and you have to be in a small room with him could be annoying as he just tosses you around while you try to finish something. These moments are mostly fleeting, though and on subsequent playthroughs become a non-issue as you pretty much know where it is you need to go and it makes it easy to know when to not use ammo or health items.
Despite a few moments of frustration, the great aspects of the Resident Evil 2 remake are extremely strong, creating one of the best games this year. If you are a fan of the old Resident Evil 2, if you like zombie games, or if like me you are both, then you need to play this game. It is excellent and a lot of fun to play.