KiteGr
Member
I've finally bought this about a week ago and after a few days, I'm near the end 2nd run.
I mostly love the improvements and changes! This is a fantastic game through and through!
I could go on prizing the game's strengths, but almost every review out there already did that, so I'll skip that part and play the Devil's advocate by going for the weaknesses.
And my biggest gripe with the new RE2, is that, while it's still a very good game it isn't as good of a remake as the REmake! THERE!... I said it! And allow me to explain why!
What makes the perfect remake or remaster? It has to make the original version obsolete, and I believe REmake2 doesn't do that!
The first REmake kept everything the original had, included different cut-scenes depending on your small choices, added new stuff, stayed faithful to the original and cranked the quality up to 11.
REmake 2 feels like it only removed stuff... and rather than fixing certain issues with the original, it made them bigger. And the biggest culprit here is the 2nd run playthrough.... OMG they Didn't do that justice!
In the original, playing scenario B felt completely different (spoiler alert):
There are other smaller gripes like the absence of spiders and crows, the headshots being disabled, the game being to dark and the absence of a certain Elevator area that made cameos in other games, but it's biggest failure is how poorly they treated the 2nd run. Rather than fixing the few inconsistencies the original game had, they created even more, making both playthroughs nearly identical.
And that's why, despite being a good game, REmake2 is not yet ready to replace RE2!
I mostly love the improvements and changes! This is a fantastic game through and through!
I could go on prizing the game's strengths, but almost every review out there already did that, so I'll skip that part and play the Devil's advocate by going for the weaknesses.
And my biggest gripe with the new RE2, is that, while it's still a very good game it isn't as good of a remake as the REmake! THERE!... I said it! And allow me to explain why!
What makes the perfect remake or remaster? It has to make the original version obsolete, and I believe REmake2 doesn't do that!
The first REmake kept everything the original had, included different cut-scenes depending on your small choices, added new stuff, stayed faithful to the original and cranked the quality up to 11.
REmake 2 feels like it only removed stuff... and rather than fixing certain issues with the original, it made them bigger. And the biggest culprit here is the 2nd run playthrough.... OMG they Didn't do that justice!
In the original, playing scenario B felt completely different (spoiler alert):
- For starters, all the bosses you were fighting in scenario B where new. MrX appeared only there from the get-go, making it clear that that this version will be very different. Then instead of the G-spawn you where fighting Burgin in completely mutation stages. Finally the final bosses were different, both of them.
In REmake 2 they picked and choosed from the 2 scenarios the most iconic bosses, blew all their loads on the first playthrough, and besides the final boss for each character, all others where identical.
- Then you had the changes associated with the other character. In the original, while solving the same puzzles Leon and Claire where gathering different key items to progress through the game, meeting different people and generally having their own story. This was a point the Original also suffered, as the you can only solve the library puzzle so many times before it becomes monotonous.
In REmake 2, they fixed the puzzle aspect making them a bit harder on the 2nd run, but broke the unique item aspects. In both runs you still gather the same damn fuzes and gizmos for the same damn puzzles! At least they kept the exclusive areas for each character, such as the alternative entrance to the sewers, but for the most parts, like the Original the changes were minor in gameplay. Also they kind of cheated, making certain interactions like with Kendo and the Crocodile exclusive to Leon so they wouldn't had to redo the cutscenes.
- Finally you had the interactions between the characters. Leon and Clair had a good number of interactions between their playthroughs. Interactions that changed depending on the scenario they where playing at to keep "consistency". And that's the magic word! Stuff one character did in scenario A matered to the other character! In scenario B you where often left in peril and had to take extra steps because of the actions of the other character! You had to call back the elevator and deal with Mr X in order to get to the nest. The Elevator stops from overheating before reaching the nest, so you have to get off early and start again from another entry point. Near the end of scenario B, it is the second character who'll have to take Sherry to the train and start it because the other is fighting the 4 feet Burgin boss. The fact that clair had to get different key items to escape the police station emphasized that!
In REmake 2 there are nearly no interactions between the two characters, besides a single one at the back door of the police station, and one near the end where they are like "WTF are YOU doing here!". It felt like they started with the best intentions early on, having a different cutscene play with Marvin with each character in the first run, having the cutscene at the mentioned door play differently depending on who's on what side, and at least on the 2nd run the other characters starts from another location, changing things up a bunch.... but after that, all the differences besides the extra final boss are lazy, such as enemy placements and certain weapon related items swapping places. They said, "Do we have to make all these cutscenes where the two characters talk to each other, and then make them twice for each run? Screw that! Lets just have them leave notes!" and "Do we have to design an area differently just because a character already passed? Screw that! Let them play again the same thing all over again!"
There are other smaller gripes like the absence of spiders and crows, the headshots being disabled, the game being to dark and the absence of a certain Elevator area that made cameos in other games, but it's biggest failure is how poorly they treated the 2nd run. Rather than fixing the few inconsistencies the original game had, they created even more, making both playthroughs nearly identical.
And that's why, despite being a good game, REmake2 is not yet ready to replace RE2!
