Resident Evil 2 Remake - no spoilers pls

[Sie]

REmake is about they best example of an older game being remade and I think we'll probably see them follow the template they used when they created REmake from RE1. Staying close to RE2's design but fleshing the story out with new elements, bringing over retcons introduced in REmake into the RE2 universe.

Retooling RE2 into something completely different sounds highly unlikely to me given that Capcom are returning to the older games because of the success they've had re-releasing REmake.

[robdood]

well yes, like tomb raider, syphon filter, tenchu, the list is endless.

Yeah ok, if that's what you're counting as 'over the shoulder', and not the tight/close camera position we get in Resi 4 / Gears / etc.

[angel]

obviously youre just trolling now with your little chuckle.gif so we'll leave it there, but in answer to the post: yes i count those games as viewed over the shoulders because they are...the RE series stands out by using static cams and controlled movie-like angles, making it stand out from them. the RE4-invented angled view nicked by gears is amazing, but wouldnt be traditional resi.

[robdood]

Mario 64, probably the most critically acclaimed over the shoulder game EVER!!

I'm not trolling, I just found your use of 'over the shoulder', and examples of games that fit that description, baffling.

[Ran]

I think they'll take a REmake approach to this and even if it's full 3D use fixed cameras maybe blended with some dynamic stuff. That would be my preference (with things like the Lisa section/crimson heads added in too). I wouldn't go completely nuts however if they did decide to make it more of a Resi 4 third person game as long as the atmosphere and spirit of the game remains intact. (So not heavily focused on action, ammo conservation and use being integral, puzzles and exploration of an ever expanding space etc)

We wont see anything of it for a good year probably (if not longer) so I guess it will be an anxious wait for some.

[angel]

Mario 64, probably the most critically acclaimed over the shoulder game EVER!!

I'm not trolling, I just found your use of 'over the shoulder', and examples of games that fit that description, baffling.

why use the 'trololol' smiley then? how is it baffling, maybe i could have said shoulders, but the point is still the same. resi's camera angles make it more movie like than cameras positioned behind the person. its one of its defining features.

[Kryptonian]

I think because they are generally known as 3rd person whereas stuff like RE4 & Deadspace actually have the camera over the shoulder.

[mushashi]

How much are people expecting to pay for this then? The HD port of REmake was cheap because it was a port, rather than a full-on reconstruction job like REmake was.

RE2 is the only one of the original 3 that I've completed or played more than a short amount of, it was also brilliant at the time. I'll set my expectations to cautious for this remake.

All the old school-style games basically consisted of me on low(ish) health running around manually dodging zombies to conserve ammo and herbs.

[APM]

It's an odd one this. I imagine it would be easier to build this in full 3D rather than render all those scenes to modern standards... Although, maybe they'll just build it in full 3D in an engine and stick a static camera in... It's a much bigger and diverse game than RE1, so I'm curious in which direction they're going to take.

[krenzler]

It will be the first AAA VR Oculus Rift game surely (or not)?

[Mr. Gerbik]

Retooling RE2 into something completely different sounds highly unlikely to me given that Capcom are returning to the older games because of the success they've had re-releasing REmake.

This, a million times this. It would be highly illogical to think otherwise, Capcom looked at the sales numbers and assumed that enough people like REmake to make investing in RE2make (sorry) worthwhile. Last thing I expect them to do is to turn it into a completely different game. A different genre even, as that's what RE4 is compared to the earlier games.

[Spacehost]

It would also be far more challenging and risky to do a full reinvention.

[Halo]

I think Capcom (and other companies with popular veteran games) should see this sort of project as a long-term investment, creating high-res assets once for multiple releases down the line for all new platforms. I mean, would anybody really object if they did a straight port of SSF2THDR for next-gen?

Capcom should really throw some money at the people remaking the RE4 assets for the same reason.

Or, to put it another way, get your shit together Sega, I want ports of Shenmue, Afterburner Climax, Rez and Outrun 2 on next-gen pronto.

[Spacehost]

The logistics are actually a bit of a nightmare; simply getting it done is enough of a challenge never mind futureproofing it, and then what happens is those assets are often mislaid or simply erased over the years as teams move on and studios close and hardware is upgraded or space is needed for new projects on overfilled servers. Would they have put as much effort in Resi Survivor? They've no idea which title will be a huge sleeper hit.

[mushashi]

It's an odd one this. I imagine it would be easier to build this in full 3D rather than render all those scenes to modern standards... Although, maybe they'll just build it in full 3D in an engine and stick a static camera in... It's a much bigger and diverse game than RE1, so I'm curious in which direction they're going to take.

Code: Veronica was the last big budget traditional game and that used realtime levels but with the same basic setup as the previous gen versions, and that was on the DC. That would seem the simplest approach to future proofing the game, depends if this is another cross-gen game or current gen only. There is enough power now to do a very nice realtime version.

[APM]

There was also that secret mode in one of the DLC packs for RE5, Lost in something or other - the one set in the Mansion with Jill and Chriss going after Wesker - where if you went to the front door a number of times, it would switch to a static, original RE style camera.

[angel]

that reminds me, i must play that

[APM]

It's good. It's impossible to aim in that fixed camera mode as the aiming still needs to be done like in the normal game which is impossible with static cameras, but as proof of what they could do with today's tech, it's pretty impressive.

[mushashi]

I was looking at some videos of the original versions of this being played on an emulator, the one thing which immediately popped out at me was the glorious usage of colour in the game, something I hope they keep in, rather than going the dour realism route, which some of the existing official recreations of the levels from this game suffer from. It almost made me want to dig it out and reinstall it, it still holds up once you get past the low resolution nature of the renders.

[Jamie John]

Is Resident Evil 2 the one where you have to activate a big cargo lift thing with a lorry (or something) on it, and as it's descending you get attacked by a mutant boss man thing? I can't actually remember whether I ever complete the second game or not. Never played the third.

[CarloOos]

It's good. It's impossible to aim in that fixed camera mode as the aiming still needs to be done like in the normal game which is impossible with static cameras, but as proof of what they could do with today's tech, it's pretty impressive.

There seems to be a false impression in here that pre-rendered would look no different to the REmake, whereas real-time 3D has continued to improve, which is misguided. With all the improvements made in rendering and lighting over the last decade pre-rendered backgrounds would still look leagues ahead of what could be accomplished with a fully 3D environment, controlled camera or not. There would be nothing stopping them having a borderline photo-real aesthetic, should they choose to go that direction.

Sure, pre-rendered is a pretty archaic way to do things these days, but personally I think it adds a lot of character and can potentially be far more atmospheric when done properly.

[Ran]

Is Resident Evil 2 the one where you have to activate a big cargo lift thing with a lorry (or something) on it, and as it's descending you get attacked by a mutant boss man thing? I can't actually remember whether I ever complete the second game or not. Never played the third.

Yes it's that one... And with the jaws/croc homage, and the awesome two disc double character play through and with the shotgun parts that turn the boomstick into a torso shredding behemoth!(fucking love this game!)

[simms]

Hope Nemesis gets a remake eventually as well. Whilst not as well regarded as 2, I remember enjoying it.

[Darhkwing]

nemesis was really good. scared the crap outta me when he would show up! Found it a easier game too, which in a way was kinda nice.

[NEG]

STTTTAARRRRZZZZ

[APM]

There seems to be a false impression in here that pre-rendered would look no different to the REmake, whereas real-time 3D has continued to improve, which is misguided. With all the improvements made in rendering and lighting over the last decade pre-rendered backgrounds would still look leagues ahead of what could be accomplished with a fully 3D environment, controlled camera or not. There would be nothing stopping them having a borderline photo-real aesthetic, should they choose to go that direction.

Sure, pre-rendered is a pretty archaic way to do things these days, but personally I think it adds a lot of character and can potentially be far more atmospheric when done properly.

I don't think anyone is disagreeing with this. But you have to consider that if they had virtually photo realistic backgrounds, which would be within reach of today's tech, the characters that inhabit that world would also need to be of a similar fidelity and I don't think in game cg graphics are there yet.

[CarloOos]

This is a massive over-generalisation of course, but I think if the only things on screen they need to worry about rendering are a handful of characters and their lighting, they could have a bloody good stab at making them look real. I mean look at the character models in Arkham City, and that's got a whole open world going at the same time.

[APM]

But they wouldn't just have to be rendering the characters would they. They'd need to be doing proper shadows, things moving in the environment. It can't just be static.

[Anne Summers]

I kind of agree that this could be done decently in a Resi 4 style, but I think they would need to keep the classic RE 2 pacing, rather than gear it up to Resi 4 pacing. Obviously the pacing of Resi 2 varied - the streets at the start were quite zombie heavy, and I can see that section being done in Re4-o-vision would be pretty cool. But inside the police station and the lab, etc, it should still be about slowly exploring, gradually uncovering what's going on, and gradually unlocking the area.

RE2 did the typical horror-sequel thing from films, of moving from straight horror into more action-oriented horror (i.e Alien to Aliens, Terminator to Terminator 2 etc). So I don't find the idea of a RE4 style RE2 as offensive as the idea of a RE4 style RE1.

What was the most recent RE1 remake like anyway? Did that go full RE4?

[Sie]

But they wouldn't just have to be rendering the characters would they. They'd need to be doing proper shadows, things moving in the environment. It can't just be static.

Rendering real time shadows from the few objects in the scene when the rest of it is pre-rendered wouldn't be taxing. They did it with REmake - simple geometry to determine how the real time shadows fall when cast and everything else baked in, allowable due to the fixed angles.

REmake looked incredible 13 years ago using those techniques (they also used rendered movies as backgrounds for scenes that required it - trees swaying etc), better than any fully real time rendered stuff at the time. And the real time stuff had so much work allocated to it that it blended right in to the renders. Doing the same today with modern tech and horsepower would surpass any fully 3D real time rendered environments without question in my opinion.

I see no reason to think this new remake of RE2 is going to stray from that original REmake formula. It makes no sense at all to me to think Capcom, after running the RE4/5/6 formula into the ground, would go right back to it for a RE2 remake in spite of the success of the REmake re-release. I'll be dumbfounded if they do.