You can’t remake perfection, but Resident Evil 2 fans try anyway (and get creators’ attention)

Resident Evil 2 was released for the original Sony Playstation in 1998 and built upon the foundations of the first Resident Evil game to spawn an entire franchise of viral zombie horror games, movies, and other media. While the first game had a fairly self-contained “haunted house” type story, the second game put a Hollywood-esque movie-style spin on things, pitting players against an entire city of bloodthirsty zombies. It is Resident Evil 2 that gave birth to the Resident Evil franchise, and it is Resident Evil 2 that fans most desperately wish to see remade with modern technology.

But, while Capcom, the series’ creator, has recently been busy polishing up and re-releasing two old remakes of the original game and its prequel, an official Resident Evil 2 remake has yet to materialise. Instead, several dedicated fans from Italian indie software development studio Invader Games has taken matters into their own hands and rolled out their own version of Resident Evil 2, built using Unreal Engine 4.

The main criticism many players have with the pre-Resident Evil-4 installations of the franchise is that the control system is outdated. Resident Evil in its original form was built upon the premise of pre-rendered backgrounds presented via fixed camera angles, with the character being controlled tank-like (i.e. turning on the spot and moving only in the direction they’re facing) and able to navigate through these backgrounds. The whole setup allowed for a tremendous level of detail in the backgrounds, but led to awkward gameplay as often parts of the environment that should be visible to the player were obscured. Way back when, that added atmosphere – is that a zombie at the end of the corridor? – but these days, players demand to be more involved in the action.

The “over the shoulder” view-point introduced in Resident Evil 4 went on to revolutionise the third-person shooter genre, and almost every modern game has been influenced by it to some degree or other. What fans are clamouring for is a remake of Resident Evil 2 with this kind of modern setup. And, utilising Unreal Engine 4, a group of fans has released videos showing that they’ve achieved just that.

As a massive Resident Evil fan myself, I have a lot of love for the old control scheme and fixed camera angle setup, and to be honest, I’m not sure I like the idea of Resident Evil 2 (which is a completely timeless classic) being dragged out again just for the sake of implementing a modern control scheme. They’d have to really go all in with rebuilding the unique atmosphere of the game world, which I’m not sure is something that can be achieved without a really big budget.

However, it seems the project has gotten the attention of original creators Capcom, since they’ve begun polling fans on their Facebook page to gauge impressions of the fan-made remake:

“Enthusiasm for a Resident Evil 2 Remake is something we’ve been hearing from you over the years, and has drawn some recent attention in the media. However, as the team owns the RE brand, we’re not certain how we feel about this approach, and would like to ask your honest and frank opinion about the ‘Resident Evil 2 Remake’ and what the brand identity is supposed to be about?”

Has the fan project got Capcom seriously thinking about creating an official Resident Evil 2 remake? What do you think of video game remakes in general? Should developers cater to the fans’ nostalgic desires or focus on creating new content?

Source: C-Lab, Facebook – Resident Evil
Main Images: Screenshot via Youtube – Invader Games

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You can’t remake perfection, but Resident Evil 2 fans try anyway (and get creators’ attention)

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