The Resident Evil 2 remake reveal was the highlight of this years E3, no other game excited me as much or has held my attention in the same way, in fact I've been a little obsessed. I've watched multiple playthroughs of the demo that was available at E3 and have over thought and analysed everything I've seen for no other reason than I've enjoyed playing detective and looking at all the changes, additions and mechanics that are going in to the remake. So, without further ado here is all the details I've gleamed from the trailer and demo:
ZOMBIES
The only enemy type we saw players engage with in the demo were the zombies and they're a far more complex enemy than what we're used to. The revised zombies are possibly the creepiest and deadliest iteration we've seen in a Resident Evil to date.
I've observed zombies taking as little as three pistol rounds to the head to kill all the way to a shotgun blast (removing half the head) and then requiring a further 9 pistol shots to the remaining half of it's head. I've even seen people down a zombie with around 9 slashes with the combat knife.
No longer do you get a pool of blood emerge from a downed zombie, in fact the things get back up with surprising regularity. Some players were ensuring a zombies fate with some knife slashes but I did observe on one occasion a zombie get back up after receiving damage in it's 'dead' state.
The only time I witnessed utter defeat of a zombie was when players achieved total head decapitation with the shotgun. In these instances the zombies never got back up.
Removing limbs is also an option in RE2:Remake, you can take off legs and arms with a succession of pistol shots or a single shotgun blast can take the legs of a zombie. Once downed and armless zombies are pretty much incapacitated and no further threat. With zombies now able to take so much head damage, perhaps this is Capcom subverting are expectations that head shots are the way to go and that really, to save ammo you should be dismembering zombies instead.
Zombie damage is pretty high, a couple of bites and Leon enters critical, one or two more and it's danger and at that point one more and it's game over. More than one zombie can attack Leon, something I've only seen in a trailer so not sure how that works for damage. In every playthrough I've seen, when Leon is grabbed the other Zombies tend to glitch through when they're trying to grab also.
Speak of grabbing, you can still bait zombies into lunging and then run past them, I've not observed the quick grab that zombies could do in previous games however. Zombies also do not attack players when recovering from falls, so this is another tactic players could use to get past zombies.
WEAPONS
So far we've seen only three weapons, the 9mm pistol, combat knife and the shotgun. The file that details mixing gunpowder does reveal the Magnum (mixing two high grade gun powders makes magnum ammo). The pistol is standard issue Resident Evil, it's an incredibly versatile gun that deals with zombies fairly well. The shotgun has the best chance of decapitating zombies, but has a small clip size (4 shells) and ammo isn't as abundant as pistol ammo either. You can make shotgun ammo by mixing standard and high grade gunpowder together. How much ammo it makes I'm not sure, so far two standard gunpowder items combined make 12 bullets.
The combat knife has had an overhaul, it can now be used as a defensive weapon that Leon uses to counter a grab attack. Doing this however causes Leon to lose the knife and you'll have to pluck it back out of the dead zombie you put it in to. The combat knife also has a health bar and there are other knives dotted about the police station. You can view the health bar of the knife in the inventory.
I observed one player solving the padlock puzzle on Leon's desk in the main office. Inside was a pistol clip, now my ability to read Japanese is non-existent but I suspect it will increase the ammo capacity of the pistol once combined. This is very cool as anyone who played the original will remember, RE2 was the first game where you could upgrade your weapons.
ITEMS
There's a swath of new items, puzzles and otherwise, some of the new inventory includes wooden planks that the player can affix to any broken or breakable window of their choosing. No idea how long they last for and there look to be more broken windows than there are wooden plank items. Much like the original with it's metal shutters it appears it'll be your choice which corridors to secure.
There are portable safes that Leon can collect, these little devices are a minigame where the player must input a code in the correct numerical order or the device will reset and you'll be forced to try again. Apparently the codes are random, so speed runners won't be able to take advantage of them. Inside one of these safes was a key for the weapons room key pad, one of the new puzzles in the remake.
Gun powder returns from Resident Evil 3 but appears simplified in that there is now standard or high grade gunpowder. Two standards make twelve 9mm rounds, a standard and one high grade make shotgun shells and two high grades make magnum ammo.
Hip pouches can be found, similar to the backpack from RE7, the hip pouches increase Leon's inventory by two.
PUZZLES
The puzzles have also been changed, so far I've seen hide nor hair of two large red rubys. The core objective is escaping the police station by an underground passageway, Leon learns this by obtaining Elliot's note book shortly after the poor chap is ripped in two. In his notebook it illustrates the correct symbols to be displayed on three statues that sure enough are located inside the station. The Lion in the Lobby and the Horse/Unicorn on the second floor west wing just outside the library. Once you change the symbols to the correct display the player receives a medallion and each medallion begins to unlock the underground passage.
The C4 and detonator puzzle has also been relocated, instead of being combined to access the police chief's office it's located on the third floor where an apparent lunatic has imprisoned a load of police officers (deceased). Not sure if we'll see who this particular person is as they're completely new to the story. We may just be witnessing the tail end of their machinations however.
The evidence room has been turned into a weapons room, located in roughly the same place in the west wing. By finding the weapons locker key card in the operations room (which is where it was in the original), you can open the weapons locker at the back and obtain the shotgun. Doing so spawns a couple of zombies to try it out on.
In this room near the entrance is a key pad that you can enter locker codes in to. Entering the codes opens the locker and you can pilfer the goods inside. Two of the keys are missing, one is found in a portable safe as mentioned earlier, I imagine the other is located in the east wing somewhere.
The library puzzle has changed also, you can open the doorway to the Unicorn statue or unlock the other door which creates a shortcut to the lobby. There are also lots of zombies now in this room.
On the upper level, the door on the far side of the room is unreachable as the platform collapses if you walk along it and the other side is completely destroyed. In order to cross over Leon will have to move the bookcases to make a makeshift platform, though one of the bookcases has a hydraulic jack lifting it up and it's missing it's lever.
This is the last place people reached when playing the demo at E3. Marvin calls Leon and asks him to rendezvous in the lobby, when Leon does Marvin shows him CCTV footage of Claire arriving at the Police Department.
There's one new puzzle I've also seen that involves a statue of a King holding a red scepter and book, the book you can find in the library but again, I imagine everything else will be contained in the East wing.
ADDITIONAL INFO
Obviously the main story is the same, Leon and Claire getting wrapped up in the Raccoon City chaos after William Birkin's assassination goes horribly wrong and the T virus is leaked throughout the city.
We've learned that there is no longer a scenario A and B for Claire and Leon, instead the two characters will have an intertwined campaign, how different the two campaigns are I'm not sure. It's clear in the demo that Claire arrives at the station a lot later after Leon, whether this equates to more exploration in the city I'm not sure. There does seem to be a lot of resources made for the city and the trailer reveals tiny pieces of gameplay that occur outside the station such as the first zombie Leon encounters in the store. The silhouette of the little girl by a window and so forth. Perhaps Claire explores completely different areas as she chases around Sherry Birkin, then her and Leon eventually meet up in the sewers?
The Lickers were not present in the demo as an enemy to fight, interestingly though there is a file on the third floor that you can read that describes the Lickers as having no sight and relying totally on sound. It's an interesting piece of information that shows the developers are thinking outside the box when it comes to enemy engagements, having the option of stealthily slipping by Lickers is something we've never had in a Resident Evil game, even RE5.
The Tyrant T-103, otherwise known as Mr X makes his appearance in the trailers. Given that the B scenarios do not exist it means we've got to contend with Mr X's stalkings regardless. I have the sneaking feeling he'll play a more pivotal role in Claire's campaign as I get the sensation you'll be escorting Sherry a lot more this time around, like Leon did for Ashley in RE4.
His appearance has changed quite a bit, now sporting a hat. His face is no longer that smooth greyed, dead eyes appearance. Instead it's skin is wrinkly and it's eyes small and empty. Still sporting the limiter coat however, though if you quickly keep pausing the end of the E3 reveal trailer you'll see Mr X pry a grating open to get at who appears to be Claire, only to have a huge claw burst through his chest. Then the quick cuts give a sneak peak of Berkin's new head. I assume this happens quite late into the story as any good Resident Evil fan knows when a Tyrant loses it's limiter coat or becomes fatally damaged they begin to have uncontrollable mutations. Unless of course there is going to be more than one Mr X but I hope not as that would detract from that antagonist's unique presence.
ENDING
Resident Evil 2 Remake is an exciting game, since my eyes laid upon that January release date I can't think of anything else at the moment. I yearn for more info, I want to watch speedruns and explore every facet of the revised world. Capcom may have given us the longest wait before agreeing to remake RE2 but by god it looks like they're going the right way about it.
I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for more RE2 Remake information as it comes out. Until then we'll just have to sate ourselves with the E3 trailer.
ITEMS
There's a swath of new items, puzzles and otherwise, some of the new inventory includes wooden planks that the player can affix to any broken or breakable window of their choosing. No idea how long they last for and there look to be more broken windows than there are wooden plank items. Much like the original with it's metal shutters it appears it'll be your choice which corridors to secure.
There are portable safes that Leon can collect, these little devices are a minigame where the player must input a code in the correct numerical order or the device will reset and you'll be forced to try again. Apparently the codes are random, so speed runners won't be able to take advantage of them. Inside one of these safes was a key for the weapons room key pad, one of the new puzzles in the remake.
Gun powder returns from Resident Evil 3 but appears simplified in that there is now standard or high grade gunpowder. Two standards make twelve 9mm rounds, a standard and one high grade make shotgun shells and two high grades make magnum ammo.
Hip pouches can be found, similar to the backpack from RE7, the hip pouches increase Leon's inventory by two.
PUZZLES
The puzzles have also been changed, so far I've seen hide nor hair of two large red rubys. The core objective is escaping the police station by an underground passageway, Leon learns this by obtaining Elliot's note book shortly after the poor chap is ripped in two. In his notebook it illustrates the correct symbols to be displayed on three statues that sure enough are located inside the station. The Lion in the Lobby and the Horse/Unicorn on the second floor west wing just outside the library. Once you change the symbols to the correct display the player receives a medallion and each medallion begins to unlock the underground passage.
The C4 and detonator puzzle has also been relocated, instead of being combined to access the police chief's office it's located on the third floor where an apparent lunatic has imprisoned a load of police officers (deceased). Not sure if we'll see who this particular person is as they're completely new to the story. We may just be witnessing the tail end of their machinations however.
The evidence room has been turned into a weapons room, located in roughly the same place in the west wing. By finding the weapons locker key card in the operations room (which is where it was in the original), you can open the weapons locker at the back and obtain the shotgun. Doing so spawns a couple of zombies to try it out on.
In this room near the entrance is a key pad that you can enter locker codes in to. Entering the codes opens the locker and you can pilfer the goods inside. Two of the keys are missing, one is found in a portable safe as mentioned earlier, I imagine the other is located in the east wing somewhere.
The library puzzle has changed also, you can open the doorway to the Unicorn statue or unlock the other door which creates a shortcut to the lobby. There are also lots of zombies now in this room.
On the upper level, the door on the far side of the room is unreachable as the platform collapses if you walk along it and the other side is completely destroyed. In order to cross over Leon will have to move the bookcases to make a makeshift platform, though one of the bookcases has a hydraulic jack lifting it up and it's missing it's lever.
This is the last place people reached when playing the demo at E3. Marvin calls Leon and asks him to rendezvous in the lobby, when Leon does Marvin shows him CCTV footage of Claire arriving at the Police Department.
There's one new puzzle I've also seen that involves a statue of a King holding a red scepter and book, the book you can find in the library but again, I imagine everything else will be contained in the East wing.
ADDITIONAL INFO
Obviously the main story is the same, Leon and Claire getting wrapped up in the Raccoon City chaos after William Birkin's assassination goes horribly wrong and the T virus is leaked throughout the city.
We've learned that there is no longer a scenario A and B for Claire and Leon, instead the two characters will have an intertwined campaign, how different the two campaigns are I'm not sure. It's clear in the demo that Claire arrives at the station a lot later after Leon, whether this equates to more exploration in the city I'm not sure. There does seem to be a lot of resources made for the city and the trailer reveals tiny pieces of gameplay that occur outside the station such as the first zombie Leon encounters in the store. The silhouette of the little girl by a window and so forth. Perhaps Claire explores completely different areas as she chases around Sherry Birkin, then her and Leon eventually meet up in the sewers?
The Lickers were not present in the demo as an enemy to fight, interestingly though there is a file on the third floor that you can read that describes the Lickers as having no sight and relying totally on sound. It's an interesting piece of information that shows the developers are thinking outside the box when it comes to enemy engagements, having the option of stealthily slipping by Lickers is something we've never had in a Resident Evil game, even RE5.
The Tyrant T-103, otherwise known as Mr X makes his appearance in the trailers. Given that the B scenarios do not exist it means we've got to contend with Mr X's stalkings regardless. I have the sneaking feeling he'll play a more pivotal role in Claire's campaign as I get the sensation you'll be escorting Sherry a lot more this time around, like Leon did for Ashley in RE4.
His appearance has changed quite a bit, now sporting a hat. His face is no longer that smooth greyed, dead eyes appearance. Instead it's skin is wrinkly and it's eyes small and empty. Still sporting the limiter coat however, though if you quickly keep pausing the end of the E3 reveal trailer you'll see Mr X pry a grating open to get at who appears to be Claire, only to have a huge claw burst through his chest. Then the quick cuts give a sneak peak of Berkin's new head. I assume this happens quite late into the story as any good Resident Evil fan knows when a Tyrant loses it's limiter coat or becomes fatally damaged they begin to have uncontrollable mutations. Unless of course there is going to be more than one Mr X but I hope not as that would detract from that antagonist's unique presence.
ENDING
Resident Evil 2 Remake is an exciting game, since my eyes laid upon that January release date I can't think of anything else at the moment. I yearn for more info, I want to watch speedruns and explore every facet of the revised world. Capcom may have given us the longest wait before agreeing to remake RE2 but by god it looks like they're going the right way about it.
I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for more RE2 Remake information as it comes out. Until then we'll just have to sate ourselves with the E3 trailer.
No comments:
Post a Comment