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 Jan 28, 2013 By Will Dixon

Recently, Capcom has been entertaining the thought of recreating one of the most popular Resident Evil games, Resident Evil 2.

Multiple petitions have been circling the web, filling up with signatures, proving to Capcom that they have an audience. Resident Evil received, quite possibly, the best remake I have ever seen in video games (simply titled Resident Evil). However, the remake was masterminded by Shinji Mikami, the man who started it all, and he’s no longer with Capcom. Unfortunately, neither is Hideki Kamiya, the director of Resident Evil 2, so I’m apprehensive to see Capcom approach a delicate project like this, especially after whatever Resident Evil 6 was. With this in mind, I would like to present my wishful thinking for a possible remake.

Let’s begin with the basics; a current trend in Resident Evil is co-op game play. It seems that Capcom certainly knows how to make great co-op games; but Resident Evil 2 is not a co-operative experience. Leon and Claire are not supposed to be working together at all times. Their stories should intersect, but not work as one; this is a remake, not a re-envisioning. We start with Leon’s story, and then we move onto Claire’s.  In the original RE2, both characters had two versions of their stories, A and B; these versions should be combined into one long play through for each character.

We do not need this in the Resident Evil 2 remake

The game play should be similar to Resident Evil 4 – with an over-the-shoulder perspective. I know that some people will debate that it should play exactly like the originals, but Revelations has proved that the classic claustrophobic settings and new game play work hand in hand. You cannot see around corners easily, and you can’t see if anything is sneaking up behind you, which will keep players doing a double take while in the laboratories. Enemies will not drop items; but instead, the player will have to explore their surroundings to find ammo, health items, and files. The file system will make a return to form by assisting the player in solving various puzzles. Yes, we will have to solve puzzles again; there has been a lack of that for the most part since RE4. I feel that an inventory system similar to four’s should make a return; and keys that we find should also take space in our attaché cases. Let’s not forget the side pack though; it will show up halfway through as it did during the original, to increase our inventory. The knife will be held in a sheath, so that it doesn’t take up space in our inventory. But as a catch, it doesn’t do a lot of damage.  We should also forget about any sort of melee system, as I think we don’t need to be punching zombies, they’re kind of icky.

The foundation created in Resident Evil: Revelations can lend
itself to the RE2 remake – with a little bit of tweaks

The most important part is the gun play, right? Earlier I’ve stated that we should utilize the new gameplay however without the ability to move and shoot simultaneously. If a headshot is an instant kill on a zombie, then it would be too easy. A simple fix would be to make the zombies a bit more resilient. Or we could introduce a “stress” factor. Leon and Claire have never dealt with anything like this before; naturally they would be terrified. Capitalizing on this, I think that their aim should be affected by the number of monsters and their proximity to our protagonists. This would introduce an interesting challenge, helping to immerse the player even further into this apocalypse.  The HUD would be a variant of the RE4 HUD, stylized to fit the colour scheme of RE2, or we could omit a HUD altogether like the old games did. We would use visual cues to represent the player’s health, along with an electrocardiogram on the inventory screen.

Last thing I’m covering will be the music and the voice actors. I think a refreshing re-orchestration of the original soundtrack would be nice, but an option to choose between the new and old soundtrack would be a very welcome addition. It goes without saying that Alyson Court would return to again reprise her role as Claire. Leon should be voiced by Paul Mercier (Leon in RE4); he did some truly great voice work for Leon however, I’m not sure how good Paul Haddad (RE2) would be to make a return. Matthew Mercer is alright, but I feel he’s played it a little too heavy in RE6. Choosing for Ada will be difficult; Sandy Cahill was really good in RE4, while Courtney Taylor did a great job for RE6 and Damnation. For the other characters, I think a recast is needed for all of them. On a final note, I feel that if the remake was ever to see the light of day, I think Capcom could delve a little more on Irons’ insanity, and try to really take it to different places. Irons was an interesting character that I felt didn’t get enough screen time before being killed by G.

Who is your favorite Leon? Let us know in the comments below!

Fans have been asking for this for a long time, and I think it’s the right thing for Capcom to do, based on their current situation. They’ve upset a lot of fans as of late, with their new changes to game play and tone in the latest installment. This would be the perfect way to make it up to them. I would like to see what your ideas and comments are as to what should go in to a remake.

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