One of the finest examples of humble beginnings, the horror juggernaut that is the Resident Evil series had a rocky, if innovative start. While the game was praised for its mainstreaming of the classic Alone in the Dark horror mold, amidst the air of suspense and terror the game nimbly sit in the reality of the game mostly featured blocky characters set against high-quality backgrounds, tank-like controls for its characters, and voice acting so bad, it’s still the butt of many jokes on the subject 17 years later. While a pioneer of its time and a truly suspenseful experience despite these nitpicks, that kind of memory didn’t age terribly well, especially as the series progressed over the years.
All of these aspects of the game received a complete overhaul when the series made its way to the GameCube in 2002. The graphics were raised to photorealistic levels of realism, the voice acting and sounds were all re-recorded, and the game itself was hardly the same. With puzzles remixed, areas only mentioned in the original advertisements added to the core game, and more than a few surprises when it came to the game’s creature selection, (zombies who mutate further after death, new enemies, and the game’s larger-than-life bosses filling entire areas) what was thought to be an already frightening title was made even more atmospheric and frightening than thought possible. It was an upgrade that would’ve pushed the game from the B-list to the A-list, had it been a movie. From Ed Wood, to Ridley Scott, if you will.
Someone at Capcom must’ve realized the gold they were sitting on all this time, because the remake is being remade again, except this time, it will be lurching over to the current stable of Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, and PC, 13 years after its original (re)release. Unlike the Resident Evil 4 and Code Veronica HD updates, which upped the resolution and little else, the work done here is more akin to a complete remastering. The list of improvements begin with a complete up-res of the entire game plus texture enhancements, with the last-gen versions running at a respectable 720p, while the current-gen versions will run at a full 1080p. In addition, both will recieve 16:9 widescreen support, with the original 4:3 mode selectable for those who want the untarnished experience, replete with black bars on the sides of your (at this point) assuredly widescreen television. 5.1 surround has also been included for sadists needing to hear THINGS CREEPING UP BEHIND THEM, or breathing around corners they can’t see. The orignal remake had fantastic sound design, and this is personally an aspect of the game I’m NOT looking forward to with DTS-level clarity.
The controls have also been updated with new options, notably a scheme akin to Silent Hill’s “3D” control option, with characters moving in the direction you push the analog stick, rather than the traditional tank controls. The goal, as stated by the developers, is to update the game while keeping what made the title so memorable intact, so little else will be changed on a pure gameplay level. Given that the game released exclusively on the GameCube in 2002, its safe to say that many of us didn’t play what was arguably one of their finest installments to date.
If you’re wondering why the Wii U has been excluded, we don’t have any official word, just the sound of laughter in the background, along with the notion that programming a between-gen version with unnecessary Gamepad support probably wasn’t in Capcom’s budget (or concern) for this digital-only release, set for early 2015.
Eurogamer has far more screenshots than I could wrangle up, with several areas looking like they’ve been kept faithfully intact, resolution and all.
Source: Eurogamer (photos)
