Jonathan Hartley
Well-Known Member
I've been a fan of the RE series ever since I saw a preview of the original PS1 game in GamePro magazine back in '96, and I'm really excited about the fact that Capcom is (finally) remaking RE2.
With that said though, I don't think that there has been a great RE game since RE4, and I feel like the series has unfortunately departed quite a bit from the glory of its original RE1-RE3 survival-horror games.
We don't currently know what direction Capcom is going with the RE2 remake or future RE games, but I've been thinking about all the cool things I'd love to see in the RE2 remake and future RE games, and I'd like to share them here with you all (and hopefully Capcom as well). I'd also love to hear from you all what direction you'd like the RE series go.
First and foremost, I think Capcom should focus on making awesome remakes of RE1, RE2, RE3, RE:CV and RE0 as opposed to a new game like RE7. The emphasis on survival-horror games (as opposed to more action-oriented games) was at the core of the original games and it's where Capcom needs to return to. Also, the fact that there have been so many (awesome) fan remakes of the original games shows that that is where a lot of the fans' hearts are too. Furthermore, the fact that the HD Remaster of the RE1 Remake did so well on Steam, especially compared to sales of RE6, sends another (hopefully) clear signal to Capcom that that is where fans want Capcom to focus their time and efforts. I personally am more than happy to show my support for the classic RE games by spending money on anything their willing to make related to the old RE games. I loved the HD Remaster on Steam and I've already preordered RE0 on Steam as well and can't wait to play that.
With all that said though, I don't think that everything Capcom did in the original RE games was perfect. There were definitely some annoyances that could easily be fixed if they're willing to do so.
Specifically, here are all the things I'd love to see added to the RE2 remake and all future remakes:
This may seem like a super long and picky wish list to Capcom, but 1) I imagine there are some pretty cool ideas you all have that I missed, and 2) I don't honestly think that a lot of them would be that hard for Capcom to implement for all future remakes if they're not already planning on adding some/all of them to the games.
More than anything though, I really want remakes of RE0-3 and RE:CV done right with greater flexibility, which can easily be done via a bunch of in-game options. For example, if you want to play the RE remakes in a more traditional way, then great, do it, but for that that would prefer more streamlined controls and mechanics (me, me, me!), then that should be an option as well.
Also, I don't know how all RE fans feel (please share your opinions), but I personally am more than willing to pay top dollar for RE remakes done right, even if they take longer to make and Capcom spams us on the DLC. I hope that Capcom realizes this and is willing to make high-quality remakes of RE0-3 and RE:CV. Also, I hope that any and all new features they add to the remakes are available across all the remakes so that we have consistent, super high-quality game controls and mechanics established across all the remakes.
With that said though, I don't think that there has been a great RE game since RE4, and I feel like the series has unfortunately departed quite a bit from the glory of its original RE1-RE3 survival-horror games.
We don't currently know what direction Capcom is going with the RE2 remake or future RE games, but I've been thinking about all the cool things I'd love to see in the RE2 remake and future RE games, and I'd like to share them here with you all (and hopefully Capcom as well). I'd also love to hear from you all what direction you'd like the RE series go.
First and foremost, I think Capcom should focus on making awesome remakes of RE1, RE2, RE3, RE:CV and RE0 as opposed to a new game like RE7. The emphasis on survival-horror games (as opposed to more action-oriented games) was at the core of the original games and it's where Capcom needs to return to. Also, the fact that there have been so many (awesome) fan remakes of the original games shows that that is where a lot of the fans' hearts are too. Furthermore, the fact that the HD Remaster of the RE1 Remake did so well on Steam, especially compared to sales of RE6, sends another (hopefully) clear signal to Capcom that that is where fans want Capcom to focus their time and efforts. I personally am more than happy to show my support for the classic RE games by spending money on anything their willing to make related to the old RE games. I loved the HD Remaster on Steam and I've already preordered RE0 on Steam as well and can't wait to play that.
With all that said though, I don't think that everything Capcom did in the original RE games was perfect. There were definitely some annoyances that could easily be fixed if they're willing to do so.
Specifically, here are all the things I'd love to see added to the RE2 remake and all future remakes:
- The biggest improvement RE4 brought to the series was the over-the-shoulder camera with fully 3D environments. I really, really hope that they do this for all future remakes. The biggest frustration with the old RE games was the fixed camera and being to hear a zombie but not knowing exactly where it was until it starts gnawing on your shoulder right when you ran far enough to change the camera angle. With that said though, I don't, however, feel like they have to provide an aiming reticle like they did in RE4. Just being able to aim straight ahead, down at a zombie's feet or up at a zombie's head is enough. If you have an aiming reticle and can easily head shot a zombie every time, I think it makes the game too easy and removes some of the original spirit of the game. Also, with fully 3D environments, I think you gain a lot more interactivity. For example, I loved in RE2 when the Tyrant busted through the wall in the police station after you took him out once in the previous room. The only problem was that because all the environments were pre-rendered in the original RE2, you knew he was always going to bust out at the exact same spot every time. I think fully 3D environments with realistic physics will increase the possibilities for cool things like that (i.e., more randomness of enemies jumping out at you from other rooms, etc.).
- Don't do the door opening animation / loading screen for every...single...room! This was another awesome thing that RE4 did. There were big, open areas to run around in, and you could open doors into many different rooms without having to waiting for the door-opening loading animation to play every time. I really hope that they either get rid of the loading animation per room or make it an optional setting that can be turned off, as I think it really hurts the pacing of the game and is no longer required with the modern-day hardware we have available. Furthermore, not having to load between each and every room could make it possible for enemies to more fluidly move around from room to room, which would be a cool new twist. As an example, some of the directions Capcom went in with the RE1 mansion in RE5: Untold Stories were pretty cool.
- Quick cycling of weapons and items. I think it would be awesome if I could use a single button to easily cycle through all the weapons I have in my inventory. Again, I think this would greatly increase the pacing of the game and keep the adrenaline rush you get from the survival-horror aspect of the game consistently going. Similarly, I think it would be cool if you could quick cycle through the items in your inventory that you want to use to either perform an action or heal yourself, etc. In other words, I think the more you can avoid going to the inventory screen, the better the pacing of the game. Also, I think it makes sense for Capcom to make the quick cycling of weapons/items a setting that you can toggle. In other words, if you prefer the traditional inventory screen, then you can do that, but if you want to be able to quick-cycle weapons/items, then you can turn the setting on. Lastly, I think it would be really cool if when you cycle / set yourself to "unarmed", you could actually punch/kick/throw zombies. Granted, it wouldn't do much damage, but it could be like a last-ditch effort that's even weaker and shorter range than the knife.
- Somewhat related to the above suggestion, it would be nice if there were different ways to pick up items. Specifically, I can imagine three options: 1) The traditional method where every time you pick something up, it goes to the inventory screen and asks you if you want to take the item or not, or 2) an option where instead of going to the inventory screen, you are instantly prompted on the screen about whether or not you want to pick up the item, or 3) an option where you just automatically pick up anything you click on unless your inventory is full, at which time, a message flashes up on the screen without actually stopping the action letting you know that. Maybe there are other possibilities, but those are the three I could think of and I think being able to set which of the three you want would be really cool.
- In my mind, RE games are some of the most fun to do speedruns of. To that end, having a speedrun mode would be really cool. Speedrun mode could either be just a collection of settings (e.g., the quick cycling of weapons and the quick pickup of items mentioned above, etc.) or it could be a dedicated mode. In addition to the stuff mentioned above, I think what would create an awesome speedrun mode are settings for turning off all cutscenes before the game starts and the ability to add a timer in the corner. I think by doing all these things, you level the playing field for speedruns as well as make it more official and baked into the game from the start. You could also add speedrun leaderboards and maybe even a way to record speedruns in-game (although that last point might be a bit too extreme). Regardless of whether there was a separate option for speedruns though, it would be nice to be able to turn off cutscenes from the start and have an official game timer to time your progress.
- Tons of DLC. I actually really like the direction that Capcom is going with the Street Fighter V DLC, and I think a similar approach would work well for the RE series. In essense, if you build an awesome base game, why not continue to continually add to it and refine it over time? (That's the Blizzard approach to Diablo and StarCraft, right, and it works great.) Furthermore, I think it would be awesome if Capcom basically built an RE remake platform that contained the RE0-3 and RE:CV remakes. In other words, kind of like Super Mario All-Stars on the SNES, you start the game, and from there, you choose which RE remake you want to play and all the different options you want to have for the game. I think doing something like that would greatly increase the replayability of all the games. For example, in additional to all of the extra options noted above, if you had a huge range of DLC costumes and new weapons to choose from and start the game with, I think it would really make things lots of fun. Also, if all the remakes were together in one package, they could start out with releasing just the RE2 remake to start with, and slowly bring out DLC for that as well as work on the remake for RE3, which could then be added to the game as a larger, $20-$30 DLC download. Also, it would be awesome to be able to have things like the machine gun and gatling gun already in RE2 available in RE1 as well, etc. It would just be fun (and that's the whole point of the game, right?!). Also, they could add extra story modes like maybe a Barry or Wesker story mode in RE1, or an Ada story mode in RE2. That would be awesome! Again, these could all be add-on DLC features that come after the base game is released. Personally, I'm more than happy to pay extra money for that kind of extensibility and flexibility. Maybe it's just me, but if I ended up having to pay $200-$300 over a few-year time period to get all the RE remakes done right with all the DLC, then I'm more than happy to do so. Also, more DLC minigames like Mercenaries in RE3 and Hunk/Tofu in RE2 would be totally awesome! Lastly, if all the RE remakes were together in one game/platform, they could maybe create some sort of superstory mode in which you could play through all the games together in sequence.
- Practice mode. It would be really cool if you could practice fighting against all the different bosses with various weapon/ammo configurations. Again, if Capcom is willing to put more emphasis on replayability and speedruns, this would be an essential mode. Taking it a step further, it would be cool if you could select any room in the game with any number of weapon/item configurations and any number of enemy configurations to practice in over and over again.
- New areas/weapons/enemies. I have to believe that Capcom has entire filing cabinets full of room/weapon/enemy ideas that never made it into any of the RE games. Capcom, bust some of those ideas out and add new rooms to all of the RE remakes. I loved the new additional to the RE remake, and I hope they do the same for the RE2 remake, etc.
- Various movement modes. For those that love the traditional "tank" movement mode, it should be a selectable option, but with that said, the way you moved in RE4 was way better. Furthermore, the "Alternate" movement option in the HD Remaster of RE greatly improved the playability of the game. Granted, it felt a bit weird with the lack of an over-the-shoulder camera angle, but still, it made the game infinity more fun than trying to move around / fight zombies as a "tank". Basically, I hope that all future remakes have at least "tank" mode and a second, more flexible (and logical) movement option.
- New zombie configurations. It would be cool if there were harder modes in which you could add more zombies per room (a la Tofu in RE2).
- Faster pushing/climbing of objects. This seems like a minor gripe, but I think the pushing and climbing mechanics/animations in the remakes should be redone to make them faster, smoother and just more logical-looking. The way you pushed/climbed boxes in the original REs was super annoying (especially as Sherry in RE2; ugghh!).
This may seem like a super long and picky wish list to Capcom, but 1) I imagine there are some pretty cool ideas you all have that I missed, and 2) I don't honestly think that a lot of them would be that hard for Capcom to implement for all future remakes if they're not already planning on adding some/all of them to the games.
More than anything though, I really want remakes of RE0-3 and RE:CV done right with greater flexibility, which can easily be done via a bunch of in-game options. For example, if you want to play the RE remakes in a more traditional way, then great, do it, but for that that would prefer more streamlined controls and mechanics (me, me, me!), then that should be an option as well.
Also, I don't know how all RE fans feel (please share your opinions), but I personally am more than willing to pay top dollar for RE remakes done right, even if they take longer to make and Capcom spams us on the DLC. I hope that Capcom realizes this and is willing to make high-quality remakes of RE0-3 and RE:CV. Also, I hope that any and all new features they add to the remakes are available across all the remakes so that we have consistent, super high-quality game controls and mechanics established across all the remakes.
