I beat some games recently.
Silent Hill 3 (2003) - Finally got around to beating this. Good fun, final boss was tougher than expected. Don't have much else to say that I haven't said before, other than I think its interesting how it evolved the knight/princess theme that 1 and 2 had.
Yoshi's Story (1997) - The actual gameplay fun, though the level progression is bizarre. Imagine playing Super Mario Bros., except instead of having to clear 1-1, 1-2, 1-3 and 1-4 you just picked one of the levels and only had to finish that one and then moved on to picking one from the next set until you've only cleared a whopping six levels and then the credits start rolling. Yoshi's Story does exactly that- I guess I could go back and play the game using different routes I guess, it just feels like a weird design choice.
Resident Evil 2 (2019) - Holy shit this game. So far I've only cleared "Leon A", "Claire B", and "The 4th Survivor" (
Isn't Hunk actually the fifth survivor of RE2 though? I guess that's just vestigial of the original game where it was ambiguous whether Ada survived or not until sequels started coming out. This is to say nothing of other games set during the same narrow time period like RE3 and I think one of the Outbreak games that I haven't played.), but hot damn is it fun.
The changes are interesting. Gone are the days of tank controls and fixed camera angles, and while part of me will always miss the cinematic visuals, Leon and Claire control super well here. To compensate for their much better control though zombies are way beefier, and their general actions are much harder to predict (Somewhat similar to the Molded in RE7 in that latter aspect). This just means you can't always shoot from a distance if you want to for sure kill an enemy though, sometimes you'll have to just get up close (Which was true of the original RE2 as well).
The level design is clearly inspired from the original RE2 as well, though I miss some of what's lost like the weird fire puzzle room and and the original cable car area (In RE2make
the cable car stuff is moved into the sewer section). While some classic puzzles are gone, there are similar puzzles that introduced too, even if they're in entirely different areas. Same with iconic moments in general- even if they don't pop up in their original contexts, there's an equivalent moment elsewhere in the game.
Some of the goofier notes are gone though, which is a shame. The "zapping" system between scenarios is gone too, though while I would have been interested in seeing it expanded it felt undercooked in original RE2 and I'm not sure its that big of a loss.
In general RE2make has a much more obviously realistic and "serious" surface vibe to it than other RE games, though the more you get into it the more the sillier video gamey stuff starts appearing and the contrast it creates with the higher fidelity visuals makes the game keep a somewhat surreal tone. Like you're still hunting down themed keys and animal medallions and chess pieces and such to unlock doors. One overly elaborate sidequest involves hunting down a USB stick (Did those even exist in 1998?). There's still a giant alligator roaming the sewer.
Also the sound design is really something to behold in this game. The way that
Mr. X works here is that because the game is a much more persistent world
Until you get to the point of no return and go to NEST, you often hear
him stomping around, whether a few rooms away or on the floor above you, which is pretty nerve racking. He's got a badass theme too that starts blaring if he finds you. The biggest troll of this game too is that
Mr. X will pop up in the A scenarios in addition to the B ones, which caught me off-guard.
Anyways the game is excellent as hell and easily the best RE game of the last five or so years. It's just really fun to run through.
"[Cinema] is a labyrinth with a treacherous resemblance to reality." - Andrew Sarris