Resident Evil Zero HD Remaster Takes You Back to the Series' Origins - Preview
by Jake Weston , posted on 18 June 2015 / 4,673 ViewsMuch ballyhoo has been made about the practice of "remastering" games from older consoles to modern ones. However, I'm all for it. I love it when games are given a chance to reach new audiences they might not have reached on their previous platform(s), especially when the game in question has been tied down to a physical release on a small number of platforms released a decade ago.
Case in point, Resident Evil Zero, Capcom's upcoming HD remaster of the prequel to their original survival horror classic, which originally released on the GameCube (later re-released on the Wii). Unlike every other main entry in the Resident Evil series, Resident Evil Zero is the only one to have remained exclusive to Nintendo consoles... until now. Capcom will be bringing Zero to PlayStation, Xbox, and PC next year.
I've always been surprised at the relative indifference Resident Evil fans and gaming culture at large tend to exhibit toward Resident Evil Zero. Not only was it the last "traditional"-style Resident Evil released - horror focus, tank controls, limited resources - but it is also a prequel to the first Resident Evil, exploring the cause of the original Spencer Mansion outbreak and thus the mythos for the entire series. That's why it was such a treat to check out Resident Evil Zero on the show floor at E3 this year, taking a trip down memory lane for a game I haven’t played in over 10 years.
What's immediately apparent is how effective the visuals are for inducing horror. Resident Evil Zero uses the same visual style as the Resident Evil remake (itself remastered and re-released earlier this year), and like that game its expert use of art style, sound, and oppressive level design all work together to create sheer horror. The original’s use of pre-rendered backgrounds and highly-detailed character models has allowed its graphics to hold up remarkably well; looked at from afar it could easily be mistaken for a native PS4 or Xbox One game.
I always felt that Resident Evil Zero's opening train sequence should be considered one of the most iconic in the series' history, and revisiting the game all these years later has only cemented that opinion. It’s still refreshing to play a game in this style that isn’t set in yet another spooky mansion (though the game does in fact end up going to one later), and the layout of the train adds its own brand of claustrophobic tension to the series’ survival horror.
There are still certain trepidations I have toward the remaster, though they certainly can't be helped. For one, I'm disappointed that the game's cutscenes appear to still be in the original low resolution. Not a big deal, I understand that; what I don't understand is the need to crop the original fullscreen-rendered cutscenes to fit into widescreen. Even when selecting the option for them to be played in the original 4:3 aspect ratio, cut scenes are still cropped for widescreen, removing a big chunk of the original image. I also could take or leave Billy's voice acting (although the way he says "Staaaaaaaars" is hilarious).
With this re-release, Capcom is one step closer to bringing every Resident Evil game to HD platforms (Resident Evil 2 and 3: Nemesis remakes - get on it Capcom!), as well as re-introducing players to one of the most interesting games in the series. Resident Evil Zero treks to PS4, Xbox One, PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 in 2016.
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Day one buy for me.
I really need to get around to playing this.
Have to play this again on my GCN... Great game.
Didn't played it on gamecube, will try it when launch.
day one purchase.
This is another game that was considered "meh" when it came out and no one bought but now, seems to be thought highly of. As a fan of true RE (RE 1-Re 0), I know I liked it... but it's weird how history is rewritten.
My guess why the whole cropping cut-scenes happened is they don't want to have a larger download size. Since two versions of each video cut-scene would be needed. The WS version of them is being manually re-framed. And not what the in game engine does.