Resident Evil 2 rebuild worth effort

Game remasters are like zombies – they just keep coming back. And like fiends with an addiction to feed, we keep biting at every release.

The latest remake to hit consoles is horror Resident Evil 2, given a spit and drooling zombie polish from its outing in 1998 – and proving successful, with some three million units shipped worldwide in its first week.

You could argue that the game’s been cannily released in January – a quieter time for big gaming titles.

The simple truth is that in times of AAA games constantly being released in a less than playable state, we are returning to what we know worked.

The itch to scratch is a simple one – it’s all about nostalgia, and a chance to play again after years of gaining gaming experience.

It’s fair to say I was jaded last year, with revamps becoming more prevalent in the market place (step forward Crash Bandicoot, Spyro The Dragon, WipeOut, MediEvil), but I’ve come to realise there’s a perverse joy in playing through a game again, knowing where the beats of it lie, and where the surprises will come.

However, like the best remasters (such as Ratchet & Clank), Resident Evil 2 has been rebuilt from the ground up, meaning the visuals look more realistic, the controls have been updated, and the scares are genuinely terrifying.

But smartly, it acknowledges its survival horror franchise past and embraces it, while simultaneously giving the game’s old audience what they wanted and ensuring a newer audience – who were not among the 85 million gamers who bought the original – don’t feel like they’re being sold cheap nostalgia.

It’s an important consideration, and given how software studios seem more keen on plundering their own back catalogues than creating new intellectual property, it should become de facto behaviour.

Certainly by giving Resident Evil 2 a ground-up remaster, the atmospheric story of the outbreak in Raccoon City delivers a simple survival urge from the start, delivering nailbiting moments – especially if the curtains are pulled and you’re playing alone late at night.

Speaking of pleasing, I’d like to report that after a shaky first episode, the last two DLC (downloadable content) for Spider-Man (PlayStation) actually make for unmissable gaming.

Also unmissable, because it’s something different, Netflix’s Russian Doll is a fine show – thanks to great actress Natasha Lyonne.