Capcom’s classic Resident Evil franchise returns, manifesting on current-gen consoles in the form of two releases in the first three months of 2015. First up, we’re in remaster territory, with a full HD rendition of 2002’s Resident Evil remake – enough to tide over fans until the March launch of the next major entry, Resident Evil Revelations 2. But to what extent is the more powerful Xbox One and PlayStation 4 hardware actually utilised in this brace of titles?
Though the jump from Resident Evil’s 1996 debut to the 2002 GameCube remake is more pronounced, the remaster still has a great many plus points. While it hardly pushes the PS4 hardware, the remodelled characters chisel new details into Jill and Chris’ in-engine designs, bringing them closer into line with expectations of a current-gen title. Capcom does a respectable job of staying faithful to the original renders, but still finds room to add new wrinkles, scars, and fabric patterns to their designs. It’s a tangible upgrade, and close-ups show the extent of the change.
In fact, most polygonal 3D elements are updated over the GameCube release (and by extension the similar ‘Archive’ version for Wii, as used in our comparison shots). This goes for the main cast, the infected creatures of the mansion, swinging doors during scene transitions, and also inventory screen objects like guns or herbs. Promised to output at 1920×1080 at 30fps on PS4 and Xbox One (confirmed for the former based on our captures), it’s these aspects in particular that benefit from a heightened pixel count, and come out sharpest.
However, the same approach is not taken with its pre-rendered backdrops or video cut-scenes. In keeping with the template of the original PlayStation trilogy, backgrounds are typically drawn in as static scenes – the PS4 edition (tested here) tending to rely on the GameCube remake’s backdrops. Outside of tweaks to colour balance, these match the original Nintendo release in terms of core detail, this time delivered at 1920×1080 to reveal the full extent of their original quality.
But are any backgrounds redrawn just for this HD release? Pixel-counting 2D art isn’t easy, and from the game’s opening areas there’s clearly a mixture of approaches at play. Producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi explains the remaster process is indeed arranged on a scene-by-scene basis, and that three different levels of treatment are used for each area, depending on the nature of the shot. In essence, some areas receive more elaborate upgrades than others, and it often shows.