Jason O’Toole
Credit: Capcom / Playstation
Resident Evil 1, 2 & 3 / Playstation 1
I was organizing my Playstation game shelf the other night and an interesting thing occurred to me, my shelf looks very similar to what it was back in 1998. My collection in the late 90s consisted of games like Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid, Spider-Man and Tomb Raider. This is strikingly similar to what my shelf looks like now and while some of these games are sequels, more often than not they are remakes. The FF7 remake and the RE2 and RE3 remakes are beautiful games that I would highly recommend. I never could have imagined that I would be playing the same games again in a whole new light. Let me say as well, this in not an indictment of remake culture as I love pretty much every remake I’ve played. This sparked an interesting conversation.
Resident Evil 2 & 3 Remake / Playstation 4
Their has been a lot of back and forth online about whether remake culture is hurting the gaming industry by selling us the same games we bought back in the day. I take the side that this is what is keeping the industry alive and thriving. This has given new and younger gamers a chance to experience some of the games that have helped shape the industry. These games defined their respective genres and had a special place for many of us. Often times these remakes offer deviations from the original story that give even old guys like me something new to experience. Also, when you look at the sales numbers it is clear we are all fine with buying these games again. With that being said I think that nostalgia will clearly keep us playing games for years to come. That’s not to say that developers will not continue to make new games that will also push the industry forward but they clearly have seen we want remakes as well.
In conclusion, I will continue to support the industry no matter what that means. Whether it is a Resident Evil remake or an evolution like Uncharted, which is basically Tomb Raider with a man. With the PS5 and XBOX Series X coming this winter it looks like these trends aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Check out our review of the FF7 Remake here and stay tuned to ETG for all the latest from the nerd world.
Stay Geeky!