When the second remake of Tecmo’s traditional survival horror sport, Deadly Body II was introduced final September, a few of us had been just a little confused as to why they’d remake a sport that was already remade on the Wii. Personally, I had quite a lot of optimism for the thought.
I used to be excited to see how new updates to the sport may positively have an effect on the expertise and its storytelling, particularly after seeing footage of the sport in motion. The builders are updating the sport with much more quality-of-life and common upgrades, rebuilding it from the bottom as much as be nearer to the gameplay expertise of Deadly Body 5.
Whereas the Wii remake did replace the sport’s visuals and management scheme to be nearer to Deadly Body 4, some would argue that it’s that exact same management scheme that makes that model less-than-desirable. I’m usually inclined to agree, because the Wii’s monitoring typically feels much less ample than ever by trendy requirements, and the pointer monitoring of the Wiimote wasn’t carried out very properly within the sport.
I’ve at all times thought that Deadly Body II is the one sport within the collection that would use an replace over the others, because it felt held again by the know-how of the time, together with different components that made it fall emotionally flat for me. Whereas the Wii remake did a good job of bettering the visuals and the storytelling in small methods, the general expertise nonetheless felt underwhelming and a bit unwieldy due to the management scheme. That’s why I used to be hopeful about this contemporary reimagining.
With the discharge of the brand new FF2 remake roughly a month away, we had the distinctive alternative to preview a playable construct of the sport and expertise the brand new updates for ourselves.
In preparation for the upcoming remake, I replayed the unique sport in addition to the Wii remake to have them contemporary in my thoughts to offer context and factors of comparability, earlier than experiencing the brand new model.
Straight away, it’s clear that the visuals within the new remake have been up to date to a degree the collection has by no means seen. It’s fairly a feast for the eyes, particularly contemplating the artwork design of the FF collection has at all times been one of many its strongest components. The character fashions, environmental element, and cinematics are all beautiful, and elevate the narrative to a brand new degree of cohesiveness and emotional resonance.
The up to date gameplay expertise additionally feels on level, with better management over the characters, who transfer noticeably sooner. This usually enhances the pacing, and is in distinction to the sluggish tempo of the primary two variations of the sport. There’s additionally a brand new dodge mechanic to assist throughout fight and crouched motion, making for extra motion choices throughout the board.
This new remake additionally rebuilds the expertise from scratch. What turns into obvious fairly shortly is that this model isn’t content material with merely repeating what the earlier variations did. Even within the very first elements of the sport, there are new buildings and areas to discover, new objects to gather, and issues to see. The principle story additionally progresses in fairly a distinct approach.
The puzzles and development are rearranged solely, making the sport really feel contemporary and unpredictable. This has develop into an compelling pattern in latest online game remakes, such because the latest Resident Evil and Silent Hill remakes.
Together with the brand new issues to discover, this FF2 remake additionally permits the mini-map to stay seen on display throughout gameplay with out having to pause the sport to drag up the map – an important function that’s retained from the Wii remake.
There’s additionally a brand new mechanic the place you possibly can maintain Mayu’s hand at any time when she’s with you throughout the journey. Other than making it simpler for her keep away from harm or transfer out of your approach (which wasn’t doable within the earlier variations), this mechanic additionally heals you. Though this function isn’t accessible on a regular basis (as there are many instances throughout the sport when Mayu isn’t with you), it’s nonetheless a significant addition to the sport expertise.
One other new inclusion is a greater monitoring system for all of the aspect tales and additional narrative components now that helps when making an attempt to gather all the pieces and see all of the lore available, which provides you a common concept of the place to seek out the subsequent piece of the story of every explicit situation or set of characters.
Among the different essential gameplay mechanics are all of the upgrades to the fight or motion sequences, each of which have been modified fairly a bit from earlier variations. There’s been chase sequences added, the place you’re confronted by a strong ghost that you haven’t any skill to struggle, and your solely possibility is to discover a appropriate hiding place till they move you by. Not like the earlier variations, the place you simply needed to go to a distinct room to get them to go away, you must actively and dynamically conceal now.
This provides one other dimension to the gameplay, making it really feel just a little nearer to one thing like Alien: Isolation or a Clock Tower/Remothered-kind sport. It additionally adjustments up the pacing in a constructive approach, with the concern cranked up much more once you encounter these ghosts with each sisters collectively, since it’s essential be anxious in regards to the security of each characters.
Fight has additionally been up to date in a couple of methods to be just a little nearer to the fight from FF4 and FF5, plus a couple of new issues that weren’t current in these video games. The lock-on mechanic from the newer FF video games and the Wii remake are retained right here, permitting you to trace ghosts that transfer round lots and time your deadly body photographs just a little higher. This works fairly properly, however doesn’t break the sport by any means, because the lock will break any time the ghost teleports elsewhere.
Ghosts can now deal with your character, supplying you with a short second to face up earlier than pinning you down. It will routinely pressure a first-person mode the place you need to get a digicam shot on their face whereas struggling. It’s a nerve-wracking addition that ratchets up the strain in encounters. The dodge mechanic can be good to have, however not a simple strategy to keep away from each assault, since your timing have to be very exact for it to work.
Other than the improved fight, there’s additionally new added stealth mechanics, the place turning off your flashlight and shifting round crouched will can help you bypass a number of unaware ghosts. This is likely one of the finest additions to this new model of the sport, and one which I by no means anticipated to see within the Deadly Body collection.
Whereas we did get to mess around 5 hours of the sport, we had been urged to not proceed additional, since a few of the later chapters are nonetheless being finalized. To this point, that is simply one of the simplest ways to expertise Deadly Body II, and we will’t wait to dig into the remainder of the sport and all of its additional content material in only a few weeks.
Tecmo simply introduced {that a} public demo for Deadly Body II might be accessible on March fifth, a couple of days earlier than the complete launch, so that you’ll be capable of expertise a slice of the sport for your self.
Keep tuned right here for a full evaluation simply earlier than the discharge to see our remaining ideas!
