After the disappointment of Dead Rising 4, I'm glad to see Capcom's funnest zombie-killing franchise return with a remaster of its first and most iconic entry. But not just any remaster - Capcom's complete overhaul of the game using the RE Engine to bring it up to modern standards makes it a Deluxe Remaster, or DRDR for short.
The new graphics look good and all, but there are some things about the original 2007 release that probably wouldn't fly in today's age. For example, among the hundreds of zombies you fight at any given time, there are boss fights against deranged humans driven mad by the outbreak, known as Psychopaths. A few of these can be seen in the gameplay overview trailer, and it seems they kept at least one of the more problematic ones in tact; Jo Slade caused controversy at the time for being an obese lesbian rapist cop who molests a bunch of female survivors, but people have spotted that another Psychopath in the trailer has been changed.
In the original (above, of course), Larry Chiang is a similarly fat butcher of Asian descent who kidnaps humans he sees as fresh meat, and serves as a late game boss. In the remaster, he looks considerably less stereotypically Asian, and could possibly even be racelifted to Caucasian, AKA whitewashed. Is that woke or not? I can barely keep up any more at this point. One theory I've seen is it could be due to Larry's surname, Chiang, being associated with Taiwan, and the Japanese are trying to keep up good relations with both Taiwan and China despite there being a history between all 3 countries.
Another change people have pointed out in the gameplay overview trailer is one of the game's many survivors who you have to escort to the safehouse. After you save her from being kidnapped by a cult, Cheryl Jones asks protagonist Frank West to put his photojournalist skills to good use and take some sexy glamour shots of her amid the zombie apocalypse, all while wearing a skimpy black dress and fishnets. In the remaster, her dress is about 5% less skimpy, and her fishnets are nowhere to be seen.
This has implications toward the photography system the game is known for, where you're rewarded with XP (actually Prestige Points, or PP) for taking photos during gameplay. You get PP bonuses if you capture certain elements, e.g. capturing gore gets you the Horror bonus, funny stuff like putting hats on zombies gets you the Outtake bonus, and sexy stuff like T&A, particuarly Cheryl's, counts as Erotica. The aforementioned Jo Slade boss fight has a couple of Erotica moments, but some fans are anxious it won't make it in the final remaster.
If you ask me, the biggest change I'm upset over is Frank's voice actor. TJ Rotolo provided the perfectly schlubby performance in the original 2 games, then they recast him in DR4 and he came off as a prick. Rotolo wasn't contacted for the remaster unfortunately, but his new voice actor better convey the sense of fun he lost in DR4.
What do you guys make of the above changes? Do they put you off DRDR at all? Or are you looking forward to it on September 19? Let us know in the comments!
