I really wanted to like this game. I hugely enjoyed the original and its sequels. The idea of playing a faithful remake was very exciting to me. Sadly this was not my experience and in retrospect a faithful remake was not what I wanted. Let me explain why. This film does not have the nostalgia of the original, it is to all intents and purposes an entirely new game that copies the original. There are some glitches, nothing that will stop you enjoying the game. Although I found the settings were reset a few times which was annoying, especially as the settings are really difficult to navigate. The story is quite slow which wasn't noticeable in the original as it's more engaging. That's the big issue, this remake doesn't hold my attention. There are many more minor issues. It is not as scary as the original. For a modern game it looks quite dated and generic, the lighting especially is disappointing. It is not as scary as the original. The other big issue is that the controls are pretty horrible. I am playing with a controller on a big TV, maybe it would be different with a keyboard and mouse. The controller really doesn't work well. I cannot for the life of me no matter what I do get it to switch to the weapon I want, to the point I walk over to my keyboard and switch that way. I don't get it as the PlayStation 2 version controls perfectly. Oh and ladders are still a pain to get on and off. With the 25th anniversary release of the original and the quality of life improvements that makes I see no reason to play this remake, except maybe it looks like they fixed Xen although I didn't play that far so I'm only speculating.
