It’s been 18 years since Capcom’s survival horror classic Resident Evil was first released on the Sony PlayStation. The success of the game has turned Resident Evil into a huge franchise, resulting in sequels, spin-off titles and movies.

A remake of the original Resident Evil was released in 2002 for the Nintendo Gamecube, which saw a complete overhaul of the graphics, as well as new gameplay and story elements. Next year Capcom will be releasing a new HD remaster of the game that builds on the Gamecube version.

Capcom UK’s community manager Neil ‘Gortz’ Gorton was on stage for the panel at MCM London Comic Con, playing through the PS4 version of the game. Joining him was D.C. Douglas, the voice actor for Albert Wesker since Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles.

Gorton told attendees that Capcom in Japan had been listening to fan feedback over Twitter and Facebook. “Although we can’t respond to absolutely everything, we do read everything you say and we collate everything you say,” said Gorton. “What we’ve been hearing since the last one is you guys want to go back to the original.” As the game loaded up he said how it was because of fan feedback that the game includes the BSAA costumes for Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine. Gorton played through as Jill in her BSAA costume.

“Look at that, that’s beautiful,” said Douglas, as the opening cutscene played. “Seriously, the graphics look really good.” He also asked everyone that had played the original game if they could see the difference, and was greeted with everyone responding, “Yeah!”

As Gorton played through the game, Douglas asked if Barry will get a ‘Jill Sandwich’, referring to the dialogue from the original PS1 game. “Do you know what? The Jill Sandwich line is not in here,” replied Gorton. While missing out on certain dialogue, there are additions to the game, with Gorton revealing that as well as an HD makeover the game now features 5.1 surround sound and more dynamic lighting.

Gorton then asked Douglas what cheesy lines he has been made to say as Wekser. “None,” responded Douglas, who then said, as if rehearsed, “I love every line I’ve ever said for Capcom’s Resident Evil.”

With questions opened to attendees, Gorton was asked if there were any new puzzles. “The puzzles are the same in the Gamecube version as they are in this one,” he said. “There’s not been additional puzzles. So if you can still remember, or still have the guide, you’ll whiz through it.”

Douglas was then asked, with the exception of Wesker, who his favourite character was in Resident Evil. “I would have to say Leon [S. Kennedy],” said Douglas. “My hair looked exactly like [his] in the early 90s.”

“Barry [Burton’s] definitely my favourite, “ revealed Gorton. “I’ve always been a heavy-set guy and I like the idea that heavy-set guys can be action heroes.”

One question had Douglas being asked how long it took for him to get Wesker’s voice just right. “I’m still working on it,” he responded. “The voice is really difficult. Four people, including me, have done the voice.” He went on to say how he was working from Peter Jessop’s voice when he started work on The Umbrella Chronicles. But in Resident Evil 5, because the character is mutated, it helped in allowing him to add his own spin, as Wesker gets crazier. “It’s always difficult taking over a role.” He also expressed how awesome it would be to bring all four Wesker voice actors for a convention.

Douglas was then asked if he had to do full motion capture for video games too. “For Resident Evil stuff I have to do facial motion capture” he replied. “Resident Evil 5, they did the facial motion capture, with the dots everywhere, and they have the cameras with a 180-degree bar, lasers pointing at you. You have to express yourself – Wesker doesn’t express himself that much – and keep your hands down. It’s a very bizarre experience.”

Gorton was then asked an interesting question, given that Capcom had remade Resident Evil, would there be an HD re-release of Resident Evil 0, or a remake of Resident Evil 2? “I can’t conclusively say that we’ll ever see those games come back out again,” said Gorton. “We really take the sentiment of what everyone is asking onboard. I think we’re gonna be looking really closely at what happens in terms of feedback and sales from these games. If they do well, if it seems that people really want us to go back to that, you could get that if those are the games [they want]. All I know is that the producers are waiting to hear what happens and they’ll make a call from that.”

One attendee used the opportunity to ask about the upcoming Resident Evil: Revelations 2, asking Gorton why the game is split up into four downloadable episodes. “It’s [about] finding new ways to bring Resident Evil to people,” said Gorton, explaining how the format has worked well for games like The Walking Dead. “We’ve announced that the pricing for it is going to be €5.99, so it’s about a fiver for about 2-3 hours of Resident Evil goodness. So even if you’re not sure, you can pick up the first one, give it a go, see if you like it, tell us. We want that feedback. It’s always important for us to get that feedback.”

Gorten was then asked if the HD remaster would feature the original voice track as an option. “It would be nice,” said Gorton. “As far as I know, there are no plans in place, to do that, but I know that voice actors mean a lot and it would be nice to hear those voices again. If you really want to hear that, I will take that feedback away from today and give it to Japan.”

Because Gorton had revealed the BSAA costumes for Chris and Jill, he was asked if there were any other hidden costumes in the game. “I haven’t seen the finished code so I don’t know if there are any other secrets,” said Gorton. “I don’t have a definitive answer, but it’s something I would certainly like to see.”

As the panel came to a close, Douglas gave away a signed copy of Resident Evil 5 for the Xbox 360 and a signed Resident Evil 5 sand globe to those asking the final few questions. Notably he was asked if he could have Wesker cameo in any game, which game would it be. “It would be kind of fun to see him in Mass Effect,” said Douglas. “I think he would probably change the ending of Mass Effect.”

Originally published on MCM Buzz on 28 October 2014.