Forgotten Project - Resident Evil 1.5 (RE2 prototype) Pt. 4

Hey what's going on g1s, Big D here with another installment of Forgotten. Now I've known it's been a long wait, and thanks to PMs, comments on other blogs, and a few conversations in the chatroom, I have finally decided to continue this series and get one step closer to the finale. While I was planning on doing it anyway, the motivation by my readers is enough to get the ball rolling a bit sooner. So here it is guys, Forgotten Project - Resident Evil 1.5 (RE2 prototype) Pt. 4. On today's installment I'm going to cover some of the final details of RE1.5. I'll show you all comparison photos of RE1.5 to RE2, a few items that were taken out, and couple of more animated gifs displaying a difference between RE1.5 and RE2. That's today...on Forgotten.

In case you've missed the last three installments to this series of Forgotten, here are the links:

Forgotten Project - Resident Evil 1.5 (RE2 prototype)
http://screwattack.com/node/8255

Forgotten Project - Resident Evil 1.5 (RE2 prototype) Pt. 2
http://screwattack.com/node/8883

Forgotten Project - Resident Evil 1.5 (RE2 prototype) Pt. 3
http://screwattack.com/node/11706

One last thing before we get started, I would like to thank Bio Flames dot com for all of their help and information during the production of this series of blogs. For more information regarding RE1.5, make sure you check out their site. While it isn't where I got ALL of my information from, a majority of it DID come from that site. Please check it out: http://www.bioflames.com/

While I've covered a TON of information about Resident Evil 1.5, there is still much more left to get to. I'll begin with a few items that were removed from the final version of Resident Evil 2 and even an entire area that was taken out of the game. It's a shame really because the area and items that were removed were both things that really made this game seem like something special. While RE2 turned out great it still would have been nice to have these extra features, the missing area especially.

So I'll begin by showing off a few sceen-shots for the missing area in the game, The R.P.D. Jail:

I'm sure once you saw the name for the area, if you've played RE2, a chill ran down your spine. Can you imagine how awesome this scenery would have been? In fact, if you bought a PSX around the time this game was in production, there was a screen-shot on the back of the box that had Leon running through a hall with zombies reaching at him between the bars. When RE2 became a reality, and this area of the Police Station wasn't included, needless to say, it was quite the disappointment. There are a few things I'd like to talk about in this pic:

- The top-left image is very similar to the one found on the back of the old PSX box, but there were a few differences. For one, the quality was a heck of a lot better. And two, Leon was running towards the screen not away from it.

- The bottom-left image shows Leon standing inside one of the cells. It's pretty neat to think about exploring an entire jail. THAT would've been creepy as hell. At least better than the lame third floor on RE2. That area was so pointless. I would've appreciated a prison a heck of a lot more.

- The image on the right is a bit closer to the same quality as the image found on the back of the old PSX box. However, the area wasn't nearly as dark. It's pretty obvious that this image was made around the time leading into the final version of RE2.

RE1.5 was fairly bright, and when it was dark, you at least had a bunch of blue to look at. Meanwhile, RE2 was pretty much grays, browns, with a few colors here and there. Sure some rooms were brighter than others, but it felt like RE1.5 was more unique as far as visuals go.

Next up, the removed items from the game. Some may find this as a bit of a shock but body armor was taken out of the game. In fact, body armor wouldn't make it into ANY of the Resident Evil's until the most recent Resident Evil 4 with the Tactical Vest. So here's the official concept art of Leon wearing two different types of body armor, and Elza wearing her only type:

While there were never any official screen-shots released showing character models wearing the body armor, it's clear from this concept art that the idea did at least occur in this game.

Leon Body Armor A - I'm assuming this would be a body armor he would come across much later in the game due to the Umbrella logo on the chest plate.

Elza Body Armor - A simple bullet-proof vest found in the R.P.D. station.

Leon Body Armor B - Almost resembles Jill Valentine's shoulder pad armor in RE1, but with a chest and back cover added. I'm assuming this is a bullet-proof vest, but I have no idea why it would be orange.

Now lets move on to some comparison photos. You'll quickly see how this game drastically changed it's scenery and character models during development. So we'll first begin with a picture that compares the RE1.5 R.P.D. Lobby to the RE2 R.P.D. Lobby:

The top left and top right images are the original concept art for the areas and the bottom left and bottom right images are the finished pre-rendered backgrounds. Notice the difference in quality and colors. In RE1.5, the area was stained in blue to signify the darkness, however in RE2 the graphics are much more in-depth and don't have to rely on one color. As far as graphics go, during development, the game went from leaps to bounds and quickly became one of the best graphical accomplishments on the Playstation.

Here are some images that compare the original Leon character model and concept art to the official Leon character model and concept art:

Notice how almost everything between the two has changed. From the style and design of clothing, his vest, and all the way to his hair. Leon definitely evolved quite a bit during the production of this game.

Next up, we've got some interesting stances that were eventually removed from the final version of RE2:

Not only would the characters stand this way when idle, but when they would walk, they would continue this stance. Here is an animated gif of Leon walking:

This is one feature that, to this day, I still have no clue why it was removed. In fact, this feature wouldn't be featured in a RE game until the remake of Resident Evil for the Gamecube. REmake took it a step further by including the stance while running as well. It really adds to the realism of the games, and it's a shame it was removed from the official release of RE2. It seems like such a step backwards.

Another MAJOR difference between RE1.5 and RE2 was the level of blood and gore. While it was eventually toned down, believe it or not, the original ideas they had for the blood and gore effects in RE1.5 were way ahead of their time. While one was pretty basic idea, just adding more blood and gore from wounds, one of the others was pretty revolutionary for it's time. First I'll cover the extra amount of blood and gore. Here I have an animated gif showing Leon blasting a zombie in half with a shotgun and Elza blowing the legs off of a zombie with the same weapon:

Notice just how much blood and gore spray all over the place. While RE1 and RE2 had a pretty big amount of the messy red fluid, RE1.5 took it a step further that was never matched. From RE1 to RE4, no game in the series had a blast quite like these shown here.

Another cool feature that I have still not seen in any game, or at least...no game pull it off right, is blood stained clothes. After killing enemies from a close range or even taking damage, your clothes would be stained by blood. While I'm sure this feature was removed for technical reasons, it would have been awesome if they could have pulled it off:

Well guys, I regret to inform you but I will be ending this for now. Make sure you check back for the last and FINAL part in my Forgotten Project - Resident Evil 1.5 (RE2 prototype) series. Next time on Forgotten, I'll be showing all of the video footage I have found concerning this game and point out interesting facts about each. So make sure if you want a notice Personal Messaged to you when the next and final installment is out that you leave a comment on this blog. And of course, if you've got anything to say make sure you leave a comment, rate, or digg. I always love to see what you guys think of my work. I'll see you guys next time....on Forgotten.