Gameplay
Combat has been totally overhauled to something more like RE4, guns are used for hitstun to lower enemy defenses for a melee strike. Alternatively you can get up close and use your i-frame side step for openings. This system works fine, its good even. The problem is that you don't want engaging gameplay that makes you think about enemy herding, target priotization and memorizing timings in Silent Hill 2. Now you're doing something that's actually fun which kills the atmosphere. Silent Hill 2 is the easiest Silent Hill by far because all the enemies are bipeds that don't deal that much damage even on hard. They're supposed to be a chore to beat these defenseless meatbags to death. Conversely Pyramid Head is SUPPOSED TO BE DANGEROUS, but in remake it's like you're fighting a souls boss you get right up in his face juking his attacks, he even has multiple phases where he gets grumpy and starts swinging more aggressively. It's ridiculous and ruins the product as a whole.
Story
James' voice actor is the only one that might be an improvement line to line. Mary/Maria's sounds far too young and completely fails the dual acting role required of her. They also removed any sexual aspect of Maria so its more like her innocent early 20s counterpart that's also soft spoken...??? Like instead of grabbing James' hand and forcing it to her chest she tries to touch his arm and he pulls away. So the entire mindfuck of Maria/Mary is gone, they botched it.
The other characters are mostly sidegrades/new interpretations, they work, they're fine, changes are not a problem in remakes. If there's no changes why remake right? I still prefer the originals but the new versions are interesting.
One script change I really hate is right before the Eddie fight James throws the first punch. Eddie points his gun and James quickly replies with a sucker punch to the nose because they're not standing on opposite sides of the room in the remake. The problem here is that this ruins the reveal of Eddie's personal hell. James escalated to a fight when in the original Eddie's hell makes him believe everyone's making fun of him when James is supposed to be trying to talk him down. It also hurts James' arc showing he's perfectly willing to attack a human being. Of course its totally justified but its important for Eddie to attack unprovoked so I don't know why it was changed.
James also doesn't have his "I killed a... human being" line instead reflecting in silence afterwards. It was a good line since its something that the player can pickup on to have dual meaning on repeat playthroughs since he's obviously remembering what he did to Mary at this point.
