All the backgrounds in the game are prerendered, but they make use of a full-motion video technique that lets Capcom add animation and different special effects such as dynamic lighting and shadows. For example, in one part of the mansion, you'll be walking down a long hallway that has absolutely no light, save for the light of the moon and the stars shining through windows--all you can see are the silhouettes of trees swaying in the wind. In another area, you'll be walking down a hallway with a swaying chandelier at the very end, and the chandelier creates a great-looking shadow effect as you walk toward it. Of course, there are some rooms that look much better than others--since some still have a rather plain, static look--but all the rooms have been substantially improved when compared with those in the original game.
But as great as the mansion looks, the redone outdoor environments and the completely new areas are even better. One of the first new areas is a graveyard located just outside the foyer of the mansion. Once there, you'll see plenty of awesome details like small tufts of grass that sway in the wind and an eerie fog rolling across the ground. Another new outdoor area places you in the forest just outside of the mansion. You'll see small waterfalls cascading down rocks to form small puddles of water that will splash when you step on them. The shark tank, however, is perhaps the most impressive of the redone areas. This particular area is a flooded room that uses an incredible water effect to partially cover the catwalk running through the room, giving the three or four enormous sharks in the room a chance to beach themselves on the catwalk to take a bite out of you. The water effect in this area looks incredible, and it does an excellent job of conveying the sense that you're actually wading through two feet of water.