Resident Evil 2 is a classic in horror games, first releasing in 1998, but remade in 2019 for a new generation, including myself. So, how does this game measure up to its fame?
Resident Evil 2 follows Claire Redfield, a college student and sister of the first game's protagonist Chris who has gone missing, and Leon Kennedy, an idealistic rookie cop heading to his first day serving in Raccoon City. However, when stopping at a gas station on the way, they discover the citizens have been reduced to mindless, flesh-eating zombies. Making their way to the police station for answers, they are separated, and must navigate a city of monstrous creatures, deadly puzzles, unleashed bioweapons and shadowy organisations in the hopes of escaping the ruined metropolis and exposing the truth to the world.
First of all, I love the gameplay - the slow movement of the character as you explore an eccentric police station filled with zombies, puzzles involving museum pieces and secret passageways. The game is designed to make you feel claustrophobic and uncomfortable, with the zombies having little reaction to basic firearms, even with limbs lost or heads damaged - headshots don't cut it in Raccoon City. They slowly walk toward you before lurching forward in a way that is truly scary, a sharp contrast to many other games that treat zombies as waves of easily killed cannon fodder. This is a return to the classic, and I have to say considering how well done it is here, I'm all in favour.
Here, they are environmental obstacles as much as enemies, since ammo is scarce and may have to be saved for a later encounter; you have to choose where you will clear out and where to leave occupied by the dead, making you feel endlessly uneasy when venturing back out into the danger zones, even worse still when you find yourself confronted with infected animals, a trench coat wearing nightmare that stalks you through the halls, and even more twisted parodies of the human form the further you get. If you play on hardcore, even the supposedly safe areas can be breached, as the zombies can follow you into the main hall, do much more damage with every bite, and you have to save manually or lose possibly hours of progress, which only ramps up the feeling of tension even higher.
Unlike other games, your inventory space is incredibly restricted, forcing you to be conservative in what items to bring with you or pick up along the way, meaning if you fill up with weapons and ammo, progress will be slower, or you could travel lighter to complete puzzles quicker at the risk of being unprepared for the creatures you will have to fight through. It is slow, methodical and infinitely nerve-wrecking, complimenting the design of the game rather than impeding on it. Everything is designed to make you tense, from the enemies, to the inventory, to you limited movement and the narrow corridors and walkways, and I have to say, it works like a charm, bringing something that most modern games do away with in favour of quicker, more convenient mechanics that ultimately make them less distinct.
One thing to note is the unique stories depending on the character that you play as - one involving spies, espionage and and conspiracy, the other, blackmail, cures and protecting the innocent, which, combined with the rather short game length, makes for excellent replay value. The only grievance I have with this system is that both character stories have very little impact on the other, with the characters separated for essentially the entire game, and one's actions in their own story having virtually no effect on the other, making them conflict rather than overlap. This is fine when exploring different areas that only one story has access to, but for the majority of the gameplay, it has no bearing. This is worse when, after completing the game, a second scenario for the opposite character opens up, and aside from a few changes to enemy encounters and one final sequence added on at the end, even less changes.
From what I know, there were instances in the original game at which the two characters could meet and exchange information, you could even swap between them to personalize your playthrough and see how events play from the perspective from the other character, which, considering it came out almost twenty years before its modern counterpart, is strange that they didn't carry over.
I also think that the game could have been longer by a couple of hours, with perhaps the later stages being expanded upon, as the final of the three main locations seems far sparser and less thought out than the first two. It seems when remaking the game, plenty of it was cut or simplified, to at best mixed results, but without having played the original, I can't make that point to its fullest, so I'll leave it by saying I wanted more by the time the credits rolled, where with most games I'd be saying it the other war around.
That's not to say I don't enjoy what is there, however. The environment you explore, the enemy designs, limitations on your character, exploration to bolster your arsenal and inventory and puzzle solving to progress all make for a rich and thrilling game that I'm glad has been renewed for my generation.
I give Resident Evil 2 Remake a 9 out of 10
SPOILER SECTION
In terms of the story, I don't have a lot to say, probably because there isn't much to it. it does fit into a larger context, but when I initially played this game, I hadn't played the first one, but you don't really need to. An outbreak is caused by the shady pharmaceutical company called Umbrella, the same one responsible for the Spencer Mansion incident in the first game, when scientist William Burkin attempts to escape with a new virus called G. Umbrella soldiers shoot him, but he infects himself and kills them, inadvertently knocking a vial of the T-virus (the one that turns humans into zombies), into the water supply.
Umbrella takes advantage of the situation by sending in Ada Wong, an operative who is tasked with procuring a sample of the G-virus from the now overrun lab, and deploying an unstoppable new Tyrant called Mr X at the police station. Its purpose, while never explicitly stated, is to eliminate every survivor in order to silence all with dirt on Umbrella's activities.
When Mr X appears in the game, he adds another layer of fear, as he patrols the halls looking for you, able to hear when the player uses guns or runs to fast. He can be stunned with enough firepower, but not killed, so you either have to lose him, find a safe room he is unable to enter, or run into dangerous situations with him in pursuit, risking being surrounded. As a kid, the idea of an enemy such as this in a game has always fascinated me, and nowhere is it done better than this - I only wish we got more of him (although he does appear earlier in scenario B).
Returning to the story, Claire tries to find out what happened to her brother Chris, but he had left before the outbreak began. She later finds Sherry Birkin, the young daughter of William Birkin, who she protects until Irons kidnaps her to use as leverage against Umbrella. She reunites with her at the orphanage, but she is infected with the G-virus by her father. Claire then rescues Sherry from her mother who attempts to contain her before she can succumb to G and go on a rampage like her father, and takes her to the Umbrella labs to find a cure for her, before fighting an even more horribly mutated William Birkin.
Meanwhile, Leon meets up with Ada Wong, a secret Umbrella agent who tricks him into finding evidence that Umbrella was responsible for the outbreak, while secretly attempting to procure a sample of the G-virus from the overrun Umbrella lab. She manages to escape Leon after he learns the truth, and helps him when he is forced to fight Mr X head on.
Both Claire and Leon reunite on a train escaping the self-destructing facility, where they face off against Birkin for the final time, and escape to safety with Sherry. It is big, over the top, but tons of fun, and a fairly satisfying way to conclude the game.
Without context, the game makes just enough sense as a kind of high-budget horror film - cheesy in places, but violent, visceral and action-packed. However, with context, you can gain a lot more if you want to delve into the world of resident evil and its history, with Iron's corruption, the disappearance of STARs after the events of the first game and references to the Arkay Mountains. I find it a little odd that there wasn't another remake of the first game to coincide with this, but I suppose there was one back in 2002 (which I'll cover in a separate review).
As I stated before, I wish there was a bit more variety between the playthroughs, like perhaps some puzzles or hallways were exclusive to a certain character, and when playing scenario B, we would see evidence that the other character had already been there, with some enemies replacing others. Maybe even having Leon interact with Sherry and Chief Irons, while Claire works with Ada.
These suggested changes are simply thoughts on what would improve an already tremendous game, that I recommend you check out if you can.
If you have played the game, what are your thoughts on it? Are you excited for the upcoming remake of Resident Evil 4? Let me know in the comments. Take care!
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