"All this hype for a tiny bit disappointment... but not enough to hurt this game overall!"

Resident Evil Zero was begun a few years ago on the Nintendo 64 system, but then it was moved to the Nintendo GameCube. Along with that move came the Resident Evil Remake, which took the first Resident Evil game and transformed it into a graphical masterpiece only for the Nintendo GameCube. Resident Evil Zero for the GC also took the never released, though complete Nintendo 64 product, and recreated the experience with graphics to die for, surpassing those of the Resident Evil Remake, with ease. The game, however, was a prequel to the first RE, which details events that happened mere hours before the first game. Is it what you've been waiting for? Yes...

GRAPHICS: 10
This game has the best graphics of any game out right now. Period. The game is lavishly detailed, with every little spec of detail smacked onto this game. The characters look absolutely realistic, and great. The game not only excels in detail, but in environment authenticity. Wind moves, fire burns, the train area shakes, the water ripples, the dust lifts as Rebecca or Billy step on the ground. It's absolutely the best looking game ever created, period. No other game (except for the Resident Evil Remake) comes close to the beauty of Resident Evil Zero. At least until Resident Evil 4... but that's a long way off.

GAMEPLAY: 9.5
While RE Zero introduces a new style of gameplay with two characters, and dropping items, some previous elements from the RE Remake, RE3: Nemesis and CVX should have made their returns. Most of the puzzles are largely similar to the ones in the Remake, except most of them require separate tasks for Rebecca and Billy. They're not special, or new, unfortunately. The dropping of items is good, but backtracking to get items when you're at the end can get very annoying. It's basically like the Remake, except with two people. Great, but not quite an A+ improvement. As for their strategy part, the game can be easier or harder, depending on the situation. If both characters are in the same room, you're both basically an unbeatable crew, while sometimes if they are separated and both rooms are filled with zombies, it's a pick and choose game. It's good for difficulty, adding the tougher zombies and monsters.

STORY: 8
Well, I can think of one flaw in the story: IT HURTS THE SERIES MORE THAN IT HELPS IT! (endrage) Honestly, as much as I enjoyed the Zero chapter, it could have easily been summed up in a set of documents, files, or a Wesker's Report, or they could have included this game within the Resident Evil Remake itself. The outcome of the first Resident Evil saga is never determined, to the disappointment of the fans, and the actual things in this saga are way too supernatural to be in a prequel chapter (if this were RE4, it'd be OK, but this is before the first game). Things like the leeches, Dr. Marcus and the train, as well as the Marcus Mansion are all simply too confusing and you'll have a lot to swallow in the long run. As for the story itself, the Bravo Team is searching the Raccoon City Forest after bizarre murders took place in Raccoon City. A day before the first RE, Bravo Team's chopper crashes and Rebecca Chambers, one of the Bravo members, searches a train. She meets Billy, they cooperate to survive and they reach a second mansion in the Raccoon Forest, the Marcus Mansion Research Facility, while stuck in mind games between familiar and unfamiliar people. And now you're confused, less you played the Remake. It's a lot to swallow.

CONTROLS: 10
No grips with the controls here. They're as RE as you can get, with the addition of moving the non-controlled character with the C-Stick. The controls are still clunky compared to Onimusha 2 or Devil May Cry, which is to be expected, but in the end they work to the game's advantage. If you hate the controls from the last game you'll hate them again this time.

SOUND: 10
The sound is really clear and solid in this game. Footsteps are influenced by the type of environment you're in, as well as candle burning, metal sliding, bullets, bites, etc. They're all very accurate and portray the game extremely well.

REPLAY VALUE: 10
While not nearly as good as the replay in the REmake, Zero offers a good replay service in the actual game: doing things alternately. Since some puzzles ask the gamer who to pick to solve it, naturally, events change in a replay game by picking another character, so you can see what happens if you let Billy fall through the hole in the roof of the train instead of Rebecca, etc.

OVERALL: 10
Is the game great? Absolutely!! Is it worth it? Of course! Was it worth the hype? Pretty much. Is it better than previous games in the series, particularly the Remake? Not necessarily. Compared to the Remake, the game just wasn't as refreshing as previously thought. The story left much to be desired in terms of tying the series together. Hopefully RE4 will do the deed.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/19/02, Updated 11/19/02