"0 > 1?!"

Resident Evil 0 is the long-awaited prequel to the original Resident Evil for the Playstation (which also just saw an excellent RE-release on the Gamecube earlier this year). The game started out way back on the N64, which Capcom had decided would be an N64 exclusive (partially out of charity, it seems). But with the N64 meeting an untimely death (before it even reached its 5th birthday), Capcom scraped the idea and moved onto the next system (as so many developers have done. You'll notice that most of the Gamecube games coming out right about now are updated versions of ones that started out on the N64; Eternal Darkness, Cubivore, Animal Crossing, etcetera.). In this review, I will compare Resident Evil 0 (which we'll abbreviate ''RE0'' for the remainder of this review) to Resident Evil 1 and Eternal Darkness for the Gamecube, since they are both similar games which I have played extensively.

Graphics

In terms of graphics, RE0 is absolutely peerless, on the GameCube or any other system for that matter. The characters are very well animated, right down to the handcuffs dangling off Billy's wrists, to how gun shots actually leave a small bit of smoke in the air and an expended shell on the ground. The enemies animate and move in almost freakishly realistic manners, and have extravagant death-throws as they squirm on the ground, slowly dyeing. The backgrounds, all of which are pre-rendered, are top-notch CGI quality. And they aren't just static either, you can watch rain drops collect on the windows (and the shadows of the rain drops against the windows across the ground!), doors sway slightly (reflecting the rest of the room in their glass), bottles roll on the floor back and forth as the train hurtles forward, blades of grass be blown about by the harsh window, or chandeliers gently swaying. When I first walked on top of the train, all I could say was ''WOW!'', since the trees hurtle past as the train chugs along (with the train's lights illuminating the area as you go along), and the rain battering down upon the train and your character. The CGI cutscenes (and there are a lot of them!) are also very well done, and at some points, I could swear that I was looking at an actual person, not some CGI-animated character. As a final touch, the camera pans around in some rooms, an effect which definitely goes a long way. Hats off to Capcom, in this department, RE0 is flawless.

Gameplay

If there's one thing the RE series has received the most flak for, it's in the control department. Yes, that quirky control system of ''up is forward'' is still present. But what with the camera switching around between viewpoints quite often, it could get disorienting if they chose a more traditional form of control. If you've ever played an RE game (or most other Capcom horror games, such as Onimusha) you've gotten used to the controls by now, so stop complaining! Yes, rolling, dodging, and jumping would all be very nice additions (and make it a lot easier to dodge enemy attacks), that's not going to happen in RE0. From what I've seen, RE4 (which will be released late next year) will do away with the pre-rendered backgrounds and clumsy control system, making it more like Devil May Cry than anything. RE4 (which I am highly anticipating) will be the most revolutionary game in the RE series thus far, but until then, RE0 does an admirable job of breaking up the old RE gameplay system.

Firstly, like in almost all RE games, you get to control two characters (a male and a female, as always): Rebecca Chambers, and Billy Coehn. The difference is that this time, they both work together at once. You can control one character normally, and the other with the C-stick at the same time, or you can have them both run off and do separate things simultaneously (two player support would be very nice here!). You'll need to split up your partners to solve certain problems, or beat certain bosses, incidentally. Also, since each character has six item slots each, you can carry quite a bit off stuff with you at once (12 item slots total). However, Capcom has made certain items (such as the hookshot or hunter's rifle) take up 2-slots instead of just one. Although this is more realistic I suppose, it's still annoying (how can a single key use up as much space as 100 rounds of handgun shells?).

The ''magic boxes'' have been eliminated, and instead, you can drop items on the fly. This makes the game much less annoying, as you don't need to keep going back and forth between boxes, although I found that it is still probably best to use the ''box mentality''; leave all your unused items in one central location. If you just drop items all over the place, you'll waste even more time having to go around searching for them again once you need them (I've spent quite a bit of time back-tracking on the second disk to get items which I left behind in the training facility!). This is probably one of the largest innovations in the RE series so far, good work Capcom.

RE0 has dropped out the Crimson-heads from RE1, but instead, you have super-zombies! You'll run into this guys, which mutate and grow tentacles which can attack from across a room (somewhat like Nemesis), and once you kill them, they self-detonate! Regular zombies, crows, dogs, hunters, and spiders make their return in RE0, along with some new bugs and monkeys to fight. The variety in bosses is quite refreshing, and are always beautifully animated and scary.

Sound

The music (what little there is) is quite moody, and Capcom does a great job of using sound effects and, at times, silence to scare the crap out of you. Although personally I found RE1 scarier, at times I got quite frightened in RE0 when I know I'm about to enter a room full of enemies, with next to no ammunition, and very little life remaining. The zombie and monster grunts and groans are getting a bit stale, but they still work (what's up with that zombie-walking noise anyway? I never did understand why zombies sound like they do when they walk...).

The Bad...

Above, I've mostly touched only on the good aspects of the game, now it's time for the not-so-good. Firstly, Capcom placed a lot more ink ribbons in the game (which are used to save your game). I saved a good 30+ times (which is quite excessive), and still had 10 or more ink ribbons remaining.

Although RE0 is a good hour longer than RE1, and has a lot more areas to visit (where did Umbrella get all these labs, factories, and facilities?!), it doesn't come without a price. In RE1, you could play through the game as either Jill or Chris, whereas in RE0, there is only one way to play through the game (as both characters at once, somewhat like in RE3: Nemesis). Also, the game is much more linear that RE1 was. Sure, in both games you had to do things in more or less the same order, but in RE1, there were occasional branching events (where you could get your partner killed or not, save Richard or not, etcetera), which RE0 simply doesn't have (you can use different characters to do different things when they split up, but this didn't seem to make the slightest difference). RE1 had over 10 different endings, whereas RE0 only has 1 (as far as I can tell). This is a real shame, since the branching events is what kept RE1 an interesting play each time.

Extras

RE0 is not without it's extra features however. Once you've beaten the game, you'll receive a ''leech hunter'' mini-game (ala RE3's Mercenary mini-game), where you have to go through the mansion, defeating the various enemies and picking up new weapons, all while trying to collect the 100 leech-statues located all around the mansion. Also, you'll be rewarded with various extra weapons (such as the sub-machine gun or rocket launcher) for beating the game in under a certain time (as is standard in all RE games). Both of your characters have extra costumes to wear as well, making the game worth going through at least 2 or 3 times total.

Conclusions

It'll probably take you around 8 or 9 hours to go through the game the first time (although it can be done in 3 hours), and you'll probably also spend a good amount of time playing through the game again and playing through the leech-hunter mini-game. You probably won't find yourself playing it as many times over as RE1 or Eternal Darkness, but game is very fun while it lasts. Overall, I'd say that RE0 is definitely one of the best games for the Gamecube, even better than RE1 or Eternal Darkness (and I really enjoyed RE1). Resident Evil Zero certainly warrants a purchase if you've got the stomach to handle it. At the very least, rent this game, you won't be sorry. Now I've just got to wait another year for Resident Evil 4... (sigh)

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/22/02, Updated 12/22/02