"Hey, wasn’t this bad guy in a Final Fantasy game?"

With every new Resident Evil game, comes the question: how can the developers keep the gameplay interesting enough without repeating itself too much? Basically, every single Resident Evil game (not counting gun survivor) has had the exact same basic gameplay as the first, only improving in small lacking aspects or introducing minor changes that should make us believe we weren’t playing the same game all over again. This is nothing new to Capcom, whose developers mastered this tendency with everlasting series like Mega Man or Street Fighter, both having tons of titles in their ranks, but only a few that actually introduced something really new. So, when the Resident Evil formula is starting to get tiring, Resident Evil 0 arrives.

Resident Evil 0 works, and we can see that quite obviously from its title, as a prequel to the original Resident Evil game. We get to witness the story of the first S.T.A.R.S. unit sent to investigate the deaths caused by Umbrella’s zombies, Bravo Team. Well, at least, part of it. The team’s helicopter crashes in a forest and they find out that a prisoner on his way to be executed has just escaped and murdered the cops who were with him. The team splits to look for this guy, Billy, and, from that point, you follow the steps of Rebecca Chambers, who appeared in the original Resident Evil, in Chris’ side of the story. She walks through the forest and arrives at a train that has just crashed. From this point on, we’re back in Resident Evil (‘you’re entering the world of survival horror...’), so prepare to see lots of zombies and other disgusting mutated creatures. Soon, we will meet Billy, who isn’t as cruel and ruthless as we thought he was (or at least as the developers wanted us to think he was) and the two must cooperate to see the light of the next day. Rebecca and Billy’s relationship will develop in the exact way you imagine it will, but both characters are expressive enough to make the bad dialogue and predictable situations work in general.

Well, it goes without saying that most people that never played a Resident Evil game before shouldn’t start here, but with the remake of the original game for the Gamecube. The story of this game is only worth anything for those who have played most games in the series, otherwise, all references it makes, which is what gives the story most of its taste, will be lost. Also we must notice the fact that this is a minor event in the timeline of the series. Even if we learn many interesting facts about the creation of the T Virus and some key characters like Albert Wesker and William Birkin, the events themselves never point to things unsolved in the previous games. It’s obvious the ‘prequel’ plot didn’t even exist when the story of the other games was being developed. Also, if in its referential side the game works pretty well, it fails when trying to add new elements to the story. The leeches themselves are alright, but the main villain looks more like that kind of RPG ‘I wanna be a god’ bad guys (like Final Fantasy’s Sephiroth or Kuja), which makes him so unreal (in a ‘RPG fantasy’-like way) and so not frightening. There’s also the fact that, even though Rebecca went through all of this before the original game’s events, she never even mentions anything about it then and no explanation is given for this.

In terms of gameplay, Resident Evil 0 plays basically the same as the other games in the series, with a few minor changes. The main addition is the fact that you control two characters ‘simultaneously’, which means they can take separate paths and you can swap between the two whenever you need (or feel like it) or explore with the two of them together. At some points in the game, the player will have to separate the two characters and there’s also situations only one of the two can handle, like Billy can push heavy things around, while Rebecca can pass through shafts or other holes because she is smaller. There are enough of these moments to justify the necessity of the two characters, and we also have other differences between them, like Billy is more resistant to attacks, only Rebecca can mix herbs and so on. Anyway, both characters play exactly like every Resident Evil character has played in the past.

Other minor changes have also been added to the game. There’s no item box, instead the characters can drop items whenever they want and each of them only has six slots for items, which forces you to do a good deal of backtracking to get items you left behind. There’s also new monsters to deal with and a good number of bosses to make things more diverse, apart from most of the old familiar creeps that amused us back in the other games. Of the new enemies, the Leech Zombie is the most striking, coming with a startling musical theme and a terrifying appearance which will make you think twice before facing them head on. As if they weren’t nasty enough, they explode (hurting your character in the process) after you kill them and release a number of leeches which you can squash with your feet with a big smile on you face. Also, the last boss is competing with the last Nemesis in Resident Evil 3 to see which one is the most disgusting and weird.

In the end, however, the essence remains true. Playing Resident Evil 0 is the same old routine of ‘find the key, kill the zombie, solve the puzzle, fight the boss, go into another area, repeat’. Until you end up beating the game. Most of the new elements can’t hide the fact that this game is pretty similar to what we’ve seen before in the series. All areas are reminiscent of older games, like the train (in Resident Evil 2), the same factory from Resident Evil 2, the mansion (in the original) and so on. Even with a different story, different characters and different monsters, the gameplay is so similar that sometimes you will have the feeling you’ve done this before (specially in the mansion, which really looks too much like the original).

The other thing that bugs me in Resident Evil 0 is the challenge, or rather, the lack of it. With each game in the series, things appear to become simpler: even the addition of another character, something that could make things much more interesting in terms of challenge is used in an abusively obvious manner in which it’s always obvious what you have to do next and, worse, what you have to do is just way too easy. Also, the boss battles are absolutely stupid and the puzzles so dumb that it’s almost frustrating to get past them. Also, the last boss manages to be easier than those of the previous games. Of course, you can set the difficulty level, so it can be hard to beat the game, but in terms of strategy, coordinating the two characters’ actions and solving the puzzles, the game’s challenge is a disappointment.

In terms of graphics, the game is wonderful, as anyone would expect after playing the Gamecube remake of the first title. All the perfection and attention to detail we’ve seen in that game is reprised here and some minor mistakes are corrected (like the shadows of the characters), as well as a few additions made, turning this game into visual bliss. Every little thing is absolutely realistic, the lighting of each room perfectly built and the overall design fascinating. Apart from the bad guy in white clothes, every character has a striking design, in special Billy, who is making his first appearance here and looks absolutely great, with handcuffs hanging from his wrist, an impressive tattoo and the fact that he just looks like a very suspicious guy who is about to be executed. Backgrounds now have moving objects, which does add a lot in terms of atmosphere (the bottle rolling back and forth in the train, for example) and the ‘camera’ moves for the first time in the series, adding some dynamics to the game. Of course, the cut-scenes are all wonderful to look at and the game just looks terrifying and spectacular, very dark, moody and it’s definitely one of the game’s best features, specially because this level of perfection adds a lot to the game atmosphere, one of the most important aspects of a ‘survival horror’ game.

The sound in Resident Evil 0 is just as perfect as the visuals. Every little sound effect is put in the right place, each monster makes their characteristic and strange noises (which will help you a lot along the way) and the music does a spectacular job in creating the ‘perfect’ atmosphere for the game. Once again, Resident Evil 0 focuses on the moody approach, instead of the mass murderings of Resident Evil 3, giving the sound a huge importance. Given the fact that there are many moments of complete silence (which clearly heightens the tension the game creates when used correctly), sound effects receive an essential role and the developers did a great job, with a spectacular sense of timing to build the mood of the game. When the music enters, it’s with a clear purpose and the soundtrack of zero is in the same vein as the previous games’ and just as effective. Some of the most remarkable tunes include the Leech Zombie theme and the save room theme (I just love save room themes from the Resident Evil series!). A very strong work of sound overall is what we see in Resident Evil 0 and it’s definitely one of the game’s greatest strengths.

Still in the sound department, we have the voice acting. Capcom has fixed the infamous acting for the first game with the remake and with zero they deliver another solid performance. It’s not the best acting in the world of videogames, but it’s pretty good anyway. The main characters, Rebecca and Chris, get good voices that match their looks and personality well enough and they have enough charisma to hold their own against even the most stupid lines of dialogue. The supporting cast is also pretty decent. If it was indeed funny playing games with bad voice acting (just remember the original Playstation Resident Evil), it’s great to see the companies investing more in something that can really enhance the dramatic effect of these games.

Overall, Resident Evil 0 isn’t much of an addition to what we’ve seen in the series, it’s more of an amazingly done game that will impress most players, only not on its originality. It concentrates more in setting an impressively crafted mood of horror and tension instead of making you jump from you chair while playing it. Offering new information on the Resident Evil world, which is always welcome for fans of the series, it still doesn’t answer enough questions nor does it create really interesting new ones. There are certainly some flaws in the game, but anyone who has had any fun with the other games should certainly try it out.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/05/03, Updated 05/05/03