Resident Evil 2

"The G virus is just butter."

Resident Evil is a 3D puzzle, horror, and action game. This is sometimes referred to as a survival horror and is one of the most revolutionary games out there to today. This is Resident Evil 2, the sequel of the original Resident Evil. It doesn’t connect to it in too many ways, but I would recommend playing through the first one before you consider this game. Let me break it down for you.

Game Play:
This was never Resident Evil’s strongest point... But most of the think in most survival horror games came from the Resident Evil series… This is also the game series that made walling by windows scary... and still pulls this off.

Movement: Well, first off this game is 3D. Any ways, you press up to move forward and left and right to turn. Down moves backwards. This was also the first game series (I think) that used this type of method. It was unique at the time. Any ways, other than that, you can’t do a lot more things. Well you can run in this game. You just hold in square, which you will most likely have you finger on for the whole game. You can also push boxes for completing a tons of puzzles and hop on top of little objects. This movement system is accurate but is not always fast in the heat of battle. Sure you can run in a strait line, but it is a pain in the ass to turn in this game (This game lacks a quick turn option.) This game also has the slowest turning speed since there is not quick turn.. The movement aspect of this game might also get you caught on a couple objects like a table sticking out of the wall... Least it is SO much easier to juke zombies...

Combat: The combat system also started in this series. First off, you have to find a weapon, then equip it. Then you have to hold down your “ready” button. Then while your gun is drawn you can turn, look up or down, and most importantly, shoot. You get a well rounded array of weapons two. You get things from a knife, a pistol, a shot gun, a rocket launcher, a flame-thrower and more! Most enemies have a weapon that works well against them too. But there are a few flaws to the combat system as well. First off, there is no dodging or defensive skills AT ALL! This makes the game a stand a shoot game, which means you will take a lot of hits just because you are using a weak gun and can’t kill things as fast. Also, you hold all you healing items, so if you get hit, you can just go to your inventory and heal up... this makes now sense of a run and hide type idea. From the original, the combat as gotten a lot easier. Why? Because of the auto aim. This makes you turn instantly toward an enemy. Thus aiming is cake as all hell. Other than those, every thing is the same.

Enemies: He is an awesome part of the game. Resident Evil’s main enemy type has always been the zombies. Zombies are every where. They walk, bite your neck, make funny and gross noises, and splatter! There are also a few types of dressed up zombies too. The zombies got dumber, slower, weaker, easier to kill, and easier to run around. This makes them a nuisance rather than actual enemies any more... hell you can throw zombies off after one bite... Any ways, there are also zombie dogs to play with. Once you find these, your combat will change, since they are fast. There are also a bunch of other cool monsters in this game, such as the Poisining Giant Spiders and the blind Lickers (Which I think are lamer hunters, that tongue whip you). One another great part I love about the enemies, besides them actually chucking all over the place, is that once you totally kill an enemy, they leave a blood pool where you killed them.

Bosses: Bosses in this game are actually fun. They are all well designed and have a point. Either they are guarding something or something story wise. The one part I hate, is that most bosses can be killed without moving if you have tons of strong weapons and ammo. In the previous game most of the bosses would rape you if you stood for a second, now you can just stand there... The one saving grace of this game, is how you fight “William Burkin.” He is a Bio weapon almost like the boss in the first one, but you fight him at all different stages in his development. This is a great idea. There is also a relentless boss in the “B” scenario which makes the game so much more trilling because you don’t know when he will pop up... Again, most bosses have a certain type of weapon that will kill them more efficiently than others do.

Puzzles: This is the biggest part of the game, I would say. There are about three types of puzzles in this game. The first is carrying items and using them is certain places. This is the most common and sometime tenuous. Sometimes you have to carry up to four items for one puzzle, then if you miss something you have to go back and forth to item boxes (Unlike Resident Evil 1, Clare and Leon both can carry either items and can get a side pack letting them hold ten.). This includes holding keys with different pictures on them (which open different doors) and things like cranks to revolve certain things. The second are single puzzles that take place in one room. These are the most fun to complete and are well thought out. These include things like pushing boxes in various ways to either open something or get buy and things like pressing switches in a correct order. The last type are annoying puzzles that require you to read through files. I hate these, thank god they aren’t that common. This usually includes you having to find a password for a computer or something like that.

Layout: This game just one big level. No stages and no breaks, just start from finish. You can save your game, by using ink ribbon on a type writer. This is a good idea, but you do not get and unlimited amount of ink ribbon... but there is plenty. Before you even start the game, you get to select your character. Either you are Clare, Chris’s sister or the Rookie cop, Leon. Once you pick a character you are that character through out the game. They do go through the same game, but they also run into different people and find different weapons. They mainly differ in just weapon layouts. Leon actually as a MUCH easier way through. Also, once you beat the game for the first time (On the A Scenario) you get to save the game and go through it on the opposite characters B scenario. So if you start with Clare A, your next game will be with Leon B, so there is four different games you can play.

The game play, for the most part, is about the same as the original.
Average

Challenge:
The Resident Evil Series was never a very hard game, and in no way challenging after you beat the game once. The difficulty of actually surviving is easy. Once you know how to kill enemies and stock up on ammo, it shouldn’t be a problem. Most bosses can just be cheesed with tons of strong weapons and tons of healing items.

The second part of the challenge would be how hard a puzzle is. Without any help from a FAQ or a guide, it can take you quiet some time to figure out where to go and what to do. This is way this game is much easier the second and up times through it.

They did, however, add a difficulty changing option. It isn’t that great of an addition, because all it really does is let you start out with tons of ammo for the pistol, other than that, I’m not actually sure what it effects, but all that I do know is that it is not going to make a huge difference if you actually have trouble with the normal setting.

I’m saying this Resident Evil is the easiest out there. All the regular enemies are easier than the ones in the original. All the zombies are easy and take about a quarter of the effort that it takes to kill them in the first one. Another thing that makes this game easier is the option of the auto aim. True you don’t have to turn it on, but you probably will once you find out it exists. This allows you to turn instantly to an enemy and devoids all skill put into aiming. Also, you cannot die instantly any more. Remember how in the first one a Hunter could just slice and behead you? Well now you have to be in the “Orange” Caution or Danger condition to be killed like this. They did change the health system around. Now you actually run slower for how damaged you are. At (Green/Yellow) fine you run all right, at (Yellow/Orange) Caution you hold one arm and run a tad slower, but at (Red) Danger you have a mad gimp. The limping aspect of this game is the only difficulty improvement.

The ONLY real hard part to this game is getting a good Rank at the end of the game. This is mainly hard because a perfect rank cannot be gotten by use of a typewriter/memory card...
Poor

Control:
The control isn’t bad at all in this game. First off, there is not combos or any difficult combinations that have to be put in. Well this is more of a puzzle game after all... Any ways, there are a couple of flaws here and there. The way you walk and run in this game is good because it is accurate, but you will run into walls at times and corner things badly. Also the shooting isn’t the best, only because you have to stand still like an idiot. And unless you shoot right in the middle of looking up and down, you can only aim strait and about 45 degrees up or down (This makes hitting low enemies not right in front of you hard as balls).

The control is almost exactly the same as the first Resident Evil.
Below Average

Story:
This is with out a doubt the strongest point of this game and is why most people fell in love this the Resident Evil Series. It starts off like this...

(Events of Resident Evil 1)

Leon S Kennedy: Comes to this City as a rookie cop. He comes back to the station and it is a wreck and all of his comrades are mangled up.

Clare Redfield: Comes to this City looking for her brother Chris, which is no where to be found.

The police station is where you start. The problem is, is that this is a Resident Evil Police station, which means it looks like the mansion... Well only with three floors! Any ways, once you get a tad bit into the game you will find out that there is now a new Virus out called the G virus, which surpasses the T virus. There the Dad of the Burkin Family gets some of it in him...

Of course there are plot twist and all and the story actually goes pretty in depth. The one part they made crappy was that there is no alternate paths to the story with in the same game. The part that makes this great, is that Leon and Clare actually are in the same place and have two different stories (With in the A/B games). So in game you hear Clare talking to you over the intercom, and she says she sees you while playing as Leon, then on Clare’s game you are actually in the security room, pretty cool.
Outstanding

Visuals:
The graphics in this game are fantastic! Every thing looks great. Even better than before! All the characters are 3D and have detail in them. All the back rounds are 2D, which is a pretty cool combo. The items stick out enough, since they are 3D. They also all shine and blink so you can see them this time around. They threw out the actors and real movies and added full motion videos, which are worse, in my opinion. The police station and all the areas are very well designed and detailed. Every room has new pictures or statues or something of that nature. All the outside areas are filled with fire and mayhem. The only flaws I can see are that your mouths do not move when you talk (They make the character move there hands and arms a hell of a lot to make up for this, still from the original...). They fixed that blocky chunking feature when you explode a zombie and this is a great looking game.
Great

Audio:
The music in this game regular atmosphere is not that well done, but it fits the mood and makes the game feel eerie. The police station’s theme right off the bat will set the mood, all the way till the lab (which is very chilling). When you encounter new enemies, the music is chilling and will make you jump. Boss themes in this game freaking rock. Most will freak you out and stick in your head for a while.

The effects are decent. Sometimes a zombie beating a corpse in the background sounds a little cheesy sometimes... But things like jump and panting dogs and screeching hunters ready to leap are nicely done and will freak the hell out of you. These effects are generally the same as in the original. The game will still freak you out when you enter a run and all you hear is walking... The licker’s groans have to be the scariest in the whole Resident Evil series.

They really fixed the voice acting in this game. There is hardly any more cheesy lines or weird outbursts. They still use their hands a lot...
Good

Re playability:
This is usually the bad point in a game like this, however, game does hold some reasons to beat the game again. Any ways, the only things that are un-lockable in this game are alternate costumes, secret weapons (Rocket Launcher, Gattling Gun, and a Sub Machine Gun), and a usually impossible to achieve survival mission. The game has a new Ranking system. This is wagered on things like how much time you take and how many times you use first Aid spray. Getting a higher rank unlocks different things, but they are hard to get perfect.

The game also features five different games... Clare A+B, Leon A+B, and a secret unlockable character...
Good

Pros:
More story
More guns
Character’s paths are very different

Cons:
They took out the hunters...
They took out the real life movies...
They made the save music different...

Rent or Buy:
I would buy this if you are into Resident Evil. If you ever played Resident Evil 1 and liked it, this is a must buy game for you.

Final Rating:
I give this game an eight out of ten, because the over all difficulty was just a major turn off for me.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/31/03