"Those zombies aren't the only things crawling around out there..."

Ah, Resident Evil 2. Everything about this game screams classic. This was the follow up to the surprise hit, Resident Evil from Capcom.

The original version of the game, now dubbed Resident Evil 1.5, was scrapped before completion and what we ended up with was a game that not only improved upon the original in many ways, but also wound up being the absolute best survival horror game to date. This is it, this is as good as it gets in the sub-genre known as survival horror.

I chose to review the Nintendo 64 version because it is my favorite of the many ports of this game. The original Playstation game has been ported to the 64, the Dreamcast, the PC, the Gamecube and also the game.com.

This is the story of a city in chaos, the living dead have overtaken the streets, the police are hopelessly outnumbered and ill-prepared and it's up to our heroes, who arrive in town oblivious to any of this, to survive and find their way out of this madness.

One of the main new features of Resident Evil 2 was the different scenarios that our heroes Leon and Claire take part in. You complete an "A" game with one character and then must complete a "B" game with the other to know the true end. Each varies in many ways and sometimes choices made in one will effect the other.

This version was released in late 1999, Halloween to be exact, and while the audio did suffer from a CD to cart transition, the graphics look very nice and even better with an expansion pack in your system. It really did wonders and even surpasses the Playstation version. The characters models and background are much more detailed than the original game (and I LOVE the original game!) and that only helps the atmosphere.

Atmosphere is perhaps the best thing this game has going for it. The music outside of the Raccoon City Police Department building is a prime example of why this game stands out in the heap of survival horror games released in the late 90s. Resident Evil 2 has soul.

The control with a Nintendo 64 controller is good. It is a little difficult to maneuver with the joystick so I always preferred to just use the directional pad. That's how it was done originally on Playstation, so maybe I am just used to it but it works pretty good. Everyone knows the tank controls and they are fine and perfect for this game once you get the hang of them. The game simply would have been less effective with a different type control scheme.

The game's music is unbelievable. There is just no other way to put it. Each track is wonderful and only helps the overall game. The songs are actually quite iconic to many fans of the series and game. The prologue, the police station, the library, the marshaling yard...all are excellent. I even bought the official soundtrack CD it was so good.

The replay value is good because once you complete a full "A" and "B" game, you can switch it around and play it in the exact opposite order as you did before. There are also extra games to be found after completing with a high enough grade, weapons and costumes to unlock, etc. There also what are called "EX" files in this version that are not found in any other version of the game. These enhance the storyline to a degree.

One of my my reasons this version of Resident Evil 2 is my favorite is that the gore is GREAT! Limbs blown off, torsos crumbling in half...and still pursuing you. This was something that was lost by later sequels but the gore is intact in this game.

Overall, this is as good as survival horror games can get. There are scares aplenty, the game world is oozing with atmosphere, the music is perfect, the story is intriguing and mysterious and the action is awesome. I cannot recommend this game enough,and if you are new to the genre there is no better place to start than Resident Evil 2.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 10/26/09, Updated 09/24/10

Game Release: Resident Evil 2 (US, 10/31/99)