Resident Evil has to be one of Capcom’s most successful franchises in history. It spanned numerous sequels & spinoffs, helped establish survival horror as a genre, and heavily influenced other developers to follow in its footsteps. Resident Evil is a series known for its tense atmospheres, mind boggling stories, memorable characters, and just how important it is to the horror scene. It’s hard to talk about the horror genre without mentioning Resident Evil. The first Resident Evil came out in 1996 on the original Playstation and it’s considered by many to be a classic masterpiece. Sure the tank controls, polygon graphics, and cheesy voice acting due to limited voice recording tech probably haven’t aged that well, but it’s still a timeless classic looked back upon.
It’s sequel on the other hand, Resident Evil 2, is what really got the series going. It took what the original Resident Evil did, cranked it up a bit, and brought an entirely new experience for fans to enjoy. It had a new setting, new characters that would become staples to the series, new gameplay elements, and it was just a fun horror experience. Resident Evil 2 is another timeless classic among the series, and it’s considered by many to be one of the greatest games of all time. That is until Resident Evil 4 came along and took the series to the highest point it could be. Resident Evil 4 had the most creative encounters in the series, and improved the combat by making it so that you're being hounded on every side. It knew how to be a good horror game while expanding upon the action. It even set a new staple for action games. A staple we see too much of like linearity, quick time events, and button mashie moments but compared to those games Resident Evil 4 did it best. Resident Evil 4 was the last truly good entry in the series, because after it's massive success Capcom mostly focused on the action rather than the horror. Pushing out the mediocre Resident Evil 5 & 6 which forgot what made the series so great in the first place. The only game that resembled the survival horror roots the original games had was a remake of the first game.
Around 2002, Capcom released a remake of the first Resident Evil trying to improve the many some of the problems the original version had while giving it a graphical overhaul. Luckily the remake was a success and many fans of the series stated that the remake was the definitive way to experience the first Resident Evil. Seeing how Capcom wonderfully remade the first game, fans were desperately asking them for a remake of Resident Evil 2, but it would take awhile until it would finally come out.
Eventually Capcom took a break from making games, many of it’s main developers left the company, and fans were left wondering about their next latest project. In 2017, Capcom pulled it together and decided to release Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, which took many fans by surprise. It not only introduced new original elements to the series, but it managed to maintain the survival horror aspects of the original few games. Some people had problems with Resident Evil 7, but in some way it was the best modern adaptation of the formula. That’s when Capcom made a comeback to the gaming world, releasing titles to series everyone thought were dead, hiring new skilled developers and directors to make their games, and planning out each step carefully. At E3 2018, Capcom revealed that they would be remaking Resident Evil 2 which got their fans roaring louder than ever before. Gamers were excited to come back to the childhood classic they grew up with and in 2019 they got exactly what they wanted.
Resident Evil 2 “Remake” was considered one of the most groundbreaking titles in the series to date and many people consider it to be one of the best games to come out in 2019. Personally I thought the game would be decent. I think companies should focus on what makes a game successful and move on to make new entries. Not remake old ones for the sake of nostalgia and easily tricking older fans, because they know more people will buy it if it resembles the past elements that made them so happy. At first, Resident Evil 2 Remake should have been a forgettable unnecessary experience. Then I sat down to play the game and my expectations were blown out of the park. When I finally tried Resident Evil 2 Remake I blasted through it from beginning to end within a single weekend. Absorbing everything that was given to me, and constantly wanting to know what happened next. I can confirm to you readers that Resident Evil 2 Remake is a must have and it’s one of the best games I have played this year. I don’t think it’s perfect and in some ways it stumbles a bit, but it's a good start off for those wanting to get into Resident Evil. Today we’ll be talking about why I loved Resident Evil 2 Remake and why it deserves your attention. So craft some ammo, get down, and prepare to head into the streets of Racoon City. I walk alone with a loaded gun. What went wrong?
Story
Two months after the events of the first game, the Umbrella Corporation has retreated to Racoon City to continue the manufacturing of biological super weapons. Through many tests and studies Umbrella creates the T-Virus, a virus that is capable of making any normal human mutate into unstoppable muscular monsters. However the T-Virus doesn't work and ends up mutating people into grotesque zombies. The T-Virus breaks containment from the lab it is being held within and the citizens of Racoon City are infected with it. Slowly converting into zombies that will feed off the flesh of any living organism. Umbrella flees from their secret laboratory trying to cover up any evidence of what happened, while Racoon City is set ablaze amongst the chaos. More than half the city’s population is either dead or infected. No rescue attempts have been made.
At a gas station miles away from the city we stumble upon two individuals, Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield. Leon is a newly recruited officer who is preparing for his first day at the Racoon City Police Department. Claire Redfield is a college student who decided to check up on her older brother Chris, one of the protagonists from the first game, who was told he was last seen in Racoon City. Both of them make a stop to refuel at a gas station, but they soon find the place to be infested with zombies. They both escape from the zombie horde and drive straight towards Racoon City. They have no idea what is causing the dead to come back to life, but they are stopped when they are surrounded by a wave of zombies and a truck crashes into their vehicle. Leon and Claire are separated and plan to head towards the Racoon City Police Department.
Depending on what character you choose first the beginning segment may play out differently. Here’s what I did: Leon finds the police station is also infested with zombies with the only surviving person being another officer. The officer tells him to go up a passageway that leads to an escape tunnel. Once Leon opens the escape passage up the officer shuts the door and tells Leon to escape as fast as he can. He wants Leon to find what the cause is, so that none of these events can happen ever again. Leon even gets to meet Ada Wong, an FBI agent who plans to help out with his investigation.
Meanwhile Claire ventures through the station and encounters a little girl named Sherry. Sherry’s parents aren’t around and she is frightened with what is going on. Claire promises to protect her, but Sherry is immediately taken by the chief of police who plans to hold her hostage. Claire now plans to hunt the chief down, find Sherry, find out why Sherry is so important, and escape the city before it’s too late. Both characters must journey through the station, fight off the zombie horde, and unravel the mysteries that lie deep within the underground passage of the station.
Gameplay
Resident Evil 2 is one of the most accessible titles I have played in the series, providing a streamlined experience that is somewhat reminiscent of the original. You explore each corridor of the station collecting resources, solving puzzles, and trying to fight off the zombies who lurch towards you. The puzzles aren’t as straightforward as they sound though, because the items needed to solve each puzzle are hidden throughout the station behind more puzzles that require some intense thinking. For example the first 1/3 of the game requires you to find three medallions to open up the passageway to progress. The three medallions are found at three statues scattered around the station, and each statue has a certain code to punch you have to punch in to retrieve the heads. The codes for each statue is vaguely given through torn up pieces of paper.
You only have so much inventory space to store every item you find, but you can store extra resources and keys in item boxes. Item boxes are found within safe rooms and safe rooms are scattered across the station alongside save points. The safe rooms allow you to take a break from the horror happening outside them and save your progress, and depending on what difficulty you're playing on you may need an ink ribbon to save your progress. Always remember to stock up on what you need to survive and save whenever, because if you die you restart at the last save point.
While navigating your way through each section of the station you’ll encounter the huge groups of zombies stated earlier that will stumble towards you. They're very slow but deadly when they come in huge packs. If they grab you they’ll take a bite from your skin inflicting a huge chunk of damage. Blasting zombies in the head won’t kill them instantly like in most games, but shooting at their limbs will cripple them or even decapitate them forcing them to crawl slowly towards you. Sometimes you’ll want to gun down every enemy that stands in your way, and other times you’ll want to conserve whatever ammo you have just in case a boss or powerful enemy shows up.
What makes navigating the claustrophobic halls of Racoon City even more challenging is when you're being chased down by Mr. X. After the first area you’ll encounter a tyrant named Mr. X who is invincible to all sorts of damage and kills you within a few punches. He can track down wherever you are if you cause too much noise and won’t stop following you unless you enter certain areas. It’s best to constantly keep moving and obtain the items you need as soon as possible, because you don’t know when Mr. X will show up and try to screw up all the progress you have up until that point.
There are multiple weapons you can pick up throughout the game, each providing different strategies. Both Leon and Claire have their own weapons and the action packed combat from Resident Evil 4 has been streamlined to atone for free movement while aiming. Leon gets a magnum which can be upgraded into a suppressed assault rifle, a shotgun which is good up close, a flamethrower, etc. Meanwhile Claire gets a rapid fire revolver, grenade launcher with different rounds, rapid fire machine gun, etc. Ammo for each weapon is limited, but you craft more by mixing different types of gunpowder and resources. Besides that there really isn’t else to say about RE2’s gameplay. Hopefully you can survive one of the longest nights the two have ever had.
Thoughts
Resident Evil 2 Remake is the game that redefines what it means to be a remake. It’s highly detailed, horrifying to explore, and modernizes Resident Evil 2 in the best way possible. The way they reimagined the Racoon City Police Department was done much better than I'd expected. The main lobby which you will head back and forth through many times is just marvelous to look at. That’s just one of the rooms in the game. The gameplay is extremely satisfying, constantly wanting you to plan out each move and react to whatever lunges towards you immediately. The level design is much better than Resident Evil 7, with interconnected pathways that twist back into each other and you're constantly backtracking to old areas to discover something needed to progress.
The gunplay packs a punch. Shooting zombies limbs off or seeing blood gush out of their heads really makes each weapon more fun than expected. The audio was handled incredibly well, you walk into a room with echoes going throughout the building. You find a body on the ground but you can’t tell if it’s a living zombie unless you walk by it or shoot at it. There's not even any music outside of boss fights, which makes traversing the station even more intense and desolate. The amount of replay value is pretty high. I know people who have probably played Resident Evil 2 Remake a dozen times already. What I like is how they handle both runs for Claire and Leon. Once you complete Run A with either character you unlock Run B. Run B changes the location of items, changes how the police station needs to be navigated for key puzzle items, and makes stronger enemies appear much earlier. It also helps that both characters have their own weapon sets and encounter different bosses near the end. I say near the end, because a majority of the bosses are ones you encountered on both playthroughs. There are also a lot of extra features and modes to try out after the main story that expands the world Resident Evil 2 is set in and gives players more of it.
Now just because I’m praising Resident Evil 2 Remake doesn't mean it’s a perfect game, which everyone keeps acting like it is. I will admit, this is one of the best survival horror titles in awhile and one of the best Resident Evil titles in awhile. However, that doesn't mean it's immune to criticism. The story is still good for newcomers with all its twists and reveals, but if you're a fan who has played the original Resident Evil 2 you kind of lose interest in how the remake is still trying to build suspense for a plot you witnessed years ago. Some of the plot twists are predictable and downright questionable at times as the logic doesn’t make sense. "It's a Resident Evil game," I know they aren't always suppose to make sense and there's always plotholes to these games. Same goes with the seventh entry, but the fact our two protagonists charge into a city full of zombies despite seeing them gather at a gas station, or the fact the government thought the best type of weapon was a zombie virus rather than just dropping a big atom bomb Fallout styled. Then there's the inconsistencies with the story. It’s weird how Claire and Leon encounter certain characters like the scientist lady and one recurring boss later on, and they both die at the same time. When logically one of them should have been there and the second shouldn’t have encountered them as they were dead.
My least favorite part was Mr. X. At first he started off scary as he's the only enemy in the game who can't damaged and he chases you down claustrophobic hallways, but over time he turned more into a nuisance. Everything can be going out fine, but all of a sudden this guy barges in and forces you to run another direction. The bosses lack the sense of creativity and variety that Resident Evil 7 had. I’m pretty sure shooting the boss in its giant leaky weak spot was a clever design choice back then, but not as creative today. If it’s anything RE7 and RE2 Remake have in common it’s that their final bosses are basically walls of flesh that move slowly towards you and all you have to do is keep shooting. My criticisms with this game can actually be sum up with Yahtzee Crosshaw's review of the game. It could have worked as an entirely new game, but its truthfulness to the original is what makes it face entirely different problems.
On the whole though, Resident Evil 2 Remake is a solidly designed game. It looks good, plays well, and is possibly one of the few best modern Resident Evil games to date. I don’t think it should be Game of The Year, because saying a remake is GOTY shows a lack of confidence to play anything new or interesting. I can recommend it though and would state it’s the best survival horror in years alongside Resident Evil 7. In the end I am going to give Resident Evil 2 Remake an 8.5/10 for being pretty good.
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