[Review] ‘Resident Evil 2’ Continues the New Era of Resident Evil Greatness

There have been a lot of great “Resident Evil” games over the years, but the original “Resident Evil 2” was by far my favorite game in the series.  I would even go as far to say as it’s one of my top ten games of all time.  So I was excited as hell for them to remake it.  As long as they kept the same basic format and just made it all shiny and new, then there wouldn’t be any fear of them screwing it up.  However, what we got in the end was far greater than what I could’ve imagined.

First of all, apologies for this late review.  I did receive a review code for “Resident Evil 2” from Capcom, but it arrived the day the game came out and then life got in the way.  That being said, I’m finally able to write something up for this thing so here we go.

In “Resident Evil 2” you play as either rookie cop Leon S. Kennedy or Claire Redfield, a woman who has arrived in Raccoon City in search of her brother.  Unfortunately, the two have arrived in Raccoon City at the worst possible time: in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.  A crazy series of circumstances causes the two to meet-up, but ultimately are forced to separate and explore the city on their own in an attempt to find a way out.  Along the way they encounter horrifying creatures and uncover a diabolical plot to create devastating bioweapons.

So what’s unique about “Resident Evil 2” is that it’s one of those rare games that requires you to play through it multiple times.  You could just play as either Leon and Claire and walk away with a somewhat unsatisfying ending, but if you wanted to get an idea of what the whole story was about you would need to play the game with both characters.  The overall narrative between both stories is somewhat similar.  You both start at the police station and you both end in the same place, but along the way each character has unique interactions that expose a portion of the plot that might be missing in the other’s playthrough. For example, Leon has a lot more dealings with the mysterious Ada Wong while Claire tends to a little girl named Sherry who has a dangerous connection.

Now, is this story worth playing through the game twice to experience the whole thing?  The plot in this game isn’t high art, it’s a story about zombies and comically evil corporations.  The cheese factor is potentially very high, but “Resident Evil” plays it straight in a way that still manages to retain the horror.  While a lot of the plot can be grandiose, the game injects enough personal details in it to give the events weight.  You’ll encounter a few characters throughout the game who have gone through hell and these brief interactions play up the brutality of the situation.  And as you explore the world on your own you’ll find notes, video tapes, and visual elements that’ll give you different perspectives on how quickly everything fell apart.

Now that doesn’t mean this game doesn’t have some cheese in it though.  If you grew up with the playstation “Resident Evil” games you know well enough how hamfisted the dialog can be at times.  And they’ve managed to retain that here to some degree.  Leon has some great voice acting going on, but he still manages to come across as a loveable putz when Ada and Claire are around.  It’s not off-putting and serves well to break up the tension of the game every now and then.

And while it’s great that they’ve managed to retain the overall narrative and feel of the original game, they wisely updated the game to include quality of life changes that make the game way more enjoyable to play.  First of all, remember ink ribbons? They’re a non factor in this game if you play the standard and easy mode.  If you play the hardcore mode, though, you’ll be beholden to the tyranny of ink ribbons.  Another welcomed change is how the map works.  If you wander into a room that has an item or an object you can interact with, that room will be marked as red until you manage to find everything in it.  And let’s say you’re being chased by a monster and run past an item you didn’t notice, it’ll be marked on the map showing what you missed and will stay marked on your map until you go back and get it.

The standard mode also features auto-saving, which is such an incredible relief.  The game isn’t too difficult, but in some of the boss fights it’s easy to slip up and get killed.  Thankfully, instead of starting all the way back at a typewriter, the game has some pretty generous checkpoints that’ll put you close enough to where you’ll lose very little time.  However, if you opt to play the hardcore mode then you won’t have any auto-save functions and will have to rely on typewriters.

And if you’re still having trouble getting through the game on standard difficulty, the game features an assisted mode that includes assisted targeting for shooting and a regenerating health system.  It’s a nice touch and one that the game will remind you of when you die multiple times in a row . . . adding insult to injury . . .

And for those of you out there that love unlocking things “RE2” features a treasure trove of things to chase after.  By completing various tasks in the game you’ll unlock things like costumes, model viewers, concept art, and of course special weapons that you can take into a second playthrough.  The requirements for unlocking can be incredibly daunting though.  They range from simple things like completing story objectives to more insane tasks like beating the game by only taking 14,000 steps or never opening an item box.  I don’t know what sort of masochist will attempt that, but more power to them.

Overall, this game is an absolute dream.  Of course the original “Resident Evil 2” will always be number one in my heart for the nostalgia factor, but this remake does the admirable job of reminding me why I love these characters and story so much.  It presents them in a beautifully detailed package that feels like a love letter to the original game and shows how timeless this type of survivor horror gameplay is.  If you’ve never touched a “Resident Evil” game, this is the perfect place to jump in.  If you want, you can easily purchase the updated remake of “Resident Evil” on modern consoles and PC, but this game is so disconnected from the first one that you really don’t need to play it to enjoy this one.  But if you’re a long time fan of the RE series, then there’s no doubt you need to experience this incredible remake.