For no apparent reason, this game has only gotten better for me over time. With comparisons to the other games in the series, this could be argued as the best in the PS1 collection and the more I felt it right next to nemesis did I think about how the route system was by far the most unique and best mechanic in the series.

It completely flips everything you already thought and knew with the routing and bosses. Yes, a lot more games do this sort of thing as their NG+ run or something but with RE's survival horror, does this make surprises startle you more and think on your feet about how to save bullets, how to progress with puzzles.

It doesn't have the issues that persisted with RE3 where enemies can be randomly swapped for harder or puzzles being 4 different answers that makes speedrunning much more annoying. Less RNG on that front would have made it much more fun in my eyes. RE2 never fell in that pitfall and for the best.

As I play PS1 RE1 now do I get how big of a jump it was at the time, the insane scope of the game with the locale's being double the size and the music being the best in the series. It completely redefines a lot of what I loved about RE1.

Resident Evil (2002) is the best experience for classic RE formula but this is damn close to it even after all this time.

Fantastic game. It's a hallmark of video game design, incredibly satisfying to explore and uncover all of its labyrinthian secrets. Even though it's not really scary anymore, the game still delivers a tense experience through its mechanics of scarce ammo and health items. Death is always just around the corner.

I especially like the setting, first traversing through a destroyed city infested with zombies, walking past debris and raging fires before finally arriving at the infamous police station. You'll travel through more varied environments before reaching the game's satisfying conclusion.
It feels more grounded than the first Resident Evil with it's Rube Goldberg-machine like mansion and it's quirky death puzzles.

It's a short game that warrants multiple playthroughs to get the most out of it. Well worth the time and effort.

Here’s a cool video game hot take: I don’t love the RE2 remake. I like this one much MUCH more.

The level design and methodical exploration is near-perfect. The soundtrack is absolutely perfect. I love the tank controls. I love the fixed camera angles. I love the pre-rendered backgrounds. I love the zapping system (although, it is woefully underdeveloped). Force feed this shit to me. It’s so good.

Btw, this is another comfort game for me, which, like with Killer7, makes me very cool and worthy of praise.

In january, i played RE1. During February and March, i played both RE2 and RE3, almost at the same time. I went like this: I played Leon A, Claire B, then i went with Resident Evil 3, then i played Claire A, Leon B, then i played 4th Survivor, and by the end, i played The Mercenaries.

RE2 is a masterclass on recursiveness. A lesson in how to reutilize the same material in ingenious ways to keep it interesting, while economizing resources. This time the big deal with RE2 is perspectivism. In RE1, the fact of having different endings was mostly tied to a concept of free will, therefore having to face the consequences of your own actions. RE2 instead will have a specific ending depending on the order in which you play the CD’s. In that sense, the story in RE2 is pretty much determined, which is the opposite of RE1. But what makes RE2 interesting in a philosophical way is that, if we accept the idea that there is no real truth but mostly different perspectives, and therefore, the actual truth might come from the juxtaposition of all those perspectives –something unreachable for us as individuals- well, RE2 adds a little more info and a little more “truth” everytime you finish the game. So let’s say that you finish Leon A first, then of course you’ll know a lot more things about the story once you finish Claire B. But if you decide to keep playing, this time Claire A and then Leon B, you’ll know even more things, and you’ll even get to unblock the 4th Survivor minigame which actually serves as even more lights to the mistery. And if we agree on the fact that RE2 story, while being a bit more complex than RE1 is still quite minimalistic, then the conclussion i come to, is that RE2 does a masterful work in creating little intrigues that overcome repetition. No matter if you’re already familiar with the police station, there are many chances that once you play with both characters, you’ll want to play once again in the inverted order. Replayabiliy, therefore, doesn’t really play as an option but rather a condition here, in order to properly experience this game.

I find extremely funny –in a good way of course - how RE2 continues a not-so-commented idea where guys are pretty dumb and the girls are actually the ones with the brains. If we go back to RE1, you find out that both Jill and Rebecca are the ones who are able to play the piano and solve the chemical puzzle. Jill also has the lockpick, which is something useful only for smart people. Chris himself can’t do any of this stuff. In RE2, while this kind of differences in the way of solving puzzles have been pretty much equaled (still, Claire is the one with the lockpick) the “intellectual” differences comes out in the way each character relates to the story. Leon, essentially a mimbo here (a different kind of beast than Chris who ressembles more the typical chad, despite sharing pretty much the same cognitive cappabilities) doesn’t seem to be much aware of how the whole Umbrella plot is tied, even at the very end. He’s rather a more pragmatical guy in his concern about escapin but also quite idealistic in the way he just wants to get away with the hot asian chick in his arms. He’s also quite innocent and insecure, which is pretty much shown when he states that no one seems to listen to what he says (inb4 rookie). Claire, instead, is there with another objective which is finding her dumb brother. But meanwhile, she seems to be the one who’s really trying to understand what’s going on in the city, discovering many important things about the whole Umbrella conspiracy in the proccess, and really trying to tie loose ends. She’s also shown as a more grounded and secure person, mature enough to also take care of a minor. Do i have a favourite character in RE2? No, i just love all of them, even with how simplistic they might be, they still have a unique charisma which somehow makes them all impossible to not like. There are some nuances as to how they relate to each other and which role they play in the whole story. I don’t want to spoil those details to you, but i have to say that, in my opinion, the story just tie way better if you play Claire A and then Leon B. My recommendation as i stated emphatically already, is that you play Leon A, then Claire B, then Claire A and finally Leon B. RE2 is widely recognized as the game with the most replayable value in a franchise that is already known for it’s replayability. So it wouldn’t be much of a problem to play all 4 stories, and in the order i told you (so you save the best for last). But if you’re definitely sure that you won’t have enough time to do so, then i suggest you to play Claire A, then Leon B.

As for the gameplay, there are many reasons for me to consider that RE2 is by far the best and most enjoyable RE title of the PS1 trilogy. For one instance, the map. Of course, it’s not as charming and iconic as RE1’s mansion, and for sure it’s not as ambitious as RE3 streets, but when it comes to the layout, the police station is just absolutely perfect. It flows organically, and even if it’s pretty linear it’s just imposible to not love. It’s also worth mentioning how RE2 doesn’t drop it’s quality once you get past the first scenario, in this case, the police station. The sewers and the lab are also great here. The balance is also perfect: more action-focused than RE1 but without getting as intense as RE3. It’s just the perfect sweet spot. And if you’re resourceful enough, you’ll find that the whole map just has enough items to beat the game with just the perfect ammount of suffering. Every single character has different weapons and also, there are a couple weapons that are available only on certain scenarios. Regarding weapons, there’s a general consensus that Leon’s arsenal is a lot better than Claire’s. This is also more notorious on Claire B than Claire A. When playing Claire B you’re easily underwhelmed because you’ve just finished Leon A with his hard-ass upgraded weapon (hands down best arsenal of the entire ps1 trilogy) and suddenly you’re there dealing with a shitty crossbow. And also, in Claire A is less of a problem because it’s by far the easiest run of all the 4 variations of the main game. Considering that, when the game offers me both a sub-machine gun and a backpack (which adds two more slots available in your inventory) i always leave both for Claire (Remember, picking any of these with the first character will make it unavailable for the second). I strongly recommend you to do the same. The sub-machine gun is quite a let-down but it might be an interesting addition for Claire, specially for dealing with lickers. The Backpack is specially useful considering that Claire’s main weapon, the grenade-launcher, makes you deal with three different types of ammunition, so the extra space comes quite in handy, and is also useful considering that the sub-machine gun fills two slots.

I can’t help but feeling that RE2 is somehow the least scary of the PS1 trilogy. Don’t get me wrong, it has a lot of suspenseful and tense moments, and i even think that the music is handled a lot better here than in the first game. But somehow it feels less scary than RE1 with the creepy mansion filled with traps and with a lot less resources, and also it feels less scary then RE3’s whole pessimistic and apocalyptic mood. Or maybe i kinda ruined the suspense after playing the four “campaigns” this game offer. Mr. X is scary probably just the first time you find him, and if you are already familiar with Nemesis from RE3, then this glow-up version of a Tyrant just feels like a joke. Now Birkin? That’s a scary-ass fella. Birkin is actually my second-favourite boss after Nemesis. I love how RE2 incorporates body-horror elements. In contrast, RE1 is simply the haunted mansion trope, while RE3 plays more like a slasher. But RE2 is closer to a body-horror flick, with Birkin’s many forms as the prime example of this. He’s also a lot harder to beat than Mr. X, for sure.

In cinema, it’s pretty usual that sequels are oftenly resented, easily disregarded as inferior titles compared to their predecesor. In videogames, instead, sequels are not just a common thing, universally accepted, but also, they usually generate tons of expectation, and it’s also pretty normal to see sequels largely surpassing the original title. I can’t help but wonder if RE2 is actually one of the titles that actually cemented this possibility in this media, specially considering that during the 90s, the industry is still at an early stage of becoming a mass media. It is no surprise that RE2 was and still is the holder of titles such as one of the best sequels of all time, one of the best videogames of all time, one of the best titles of the PS1 catalogue, and so on.

A message to Capcom, Shinji Mikami and friends: We’re living in an era with barely new ideas, an era where both mainstream media and niche-underground communities are making huge incommings (materially and simbolically) based on their own concepts of nostalghia. As a way of expressing the discontent with the decay of western society in cultural matters, a large part of today’s artist have decided to look back at the past, which has of course happened uncountable times along history, only that this time they’re not doing it in order to pick something that works as the base of something inherently and authentically new. This time, culture is really trying to turn back time. With is pros and cos, with the inner sadness that this whole idea gives, there’s no denying that it is also something of an opportunity for many to be creative, even if it happens to be over the basis of an aesthetic taken from the past. Yes, the right word is opportunity. So come on Capcom, this is the time, just do it: Bring back fixed cameras and tank controls. Do it for the homies. Make Resident Evil great again.

is [sort of] to Resident Evil what Metroid Fusion is to Super Metroid. that is to say, the game is a lot more linear than it's immediate predecessor, or at least feels more linear. also much easier and much shorter, despite sporting higher enemy density and taking place over a larger diegetic area. perhaps for all of if not strictly those reasons, the game is worse. the loop of 1 wherein one attempts to make the most of each of their dangerous saves to the end of conserving ink ribbons is gone in spirit if still technically present; combat is too easy and ink ribbons are too plentiful, and the structure of the world means you'll rarely be using the same typewriter twice if you are over-conserving due to lingering instincts from the previous game (as i did). you're given multiple weapons (at least as Claire) that you don't even really need and will have plenty of ammo for by the time the game ends.

still, like Fusion, it's ultimately a good game; the most notable improvement relative to 1 being that the dialogue writing and voice acting are vastly improved to the point where you no longer notice how comically bad it is, though it is still often on-the-nose or stilted. another is that the aesthetics are even more on point here: the pre-rendered environments far more detailed, especially noticeable in the introductory alleyways of the city, and Birkin is gross in a way 1 never was.