Resident Evil 2 Remake marks my first proper foray into the Resident Evil franchise ever since I'd given Outbreak a couple minutes of my time back when I was a kid and I must say: RE2 blew my aged expectations out of the water.
Coming from predominantly 'mow-them-down' zombie games like Left 4 Dead, Dead Rising, Dead Island, Dying Light, and other games of the like: I was expecting a similar style of game where I'd go from location to location mowing down zombies and getting the occasional jump-scare; but upon my first excursion into RE2's Racoon City, it was immediately clear that this was not that type of game.
Met with zombies whose heads took more than a fair share of bullets to put down, an immersive atmosphere and sound design that kept me on feet, and great level design that encouraged and rewarded exploration -it was made abundantly clear to me that this was nothing like the zombie games I'd played before.
Resident Evil 2 is first and foremost a game of choices. Not the type of choices you'd make in a Telltale game, but the kind of choices you make in a survival game. Resources are sparse (especially if you play Hardcore like me) and how you use those resources will affect your experience.
Do you mow down every enemy you see as soon as you can? Well I sure hope you won't need that ammo any time soon. Okay you're not killing those zombies over in Hallway B to save ammo but what's this: you're suddenly being chased by a monster you can't kill and your only escape is Hallway B... what a predicament.
Oh you've found some wooden boards? Well those would be helpful to cover up the broken windows. Oh you don't have enough boards to cover up all the windows? I wonder how you'll decide where you should use them.
And for me it is these choices that made Resident Evil 2 so enjoyable. I couldn't just run around mindlessly gunning down everything I saw, running from location to location, solving puzzle after puzzle. I had to understand the area, understand my surroundings, and properly think out routes to ensure I was never put into a bad situation. It got to the point where I felt like I understood the area just as well as Leon or Claire would- like I was learning alongside them.
Speaking of Leon and Claire brings me to probably my only negative point about this excellent game, and no the issue isn't the characters or their respective stories. My main issue with Resident Evil 2 is easily how it handles its dual-campaign. While I thought it was awesome in theory, it was ultimately a disappointing execution.
The dual-campaigns lack story cohesion, are filled with numerous plot-holes, lack interactivity between the protagonists, and I think it ends up being more of a detriment than a positive addition to the game. I personally enjoyed their respective exclusive content, but the areas that are 're-treaded upon' between playthroughs are logically inconsistent and wholly a missed opportunity.
I wish they either would've had one campaign where you simply swapped between Leon and Claire over the course of the story, or that they would've allowed for your first playthrough's actions to have effects on the second run. Like if my Leon decided to not burn through all his ammo and left it in the item box, then Claire should be able to use those resources. Likewise if my Leon ransacked the whole area and used all the loot, it should end up being harder on my Claire who now has less resources to play with.
Ultimately I think that the plot holes, story contrivances, and gameplay limitations in the dual-campaign make it more of a negative than a positive -even if I still had a good time. I think that there was a lot of potential there that was unmet and that the game would've been a lot better off if it was just one campaign with protagonist swap-overs. This would've made the overall story more cohesive and would've potentially allowed for more interaction between Leon and Claire -something I think was sorely lacking in RE2.
However despite my gripes about the dual-campaign, RE2 was a really fun and interesting introduction to the world of Resident Evil and has definitely made a fan out of me. If the idea of a slower paced horror exploration zombie game is in any way interesting to you, I'd highly recommend trying out Resident Evil 2. It's damn good.
4/5
Coming from predominantly 'mow-them-down' zombie games like Left 4 Dead, Dead Rising, Dead Island, Dying Light, and other games of the like: I was expecting a similar style of game where I'd go from location to location mowing down zombies and getting the occasional jump-scare; but upon my first excursion into RE2's Racoon City, it was immediately clear that this was not that type of game.
Met with zombies whose heads took more than a fair share of bullets to put down, an immersive atmosphere and sound design that kept me on feet, and great level design that encouraged and rewarded exploration -it was made abundantly clear to me that this was nothing like the zombie games I'd played before.
Resident Evil 2 is first and foremost a game of choices. Not the type of choices you'd make in a Telltale game, but the kind of choices you make in a survival game. Resources are sparse (especially if you play Hardcore like me) and how you use those resources will affect your experience.
Do you mow down every enemy you see as soon as you can? Well I sure hope you won't need that ammo any time soon. Okay you're not killing those zombies over in Hallway B to save ammo but what's this: you're suddenly being chased by a monster you can't kill and your only escape is Hallway B... what a predicament.
Oh you've found some wooden boards? Well those would be helpful to cover up the broken windows. Oh you don't have enough boards to cover up all the windows? I wonder how you'll decide where you should use them.
And for me it is these choices that made Resident Evil 2 so enjoyable. I couldn't just run around mindlessly gunning down everything I saw, running from location to location, solving puzzle after puzzle. I had to understand the area, understand my surroundings, and properly think out routes to ensure I was never put into a bad situation. It got to the point where I felt like I understood the area just as well as Leon or Claire would- like I was learning alongside them.
Speaking of Leon and Claire brings me to probably my only negative point about this excellent game, and no the issue isn't the characters or their respective stories. My main issue with Resident Evil 2 is easily how it handles its dual-campaign. While I thought it was awesome in theory, it was ultimately a disappointing execution.
The dual-campaigns lack story cohesion, are filled with numerous plot-holes, lack interactivity between the protagonists, and I think it ends up being more of a detriment than a positive addition to the game. I personally enjoyed their respective exclusive content, but the areas that are 're-treaded upon' between playthroughs are logically inconsistent and wholly a missed opportunity.
I wish they either would've had one campaign where you simply swapped between Leon and Claire over the course of the story, or that they would've allowed for your first playthrough's actions to have effects on the second run. Like if my Leon decided to not burn through all his ammo and left it in the item box, then Claire should be able to use those resources. Likewise if my Leon ransacked the whole area and used all the loot, it should end up being harder on my Claire who now has less resources to play with.
Ultimately I think that the plot holes, story contrivances, and gameplay limitations in the dual-campaign make it more of a negative than a positive -even if I still had a good time. I think that there was a lot of potential there that was unmet and that the game would've been a lot better off if it was just one campaign with protagonist swap-overs. This would've made the overall story more cohesive and would've potentially allowed for more interaction between Leon and Claire -something I think was sorely lacking in RE2.
However despite my gripes about the dual-campaign, RE2 was a really fun and interesting introduction to the world of Resident Evil and has definitely made a fan out of me. If the idea of a slower paced horror exploration zombie game is in any way interesting to you, I'd highly recommend trying out Resident Evil 2. It's damn good.
4/5