Resident Evil 2

The Good
Improving the original on just about everything, Resident Evil 2 became another source of respect for Capcom after the release of the original (which proved that they could do more than just 2D fighting games and MegaMan sequels) by not being a louder and flashier remake of RE1, but by completely overhauling the game and introducing hundreds of great additions to it.

The game is not a direct sequel of the first, you take the role of two new characters, a rookie cop just transferred to Raccon City, and the sister of one of one of the main characters of RE1 who comes to the city looking for him. After an amazing intro sequence both characters come to the realization that the city is completely overtaken by zombies and from that point on is survival-horror bonanza as both characters scramble to find a way out of the city, survive the madness, and hopefully find out what the hell just went wrong in this place.

The first real change in the game becomes obvious as soon as you start playing. Following the rules written in "the big book of sequels", RE2 doesn't make the mistake of trying to re-capture letter-by-letter the mistery formula of the original, (since we are all already aquainted with the zombies and co. and the trick wouldn't work again) so the developers wisely expand the scope of the adventure and focuss on quantity as a means to achieve the same level of quality without the originality. If you don't understand what I mean just think of Alien vs Aliens, or Terminator 1 vs 2. Just like those movies, Resident Evil 2 knows that it cannot recapture the same level of originality, so it compensates by overachieving on sheer chaos and proportions! While on the original you started alone on a mansion and after exploring a bit you had your first meeting with 1 zombie (which was a major event and even triggered an fmv clip), this one starts you off in a fiery car wreckage with a mob of zombies around going for your throat as soon as the game starts!! The atmosphere of RE2 is MUCH more chaotic than in the original. Running from enemies instead of shooting becomes much more common and instead of facing off against 1 or 2 critters at a time you'll be faced against veritable mobs of creatures all hungry for your blood.

Sure, some elements of the formula are still there, like the "sidekick" sequences and interaction for each character, the two-sided approach to the plot (though in this case each character's story overlaps each other and ends up forming "the big picture" instead of being an alternate version of the same storyline), the "jack-in-the-box" idea of horror etc. etc. And the gameplay concept remains the same: (go around solving dumb-as-doorknob puzzles while battling horrific creatures in the middle and trying to survive the whole thing since you are out-numbered, out-gunned and scared shitless)... But overall the game expands in such proportions from the original that it almost seems like a whole new thing! You have brand new weapons, including specific ones that need to be assembled appropiately, new (and more locations) such as city streets, a police station, an underground complex, laboratories, etc... and most notably a much more extensely cinematic feel to the game. The game has lots more character interaction, and much more scripted sequences than in the original, still weaving a simple storyline mind you, but doing so with many more peripheric elements that enhance it and make it much more engaging and thrilling than your regular cheap gore b-movie with zombies and gun-toting 20-something supermodels in it. These elements include everything from the occasional subplots introduced by survivors (such as a slightly deranged police chief and the major's daughter), conspiracies and corporation cover-ups, references to the original game (that both expand and connect the plots), the aforementioned "sidekicks" as well as other extraneous elements such as a fantastic "Terminator" touch which involves a seemingly indestructible and unstopable foe that pursues you throughout the entire second part of the game and forces you to be constantly on your toes (an element so good that was fleshed out as the main gameplay concept behind RE3).

Technically speaking the game does make some advancements, mainly in the graphic arena, with far more detailed textures, animations and character models (gone is that single suit-wearing, broad-shouldered zombie from the original), as well as new and absolutely amazingly done pre-rendered fmv cutscenes to replace the live action ones from the original. These cutscenes deserve special mention as they are absolutely incredibly animated (take a look for the crisp motion capture in the character animations) and incredibly detailed, leaving all competition in the dust even if they don't have that cheesy charm the ones in the original had... Heck, it may not have some thumping "epic" lyrics or a videoclip pace, but I still think the intro for RE2 is miles above the way overhyped intro of Final Fantasy 8!!

Oh! And the voice acting has been definetively improved!

The Bad
They still use that sorry-ass savegame system (I don't care it's checkpoint-based, I just hate having to manage those stupid ink ribbons!), and there are a series of elements that seem rather off now with the wider scope of the game. For instance, we could buy the idea that we had to solve stupid statue-pushing puzzles and crest-collecting pixel hunts in the original since it took place in some kooky mansion, but it gets kind of silly here. I mean, I can only imagine the amount of free time the RCPD had if each cop had to find the four crests of life, get the key of spades out of the cu-cu clock and solve the puzzle of the statues of Kukhulu and Khakhata just so they can go to the toilet!

The control is still love-or-hate, Oh... and there's also the matter that just like with the original, this is a very... shall we say..."pop" game... The premise is pure shlock, and the whole thing can be missed by some people. I always find it amusing when those people say how the story in RE is stupid and bla, bla, bla as if they had discovered america. These types of games are SUPPOSED to be like that!! Sure, there's oversexed comic-booky characters, predictable "Oh! you betrayed me!!" plot twists, un-necessary gore and violence, etc. etc. But that's what makes it so good!! I could never understand how some people can... say, appreciate the serious Final Fantasy games as well as the ridiculously inventive Monkey Island games and still not be able to understand that the middle ground between "ridiculous" and "serious" is a category on it's own, and that there is such a thing as "so bad it's good" (especially when it's as well produced as these games!) If you don't get these types of games do yourself a favor and don't play them! Do ourselves a favor too and just shut the fuck up whenever you want to feel smart and blabber on an on about how these games are for retards or adrenaline junkies and are beneath your mighty anal-retentive intellect....'kay?

Oh, and shoot yourself too. The world doesn't need any more arrogant bourgeoise wanna-be jackasses screaming about how they don't like zombies, gore and anything that's remotely cool.

The Bottom Line
Incredible sequel to an established survival/horror classic that manages to upgrade just about everything and remain a kickass contender in the series as well as being one of the best games ever made for the genre and a inductee on the "best sequels ever to any game" Hall of Fame.

Besides it's got Zombies, Babes and gore!!! How can you not love that????:))

The Good
Resident Evil 2 (a.k.a. Biohazard for PAL gamers) is one of those rare times when the video game sequel is actually better then the original game.

Something stinks in Raccoon City, and I don't just mean the undead's reluctance to practice good personal hygiene.

The surviving members of the STARS team cannot convince anyone in Raccoon City that Umbrella Corporation was responsible for creating the flesh-eating, zombies and other malicious abominations as part of its unethical, if not illegal, biological weapons program.

Frustrated, the STARS team members decide to go their separate ways, hoping the evidence to bring down the Umbrella Corporation exists somewhere. Not too longer after their departure, the beautiful city becomes less “Leave It To Beaver” and more “Night Of The Living Dead” meets “Mad Max".

When Resident Evil 2 begins we meet two new heroes who have just arrived in the city; Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield. Leon is a rookie cop on his first day on the job, and Claire is searching for her brother (who is member of the STARS team).

Resident Evil 2 features much better graphics, music and sound effects then the first Resident Evil game. This is not sot suggest the first game was inferior.

The first Resident Evil game excelled in all of these areas as well, which makes it all the more amazing that the developers were able to make the sequel look and sound even that much better.

It is as if with each new Resident Evil video game the developers found new ways to push the Sony PlayStation 1 hardware capabilities to new heights.

Resident Evil 2 also features much better, more responsive controls, with cool new weapons and some new abilities – such as the ability to push a biting zombie away.

Again, Resident Evil 1 offered some great control, and it is simply amazing that the developers found ways to add to and improve upon the control mechanics when making Resident Evil 2.

One of the great features of this game is that to fully appreciate all that the game has to offer, you must first beat the game as one character and then beat the game as the other character.

Depending on how many times you beat the game (and how long it takes you to beat the game) additional secrets and weapons become available to you.

The game is on two discs, so if you beat the game with Leon, then you must beat the game as Claire or vice verse. This greatly adds to the replay value of the game, because who you beat the game with the first or second time and other little details will impact the story and how many deep, dark secrets you be able to uncover. And there are plenty of those to uncover.

Leon meets up with a "femme fatale" wandering the police station. Claire meets up with a lost, little girl. Both characters will interact with a cynical reporter, a corrupt police chief and, a few other human and not-so-human characters, which make the zombies flesh-eating habits seem tame in comparison.

Heck, the developers even found new and creative ways to make Resident Evil 2 even scarier then the first game. The more you learn about the police chief, Umbrella corporation and just how the virus spread throughout the entire city, the more you will want to play your video games with the lights on.

The Bad
Resident Evil 2 is uncut. Where as bits and pieces of the first game were censored, everything in this survival horror game is seen (or implied) for all to see.

This is not a video game designed for young children or easily scared adults. Survival horror is not a video game genre for everyone and it is worth noting some of the "mature" content in this video game.

Resident Evil 2 features a high level of graphic violence, blood and gore. If you blush at R-rated horror films, or are too young to watch them, then you might not want to be exposed to some of the content in this video game.

The zombies and other mutated monsters you must kill in the Resident Evil 2 are creepy and grotesque abominations who have a deep-seated lust for the sweet taste of human flesh.

You must put aside your feelings of sympathy -- as these zombies and monsters used to be human beings -- in order to not just survive but help other people survive as well.

The only "treatment" for these creatures is death and death by an assortment of cool, hi-powered weapons that bring a whole, new meaning to the phrase, "the right of the people to keep and bare arms shall not be infringed."

This is also a video game with some rather mature -- even downright perverted -- ideas about sexuality. The Chief Of Police in Resident Evil 2 is not only corrupt, but sexual sadist of the misogynistic sort.

This sordid little secret is gleamed by reading some diary entries, looking at the Chief's artwork he has setup around the police station and, yes, the tools located in his secret workshop.

Again, it is not as sexually explicit as say, the infamous "Hot Coffee Mood" mini game in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and the game itself is not endorsing misogyny. However, the content in Resident Evil 2 -- even the subject -- is not something suitable for all ages or interests.

The Bottom Line
Resident Evil 2 greatly improves upon all that was great, scary and downright "Night Of The Living Dead"-esque in the first Resident Evil game. Everything about Resident Evil 2 demonstrates not just the creativity of the developers, but also the amazing hardware capability of the Sony Playstation 1. If you enjoy survival horror, then you must play this game.

The Good
It's the sequel to Resident Evil.

You get to fight Umbrella some more.

You're no longer stuck inside of a mansion.

New weapons?

I heard it's better than the ones that came after it.

The Bad
Yeah, I sure didn't write much in "The Good", did I? Now, actually, I could have written a lot more, but I'm comparing this game to the original, not as a game itself. The gameplay hasn't changed at all from the original, which might be good or bad. Probably bad, considering it could have been improved. Everything about the two games is basically the same...except for the single most important parts! The story and atmosphere!

Resident Evil 1 is my all-time favorite horror game to a console system. Why? Because it reinvented the entire "oh no we're trapped in a scary house and there are zombies everywhere!" genre. It actually had a STORY to back it up! People weren't coming back from the dead - they were infected with a disease! Umbrella was playing God and they fucked up! That was a great story, and the first time I'd ever seen a game like this that didn't feel like one giant cliche. And the atmosphere was incredible. The dark cello music playing somewhere off in the background, the sounds of something rustling outside the window, that eerie "unngghhhh" from a pained half-dead zombie scientist as he lingers toward you...it was great. It wasn't a puzzle-action game, it was a survivor game with puzzle and action elements.

When I beat the game, I had heard there was a sequel being worked on, so I immediately looked up all information I could about the game. It was a game I HAD to play. What I found, from various sources (mostly somewhat reliable, like video game magazines) was that Resident Evil 2 was going to take the series to a whole new level, having an entire town become infected and terrorized by the disease and the zombies. It promised us that you would be able to travel around an entire city this time, not being stuck inside a single mansion. Would having such open areas ruin the horrifying atmosphere of the game? Certainly not! Not if the same guys who made Resident Evil 1 worked on Resident Evil 2...no, they would even make it scarier than the first!

Well...I don't know everything. Maybe the team who made Resident Evil 1 left or something, because instead of getting the greatest game ever, a worthy sequel, heck, even a fun game, I got the biggest disappointment of my console playing life. This was not Resident Evil 2...this couldn't be.

Well, it was.

See, what I was promised was a game in which I would be able to travel around an entire city. Imagine that, being able to see all the damage the virus had done, all the infection, the destruction...the atmosphere! But, instead of being able to go anywhere around the town, you basically just go from Point A to Point B to Point C to the police station, which eventually leads you to some underground laboratory, in which you spend the rest of the game in.

City? What city? You mean that short street, alleyway and park in the beginning of the game? Pfft.

Well, it was almost refreshing by now. I mean, you're back in close-quarters, so things should be scary again, right? No, not even close. It just falls flat every single place you go. You know, I don't even remember the storyline of the second game. Why? Because I just didn't care. I held on to that hope, that loosening grasp for the glory that was in the first game, but no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't do it. I had to face the facts: this was a bad game.

Like I said, I don't remember much of the story. I know it had very little, if anything to do with the events of the first game, which made it all the less exciting. It didn't really matter...it was all about killing zombies and hurting Umbrella. It was not about surviving and escaping. It was about killing and blood and guts. I've seen that before. Many times.

Did I mention how scared I was from playing the first game? It took me over a month of almost nonstop playing because it was so frightening to play. Know how long it took me to beat the second? One night. I must have played for...four hours, tops. That's it. I had it on the default difficulty, but it only took about four hours. Maybe longer...maybe shorter. I just know I beat it long before the sun came up.

The Bottom Line
Do yourself a great favor. Buy Resident Evil 1 (the remake for Gamecube is very good, I hear), play through it, and be very, very happy. And then just walk away from this series, because it's downhill (on a very steep hill) after that.