Resident Evil 2

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
Since the incident of the mansion has passed,involving Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine,Raccoon City has been a mess. Chris Redfield has gone missing and the game does not mention Valentine. After a while Raccoon City turns into a city of blood-thirsty zombies. Claire Redfield,the sister of Chris,comes to Raccoon City to find her brother.Leon Kennedy is a new cop on Raccoon City Police Department. He is the only cop left alive in the city. Leon and Claire meet each other and the game begins. In Resident Evil 2 you choose either Leon or Claire. Each with their own storyline. The games difficulty is arrangeable,well at least it is on the dual shock version. The story lines are great as the game makes sure that you know the story lines. Resident Evil 2 has great environment graphics! The game has great weapons and surprisingly easy puzzles! The voice acting is way better in this one unlike the crappy acting in part 1.

The Bad
The character and creature graphics are poor and I'm sure they could have made them better. The gameplay gets boring after a while and only at certain spots do you get suspicious and wonder what's going to happen next. Some enemies in this game will really start to get on your nerves! Players will find themselves dying a million times by a dog or Mr.x. The cut scenes are too long in my opinion. The game starts out kinda slow but it'll eventually get better.

The Bottom Line
Resident Evil 2 is a game that will definitely give you the creeps. Besides it's bad stuff it's still a good game overall. I highly recommend this game to any horror game fan or a Resident Evil fan.

Grade:B+

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
If there was one game I would herald as Capcom's ultimate success in the action/puzzle genre, Resident Evil 2 would rise clearly above all the rest. The game, by far the best in the series, creates an atmoshpere truly terrifying - possibly rivalled only by Konami's Silent Hill series. High points of the game include Crows breaking through glass windows without warning Zombies bursting through boarded up windows Lickers dropping from ceilings and leaping from seemingly nowhere And of course, our friend the Tyrant-103 - crashing through walls, hoisting himself up on to balconies, and smashing up cameras...all in the name of pulse-quickening good fun!

What appealed to me about RE2 was the fine line between Shoot-em-all and Puzzler. Different keys and combinations, block pushing - it is easy to see where the Dino Crisis puzzles were expanded from. However, torrents of zombies, mutated dogs and biological abominations keep the action fast-paced, maintaining the fine balance of brute force and wit required for complete fufilment.

RE2 boasts a diverse range of weaponry, including Shotguns, Grenade Launchers, Flamethrowers, and even a RocketLauncher! The available arsenal makes for controlled mayhem, without turning RE2 into a Shoot-em-up. Also clever was the way zombies rect to different weapons - the Magnum will burst heads right open, whilst a Grenade launcher will destroy the head and shoulders, and a well timed Shotgun blast can remove the torsos from a group of zombies - which will then begin to crawl along the floor to attack you!

Finally, the other fantastic selling point of Resi 2 is the storyline. Complete the game once as one character, and then play as the other - in a totally different game. The "2nd Scenario" involves your other character playing through the game again, but with several significant changes, including placement of key items, extra bosses and a different (REAL) ending.

The Bad
There's probably something, but I can't think what.

The Bottom Line
One of the best games CapCom has ever produced - maybe even ever will. If you don't have it, get it.

The Good
It's nice in the way RE1 was nice, it's similar to Alone in the Dark :-)

The Bad
At every aspect RE1 was bad RE2 is worse. The storyline is... well, beyond horrible. It's impossible to describe in words how much I hate the storyline, it seems to be contain every cliche possible. I'd personally like to rank this game series as one of the games with worst storyline list (although I think Final Fantasy barely beats it). The voice acting is still bad, though not as horrible as the prequel. The puzzles have actually become more simple and boring. It can now be better called an action game since basically all you do is fighting and fighting. And the combat is far more dull this time, in the prequel you actually had a challenge since ammo and health was scarce. In this game you can happily walk forward blasting everything in sight with no worries.

The Bottom Line
If you force me... I'll perhaps say that the game is enjoyable to play through once. It's a short experience, and there's some good points, the game still sort of has that AitD feeling and... er... yeah, it's got nice music too. Those weirdos who enjoyed the prequel a lot will probably enjoy this game as well, but everyone else should just look in another direction, or if you're totally bored borrow the game from a friend complete it in a few hours and toss it away.