Resident Evil 2 Review - Still a classic despite its age.

By Sam Coles:

The Resident Evil series has had its ups and downs over the years, but fortunately Capcom have got their act together and realise that people still want a good survival horror game with the example of the excellent Resident Evil 7 that was released this year. However Resident Evil 2 still stands as my favourite game in the series as it did what the first game tried to do but better, yes it had more action but it had some terrifying moments coupled with some good puzzles. Is it still a good game? Yes.

Resident Evil 2 takes place after the first game (obviously) where the T-virus has spread to the fictional Racoon City. You either play as Leon S. Kennedy who is a rookie police officer, or as Claire Redfield who is looking for her brother Chris. They are introduced when Leon saves Claire from a zombie with a swift bullet to the head, where they are separated after a car crash caused by a zombified truck driver. They then have to find the police station in a city filled with the undead and horrifying monsters.   

The game is a survival horror title if that wasn’t obvious enough, with combat that has been tweaked compared to the original as it feels less awkward, yes it still has the tank controls but feels less like trying to manoeuvre a wheel barrow in a one by one space. The aiming feels tighter and less stiff compared to the first with satisfying feedback as you see the zombies bleed heavily as they recoil heavily like an inflatable tube man.  It’s not just action though as puzzles do still have a huge part in the game, but they are not as cryptic as they were in the first game, I’m not saying they are completely obvious and spell it out for you but they are easier to solve and don’t get in the way of the tension of the game.

Like most survival horror titles you’re not an unstoppable killing machine, you’re a normal person with the accuracy of an old age pensioner trying to count their change. You take a lot of damage from a single hit and barely have any ammo to get you through a situation; this is why you have to manage your inventory from your ammo, healing items and ink ribbons to help you save. Yes you have limited saves which adds to the tension to the game as you can be fresh out of these things and your last save may have been 2 hours ago.

The atmosphere of the game is fantastic, it starts of chaotic with the introduction where everything is on fire and you have zombies swarming you, but once you get to the police station the game switches gears and becomes slower paced in a good way. Once at the police station you’re introduced to one of the first creatures known as the Licker and its introduction is fantastic. When you’re in the first save room you see something run past the window which you might miss if you blink, but then it slowly approaches when you leave the room. This is one of the many examples of how Resident Evil 2 builds tension, with the monsters and soundtrack, or lack of a soundtrack in some aspects because like the first there are rooms with no music, all you hear are your footsteps and the distant moans of monsters.

Visually the game is not bad, yes the character models are somewhat blocky but they are pretty good for PS1 quality coupled with the pre-rendered backgrounds which are great for the limited hardware. This was the period of pre-rendered backgrounds due to the limited 3D hardware of the time so they had to make do with these, games like the Oddworld series did a similar thing. The monster designs are fantastic and they added in more zombie variety instead of the two stock ones they had from the first two, yes they do repeat but it’s nice they added in more.  

Resident Evil 2 is still a fantastic horror experience with excellent action, great tension and some decent puzzles. If you can pick up a copy on the PS1, but you can get it on the N64 (yes seriously), Dreamcast and GameCube.