Resident Evil 2

Price: 5.99

Release Date on PSN: November 19th 2009

Original Release Date: Jan 21st 1998

Story

The story in Resident Evil 2 is cliché but I found myself really liking it. You don’t play as Chris Redfield or Jill from the first game that I just reviewed here, but as both Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield, a cop on his first day of the job and Chris’s sister respectively. This game to begin is WAY bigger than the first, at least with story. You have to play through both discs to get the full experience and each disk shows a different perspective on the same environments. Although the characters are more than a little unbelievable I still found myself rooting for them in the end. Trust me on this though, when I started the second disk I was afraid that the story would just repeat itself completely but they changed it up just enough to make it feel new, but familiar and thrilling the whole way though. That’s another thing in this game, it delivers on the thrills. There is one enemy that would have my heart pounding whenever it appeared. For a PSX game, that’s quite a feat.

Voiceovers in this one were a big improvement on the first one as well. They’re still sprouting cheesy dialogue but at least the actors seem somewhat into it this time around. It certainly made the game more entertaining wanting the characters to succeed than hating them like I did in the first for sounding so stupid.

Gameplay

The gameplay is very much the same as in the first Resident Evil. Your characters still move like tanks, there are still item boxes ink ribbons to save your game. Shotguns stocked with ammo to blow the heads off of zombies shuffling towards you… But where the first title falters Resident Evil 2 succeeds. There is a lot more action in this title compared to its predecessor. Although there are still puzzles, they balance themselves really well with the gunplay, to where they never felt like a chore. Speaking of chores, the game didn’t feel like a huge fetch quest like the first. It’s evident that they put a lot of extra work into this one, and it really shows.

There are also a lot more weapons in this version to battle the undead forces with. I found myself quite enthralled with them to the point where I was interested when the next one would show up. And using them against the Bosses in this game were great fun. Much better boss fights this time around.

Graphics

This was a real step up from the first game. The character models are a lot more detailed, and there is more way of them (so not just one zombie, many types, and even female zombies!). The animations are better; the effects like water and fire all look great (at least I think so). And the environments are way more interesting this time around as well.

The CG cut scenes look great too, and they really help balance out the experience and make the characters more relatable than just being walking tanks that make somewhat human gestures ones and a while.

How Resident Evil 2 it holds up today

I must admit I was pleasantly surprised by this one, I wasn’t expecting much after the first game wasn’t my cup of tea, but instead of suffering through this one, I flew through it. That’s one thing, it felt a little short, (due to excellent pacing) but being short and sweet certainly won me over. Pick this up over the first one. I can see why it’s so revered.

8.75/10

Resident Evil 2 Played through on a PSP-3000

10 hours play time approx (plus, I hate it when they grade you in games, it serves no purpose than to humiliate you…).

Images Via Giantbomb.com