Jacob Waring—Opinions & Features Editor
My hands trembled with the PS4 remote, as I controlled Leon Kennedy as he navigated the dark, tartarean halls of the Raccoon Police Department. I turn the corner in the hall, and I squealed as a decayed a zombie lunged for my neck. In a panic, I fired a hail of bullets from my Matilda handgun into its head until I am sure the undead fiend was defeated.
Resident Evil 2, is a frightening game. You will find yourself feeling tense. You will worry about your stock of ammunition. You will just run for your life. Every door that creaks, every ghoulish moan and every sound will leave you feeling angsty. This is vintage Resident Evil, and Capcom brilliantly did this remake justice in every way.
Yes, this is a remake but the game surpasses the original ’98 version. In the original, you would have limited movability as you would move and fire like a tank. The camera angles were always fixed in one angle in every environment within the game. Comparatively, the remake’s mobility just flows better. The over the shoulder perspective makes the game enjoyable, and thematically allows the game to provide the terror more fluidly.
Despite the updated graphics and movement, the game still has the heart of the original. The story remains with same with minor tweaks to modernize story for today’s players. There are still two campaigns. The terrifying tyrant will still hunt you down. The puzzles are still a major component of the game. The DNA of the original is evidently there with only a new layer of cosmetics.
The game is design for multiple playthroughs. The two characters, Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield have their own campaigns. They generally play the same but they have different weapons to tackled the monstrosities. They specifically only have access to certain rooms, and they encounter different side characters. Once to beat both of their first campaigns then their second campaigns unlock. The solution to puzzles does change, items are place differently and there are different endings.
If you plan to do just one playthrough, with one character then you are only doing yourself a disservice. On average, it would take five to six hours to complete. If you were to complete, unlock and attempt to do all the achievements and trophies, it would take a lot longer with about 20 hours to complete the cycle. The high replayability is a major reason why I, and others absolutely adore the game.
My only real gripe is that the zombies are obnoxiously hard to kill. When I shoot a zombie in the head, I expect it would only take one or two shots. It should not take five or more bullets to deal with the undead. On, higher difficulties… it is ridiculous how many bullets it takes to take down one shambling zombie.
Also, I am disappointed that giant moths, spiders, and zombie crows were excluded from the game. I understand that the game designers are utilizing photorealistic technologies but I think no one would care if those enemies stand out like a sore thumb. I remember having the socks scared off of me in the original game when I first encountered the spiders and was looking forward in engaging in battle with those eight-legged beasties.
The photo-realism is fantastic but if it was to come at the expense of nostalgia of epic G-Virus monsters then it is not worth it. I don’t play for the realism, but because I want to timidly battle fantastical creatures.
Overall, this has been the best Resident Evil game in years. It is both a trip down nostalgia boulevard. The remake also shows the potential of future Resident Evil games because as great as Resident Evil 7 was, it was missing the charm that Resident Evil 2 provides. The charm was there, in all its beautiful gory glory.
Zombies are harder to kill because it isn’t a horror action game, it’s survival horror. You aren’t meant to bullet blaze through the whole game. You’re supposed to avoid conflict to the best of your skills.
You don’t find G-virus monsters because this was a T-virus outbreak. The G-virus wasn’t released yet since that’s what Birkin was trying to sell, and he plus minor mutations were known to have it.
The moths and spiders were T-virus mutations, not G, and honestly, highly unnecessary. If anything they should be more prominent in the Sheena Island incident, and not Raccoon City.
Infected crows were also T-virus cases and would appear again AFTER Raccoon City had become completely infected by the T.
So photorealism has nothing to do with what was removed or not. No nostalgia loss there.