Resident Evil 2 is a Survival-Horror title for PS4, XBONE, and PC which was developed and published by Capcom. It is a full remake of 1998's title of the same name and of course a sequel to first Resident Evil game.
Resident Evil as a whole video game series are one of my favourite horror franchise was widely known for creepy settings of horror presentation, deadly bio-monsters, survival tactics, puzzle-solving aspects, cast of memorable characters, and the story involves outbreak crisis that is the reason why I loved the series so much from my childhood nostalgia to current gaming generation.
I will never forget the memorable moments that defining the series such as zombie coming out of closet, dogs jumping out of windows, nemesis chases you around, battling with tyrants, villagers welding with the chainsaw, escaping from self-destruct, and lets not forget a hilarious part from Jill sandwich jokes to Chris punching boulder.
The first Resident Evil game in 1996 was well received and commercially, and it is often credited for defining the survival horror genre had led the series spawn with many sequels, spin-offs, remakes, films, novels, and merchandises.
The game I will reviewing on is definitely Resident Evil 2 for my PS4 as I'm looking forward to playing a full remake of beloved 1998's original title. While the remake did follow the similar plot of original featuring better script writing and character's performance, the game managed to improve upon the original such as playing on third-person perspective similar to previous RE game such as RE 4 which resulting better combat gameplay and easier to interact items and objects, and more realism on the graphics design featuring better character's animation and level structure.
So far, I got to say this is clearly one of the best remake I ever played because it is a faithfulness to the original that I am so glad at Capcom had created the masterpiece that we begged them for years to make a another remake since the 2002's remake of the first game.
So without go further do, let's start the review.
Presentation
The game takes place two months after the event of the first game and it's set at Raccoon City in September 1998 where most of the people have been turned into zombies, due to an outbreak of a viral bioweapon known as the T-Virus, manufactured by Umbrella Corporation.
The game begins with gas station where the rookie cop named Leon S Kennedy meets college student named Claire Redfield, who is looking for her brother named Chris Redfield, a original character from first game.
While escaping from the gas station, they both got separated after car accident which Leon and Claire had agreed to meet up at the city's police department as well as their goal is to escape from the city.
The game had 2 separate scenario such as side A and Side B depending which characters you're playing as in single-player story mode.
You have Leon's scenario where he met another survivor named Ada Wong who works with FBI as her job is to investigate Umbrella as well as obtaining the G virus sample to prove Umbrella's corruption. The Claire's scenario is where her job is to protect the little girl named Sherry Birkin who is also survivor searching for her mother named Annette Birkin, a umbrella employee who reveals that the creature, who chased after her daughter, is her husband William Birkin.
Then you have some random characters like Lieutenant Marvin Branagh, who served with the Racoon Police Department, was infected by the virus and informed Leon or Claire about the incident that affected the city and helped them solve the problem.
There's one of the asshole named Chief Brian Irons who held Sherry captive after confronting her and Claire at parking garage for the whole mess which is the reason I hate this guy in passion.
So far, I liked how the script of the story line is done absolutely well for making the plot much easier to follow the point of the story where the characters get to know each other about the outbreak disaster had affected in city, searching for the loved ones, knowing the history of umbrella, and plotting to escape from the place that are no longer safe is what made this game so important that the viruses are very deadly bio-weapon that kills many of innocent lives affecting global worldwide.
I say I really liked the major two characters such as Leon and Claire are my favourite RE characters because of their relationship between these two really made an interesting conversation when they are inside the car while driving through city and at the outside gateway which builds up the character's development.
I say I also liked the scene with Claire and Sherry are also build a great friendship which is the best way to gain the trust each other as you can see Claire is a kind hearted character that protect the little child like Sherry from those scary zombies which I really liked her the most.
I got to say Ada takes time to trust Leon as she asked him to leave the place, but instead they agreed to help each other to stop the Umbrella corruption which I got to say she is still just a decent as any RE characters.
The whole presentation in the game is pretty well done which brings up the nostalgia of the original design. You have the recognisable locations such as police station filled with the hallways, library, office room, statue's room, clock tower, parking garage, the sewers, and underground base that these settings in the remake are much more appealing to look at and how nicely these level structure came close to the 1998's original design.
I also liked the tone of the whole game are much terror and darker than the original version that really adds up the overall atmospheres of horror design and I got to say most of the zombies and dogs is actually look good in the game giving more aggressive look of their faces.
The best of all are actually cast of monsters such as Lickers the fast moving monster can scratch you with their deadly claws, Plant 43 creatures can bite your head off clean, Lesser G monsters has large tentacle mouth and arm, Tyrant Mr. X chases you around the rooms till you get a massive beatings, Giant Crocodile is a huge-ass monster chases you through the sewers hall, and that god damn William Birkin always never dies that adds up the scare factor which is the reason why these monsters are so memorable in the game.
Overall, it has fantastic story, recognisable cast of characters and enemies, and darker presentation.
Gameplay
In single-player mode, you have an option to pick first two playable characters such as Leon or Claire in different two scenarios (for example: Leon A to Claire B or Claire A to Leon B) as you take control of who you playing as in third-person perspective.
Your goal is to find the way of escaping the city which requires you to complete the puzzle aspects and being able to open up new passage for escape root.
You will starting off with basic controls such as moving player and camera on thumbstick, while pressing left thumbstick to sprint while pushing the stick backward and pressing the circle button to perform 180 degree turn.
You can interact objects and picking up items by pressing the X button to confirm, while the circle button acts as cancel as well.
You will draw the weapon by holding the left trigger, while the left shoulder equips sub-weapon and then pressing or holding the right trigger to shoot at enemies, while you can move and aim with the both thumbstick.
You can gain access to inventory screen by pressing triangle button which lets you re-organise your weapon and items of slots as well as adding weapons on d-pad button as a short-cut which lets you quickly change your weapons.
Each of weapons will have different firing rate and range such as pistol are basically just a handgun deals with less damage and quick reload, the shotgun is short-ranged but deals with powerful shot, the sub-machine gun has faster firing rate but slightly weaker targeting, magnum deals with heavy damage than pistols, and grenade launcher has two variation ammo of acids and flames that gives you an instant kill at enemies.
The sub-weapons such as grenades that lets you throw on the ground or far-distance to blow up whole surrounding enemies, while flash bomb blinds the enemies for 5 seconds. You can also use combat knife as a melee attack when zombies or monster grabs you in close-range, but you can also do the same with the grenades or flash bombs as another back-up melee attack.
You may be encounter by the hordes of zombies or monsters in the department which you will need these weapons to kill them for survival, but the ammo may be limited that you really need to be careful when using the weapons frequently incase you purposely running out of ammo causing you to run away from them, so use it wisely till its necessary.
Aside with the combat controls, you will have the list of objectives on the map screen which involves puzzle solving such as obtaining 3 emblems to unlock hidden path, find the lost object that requires to unlock mechanism such as individuals bookshelf to get across the empty bridge, water down the burning helicopters, open up locked doors or gate with keys or card, developing dispersal cartridge in drug testing lab, and finding another route to enter blocked area.
The key or object can be found in different locations which you can look carefully on the map screen which helps you to navigate the rooms that you never or previously visited, so you can able to find a right room that leads you to the key or object you are looking for.
The part I like in the game is that you will be chased by no other than big dude Mr. X will crush you in pieces when getting to close at him, so you can't kill him instead either stun him for 5 seconds or avoid him as far as you can.
Zombies and dogs are actually dealing with some damages, while some of the enemies deals with their variation such as Licker can perform wall-climbing and using claws as weapon dealing with heavy attack, the plant 43 gives you instant death in close-range, and Lesser G monsters will pouring their spits all over you causing to poison your health status.
You can able to find healing items such as herbs or first aid spray to heal your health status. For example: green herbs heals small amount of health, while combining with red herbs gives you same amount as the first aid spray, and then the blue herbs helps reduces your poisonous status.
You many able to access to safe room where you can able to save progress on typewriter with limited ink ribbons and the storage box lets you store many items to keep it safe for later use.
So far, the game has played absolutely remarkable for making a huge changes on the remake side thanks to third-person perspective view which really helps the game as opposed to fixed-camera angle from the original that didn't hold up to today standards which is the reason why Capcom wanted to go for a over the shoulder view for its easier gameplay design such as being able to aim and shoot freely at enemies, making easier to navigate items and objects what's front of you, and controlling your playable character precisely than the tank controls from the original that made the game fully playable for newcomer of the series.
The combat system is perfection because I really liked how each of weapons has advantages and disadvantages such as shotgun and grenade launcher are worked effectively against bigger tough monster, while the pistols and sub-machine guns are better for some regular enemies in far range attacks and I also liked the rest of the weapons such as flamethrower, miniguns and spark shot which is clearly the strongest of all firearms that gives a instant kills are the best part in the game.
The puzzle solving aspects is actually fantastic that keeps me engaging with the game well because I really liked finding objects to reveal the hidden area as well as finding key or cards in different rooms that leads me to next locations that makes the whole exploration very satisfied.
Collecting random documents and letters are also gives a clue that can lead you to unlock a safe combination for extra useful item and being able to solve the puzzles quickly is quite a helpful.
I also liked the survival tactics in the game where it's more relying on limited ammo and smaller combat focused as well as keeping eye on your health status is the key important for survivors when it is necessary to fight back at zombies or monsters is what survival horror was known for its staying alive as possible without dying.
The game definitely has the coolest boss battles with no other than Mr. X and William Birkin came out of nowhere and start kicking your ass that keeps you very entertained due to overall difficulty really adds a game's challenge.
Overall, it has improved gameplay design, perfect combat, fantastic puzzles, amazing tactics, and entertaining bosses.
Graphics
Resident Evil 2 as a remake is incredibly remarkable for its technical marvel for both PCs and consoles. The newly RE engine really pushes the graphical power of the game's system which really adds the major improvement on character's model feels very rich and detailed that is fully utilised with motion capturing system featuring better facial animation that adds the character's personality and the body movement for both cutscenes and in-game is what I call a biggest achievement in video games.
The game has outstanding level structure that captures the original concept of classic horror game with great environmental details on floors, rooms, and gates, as well as the use of the lighting details that is not so dark and not so bright at the same time that gives the locations a very suspenseful presentation.
I got to love the graphical scenes with so many bloods pouring out and gores fell apart in pieces is perfect for most of the terrifying death scenes.
Overall, it has brilliant character's model, outstanding level structures, and very graphic effects.
Music and Sounds
Unlike the 1998's original soundtrack is clearly has the memorable scores of all Resident Evil games, this score for remake is actually pretty damn amazing that is sounds different from the original game featuring a creepy sounds that made your body shivers the most, while sometimes others can be very dark and depressing for some scenes which I really liked it.
It was composed by Shusaku Uchiyama and Zhenlan Kang did a remarkable job of making a finest score that fits pretty well for most part in the game.
I also liked the environmental sound design for most locations with realistic sound effects and the grunting noise of zombies and monsters, and I got to say the voice performance on character did a amazing job had nailed their role in this game.
Overall, it has excellent music score, environmental sound design, and amazing performance by voice role.
Special Features
The game has in-game unlockable such as 4 survivor modes to play, bonus characters in Tofu survivor, all accessories/hats in ghost survivors, and unlockable alternative costumes based on original RE 2 game, but I got to say it is better to avoid purchasing "all in-game unlock" as DLC because you may accidently unlock a infinite ammo for single play can ruin the whole game, so it's better for you to stick with the unlocking in-game content by simply completing the game itself rather than using this DLC, if you wanted to unlock just for survivor mode and bonus costumes.
It's a shame that the game didn't include the mercenaries mode which is kinda bummer for those who loves spending time shooting bunch of zombies and gaining many score points, but I'm pretty sure the future RE games will definitely going to have it.
Overall, an solid overall packaging.
Advantages
Darker presentation
Fantastic story
Memorable characters and enemies
Perfect combat and puzzles
Cool bosses
Incredible graphics
Amazing music score
Disadvantages
Infinite ammo on all in-game unlock DLC (SO PLEASE DO NOT BUY THIS!!!)
Missing out mercenaries modes
Final Verdict
Presentation 10/10 - fantastic story, recognisable cast of characters and enemies, and darker presentation.
Gameplay 9.5/10 - improved gameplay design, perfect combat, fantastic puzzles, amazing tactics, and entertaining bosses.
Graphics 10/10 - brilliant character's model, outstanding level structures, and very graphic effects.
Music and Sounds 10/10 - excellent music score, environmental sound design, and amazing performance by voice role.
Special Features 9/10 - in-game unlockable such as 4 survivor modes to play, bonus characters in Tofu survivor, all accessories/hats in ghost survivors, and unlockable alternative costumes based on original RE 2 game.
Overall 9.5/10 - As I loved the original RE2, this is a game that deserves to be not just the best remake ever made, but also an all-time greatest game in history that the remake delivers a same charm as the original game has to offer.
I am so happy to see Capcom had finally open their ears to their fans by bringing a game that we all wanted for years since the outstanding RE 1 remake had came out in 2002 releases.
It's good to see your original favourite heroes in a good shape, delivering a spectacular game's design featuring better combat, clever puzzles, intense bosses, and then overall presentation had improved upon on horror settings and the script wring is what made Resident Evil 2 remake class as the masterpiece.
I say this is definitely must buy for all newcomers and the fans of the series, so hopefully I will consider getting Resident Evil 3 Remake for sometime future as well as looking forward to see Resident Evil 8: Village for next gen console.
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