Staff Writer
Resident Evil 2 was probably the most well known of the original trilogy for its intriguing story, setting, and its iconic characters is introduced to the series such as Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield. It was infamous for new players because of the original trilogies tank control scheme in which full 360O movement wasn’t possible, only forward or backward and turning through fixed angled rooms. The remake aimed to bring this slightly aged experience into a more modern gaming environment with its new third-person controls and fully modeled environments.
Like the original Resident Evil 2, the remake is more so a standalone story than a direct sequel to the first, with it primarily taking place within Raccoon City during an outbreak of a virus that creates zombies. Leon and Claire find themselves over time deeply involved with many deeper connections and people behind the outbreak eventually leading to many dramatic moments. It is an enjoyable story that while not too complex creates a great sense of tension.
The limited inventory of classic Resident Evil returns in this remake with only about 8 slots to begin with as it slowly grows throughout the game to 16. Many key items and weapons will take upwards of 2 slots and far more with ammo and health taken into mind. It’s always a stressful time when you are forced to make decisions of what items, ammo, or even guns you should leave behind to carry more key items or resources you really need. It was the worst being chased and cornered by creatures with nearly no healing items due to my greed for ammo and my hefty use of weapons, it’s a mechanic that limits all play styles just right.
The twisted hallways and subway looking designs of the classic Resident Evils return once more to create a heavily puzzling start within the puzzle filled Raccoon Police Department, hilariously given a backstory as a classic museum in the remake to make some sense of the weird obscure puzzles thrown about the place similar to the design of the Umbrella Lab later on. The subway designs are most obvious in the sewers and streets of Raccoon City in which it is very straight forward but fairly action and encounter focused with the Tyrant creature Mr. X chasing you around constantly, unable to be defeated and always just right behind you, he creates the perfect sense of tension and fear throughout the simpler parts of the game.
While the story changes are welcome and greatly improve the plot of the original in many ways they also create a more easy to understand and intriguing story in the depressing case of Raccoon City. The most exciting changes to many were the introduction of Ada Wong and Sherry Birkin as more than just partners but entirely playable characters within their own short segments. They both tackle completely different aspects of gameplay with Sherry being focused on stealth hiding from Chief Irons of the RPD. Ada however is on a journey to enter the Umbrella Lab and her segment features her using a hacking tool to quietly break her way into the lab, interrupted several times by Sherry’s mother and several monstrous creatures, her low damage and defense creates a situation in which running is always the best decision.
Most importantly there’s the A and B scenario mechanic where you must play the game twice to actually experience all the primary content. B scenarios are just harder and shorter versions of the A campaigns but are perfect to go to after any A route as to experience the journey through the eyes of the character you didn’t choose first whether it be Leon or Claire. Basically if you choose Claire A you should then play Leon B to experience that character’s journey throughout Raccoon City. They both explore the same places and fight similar enemies and bosses but the story along the way is completely different. For example, the before mentioned Sherry is only playable in Claire’s routes and Ada in Leon’s routes. It’s quite a creative take on replayability and further increases the amount of content and accessibility of storytelling in simple ways.
There are several extra scenarios perfect for play after the main campaign under the title of Ghost Survivors that all bring new challenges with them while also telling stories of an alternate timeline that never was in which certain characters survive that didn’t within the original story. Besides Ghost Survivors there is one more scenario that is canon in which an Umbrella solder, HUNK, must escape from Raccoon City before it’s bombing, it takes HUNK throughout the entire game’s settings in a sort of challenging Victory Lap with fairly limited inventory and resources throughout, by far being the hardest segment. For some odd reason beating this allows you to then play through it again with 5 new characters, all of which are sentient blocks of toku, these characters are all made to be the hardest challenge, with me getting nowhere as them.
Overall Resident Evil 2’s Remake is just an amazing game that covers nearly everything fans adore about the franchise, from its crazy B-movie action-horror plot to its dramatic and tension-filled gameplay, it’s all there and perfect to its absolute best. As possibly the best Resident Evil game I say it is well deserved a playthrough by anyone even slightly interested in the series where or not you have prior knowledge.