Resident Evil 2 Review

Resident Evil 2 is a complete remake of the original game in Capcom's RE Engine - the one which powers Resident Evil VII. Over 20 years have passed since the release of the original RE2, making it a good time for both longtime fans and newcomers to the game.


Much has been made of the steady change to the Resi formula. The tanky, slow paced, survival-horror franchise made a dramatic shift to the more action focused Resident Evil 4. It still retained the atmosphere of it's fore-bearers but the controls, bigger inventory and setpiece design definitely placed the focus on action. This trend continued with Resident Evil 5 and culminated in the messy and radically changed Resident Evil 6.

Capcom did learn that players did prefer the more traditional style of Resi game and did release the excellent Resident Evil Revelations of 3DS. The latest game (Resi VII) debuted their new engine which offers amazing visual fidelity (especially with the lighting) something massively important in a horror game. It seems like everyone is pining for nostalgia these days and the remake of the first Resident Evil game was well received. It seemed natural that the same treatment would eventually be given to the sequel.

The remade Resi 2 is simultaneously nostalgic and fresh. We've got a responsive, 3rd person view with some mechanics that are decidedly old school. There's no cover system and ammo is limited. You can move and shoot but your accuracy will suffer. Pressing the "B/O" button and back does allow for a 180 degree quick-turn. Other than that you don't have anything else in the way of movement. Ideally, you manage to deal with the enemy from range, before they grab and attack you. You might get lucky with a bold, forward maneuver and you can escape being grabbed by using your knife or a grenade. These are consumable items so it's not possible to rely on them.

You were pretty but that was three days ago.

Speaking of, ammo and recovery item management is crucial. Your inventory is also small, so you'll have to decide what to hold and what to store in your item box. Quite often I did not pick up items and only came back for them after I cleared up some space. Do you fill up your inventory with extra ammo for all your guns or do you leave one in the item box? Should you carry multiple healing items or could you get away with one? How many free slots should I leave for potential items I might find?

While this might sound like tedious item management, this actually adds to the intensity of the experience. You might run past some tough enemies and discover that you can't pick up some key items. Now you'll have to go back again, or maybe, take the fight to them, use up some ammo, and then free up inventory space. Once again, these challenges are far from tedious. Fans of old school Resi games will immediately be familiar with it and new players will learn this quickly. It's like a mini rogue-lite experience between save points. On that note, in Normal mode you have unlimited saves. Hardcore mode requires the usage of limited, typewriter ink ribbons. This ramps up the tension exponentially. There's also an assisted mode which will help newcomers or those who don't mormally play the genre.

The quirky and often nonsensical Resident Evil style puzzles return but they seem far tamer than I remember. Much of the game doesn't really make sense outside of this universe but within these mechanics, we've got an incredibly satisfying game. Just like the original games were. This actually makes one think if the trend for more realistic and 'immersive' games makes sense at all.

My first playthrough as Claire took about 12 hours to finish. After that I tried playing as Leon on Hardcore mode. This time I managed to do it in 8 hours, despite the difficulty increase. The game is meant for replay and each character will have unique plot elements which is required to understand the complete story. They also have access to different weapons and locations, which makes a big difference in the gameplay.

When you're done with your first playthrough, you are also given a "Second Run" or B-campaign mode. If you've never played one of the old-school Resi games before, you might think this is just a cheap way to increase the game length. This is not quite the case, it feels different enough to make it worthwhile and there's a sense of 'mastery' and optimisation of your playthroughs which I found quite addictive.

Adding even more value to the game is A free DLC pack called Ghost Survivors (a rogue-like survival experience) where you have a single life to survive unique scenarios as various characters. These are extremely challenging and will take several tries to get right. It's wonderful to get quality content like this for free. It makes the paid DLC for costumes and weapons seem reasonable.

The remade Resident Evil 2 is a must play for fans of the original, as well as newcomers to the game or franchise. There was genuine love and attention lavished upon this title and is the kind of remake I want to see more of.

Pros

Retains the feel of the classic game but with modern quality of life enhancements.
Polished
Free DLC

Cons

This isn't really a 'con' but the classic Resi formula may not be for everyone

Rating: 90%