Resident Evil 2

Going into this I personally did not have any high expectations for this one after playing the past few entries into the series and not really enjoying them, the last good Resident Evil game was probably back on the PS2 with Code Veronica. Thus deep down I did not want a remake as I was sure it would go bad and to make matters worse Resident Evil 2 is by far the best in the series, or for a better word my personal favourite in the series.

Resident Evil 2 was my very first horror game growing up and it was terrifying, what helped a lot with that was the music and atmosphere. Thus I ended up buying the Collectors Edition which came with the Original music in-game swap, meaning I could listen to the original music rather than the new soundtrack. I am still yet to hear the new soundtrack too, thus unfortunately I cannot comment on this any further. Overall the edition seemed very much worth it.

To our great surprise and amazement I actually ended up enjoying the Remake quite a lot. The atmosphere is spot on and is much darker than the original which made things much more terrifying. I'll be honest I was quite scared when playing this as I opted to play with my bedroom lights off thus I was sitting in the dark enjoying a rather dark game. Also, to add more enjoyment to it I also opted to wear my Headphones and the impact was amazing!

I believe and always have believed that to fully enjoy a horror its best to play in the dark and thus I did. There are many scary scenes within the game some of which are not expected.

​There are slight changes and tweaks to this game compared to the old but for the most part it has thankfully kept to the original as much as possible. Different cutscenes that explain certain story plot points have changed but still give the same answers and the rooms are slightly different but still looks rather familiar.

The game also holds up well with being a survival horror which is what Resident Evil truly is and not an action shooter unlike some other titles. There where many times I'd run out of ammunition along with Health items and be worried about what will come next.

The game also features many puzzles to solve some of which are familiar but seem to have a slight change to it, whilst others are completely new to the series.

The characters remain the same as in there are two separate scenarios to play through and it has thankfully not been force fed into one giant plot, this was how it was like back in the original and as a massive fan of the original I was grateful to see this had not changed.

Each of the two different characters have their own unique story which revolves around the same outbreak and zombie infested nightmare.

​I again had no expectations and as a huge fan of the original was really worried about this one, time and time again I would tell people whom I was close to that Capcom would somehow damage this game. Thankfully it never happened, Capcom despite their last entries managed to realise what the fans truly wanted and delivered! So thanks for this Capcom, Resident Evil 2 in particular is very close to my heart so I really appreciate this.

OVERALL:

This game is truly terrifying and it does not need jump scares to pull it off neither. Atmosphere is spot on and thanks to the music swap I was able to feel nostalgic whilst enjoying something slightly different.

The zombies and various monsters are all very much a frightful addition to an already terrifying game, many times we where scared out of our wits and despite there being a run button we never once found ourselves able to use it for the fear of not knowing what to expect next. I'm sure I'll be having nightmares of my own soon enough thanks to this masterpiece!

PROS:

+ It can be very much a re-playable game, if you enjoy speed-running games. It has an end of game results screen, thus you can always replay and try to get the best result!

+ Having the ability to use the music swap option is really nostalgic and a highlight in our eyes

+ The game has tried to keep to the original as much as possible which for fans of the older version is amazing to see!

CONS:

+ Despite perhaps stated as having four different stories, it unfortunately does not. Both the playable characters runs seem very similar. The only difference being during the two separate campaigns is that there is one different playable character, thus four playable characters in total. Besides that neither campaign is much different from the other.

+ The puzzles and the ability to find different items is all too easy, in the original they where much harder to solve and find.

Main Story Length: 20-24 Hours

Platinum Trophy Length: 40 - 50 Hours