Same Thing, Still Great
Resident Evil 2 was an incredible survival horror game for its time and still tops many current titles in the survival horror genre. This Gamecube release was part of a series of remakes developed specially for the system. Although you might expect that lots of things have changed in this version of the game, there are really only a few things that differ from the original release. However, it still holds the same great characters, plot, and gameplay that the original Resident Evil 2 had to offer.
You’ll start out playing as Leon S. Kennedy, a Raccoon City Police officer who’s on his first day of the job. You meet up with Claire Redfield who is looking for her brother in the city, and after an action packed cut scene, you’ll end up separated from her by the burning carcass of a semi tractor trailer truck. You’ll soon end up at the Police Station where most of the game takes place. The eerie setting couldn’t be better for a zombie game.
The Police Station is pretty much a maze of rooms along with puzzles to complete in order to get from place to place. Most puzzles are fairly simple, however you will still need to search for a number of items and keys in order to advance through the game. You won’t encounter many living characters; however you will come upon some instances where you have to play the game with an AI partner by your side.
In total you will make your way through three areas including the Police Station, the Sewers, and the Research Facility. Each of these places come along with their own frightening scenarios and jumpy moments. The atmosphere couldn’t be better for making you feel like you are in the same shoes as Leon Kennedy.
The plot is told beautifully throughout the game through small cut scenes and the journals and files that you can pick up in different places. Each document you find reveals more about the story or gives you some background on events that happened before the zombie outbreak. For a zombie fan like myself and many others, these are a treat to read through every time one is found. In addition to these documents are rolls of film that you can develop in a dark room at the Police Station. Sometimes these may foreshadow events that will happen in the future or give you glimpses of monsters you will soon encounter.
The entire experience throughout is absolutely incredible and any fan of zombies, horror, or the survival horror genre of video games should be impressed. Even after you beat the game as Leon, you can still go back through another scenario as Claire Redfield which ties up some loose ends in the story. There is a lot of replayability to it and anybody should be glad about that. However, the Gamecube version of the game is rather underwhelming when you get down to it.
There aren’t really any new features added to the Gamecube version except for some new graphics. All of the environments look a lot better in the game, but the character models only seem to have been altered a little if they have been altered at all. There are a few new things when it comes to shooting enemies. For instance, if you achieve a headshot, the zombie’s head will blow apart and you can see chunks of it flying. But the minor graphical differences between this game and the original on PS1 are not really enough to cause you to buy it over again. If you’ve never experienced Resident Evil 2 but you have a Gamecube or a Wii, then this should be a great game for you. However, for any other person who has already played the game, I don’t especially recommend it.