Hello everyone, welcome to my classic game review of Resident Evil 2. This sequel to the 1996 original, came out two years later in 1998. Made by Capcom, of course, and released for the Playstation One. Resident Evil 2 is very much like the first one in terms of graphics and gameplay, but on a much larger scale. Instead of Chris and Jill, this time you play as two new protagonists, Leon and Claire.
This is the first time we get to meet what would become two of the cornerstones of the Resident Evil cast of characters, Claire Redfield and Leon Kennedy. Claire Redfield is the younger sister of Chris Redfield, the male protagonist from the original. She arrives in Raccoon City to find her brother, and realizes that the town is infested with zombies. Leon Kennedy is a rookie cop and this is his first day on the job at the Raccoon City police department. He too soon realizes that the town is overrun with the undead. The incident at the Spencer Mansion from the first game has gotten out of control and is spreading to the entire town. The two of them run right into each other and this is how the game begins. A city in chaos and two people completely unprepared for the zombie invasion they are in the middle of.
Back in 1998 zombies were still relatively new and as a young kid I absolutely loved this game. My friends and I would stay up all night playing through this, getting further and further. This was one of the first games I had ever played where you had two disks, one for each character. Much like the first game you got to choose who you wanted to play as first, but this time each one had their own disk. Depending on who you chose first it would effect the play through of the other character. Meaning you had to beat it Leon then Claire, and after Claire then Leon, in order to unlock all the possible extras. That meant beating the game four times essentially. This added tremendous replay value and I'm surprised more games don't use the same method. It's not like it was a completely different game the next time you played through, but varied enough to make you want to do it. Especially since it was so much fun.
Resident Evil 2 was the first game to introduce one of the most iconic Resident Evil locations, besides the Spencer Mansion, the Police Station. Filled with hidden rooms and secret puzzles, the police station is just as much of a maze as the mansion was. You also learn more about the backstory of Umbrella, the secret organization that is responsible for the zombie outbreak. There are new characters like William Birkin the scientist who invented the G-virus, who is also partly responsible for what's happening in Raccoon City. As well as his daughter Sherry Birkin, who you even play as for a short while in the game. One of my favorite enemies is also introduced in Resident Evil 2, the Licker. Basically a person with their skin peeled off, who has mutated with large claws for climbing around on the walls and ceiling, and who has a ten foot long tongue they use to whip at anybody nearby. There's also the Tyrant who gets dropped down from a helicopter and stalks you around the Police Station no matter how many times you think you killed him.
Now as you can tell in these screenshots the game doesn't have very pretty graphics. Everything is very blocky looking and blurry. When it first came out I never had an issue with it, but going back and playing it today it stands out like a sore thumb. This game also uses the tank controls that I know a lot of people have a problem with, luckily that never bothered me. And for whatever reason it's not easy to find this game anymore unless you have the original or the Gamecube version of it, with the console as well. Back when they remade the original Resident Evil I thought this one wasn't going to be far behind, but they never made it. Resident Evil 2 was the best selling game the series ever had so I really am not sure why Capcom didn't remake it. Luckily now almost 20 years later they are said to be remaking Resident Evil 2. I have no idea when it will actually come out, but I can't wait.
Resident Evil is one of my favorite video game franchises ever and this one is right up there as possibly the best one. With a whole new cast of characters and being able to explore some of Raccoon City this is exactly what I wanted in a sequel. If the graphics weren't so bad it would probably be ported to the modern generation of consoles, but with the remake not far off now hopefully we'll all be able to revisit all the glory of Resident Evil 2 with a fresh coat of paint on it, and mabey more. If you love survival horror games than you'll most likely agree this is one of the best. I give Resident Evil 2 a score of.....
90
Thank you for reading my review, I hope you enjoyed it!