Pros: Creepy story, clever 'zapping' system, Ada Wong is hot...in RE4
Cons: Today, the RE controls are more awkward than 10 year olds playing spin the bottle
The bottom line: Since this is apparently my 300th review, I decided to review one of my old favorites. Actually it's more like touching up a review I wrote 3 years ago.
Resident Evil 2 had quite an unusual path to release - a path almost impossible to follow in today's gaming industry. The original RE2 build, lovingly known as Resident Evil 1.5 by the RE fanboys, was scrapped at almost 75% done because the game simply wasn’t creative enough and too much like the original. So the game that was once set for release in spring of 1997 was to be redone, from scratch. Despite those same fanboys who flooded Capcom and their mailboxes for months on end (and many still do, I’m certain) begging for Capcom to finish and release 1.5, nobody can say the idea to start from scratch & create a new Resident Evil sequel was a bad one, because RE2 was a substantial improvement on the original. RE2 simply gets it all right – a twisty, turny story, excellent visuals for the era, and plenty of good (if clichéd) scares, and a few disturbing moments that mess with your mind. If it wasn’t for a game with the innocent title of Metal Gear Solid, RE2 would have easily been the 1998 PlayStation game of the year – it’s that good. And to this day, RE2 is an excellent title for anyone who owns a PS/PS2 and still don’t have it in their collection. Sure, it's aged weirdly and compared to the heavenly Resident Evil 4 it's woefully awkward to play, but still...this is a classic.

Resident Evil 2’s story picks up where RE1 left off – Claire Redfield, the sister of RE1 hero (or bumbling doofus, depending on your angle) of Chris Redfield, comes into Raccoon City looking for Chris, who had left for Europe on an Umbrella hunt (this is where the events of RE C:V come into play, since that’s the true sequel to RE2). Once she arrives, things certainly aren’t right, with zombies everywhere looking for a free lunch. Meanwhile, rookie RPD (that’s Raccoon Police Department for those keeping score at home) cop Leon Kennedy is heading to town for his first day of work, a convenient and always fun character angle. In the process they both meet up and drive off in a police car, only to be separated when an oil tanker explodes between them. Each go their own way, and the gameplay begins. Your goal – meet up at the RPD station, a supposedly safe haven that winds up being a hellhole. The majority of the game (but not all of it) is played in this 4 story building. Along the way, you’ll meet up with 2 different supporting characters – each are playable for short periods of time, and wind up playing bigger roles at the end than you ever expected.

What made RE2 so creative at the time is the “Zapping” system that the game introduced (something seen done in a more refined form with C:V). Each character has their own individual game disc (2 total discs for this game), and each carries 2 different stories and paths. Depending on who you begin the game with, you’ll play the game again (Scenario B, as it’s called) with the other character, taking place at the exact same time as the other scenario is taking place. This means there’s 4 different ways to beat RE2 right off the bat, and completing them opens up a couple new things to increase the replay value more. The other parts of the Zapping system involve some items. For instance, about halfway through the game, down in the police department weapons room, you’ll encounter a submachine gun and a side pack for equipping more items. As such, you can take both – but when you play through the other scenario with the other character, they won’t be there. Take one of the 2, and the one left over will remain for that character. This decision is important & can cost you later if you get greedy (or too unselfish). Other examples include a fingerprint-sealed door towards the end of the game – you need 2 fingerprints, and that can only be done with one character doing it the first time around, and your 2nd scenario character doing it when they reach that point as well. If it’s passed up by one of them, you won’t be able to see what’s beyond the door. Pretty neat.

Besides that, nothing really was different in the core gameplay introduced in the original release. The puzzles are the dominant factor, and while some are extremely obscure/weird, Capcom covers their tracks by introducing you to the police chief (and wannabe mayor), which you learn is a very...interesting man with a few...strange hobbies, making the weird puzzles fit in because of the sick-minded chief. For RE veterans, the puzzles aren’t really earth shattering, but I get an impression that’s the point – to keep the story moving (note that these are still far more tricky than the stuff in RE4). What’s neat is both characters will have different puzzles to solve at given times – each of their scenario’s are different in minor ways, like the original RE was. A few of the puzzles are frustrating trial-and error sorts, but usually they don’t give you too much trouble as long as you know how to think. Unfortunately this design lead to a lot of backtracking, be it to actually solve the puzzle or to just head back to a save spot and access your magical item chest that just so happens to have all the items you placed in a different item box. Gotta love Resident Evil.

Leon and Claire both control the same as you’d expect in an RE game prior to RE4 - the good old clunky, weird RE controls that would have never bothered anyone if there wasn't zombies to avoid and/or shoot at, making it merely a classic PC-style adventure game. Personally, I never had too much trouble with classic RE's control – aside from the frustrating, robotic handling, the scheme was easy enough to deal with over time and the game was designed in a way to compensate since there was never moments of non-stop action. Granted, trying to play this after a year of Resident Evil 4 playthroughs is a wee bit strange. To compensate for the stiff movements, Capcom implemented an auto-aim feature, which the first RE didn't have until the director's cut. It could be turned on and off, but it was practically required to get a good shot in on enemies.

The negative for RE2 is how short each scenario is – it may take 5-6 hours the first time around, and only 2 hours or so once you get a lay of the land – per scenario. And each Scenario B is shorter, and can be completed in less than 2 hours, for a total of 8-10 hours to beat all 4 scenario variations. Personally, this isn’t a big deal, because the game is so well done that it’s worth playing through multiple times to increase your score and beat it fast. Plus if you can get done quickly with a high grade, you can get a fat rocket launcher with infinite ammo. Rockin', yo. And of course there are 2 fun bonus scenarios to play as, one with Hunk, the Umbrella agent guy, and Tofu, a huge walking tofu with a knife. So there's a lot of replay. Also, this isn’t a flaw but more of a rationalization – RE2 isn’t as scary as the original (though in hindsight RE wasn't all that creepy). Perhaps its because of the RE1 clichés that are used consistently, or even because the scares that aren’t taken from the original are easy to see a mile coming (such as the 2-way mirror room, only a doof would not think something was up, and even if nothing happened it wouldn’t be scary), but the game just is more psychologically chilling than scary. Some of the imagery and characters are really bizarre and create some disturbing scenarios later on. Not Silent Hill disturbing, but close.

Visually, RE2 is pre-rendered bliss. Even these days the game still looks pretty decent, with only the animations and design of the various characters being below par. The backgrounds are full of details, with bloodstains in some places, lit up signs, and great lighting effects. Also, they’re so convincing that any objects that are to be picked up blend in near perfectly, making you look around a lot to find whatever you need to advance. Usually pre-rendered static backgrounds help objects stick out, but not in the case of RE2. The once staggering CG is a bit crappy though. I blame Square. The characters themselves are not detailed by today’s means – but aren’t bad. An over-use of hand gestures and such make it seem like a bad high school stage play, but it’s not that difficult to ignore. The zombies (and other creatures) look great and have convincing feet shuffling and crawling for your legs. As such, the head-smashing or kicking for each main character is a blast to see for a good laugh.

The sound is also well done – the musical score is chilling and creepy, with slow piano dirges in some places, and a recurring police station theme that paints a picture of despair and fear. All the various pieces of music are fitting to the area, and all perfectly keep you on the edge of your seat, never letting up. It's probably the defining soundtrack for the entire franchise even if it was a PlayStation game. Gunshot sounds are great - especially the sound of a shotgun hitting zombie head; it really sounds like you busted some brains. Also sharp are the moans and screams of the zombies and other mutations. The voice acting, once the bane of RE1, is much improved. It’s still got a twinge of b-movie flair (and seeing the entire franchise is a b-movie, you'll never escape that), but it’s still done pretty well. There aren’t many corny/stupid phrases – there may be a few poorly read lines here and there, but nothing really terrible. Compared to many modern games though, it definitely seems a bit off-key.

The Last Paragraph

Resident Evil 2 was easily the best RE game on the PlayStation, and though it's been far surpassed by Resident Evil 4, it's still the best all-around RE game that was built upon the classic RE mechanics. Thanks to its clever ideas like the Zapping system, it also stands out as the most unique RE game of the bunch...well until RE4 came along and changed everything (feels like I've been saying this a whole lot, eh?). It's old, but it's held up pretty well even though the main control basics are antiquated and clunky. Still there are thousands of RE fans who swear by the mechanics, so Capcom must have done something right. Resident Evil was the beginning, but Resident Evil 2 is the game that took the franchise to the heights it reached back when it was one of the most important titles in gaming and one of the numerous reasons to own a PlayStation.