This article originally ran under a different banner/website in February of 2019 and is now being here re-uploaded for purposes of convenience and consolidation. Please enjoy.
OH, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, YOU FIND ME IN QUITE THE GOOD MOOD. In a week, where Electronic Arts blamed Battlefield V’s low sales on spending too much time crafting the single-player campaign, it’s nice to shove a game like Resident Evil 2 in EA’s face. Foolish, EA, you can wish it all you want, but people still want single-player games. The success of Resident Evil 2 is more than enough proof. Capcom has apparently reported that the game has shipped 3 million copies in its first week alone. Surely though, you’re not here to see me kick EA while they are down; you’re here to see me shout about the Resident Evil 2 remake atop my soapbox. For you, my humble followers, I shall abide.
As I load up Resident Evil 2, I am given the choice of whether to play Leon Kennedy or Claire Redfield. I chose Leon to see what events turned him into the smug wisecracking secret agent he is in Resident Evil 4. After being trapped in a freezer with a zombie, Leon is united with Claire, and the two drive headfirst into danger. They soon are split up as they arrive at Raccoon City and Leon seeks sanctuary in the Raccoon City Police Department. Upon being rescued by Lieutenant Marvin Branagh, Leon must try to escape the zombie-infested police station and try to get to the bottom of the rising infection.
Now escaping the Raccoon City Police Station is not a mere feat. Repurposed from an old museum, the Raccoon City Police Station is filled with locked doors and secret passages that require you to explore every nook and cranny. It almost feels metrovania-like as you slowly find keys to unlock other areas you have to backtrack through. Resident Evil 2 is also more efficient with its space in comparison to open-world games. While backtracking through an open-world game can feel tedious and tiresome; backtracking through the police stations provides opportunities to scavenge for supplies, familiarize yourself with the police station, unlock new puzzles and work to find your escape. The route required to escape the police station is well designed and carries through in the later sewer and secret lab levels despite being smaller in comparison to the police station. Personally, I have always preferred games with these compact levels over games with large empty sandboxes like Fallout 76.
The gameplay also seems to be fine-tuned to my preferences as well. Resident Evil 2 has incorporated the third-person camera from Resident Evil 4, but Capcom seemed to hear my complaint about not being able to shoot and move and remedied that. Both Leon and Claire are able to move around while taking aim. Luckily, that doesn’t relinquish the terror that the Resident Evil 2 zombies can bring. These foes are not easy to take down. They can take multiple shots to the heads before falling down, and sometimes that doesn’t even kill them. Early on, I found that some of the zombies that I thought I had disposed of would be ready to enact some revenge as I return back to their rooms. At first, I wasn’t a fan of that, but I realized it emphasizes the survival horror that Resident Evil was known for. It forces you to make tense decisions: do I waste bullets clearing the room or do I try to weave through the zombies to conserve ammo. You do eventually get some heavier firepower that does kill zombies, but ammo is still limited.
With each shot counting, these zombies can be fearsome as they rush towards you. These beefy bloody nightmarish creatures are very effective at creating scares throughout Resident Evil 2. There had been numerous times, where I thought a zombie was down just to be startled by one reaching for my leg. Luckily, when a zombie is trying to take a bite, you can use a knife or grenade to get them off with a simple quick-time event. Unlike the obnoxious QTE’s from Resident Evil 4, these QTE’s are quick, simple, and very much feels like Capcom tailored Resident Evil 2 to my liking.
Just when you start to feel like you’re getting lauded into a false sense of security, that’s when Resident Evil 2 introduces you to internet famous, Mr. X. Mr. X is a massive trenchcoat-wearing colossus hellbent on ending Leon or Claire’s life. From the moment he spawns, you will hear the thunderous unnerving footsteps of Mr. X pursuing you. While some people don’t like Mr. X stalking them, I felt he was a well-timed shot of the adrenaline that Resident Evil 2 needed. I know I was starting to get comfortable with the ins and outs of the Raccoon City police station, but as soon Mr. X lifts up that fallen helicopter, my heart started racing as fast as the first time a zombie got into my face. Mr. X forced me to rethink my strategy as gaining distance from him was vital. I found that knowledge I gained backtracking through the station helped me develop a strategy to gain distance from the famous pursuer. Mr. X also contributed to many of the games’ scariest moments for me. I will always remember running from Mr. X only to be ambushed by a zombie around the corner or thinking I lost Mr. X, only for him to bust down the wall next to me. I am sure my audible screams can still be heard echoing throughout the night.
Now I know there is some grievance with Resident Evil 2. I know many people have taken umbrage with many of the bosses in this game. Some of the bosses do have wild sweeping acts that can be hard to dodge. While I found most of them tolerable, one or two of these fights did have me crying out in outrage, but for me, this one complaint is easily overlooked by how much content this game contains.
Upon finishing your first run, you will have the option to play a second run as the opposite character, experiencing their side of the story. After that, you can unlock another ending by playing again but flipping the order you experience the story. Effectively showing how Capcom can create four different stories in the small confined space within Raccoon city. On top of that, you still have two mini-games available to you. The first one is The 4th Survivor, where you play as Hunk, a USS operative trying to escape Raccoon City. The second one is The Tofu Survivor, which plays similar to The 4th Survivor but you are just a piece of tofu with a knife. Even better, Capcom announced free DLC called The Ghost Survivors, which will tell the story of three characters and their attempts to escape Raccoon City. I have no doubt, I will be playing Resident Evil 2 for a long time. Even as we speak, I am still working to finish my second run with Claire. In an age where more publishers are looking to increase the monetization of video games, to see a game, like Resident Evil 2, come out with so much content and positive reviews, give this old Doomsayer hope for the future. Games like this, inspire me to return to my never-ending crusade against the boogeyman narrative of single-player games are dead. I will always continue to champion these games. Shout their praise from the highest of rooftops. As always, hold these games to EA faces to prove to them, they don’t have a clue what they are talking about when it comes to single player.
