Resident Evil 2 Remake Review

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It’s the first video game review since my last game review for Mass Effect: Legendary Edition and Resident Evil Village in 2021. I’m starting the game reviews back up with one of Capcom’s greatest remastered titles, Resident Evil 2.

My earliest memory of playing Resident Evil 2 wasn’t from the Playstation era, but when it was ported to the Nintendo GameCube in 2003, it was one of the second horror-themed titles I tried from Capcom on the Nintendo GameCube titles (the first was the 2002 remake of the first Resident Evil). Fast forwarding to 2019, when Capcom gave fans the most creepiest and horrific ground-up Remakes of Resident Evil 2. Keep in mind, that it has up-to-date graphics and better controls. When it comes to Leon and Claire’s stories in the beginning, not much has changed thankfully.

As the story goes, it’s the night of September 30, 1998, two months after the horrific events of the first Resident Evil, rookie officer Leon S. Kennedy and a college student named Claire Redfield, who is looking for her brother Chris have to survive in Racoon City after a massive Zombie Outbreak engulfed the city, leaving death and bioweapons in its wake. Leon, Claire, and a young girl named Sherry Birkin must escape the zombie-plagued hellscape.

In terms of Remakes, when you put the original title from 1998 against the 2019 remake, Capcom avoided a common tactic that most publishers have done with past Remakes, where upgraded resolution and textures hang over the old game’s shell. This publisher decided to start from scratch and remake the game from the bottom up, which also was accompanied by using the RE Engine, which is the tech that powered Resident Evil 7.

Instead of that pixilated world that we had grown accustomed to back then has been changed for the better, a twenty-one-year-old game (now 27 years old) brought into the 21st century, immersed in a fully 3D world that has over-the-shoulder affair with atmospheric lighting effects, impressive facial animations, best of all, the creatures (from zombies to bioweapons) look incredible. Capcom, however, sticks to reusing zombie models when you get further into the story. Speaking of the story, it was a tad different from what we originally remembered, yes, some elements were kept from the original, but offered a different but darker twist to it. Another part I do enjoy concerning the story is how it is divided into three large parts depending on who you play. There is Racoon City (RPD, the parking garage, and the orphanage), the sewer, and the Underground Laboratory, each area offering unique puzzles to solve and twisted creatures to fight along the way.

Leon and Claire’s campaigns offer unique scenarios and characters that keep the game interesting, though it is strange that they are in a Zombie Infested City and they are surprisingly optimistic through the whole ordeal, with no moments of self-doubt. Other than that, it’s still a good game, aside from inventory and ammunition management is still a keen part of the game, which you find yourself scraping by with limited ammo and health items to get you through the game, no matter what difficulty. Speaking of difficulty, that big brute ‘Mr. X’ was taken up a notch, following you no matter where you were and wearing a surprisingly stylish hat while chasing you down slowly but surely.

One of the most interesting additions to the game had to have been the Ghost Survivors mode. This mode is more of a ‘What-If Scenario‘ which features four different stories that feature characters such as Robert Kendo, the Mayor’s Daughter (who met a horrible fate in-game), Ghost, who is a similar agent like Hunk, and Sheriff Daniel Cortini from the beginning of the game. It serves similarly to 4th Survivor, which was also featured in the game. Resident Evil 2 Remake is one of the best remake titles on the market today, Capcom has established a new standard for remaking classic games. Resident Evil 2 is available now for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Nintendo Switch (CLOUD Gaming).

Final Grade:

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