Resident Evil 2 (PlayStation)

Game title: Resident evil 2
Certificate: 15
Genre: survival horror/puzzle adventure
Published by: virgin interactive
Made by: Capcom
Players: 1
Memory card usage: 1 block



After writing previous reviews on the resident evil saga, I felt that I would step back in time; to where it all started to unfold.
Resident evil 2 is the first two disk resident evil game to be realised. ...
...were later sold to Eidos. Resident evil 2 is actually the third instalment of the series if you include the directors cut of the first game. Resident evil 2 is set in racoon city itself and confusingly enough is set after the third game in the series. Resident evil 2 was the first game I played in the series. I picked up the basic story line to the first game through the brief F.M.V at the start of the game. The story line was easy to pick up and ... more

Game title: Resident evil 2
Certificate: 15
Genre: survival horror/puzzle adventure
Published by: virgin interactive
Made by: Capcom
Players: 1
Memory card usage: 1 block

After writing previous reviews on the resident evil saga, I felt that I would step back in time; to where it all started to unfold.
Resident evil 2 is the first two disk resident evil game to be realised. Resident evil 2 hit the shelves on the 29th of January 1998, and is the last game in the series to be published by virgin interactive; the publishing writes were later sold to Eidos. Resident evil 2 is actually the third instalment of the series if you include the directors cut of the first game. Resident evil 2 is set in racoon city itself and confusingly enough is set after the third game in the series. Resident evil 2 was the first game I played in the series. I picked up the basic story line to the first game through the brief F.M.V at the start of the game. The story line was easy to pick up and the game fills in the rest. Yes the storyline may sound a bit confusing but I will explain to you the entire goings on up too the start of this game.

Storyline: Thanks to the efforts of the S.T.A.R.S. (Special Tactics And Rescue Service) alpha team and bravo team, Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Barry Burton, Rebecca Chambers and Brad Vickers, the Spenser mansion incident, involving zombie like creatures and strange mutations was considered closed. Due to lack of hard evidence, the S.T.A.R.S. team were made to look the fool when they went public with there information on the pharmaceutical enterprise, Umbrella. There story was that umbrella was behind the strange, cannibalistic murders that had been reported recently. Umbrella were said to have been experimenting with viral and genetic, biological weaponry and the leak of one of there newest creation, was the reason for the murders. Umbrella were said to have been experimenting in there secret underground laboratory, located beneath the Spencer mansion in raccoon forest. Two months have past since the mansion incident and the unknown cannibalistic murders are being reported in the city. The S.T.A.R.S team are no more; the five remaining members have disappeared without a trace. Umbrella's top researcher, William Birkin has been working on a new virus. Called the G-virus, it has the ability to create biological weapons from living human subjects and for a first; it has the ability to reproduce. Close to Williams's completion of the G-virus, Umbrella sent there U.B.C.S (Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasures Service) to steal Williams work, William was shot and badly hurt. William thought to himself that he would not let Umbrella take his life's work from him; he had a spare vile of the G-virus and proceeded to inject it into his own body. William was transformed instantly, into a 10 ft killing machine. William now proceeded to stop his G-virus getting to umbrella. He slaughterd all of the U.B.C.S and destroyed the samples, with him doing this in the sewer, the rats started to feed on the samples, the scary thing is that rats travel, great distances and into the city. William has now achieved his goal and is now said to be wondering around the police station, his piercing cries being herd by many. The acuring murders have been reported as citizens being attacked by groups of about 10 people, the victims were apparently eaten. The motive of these attacks were unknown, until the city destruction became apparent, rumours of a bio hazardous chemical that had leaked into the city were flying around raccoon. This chemical known as the T-virus reanimates dead cell tissue and revitalises cellular functions, causing the dead to come back to life and causing animals and other beings to mutate. Soon the city was over run with zombie like beings and strange creatures. The city was on its last breath, this forced the R.P.D (Raccoon City Police Department) to call in and recruit new officers, and due to the lack of time and funds some of these new recruits were fresh out of the academy. The careers of these officers were sadly, short lived, due to the increasing number of the zombie like creatures, they were not at all trained for this type of situation and the result being that the R.P.D was over run and most of the officers were killed. What is happening to raccoon city? And who's behind this?
Meanwhile on the long and winding freeways leading to raccoon city, one of the new recruits sent for by the R.P.D, was on his way to raccoon city, Fresh out of the academy eager to protect and serve. Leon S Kennedy his name, time was ticking; he was late for his first day on the job. On the way to raccoon city Leon could sense that something was not right, not right at all. The roads were unusually clear and when he arrived, the streets were deserted. Shortly after arriving in to town, his front fog lights suddenly caught something lying in the middle of the road, with the screeching sound of rubber on tarmac, his jeep come to an abrupt stop and Leon got out to investigate. As he got closer he could see that it was a woman, cloths torn and her body in an awkward position. On closer inspection Leon could see the mess that had been made, her flesh was torn from her bones, her cloths tattered and stained with blood. Leon could not work out whom or what had done this, but Leon's mind started to wander, he was fairly sure that the women looked like she had been eaten. Leon started to back away, shocked by his findings, then suddenly a dark figure staggered out of a near by alley way. He looked drunk or injured by the blood stains on his cloths, then two, three, five figures acting the same way as the first, slowly made there way to Leon. Leon jumped up and pointed his gun at the nearest one and ordered them to stay back, but they weren't listening. Leon hesitated for a moment, then opened fire, another shot and another, the bullets were having no effect on these almost dead like beings, they just kept staggering forward, they had an almost, desperate look in there eyes. Leon ran as fast as he could, he darted down a near by alley way and suddenly a fire escape burst open. He pointed his gun strait ahead, then slightly dropped it. A girl was withering in front of him, pleading him not to shoot, and then he saw why. The restaurant owner was chasing her and he didn't look well. His mouth and fingers were stained in blood, though he had just eaten, Leon fired and dropped the crazy owner, with a bullet through the head. Leon gave his hand to the girl and said that they should head for the police station as it would be a lot safer than the streets. They both darted out of the alley and spotted an abandoned police car; they quickly buckled up and made there way for the police station. The girl introduced herself to Leon, her name was Claire Redfield. Her story for being in raccoon city was that she was here to find her brother, Chris Redfield. Leon asked Claire to look in the glove box, there was a gun inside. Leon suggested that she take it with her just to be on the safe side. Suddenly one of the zombie like creatures sprang from the back seat, it attempted to bite Leon as the car slid out of control, crashing into walls and parked cars. The road was coming to T junction and an abrupt end. The car smashed nose first into the wall, throwing the creature through the front windshield. The creature lay on the bonnet, motionless. Leon asked Claire if she was ok, but the calmness was short lived. Claire noticed a fuel truck heading there way, fast. Leon knew the driver was going to ram them; they both scrambled for the seatbelt and dived out of the car just as the truck hit. The blast was huge, the fire had separated them from each other, Leon told Claire to head for the police station and that he would meet her there. Now our two heroes must push on alone, amongst the once beautiful Midwestern town, before it's too late.

Characters: in resident evil 2 like the first game, there are two playable characters for the main adventure. You can choose to play either character first each having there own disk. You can either play as Leon S Kennedy, a rookie cop who is caught up amongst the mayhem on his first day on the job, or Claire Redfield, who has travelled to Raccoon city to find her missing brother, Chris Redfield. Each character has two scenario's, starting on each side of the burning wreckage that separated them at the start. The 1st scenario you will take the short version of the game, on the 2nd scenario you will start on the other side of the wreckage, this scenario is about an hour longer as it fills in all the gaps from the 1st scenario. There are also partner characters that you will meet and team up with, in order to survive the nightmare. Leon's partner character is named Ada Wong. Ada Wong meets Leon later on in the game. Her story is that she has come to Raccoon city to find her missing boyfriend john; she seems to think that a reporter named Ben Bertolucci knows the whereabouts of john and he is here in Raccoon city. Claire's partner Character is Sherry Birkin. Sherry is a 12 year old girl whose parents work at the Umbrella chemical plant, Sherry was told by her mother to go and seek shelter at the police station as it was unsafe at home. Sherry soon found out that it was worse than at home. Claire discovers Sherry running around the police station and offers to take Sherry with her to find a way out of Raccoon city. Sherry informs Claire that something is following her and it is much bigger than any of the other creatures running around the station.

Controls: the controls for this game I thought were very easy to pick up. They are pretty basic and have an auto aim feature for beginners. You will mainly find your self permanently attached to the square button on your first play, this button is the run button, it is handy as ammo is scares and most of the creatures you will come across can rip you to pieces faster than you can shoot them. Another well used button will be the X button. This button has a more multi purpose use, with the X button you can fire combined with the R1 button, search for clues and objects, pick things up, ascend and descend stairs, climb ladders and other climbable objects and the classic push objects command. As resident evil is all about searching for clues and finding ways to survive the city, the X button will come familiar with you early on in the game. As I mentioned earlier, the R1 button is your aim command. Hold down the R1 button to have your character aim his or her weapon at approaching enemies. The left and right directional buttons combined with the R1 button will have your character spin around on the spot and the up and down directional buttons combined with aim, will have your character either aim high, straight ahead or at the floor. The auto aim feature that is new to resident evil 2, has its ups but also its down, the up part of this feature is that you don't have to waste any ammo due to bad aiming. On the down side, the auto aim feature only targets the closest enemy; there for restricting you of the ability to target other enemies, a bit of a bummer if there is a crowd of enemies and others are closing in and due to the enclosed camera angles, you can't really see sometimes what's closing in on you. Your inventory/status screen controls are also very easy to pick up. The X and directional buttons do most of the work. For your weapons and ammo items, simply press X on the item and there will drop the basic drop down menu, consisting of equip, combine and check and for the items and medicinal items the equip selection will be replaced with use. Another new feature to resident evil 2 is that when you are hurt, your character will move differently, showing you that you need to seek medical attention. When your character takes damage his or her vitality will decrease, this degree of damage is set into four different categories and show different characteristics to how badly you are hurt. They are:
- fine = your character is in immaculate health and moves normally
- caution = your character has a minor injury and will clutch there side thus moving a bit slower
- poison = your character has been poisoned and there vitality will decrease without medical aid
- danger = your character is severely hurt and will tightly grab there stomach thus turning your run speed to a slow stagger
By all these signs, you can now learn when your character needs medical aid; I think this gives a more, realistic addition to the game.

Enemies: The enemies in this game are of plenty, each different in toughness and character. I will now explain what they are and there characteristics.
The zombie is the most frequent enemy you will encounter during resident evil 2. The zombie or virus carrier was once an ordinary citizen of Raccoon city. Due to the T-virus outbreak, the citizens of the city were infected and killed, but due to the T-virus's ability to reanimate dead cell tissue, the citizens were subsequently brought back to life. Though the "life" side of it is not that accurate, only the basic commands of the brain were reanimated, the now zombie like creatures having little intelligence. These basic commands were to move and feed. The feeding part being the most important, they will eat anything that breaths and will even try and complete this goal having missing limbs. Due to the brains near inactiveness, the healing process is abandoned and this forces the body to rot. So essentially they are in fact, the walking dead.
The lickers as they were named, used to be regular zombies before the T-virus mutated there body's further. The changes were the evolution of the tongue, brain, bone structure and advanced muscle formation. The tongue becomes incredibly long and is strong enough to pierce a human torso, hence the name licker. Further changes, the brain would expand becoming visible and thus making it blind, but the hearing would improve massively. Also the bone and muscle structure would evolve making it able to move on all fours, also enabling it to climb walls and jump great distances. This characteristic makes the licker a hard enemy to predict, from a distance or close up.
The zombie dogs are just like zombies but in k-9 form. There ability to with stand pain and damage is increased and also there aggressiveness, they will even leap great distances and aim for the face. There pack instincts remains the same making them a formidable foe when together.
The crows are just everyday crows that have been forced to go a bit barmy by the T-virus. There aggressive nature and ability to fly makes these enemies hard to target and they can carry the virus great distances.
The giant spiders are the result of the T-virus transforming them100 times there standard size. These are very aggressive foes and when dead there abdomens will burst open letting out smaller versions of its self. This creation is perhaps the most baffling, statistic show that a spider this size would cripple under its own weight, but does not.
G is the ultimate foe. G was once human, William Birkin was his name and he was the creator of the virus that subsequently erased him. The G-virus completely transformed William into an ultimate bio weapon. William loses his memory and all traces of his once human form and advances on a mindless killing rampage. William will evolve 5 times before being stopped, making him the most formidable foe.
The last is the T-103. The T-103 is a mass produced bio weapon created by umbrella. Its ability to follow orders makes it almost human. The T-103 was deployed to Raccoon city to retrieve the G-virus sample and bring it back to umbrella. It was deployed with a limiter in its long, green trench coat, this limiter stops the T-103 from transforming, it will ditch its limiter when faced with the possible chance of failing its mission. Standing nearly 10ft and incredible strength makes the T-103 an annoying enemy, as it will relentlessly pursue you through the whole game.

Environment: the environment that you have to explore is vast. The entire mission has 5 sections
- the street area
- the police station
- the sewer and basement levels
- umbrella's secret underground laboratory
- the underground train station
You will spend little time in the street area as this is really meant for you to get to grips with the controls and the camera angles. The police station takes up a big part of the game. Here the story will start to unfold and the reason behind the city's destruction will become apparent. The puzzles in this section will be aplenty and very challenging. The police station will certainly have your brain working to its most. The sewer and basement levels are really there as a breather to get over the difficulty of the police station, here you will learn what has been terrorizing the station and you will meet another survivor. You will also learn of the secret underground lab. This section will be the last explored bit. You will learn of umbrella's doings and you will be making your long awaited escape. The last section, you will have your last boss battles with T-103 and G both, in there final form. After this you will make your escape. Over the entire environment is great, vast areas to explore make you appreciate the background images, I guarantee you will stop and look what's around you.

Sound: The sound is excellent in this one; it makes full use of my speakers. The music is dramatic and melodic at times and can sometimes give you clues to what's going to happen next. When the T-103 makes his appearance the music is a dead give away. It will change to a slow, almost dark stringed tuned, to describe it it's like you know there is something coming, that's much bigger than you and given the chance, will smash you into the ground. I'm guessing that I am not the only one that thought the music was excellent, the game's soundtrack made its way onto CD shortly after it was released. Over all the sound is both great and helpful, which I think is a first for any game.

Game play: I thought the game play was excellent, the controls were easy to pick up; the story line was well thought up and original and folds out slowly but effectively. The games puzzles were well thought of and challenging, also they were very art based, which I thought was very original and unheard of to this point of gaming. But what stood out most of all is the T-103. The concept of a 10ft killing machine relentlessly hunting you down through out the whole game making the game even more challenging that it is already had not been done before and still hasn't to this day. The last great aspect of resident evil 2 is the scenario system, the way you have to play a shortened version of the game before you can play the full version, keeps you guessing and wondering about the full story. It will make you want to play again just to know the story in full, also the full version or 2nd scenario is a lot more exciting and challenging than the 1st. now I will explain the scenario system.
The scenario system works out as follows, you will first play either characters 1st scenario, after completion this will save the other characters 2nd scenario to you memory card. Then you can play this characters 1st scenario by putting in there disk, after completing this, the other characters 2nd scenario will now be saved to your memory card for you to play. This may sound confusing so I will give an example, you don't have t play it in this order, you can play either Leon or Claire first this is how I did it:
- I put in Claire's disk and played Clair's 1st scenario and completed it.
- This saved Leon's 2nd scenario to my memory card
- I changed to Leon's disk then played Leon's 2nd scenario and completed it
- Then with the same disk in I then played Leon's 1st scenario and completed it
- This saved Clair's 2nd scenario to my memory card
- I then put in Claire's disk and played her 2nd scenario and completed it
I hope this makes sense now, basically the 1st scenario is the short version of the game, the 2nd scenario is the full version and is a lot more challenging, to simplify it; it fills in all the gaps from the 1st scenario.

Extras: The extras for this game are a little bit disappointing for the time and patience you have to sacrifice to get them. You can obtain 2 extra missions for 2 new characters. The first is the Hunk mission. Hunk was the only survivor of the mission to steal the G-virus from its creator William Birkin. William injected himself with the G-virus which transformed him into a 10ft bio weapon, he then proceeded to stop Hunks team from stealing the sample and brutally slaughtered them all, accept for one. Hunks mission is now to make his way to the police stations helipad and give umbrella the prize, the G-virus sample.
To get this mission you have to play the game 4 times and each scenario has to be with an A grade and each under 2 and a half hours. The other mission is disappointingly the same. This time you play a rather comical character named Tofu. Hence the name, Tofu is a block of Tofu with feet and hands. It will make you chuckle I guarantee. Though the mission is the same the difficulty is immensely increased. While hunk has a tasty arsenal of weapons, Tofu is armed with little more than a knife, the worst and most ineffective weapon in the game. To obtain this mission you have to repeat the process used to obtain Hunks mission. So that is a total of 20 hours of game play for 2 missions that last little more than half an hour each. But if you are feeling cocky give it ago, I still haven't obtained Tofu's mission.

Where to find: I got my copy from my local second-hand game store; I got it for about £7. But I'm sure you could pick it up cheaper now, I've seen it for as little as £2. As for brand new I'm not sure but as it's a rare and collectible game now, it could cost a bit brand new. You could try Ebay as this game is becoming very rare; if you spot it grab it!

Well I hope this helps, if I missed anything check out these links for additional information

www.ebay.com

www.game.co.uk

www.capcom.com

www.residentevil.com

Thank you for the read and hope I have convinced you that this is an excellent game. Since I played this game I have never looked back since.

Thanks again

G-virus
 

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