Box Copy
Can you survive the horror?
First there was the disaster
at the mansion lab. Umbrella Corp. developed the T-Virus, a muta-genic
toxin for use in biological weapons. After breaking loose, living things
mutated into all sorts of decaying creatures. The case was eventually
closed, but Umbrella's experiments were far from over.
Now it's the worst
possible nightmare: a new virus runs rampant. All of Raccoon City is
infested. Blood thirsty zombies, hideous mutations now overwhelm the
community. When Leon and Claire arrive in town their nightmare is just
beginning...You now control their destiny.
Discussion
Capcom has always had a very peculiar relationship with the number 2.
Street Fighter 2 and Marvel vs. Capcom 2; Freakin’ awesome! Devil May
Cry 2 and Lost Planet 2….eh. Thankfully, Resident Evil’s 2nd running is
one of the better sequels in the stable.
The game begins after the original game, providing both context in the
future and past of the series. You play rookie cop Leon on one disc, and
Claire Redfield on the other disc. It just happens that Leon is in the
wrong place at the wrong time his first day on the job, while Claire is
trying to find her brother Chris, the main male from the original
Resident Evil game.
To understand this particular version, we need to first understand the
original. Resident Evil 1 set a precedent upon release – it was a fresh
intellectual property with a new graphic style, a mature rating that was
due to childish fatalities, and provided 2 mysteries for every 1 you
solved. Puzzles took the form of specific keys, rooms that lead into
another hours later, and random jewels that acted as keys and the like.
It’s live action cinemas, (terrible) voice actors, and blood soaked
zombies created an entirely new fan-base right out of the gate, and this
first sequel was one of the most highly anticipated games for the 1998
release schedule.
So during it’s early development cycle, Resident Evil 2 was coming along
quite nicely, scenes of zombies crawling over each other in through a
glass wall, new characters with new abilities, and the fact that it took
place in a police station located in Raccoon City all added fuel to the
fire. As the game reached the final stages of its development cycle,
something weird happened.
The team pulled the plug. Resident Evil 2, like its core enemy, was
dead.
There has never been a concrete reason as to this was; the common notion
(to the degree of at least finding a direct quote) was that it didn’t
feel fresh enough. This is important and odd for at least one reason –
in the original version, the police station was laid out with a more
realistic approach to it. In the final version, it has the same
qualities and puzzle elements of the original game’s mansion. Some
stories will just never be told, I guess.
Anyway, back to the real Resident Evil 2. You basically start the game
from a car crash, and must work your way to the police station in town.
From here, you will learn that the sewer is the only way to get out of
the city, only to find out it just leads you deeper into the heart of
the Umbrella Corporation’s stronghold. Umbrella, if you don’t know, are
the little evil bastards that created the original game’s T-Virus, and
are now working on the new G-Virus in this game.
What makes the game stand out is the way the 2 discs work. Basically
there is an A quest, and a B quest. You start the game as either person,
and when you beat their A quest, you get a save file that will allow you
to load up the B quest of the other character. This B quest is
essentially what happens from that characters perspective while you were
running through the game the first time. There is a small hitch to this
very cool concept though, check the trivia to right for more
information.
As I mentioned earlier,
the station is set-up in the same way the mansion was. You must locate
shape specific keys and various jewels, gems, and emblems to open up the
doors and secret areas you need to get to. Regretfully, just like the
first game you only have so many item slots at your disposal, so you
must make expert work of the randomly located treasure boxes where you
can store items and the like. While the game is essentially the same for
both characters, they each have different weapon assortments and minor
differences in power-ups. Leon starts with a lighter, and has access to
the heaver weapons sets, where Claire starts off with the lock-pick and
uses more group based weapons like a grenade gun and crossbow.
For the record, I would
just like to help point out how absolutely retarded the police force of
Raccoon City was if they couldn't tell something is wrong with the chief
when he is ordering $10,000 worth of statues and art and then yelling at
people to stay out of guard and clock towers. If someone decides to
place statutes of angels and gods and demons around a public building,
for god's sake speak up!
Game play wise and graphically for that matter, the in-game stuff still
shines to this day. Sure they have that slight robot slide when they’re
turning, but c’mon this was 1998. Even better, after all this time,
there’s still 2 or 3 places where I jumped out of my seat at the random
scary stuff (Hint: crank your surround sound system). From that
statement, I can tell you all the sound effects and music still hold up
as well. Funny enough, the voice acting is still pretty bad, but I think
they did this intentionally.
The game’s total running time depends on your play-style. If you’re
going for a spend run, it can actually be done in under an hour and a
half. I took my time (read: I was lost >_>) and it took about 4 hours
plus. Keep in mind this is simply based on you’re A Scenario run
through. Tack on another 2 to 4 hours for Scenario B, plus the other
character’s play-through, and then add in the two hidden character’s
modes. So there’s plenty of replay to be had, and let’s be honest; who
doesn’t like shooting crossbows and plunging grenades into zombies?
When all is said and done, it’s been 12 years since Leon and Claire met
on that fateful evening, and it’s still as hauntingly fun as it ever
was.
|
Trivia
- Variants of course,
see below!
- Chicago is name
dropped in the game, being the locale of a story character's
boyfriend.
- Resident Evil 2 uses
a curious 'switch' system that provides the player with a potential
6 replays through the game in one form or another. Basically once
you beat a character's disc, it will create a "B" save file for the
other character's disc. If you load up that save file on the other
disc, you will be provided with an alternate quest that basically
explains how various situations got to be how they were. That means
each character has two run-throughs, plus the two hidden characters.
- The previous
mentioned 'Switch' system poses a problem however. While certain new
elements appear and the path is now completely backwards, all of the
puzzles, keys, items, and weapons, are relocated, but unused. If the
B scenario is really taking place at the same time as A, almost 80%
of what you do should either not be possible or already used up /
done. Essentially you have to suspend disbelief that any of the
actual 'game' elements happened on the A play-through and
vice-versa.
- A rather curious
cameo is possible if you follow a specific set of rules in the
beginning of the game, one of which involves passing up the first
few bullet boxes.
- For a game that has
a cop as a main character and takes place in a police station, am I
the only person that noticed Claire, while entering the diner, walks
under a giant DONUTS sign?
- The game has had a
very troubled past, and an even more troubled afterlife. For those
who do not know, Resident Evil 2 started off as a very different
game, with a different female lead. At about the 80% finished mark,
for whatever reasons the game’s upper management felt that it was
not right and cancelled the game. They then started from scratch,
and from that restart came the real Resident Evil 2.
The former version, which to fans has been lovingly dubbed “Resident
Evil 1.5”, has been the Holy Grail for collectors, enthusiasts,
prototype fans and more. Various petitions have been signed, e-mail
campaigns sent out, and more from fans for Capcom to release the
original version even in its unfinished state. Obviously this hasn’t
and will most likely never happen, but this is not where the story
ends.
For the past few years, there has been some seriously bizarre drama
surrounding supposedly 3 leaked copies of the 1.5 version of the
game. While 2 are of unknown status or build, the third one has
caused quite the chaos among fans due to a strange and utterly sad
set of events. The owner of a fan
web-site apparently got a hold of this 3rd copy, and
rather than just showing it off, decided to see if it could be
milked for all its worth. The amount of
insanity that follows can be read
in
a complete summary by one of the victimized
fan groups over at The-Horror. This simply wasn’t a quick
annoyance for all those involved. Several Websites, various
well-known community individuals, and others were all caught in a
crazy extortion attempt of not just money, but time, translation
work, and more. Game-Rave is no stranger to this craziness as our
dealings with them surrounded around content infringement, web
identity theft, and much more
childish acts.
It is Game-Rave’s hope that the PlayStation Community can continue
its journey without the useless drama and ego-tripping that plagues
so many gaming communities. I have always been, and will forever be
a PlayStation One fan, with or without Sony’s Certification of it.
Video games are meant to be enjoyed and bring everyone together; not
locked away in a museum.
- Right before the
final fight, you pass up a giant bio-hazard warning symbol poster.
"Bio-Hazard" is the game's real Japanese name, which could not be
used in American due to a Copyright issue.
- Despite the minor
differences in items / weapons, the game's opening sequence poses a
rather amusing continuity error. Leon was driving the car, with
Claire in the passenger seat when they crash. If you start Leon's A
Quest, he and Claire are on the wrong side of the car when the game
starts.
- Capcom humor: After
the opening sequence where the giant tanker truck smashes into our
heroes' car and explodes, when the game starts the first street sign
to the left clearly says, "NO TRUCKS"
- Speaking of the
opening area, the large department store behind you is called ARUKAS,
which is Sakura spelled backwards. Sakura is a young female Street
Fighter character.
- Under normal
circumstances, when you happen upon an item, the game states that
"There is [an item] inside, will you take it?" While the opening
cinematic is playing, Claire opens a glove box and very purposefully
says, "There is a gun inside," to which Leon replies, "Take it."
- In some areas of the
game, it is possible to turn towards the camera and actually shoot
the screen.
- It's possible to
stop the invasion of zombies...sort of. The gun owner's shop in the
beginning moments is set-up on a trigger. If you simply stand there,
the zombies will never crash through the window. Once you run 'off
camera' into the back area of the store, you'll hear the PlayStation
access the game disc; once you come back from behind the left most
counter, the zombies will attack. If you do just stand in the window
area, the owner will watch your every move, including your hand
slashing the knife.
- Also of note: The
shop owner is impervious to your bullets and knife slashing, but
dies at the hands of the zombies. Everyone has their kryptonite, I
guess.
- In typical horror
fashion, the final elevator you need's arrival time is only as long
as you need to finish off the last boss.
- The game's hidden
character Tofu (who I will not ruin for all 5 of you who haven't
played this yet), is actually a nod from Capcom to the fans. In
Japan, a Resident Evil 1 player sent a gaming magazine a VHS tape
(god...I'm old) recording of himself completing the game using only
the knife. They counted his knife-only fight with Tyrant took
something like almost a 1,000 slashes to kill. I do not have that
kind of time or patience; I was pleasantly happy with the shotgun.
:)
- Besides the
PlayStation version, Resident Evil 2 was also released on PC,
Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, GameCube and Game.com.
I even did a full walk-through for the Game.com version
way back in the day.
|
