(ominous music)
(zombie growls)
- [Daemon] Now this is how you remake a classic.
Capcom didn't just update 1998's Resident Evil 2
with modern graphics and controls.
They started from scratch to craft a modern feeling game
that expertly reanimates the horrifying atmosphere
and moments of extreme tension
that made the original so revered.
There's not a ton of content here
but I've enjoyed nearly every gory minute
of my return to Leon and Claire's shoes.
(ominous music)
20 years is a long time, long enough that I'd forgotten
nearly everything about Resident Evil 2,
other than that I'd loved it back in the age
of the first Playstation.
So I got to experience it much as many of you
playing for the first time will.
But viewed side by side it's apparent
what an enormous improvement this remake is.
The horror heightening lighting affects
and convincingly terrified facial animations
are especially impressive
and the satisfyingly dismemberable zombies
are the best looking undead I've ever seen in a game,
and the juiciest.
I love the way they lurch around
and I'd venture a guess
that the designers were heavily inspired
by the tar man from Return of the Living Dead.
Some events have been rearranged or expanded upon
and there are some surprising twists I didn't remember.
But this is a mostly loyal remake
of the suitably dark and twisted story of Resident Evil 2.
Our heroes meanwhile are likable enough
but two-dimensional in their unwavering heroism.
That makes 'em a bit dull,
whereas a couple of the side characters
are more charismatic and interesting.
- [Leon] Jesus.
- [Daemon] Whether you play as Leon or Claire,
exploring dark hallways, solving silly but fun puzzles,
and blasting zombies all remains just as enjoyable today.
Raccoon City is divided into three large areas
which also serve as the stories acts.
Charting each area, learning the lay of the land,
and eventually overcoming the obstacles in your way
really never gets old.
(stairs rumble)
Capcom clearly doesn't expect us
to be running and gunning like superheroes.
The bloody beating heart of Resident Evil
is in careful inventory and management
and challenging, skin of your teeth survival.
It always seems like I was just barely scraping by
with enough bullets and healing items
which created a real feeling that I was in constant danger.
That tension has been elevated
by the commendable sound design.
- [Claire] What the hell is that?
- [Daemon] Resident Evil 2 gets horror atmosphere
like nobody's business.
At the same time, the remake
is a little more merciful than the original.
We get modern conveniences
like being able to save your progress at any typewriter
and maps which automatically update
to let you know if a room has been cleared of items.
(ominous music)
The real chiller in the first two thirds of the campaign
is the Tyrant super zombie.
He appears early on to stalk you
and his emotionless face and steady unstoppable gait
makes him Resident Evil's worthy counterpart
to Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers.
Hearing his relentless footsteps getting louder and louder,
knowing there is nothing I can do to stop him
filled me with a true sense of dread.
Eventually though, he becomes
more of an obnoxious inconvenience than a fear factor.
When you're trying to solve a puzzle and advance the story
it would've been nice if the big lug
would just take a hint and reside somewhere else.
(screaming)
I finished Leon's campaign in eight hours
that seemed to fly by a little too quickly
and eagerly jumped into Claire's
for what I expected to be a completely different perspective
on that faithful evenings events
after the two are separated in the story's opening moments,
but I was disappointed to find that she took
an extremely similar path, met the same people,
solved the same puzzles, and fought the same bosses.
You do have to adapt your tactics
and learn to use a new set of weaponry
and each hero does meet a unique, important person
that causes them to deviate from the shared path for a time.
It turns out the other perspective does exist,
but it's confusingly hidden
behind each character's second game mode.
You have to play through as Leon once
to unlock the second version as Leon
and the same for Claire.
By the time I figured this out
I had already played through the same campaign twice
but at least I'm finally seeing some new areas
and there is the promise of an alternate ending.
The way Capcom laid out these two versions
of the campaign is baffling.
(ominous music)
Capcom did a fantastic job of resurrecting
all the best part of the classic Resident Evil 2
and making them look, sound, and play like a 2019 game.
If you're of the mind
that the series had lost its way for awhile there
this game is very much a return to form.
The zombie combat is satisfying
and exploring the dilapidated ruins
of Raccoon City is a thrill.
The one big letdown is that Capcom
unintuitively hides the alternate perspective content.
Though whichever character you play as,
the experience of playing through
the new Resident Evil 2 for the first time
establishes a new standard for remaking classic games.
For more on Resident Evil
check out the first 15 minutes of gameplay,
our comparison of the remake and the original,
and our favorite moments from the series.
And for everything else stick with us right here at IGN.
(screams)
(ominous music)