Resident Evil 2 Remake – Survival Horror At It’s Finest – PS4 Review

Summary
Resident Evil 2 Remake is survival horror at it’s finest. You can expect to be scared and have heart pumping intense situations that will immerse the players giving them anxiety, but guess what, they’ll love every minute of it. The game is beautiful and well detailed to easily get immersed in. The developers have made and built an even more scarier experience from its predecessor and even the other survival horror games in the genre. When it comes to survival horror, Capcom knows what they are doing.
Good
  • Survival Horror at it’s finest
  • Beautiful, dark, and dreary atmosphere
  • One of the best remakes to date
  • Extra modes and collectibles to give lots of replayability
Bad
  • Missed opportunity with 2nd Playthrough
  • A certain enemy that follows you around can become a bit tiresome as he will continue to pester you
8.4
Great
Gameplay - 9
Graphics - 9
Audio - 8
Replayability - 8
Controls - 8

Capcom has come back with a remake of Resident Evil 2 and it’s even better than you remember. For the people who aren’t aware, this is a remake of the original Resident Evil 2 game on the first Playstation back in 1998. Resident Evil 2 is one of the most beloved games of the series and when a remake was announced 5 years ago there was speculation as to what was to expect. Is it going to be the same game everyone loved with the fixed camera angles, tank like controls and updated graphics with more content just like its predecessor (Resident Evil 1 Remake on the Nintendo Gamecube) or is it going to be a whole new experience?

This rendition of Resident Evil 2 is a reimagining and is remade from the ground up with the latest Resident Evil 7 engine bringing a whole new way of playing the game with the basis of the original story. If you’ve played the classic everything you remembered is updated from the old gameplay to a modern style that even the players who have never played the original release can jump right in. This remake is now played in a third person over the shoulder camera view and you are now able to have a better view and better way to shoot the zombie and monster foes.

Players can take charge of either of the characters Leon S. Kennedy, a rookie cop on his first day of the job as an officer or Claire Redfield, a college student who is in search for her brother. When starting a new game players will choose either Leon or Claire to play. Leon and Claire meet each other at the start of the game on their way to Raccoon City. They both find that the city has been overrun by zombies and unfortunately gets split up when a truck driver crashes into them. Now it is up to you to guide them and keep them alive. The story feels fleshed out from the original making it believable while keeping a few of the over the top nonsense that Resident Evil normally has.

Resident Evil 2 Remake has revamped the gameplay and visuals to make it more of a survival horror. Ammo and health items are scarce giving the player a certain agency to maintain and use the items when needed. All the shots you make with the weapons has to count because you’ll be in a predicament fending off creatures without any weaponry. That means it will be wise to dodge around the zombies. The setting is dark and dreary and you’ll feel like anything can pop out at any moment when players walk around dark rooms with only being able to see what you aim your flashlight at.

Resident Evil 2 is packed with content for replayability. When finishing the game on your first run you unlock the 2nd run playthrough allowing the player to play the other character in the B scenario to view everything the other character encountered and went through. One thing that’s disappointing is that the concept sounds good on paper, but it doesn’t execute perfectly as it should. When playing the 2nd run it starts off like you’ll be playing a whole new experience, but once you get inside the police station you learn that everything you did in the 1st run will need to be done again, but in a different remixed order to make the game feel different. Items are swapped around making the progress of the game feel different. Weapons will be different this time around giving your 2nd playthrough a different way for weapon and ammo management. As you’re playing through the 2nd run you’ll notice that there are differences to gameplay and newer sections and scenes that you haven’t seen, you’ll still encounter the same route and bosses you’ve went through on the 1st run. Unlocking the same doors, solving the same puzzles, and treading through pretty much the same path. It’s kind of a missed opportunity for the 2nd run not having its own separate path. You’ll notice notes left behind from the other character you played on the first run letting you know what they learned so far, but that’s pretty much it. There are also bonus modes players can play called 4th survivor where you have to go from point A to point B without dying.

Resident Evil 2 Remake is survival horror at it’s finest. You can expect to be scared and have heart pumping intense situations that will immerse the players giving them anxiety, but guess what, they’ll love every minute of it. The game is beautiful and well detailed to easily get immersed in. The developers have made and built an even more scarier experience from its predecessor and even the other survival horror games in the genre. When it comes to survival horror, Capcom knows what they are doing.

 

Written by
Jon “Onetrackpunk” Layola is an Amateur Vlogger/Film Maker on YouTube and Podcast Host for One Track Gamers and The Onetrackpunk Show.

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