Resident Evil 2 Review (Nintendo 64 Version) - DetroitOtaku Reviews
1998. It was quite the year. My hometown Detroit Red Wings repeated as Stanley Cup Champions to avenge the loss of Vladdy Konstantinov, John Elway finally got over the hump and won a Super Bowl, The Yankees were in the middle of a dynasty, and Michael Jordan won his last championship with the Bulls.
1998 was also a great year for gaming. And one of the biggest hits of that year was none other than Resident Evil 2. A game which is considered to be the best classic-style Resident Evil game in the series, and some go as far as saying that it is the pinnacle of the entire franchise. RE2 originally came out on the PlayStation in 1998, and was later ported to the Nintendo 64 on Halloween 1999, making RE2 the first game in the series to come out on a Nintendo platform. I’m going to review the N64 port of RE2, which is considered by some fans to be the definitive version of the game.
The Plot
Resident Evil 2 takes place two months after the events of the first game, this time in the heart of Raccoon City, a Midwestern college town in an unnamed state. Almost all of it’s citizens have been transformed into zombies thanks to the effects of the T-Virus, a type of biological weapon secretly developed by the pharmaceutical company Umbrella. RE2 follows two protagonists: Leon S. Kennedy, a rookie police officer on his first day on the job, and Claire Redfield, a college student who is the younger sister of Raccoon City Police “S.T.A.R.S.” member Chris Redfield.
After arriving in the city, both Leon and Claire head to the Raccoon Police Department, in order to take shelter from the infected population. They soon find out that most of the officers have been killed, and that Chris and the other surviving S.T.A.R.S members left town to investigate Umbrella in Europe. With no reason to stay in the police station and wait for help, the two split up to look for survivors and flee the city, stumbling onto all sorts of trouble along the way. During their escape, Claire comes across Sherry Birkin, the daughter of Umbrella researchers William and Annette Birkin, who is on the run from an unknown creature. Leon eventually encounters a mysterious woman named Ada Wong, who is supposedly looking for her boyfriend John, an Umbrella researcher from Chicago who went missing.
Together, Leon, Claire, Ada, and Sherry must work with each other to escape from Raccoon City, and eventually, they discover disturbing truths about Umbrella and the T-Virus outbreak, as well as a new bioweapon known as the G-Virus...
The Gameplay
The gameplay of Resident Evil 2 is identical to that of it’s predecessor, however, since this is the N64 version, there are some changes. The controls have been improved upon and are easier to handle. Moving is a lot easier to manage, as you can run or walk using the N64's analog stick. You aim your weapon with R or Z and press A to shoot, and you can switch targets by pressing L. You can access the map by pressing C-UP, and you can access your inventory by pressing the Start button.
Both Leon and Claire can carry 8 items in their inventories, and both have personal items that they carry around to solve puzzles: Leon has a lighter, and Claire has a lockpick. However, their inventory space can be increased to 10 spaces if one of them equips the Side Pack. Though this comes with a drawback: if you pick up the Side Pack as Leon, Claire is unable to access it and vice versa.
Both Leon and Claire start out with typical 9mm handguns. In terms of special weapons, Leon can get a shotgun and a Desert Eagle .50AE. With Claire you get the Grenade Launcher, which can be used with 3 different types of ammo (Grenade, Flame, and Acid), as well as a Bow Gun, which fires out bolts and can be used as a substitute to the handgun. Both Leon and Claire can track down the Weapons Box key, which appears after you take the cable car which leads you to Umbrella's research facility. The Weapons Box key is used in a room on the lowest floor in the Umbrella lab. As Leon, you pick up extra shotgun ammo and parts to upgrade the Desert Eagle with, and if you use the key as Claire, you get lots of extra ammo for the Grenade Launcher.
There are 3 different types of healing herbs in this game – Green, which can be used to restore health. Next is Blue, which is used to cure poison. And lastly, is the Red herb, which can be mixed with the Green herb to restore your health fully.
The mixing combinations are as follows: G X 2, G X 3, 1G X 1B, 2G X 1B, 1G X 1R, 1G X 1B X 1R.
Like it’s predecessor, RE2 utilizes a Metroidvania-style gameplay formula of exploration and progression which was made famous in Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. You explore a large area with puzzles to solve, locked doors, dead ends, and safe rooms where you can save your game. You can store whatever excess items you have in item boxes, which are usually found in safe rooms.
The Nintendo 64 version features bonus content not available in other versions of the game, such as alternate costumes for Leon and Claire, the ability to change the blood color, the ability to adjust the level of blood and gore, a randomizer that places items in different locations during each play-through, and a more responsive first-person control scheme with the N64's analog stick as mentioned previously.
Another bonus included are the 16 in-game documents known as the Ex-Files, written by Tetsuro Oyama, which reveals new information about the series’ lore and connects the story of RE2 to other games in the franchise, including the first game, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, Resident Evil CODE: Veronica, and Resident Evil 0. The Ex-Files were included in the N64 version as again, this was the first Resident Evil game to come out on a Nintendo platform, and so Nintendo fans could be caught up on the previous and future events of the series.
The N64 version also supports the Expansion Pack, which improves the graphics. The soundtrack utilizes Dolby Surround and was reworked from the ground up, and was converted by Chris Hülsbeck, Rudolf Stember and Thomas Engel. And since this is on a cart, there are no loading times. Not too bad, I must say.
The Characters
Leon S. Kennedy – Age: 21 – Leon is the main protagonist of Resident Evil 2. He is a rookie police officer for the Raccoon City Police, and arrives in the worst place at the worst time on his first day on the job. He works with Claire Redfield and Ada Wong in order to find survivors and escape Raccoon City, as well as expose the crimes of Umbrella.
Leon eventually makes a return as the main protagonist of Resident Evil 4, and he returns as the main protagonist in Resident Evil 6. Will we see Leon make a return in future Resident Evil games since he wasn't in RE7 or RE8?
Claire Redfield – Age: 19 – Claire is the secondary protagonist of RE2. She is a college student, and is the younger sister of Raccoon City S.T.A.R.S. officer Chris Redfield. Claire originally planned to travel to Raccoon City to track down her brother, only to walk right into the T-Virus outbreak. She teams up with Leon, and the two of them eventually find out that Chris went to Europe to investigate Umbrella. Both Claire and Leon work together to find survivors and escape the city.
Claire returns as the main protagonist of Resident Evil CODE: Veronica, which takes place shortly after the events of Resident Evil 3. She also returns as the main protagonist of Resident Evil Revelations 2, after a 15-year hiatus.
Ada Wong – Age: 24 – Ada is the third main protagonist of RE2. She is a corporate spy working for an unknown competitor of Umbrella. She was sent by her employer to steal a sample of the G-Virus created by Umbrella scientist William Birkin in Raccoon City. While on her mission, she meets up with Leon, and claims that she is trying to find her boyfriend John, an Umbrella researcher from Chicago. Despite Leon not knowing who Ada really is, Leon decides to work with her to try and find a way out of the city and uncover the truth about Umbrella and the outbreak.
Ada returns in Resident Evil 4 alongside Leon, and she also appears as one of the protagonists in Resident Evil 6.
Sherry Birkin – Age: 12 – Sherry is the fourth main protagonist of RE2. She is the daughter of Umbrella researchers William and Annette Birkin. During the Raccoon City infestation, she took shelter at the Raccoon City Police Department, and while hiding in side-rooms and vents, she was able to survive without help. She eventually runs into Claire, and the two of them work together to get out of the city.
Sherry returns as a playable character in Resident Evil 6 and has her own campaign.
My Thoughts
This was my second Resident Evil game. After playing Resident Evil 4, I decided to try out other games in the series. After hearing that Resident Evil 2 was on the N64, I decided to get that version. Though it took me a little while to master the game, Resident Evil 2 is my second favorite game in the series behind RE4.
The controls, especially on the N64 version, are excellent and easy to master. The gameplay is solid and very well done. Though the voice acting isn’t all that great, I actually don’t mind it, as it gives this game a 1950s/60s horror movie feel. The selection of weapons are excellent, and though there aren’t items everywhere, there are just enough to make this feel like a proper survival horror game - conserve and only use when necessary. The difficulty is also very balanced, and with the exception of the Tyrant, there are no insane difficulty spikes. The graphics have also held up very well considering its age, and this is one of the best aged games in the Nintendo 64’s library.
Backtracking isn’t that big of an issue either, as there are ways to make your journey to a different area less time consuming. The soundtrack is a classic as well, and probably the best of the series. Angel Studios did an excellent job making CD audio sound very crisp on an N64 cart. Even today, this game can still give someone a good scare, and the jump scares present in some parts of the game are excellent. The jump scare scenes with the Tyrant and the Lickers still scare me when I play it. Overall, I can’t think of many issues with RE2. The only problem I can think of is its length, as it is very short for a Resident Evil game despite having two separate campaigns to play through.
Overall, Resident Evil 2 is among the series' finest entries, and the best classic-style game in the series. It is also one of the top Metroidvania games ever made and one of the best games in the Nintendo 64's library. If you are to try this game out, I recommend the N64 version, as I believe that it is the best version of the game out there.
And by the way, how come nobody ever ships Leon and Claire?
9.5/10
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