Resident Evil 2 – The Finer Things In Horror
In this remake of the second installment of the popular Resident Evil franchise, which is available for Xbox one, PlayStation 4 and PC, you get the chance to join Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield, both who are playable characters with their own campaign, as they fight to survive and thwart the evil Umbrella Corporation’s experiments in the zombie-infested Raccoon City.
The gameplay is very well executed, with a level of challenge that remains true to the survival horror concept, and while you do have to pay attention to your inventory, ammunition, and the durability of your melee weapons, every enemy encounter presents enough options for you to be able to come out on top while using as few resources as possible, or in some cases, none at all.
The aiming mechanics are incredibly reactive, and they allow you to feel capable to overcome the challenges ahead, even against the unfair odds you sometimes face. After all, you are a single person against a full building of zombies, but that doesn’t mean you will just give up, right?
The enemies come in many forms, with the most common being Lickers, blind creatures that can be lethal if alerted to your presence, Mr. X, a tank-like, indestructible foe that chases you around the map, stopping you from reaching your goals smoothly, and of course, the standard zombies that slowly chase you around the sections of the map and are now more resilient than ever, which creates an unsettling experience because, especially on higher difficulties, the simplest mistake can cause you to lose valuable progress.
Speaking of progress, Resident Evil 2 features some puzzles that you need to solve to advance the story, and while they do offer a nice challenge, they are not as unforgiving as the old Resident Evil games were, and while you do need to pay attention to your map and be open to exploration, the objectives of your quest are straightforward enough so that you can deduce what your next step should be without having to backtrack a lot, or spend hours trying to find the right room that takes you to the next section you need to visit.
A thing that I particularly liked about this game is how the campaigns for both Leon and Claire have enough differences to warrant various playthroughs, and especially how each storyline was handled, because they explain perfectly the character’s reasoning for staying in the zombie-infested city, when they could just as easily turn around and save themselves. In Claire’s case, she’s looking for her brother Chris, and later stays in Raccoon City to help out Sherry, the daughter of two Umbrella scientists, while Chris stays because, well, it’s his job to serve and protect, and even if he is new to the Raccoon City Police Force, he will do whatever it takes to make the city a safer place.
The atmosphere this game creates is outstanding as well, and this one is definitely a game you want to play with headphones, as the music, the eeriness that being on your own hearing your footsteps causes, and of course, the sounds the monsters make, all create an immersive sonorous landscape that has you checking over your shoulder as you advance, just to not give your enemies the chance they are waiting for to get you.
All in all, Resident Evil 2 is a great game that every horror fan should try out whether they are long-time fans or newcomers to the series. It has a great story, great features, and amazing replay value, both with the second playthroughs that increase the difficulty and are unlocked after beating the campaign once with each character, and with the extra missions available where you take control of different characters to experience a different bone-chilling adventure.
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Posted by Ingram Draco
on Thursday, October 31st, 2019. Filed under Games.
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Tags: Claire Redfield, evil, finer, horror, Leon Kennedy, monsters, remake, resident, resident evil 2, survival, survival horror, things, umbrella, videogame, zombies
