Resident Evil 2 needs no introduction. It’s just one of the best games in the Resident Evil series ever made. And since I’m already introducing it, let me say it is the sequel to the original Resident Evil and takes place a bit after the events of the first game. The fact that Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine blew up the mansion with zombies and other dangerous mutated shit and basically saved the city and the whole world had no real effect. The evil Umbrella Corporation found another way to fuck things up and turn somewhat functioning and almost not entirely corrupt Raccoon City into some sort of zombie fest. And that’s where the game starts.
In the fashion of the previous game, you can play as one of two heroes. Either it is rookie cop Leon S Kennedy with a 90s boys-band haircut and lifeless blue eyes (just watch the cutscene, okay?) or Chris’s little sister Claire Redfield (she rides the bike and apparently is part of some hardcore 1% biker gang… or I’m making things up and she just enjoys heavy, loud and unreasonably uncomfortable methods of transportation).
What I remember really well is that Resident Evil 2 came on two CDs. Which was a freaking something for PS One. Why two? Because the game was loaded. And I mean it. It had two campaigns for both characters. I think CD 1 featured the Leon A/Claire B campaign and CD 2 vice-versa the Claire A/Leon B campaign. And for those times, those two campaigns were really different. They featured a new layout, a new starting point, and added a motherfucking Mister X – a bald moody giant in the coat who wanted to turn your head into mashed potatoes – going after you. Now, it wasn’t a remake, so this dude wasn’t following you everywhere, but since I was a dumb kid, the feeling of being chased down by a giant guy who has kicking my ass as his main agenda and refuses to elaborate added to the scare factor.
The plot was in typical Resident Evil fashion. There is this evil Umbrella Corporation. This evil Umbrella Corporation is so rich and powerful, and evil that it owns Raccoon City and its people. And it managed to build a super-secret underground laboratory that goes straight to the core of the earth (I’m not kidding, there’s no bottom to be seen) without anyone knowing. That’s how powerful and evil it is. To make it worse, it has its own private army of hardcore but fairly dense mercenaries who apparently enjoy cosplaying SAS with their hip MP5s, gas masks, and black jumpsuits. And it also employs fucking idiots for scientists who try to steal the bio-weapon because it’s their baby.
Long story short, there is one scientist like that – Billy Birkin. And he wants to steal the virus (called T-virus) because he created it. The security team of Umbrella Corporation is sent to enforce its zero-work-lifting policy. Thanks to one especially trigger-happy motherfucker, they kill the scientist, break the test tube with the virus (ultimately dooming the whole city), call it a day, exchange high-fives, and go home. The end, right?
Well, not quite. The doctor, being a fucking idiot, has another sample of the virus, injects himself with it, turns into giant motherfucking something with eyes all over the place, takes the led pipe, and goes to enforce basic gun safety rules. The whole team of mercenaries gets piped to death, the giant mutant dude in hip jeans and lead pipe as the weapon of choice runs free, and rats spread the virus like it’s no one’s motherfucking business. Oh, the police are basically useless, the military observes and waits till they have an excuse to nuke the city (I think they really saw an opportunity there), and apparently, Raccoon City is in a gun-free state. And that’s where our heroes start their journey.
Gameplay-wise, nothing changed. You still have those tank controls. Some people love it, some people hate it. I just accepted them as a genre-specific norm. Besides, I was a kid and had no time to bitch about something this trivial, like controls. Everything else, I think, was pretty much the same. Graphics got better, animations got better, now you could see the state of your character’s health by the way he/she moved. Everything alright – you walked and ran like a sprinter. Not so good – you held your side. It’s time to buy yourself a coffin – you limped like crazy and barely moved. There were some new weapons. New enemies like leakers (those skinned suckers who crawled on walls and ceilings and jumped at you) or giant crocodile in the sewer (say hello to crocodiles from New York sewers). The characters had better voiceovers, and I think there was even a love line between Leon and Ada Wong (it was subtle, but it was there, Leon was even sad for a second or two). And basically, that’s it. Everything else, including the obligatory big bang in the end, is there, too.
Maybe I forgot something, but from what I can remember, it was a much-much better Resident Evil 1. The guys at Capcom took an already good game, polished it, and made it even better. No wonder Resident Evil 2 is still considered to be the best of Resident Evil sequels.
Now, I don’t want to say something that is untrue, but I think Resident Evil 2 was also better than the first one in terms of replayability. What I mean by that is, basically, there were mini-games that increased the replayability even beyond what was already available. Now, I will be honest here – I cheated, used CD with cheats that opened the content. So, I don’t know how many mini-games there were, but I remember three games.
The first one was some kind of survival where you could play Leon, Claire, Ada (the woman in red), or Chris. You had to run around, do some tasks, and stay alive. Fun thing, never finished it.
The second one was the 4th Survivor. And I remember this name because it featured the man, the myth, the legend. Hunk. The supercool Umbrella operative, who survived getting hit with a lead pipe in the face and even managed to secure T-virus intact (big success). And now he has to deliver it to the helicopter and get the fuck out of the city before it gets disintegrated in a nuclear holocaust. Hard as fuck. Very tight time limit. But I re-played it many-many-many times. Why? Because I was a big sucker for the characters in masks. They seemed more intimidating and cool back then. As if they knew their shit and knew what the hell they were doing.
The third was the weirdest one. It was basically the same 4th Survivor, only you played as a giant piece of tofu. Yep, the cheese. And that’s it. Basically, that’s it. No surprises in other departments. Even when I was a kid, I couldn’t understand all the reasons to play as a block of tofu instead of some cool dude called Hunk. Well, maybe there was one reason – this slub of tofu was much sturdier than Hunk. At least that’s how it felt back in the day.
I’m done here. I think I could write much more on the topic, share some additional memories. But I think I’ve mentioned all the key points. I mean, I’ve mentioned crocodile in the sewers. Now that’s the big thing.