Resident Evil 2

RESIDENT EVIL 2

SLUS-00421/00592
Copyright © 1997 Capcom Co. Ltd.
1 Player
Sony PlayStation
MRP $49.99
Mature 17+ (Animated Blood & Gore - Animated Violence)

— by Maria Rider

Yet again you enter the world of survival horror! Can you live through this nightmare again? RESIDENT EVIL 2, the second installment in the "Survival Horror" games from Capcom, is the sequel to RESIDENT EVIL, one of the best selling games in the U.S. and Japan.
This time around the player can choose to be one of two people: Leon Kennedy, a Raccoon City Police Department officer on his first day of work; or Claire Redfield, little sister to Chris Redfield (of the S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team sent to the mansion outside Raccoon City in the mountain, where the first RESIDENT EVIL started off).
RESIDENT EVIL 2 starts off with a fabulous prelude—full motion video animation, complete with the classic "voice acting" from the first game. After viewing the mini B-horror movie, the player controls either Leon or Claire and makes sure they don't die. This with the help of several weapons: 9mm pistol, shotgun, or grenade launcher. This is the whole goal of the game; maneuver Leon or Claire and blast away zombies, giant spiders, and demon dogs in the process.

The story behind RESIDENT EVIL 1 and 2 tells of the corporate power known as Umbrella, who is behind the mass population of zombie-type creatures lumbering around Raccoon City, waiting to eat any living thing that passes by. All this havoc was caused by the T-Virus in RESIDENT EVIL 1, which is a biological weapon that transforms humans into hideous weapons of destruction. The early experiments of the T-Virus are the zombified dogs, unfortunate scientists, and staff of this mysterious mansion outside Raccoon City.
RESIDENT EVIL 2 takes place right where the first game left off. Leon Kennedy arrives in his jeep during a quiet night in Raccoon City. It is his first day of work and what a day it will be! Claire Redfield, Chris Redfield's sister, also arrives on her motorcycle, looking forward to meet up with her big brother Chris. She is going to get more than a welcome from her brother. Both Leon and Claire are thrust together by fate and, after a near miss with a zombie truck driver, they go on to the R.P.D. police station—where they think it is safe. Little do they know...
The RESIDENT EVIL 2 story has a whole new virus, the G-Virus, created by William Birkin, a genius scientist under Umbrella's reign. The G-Virus can transform any human into an ultimate bio-weapon and the G-Types are able to impregnate other beings with their embryos to make even more bio-weapons! Talk about chaos! There are other characters in the game:
Annette Birkin, the wife and assistant to William Birkin; their young daughter, Sherry Birkin; Brian Irons, the Chief of Police of Raccoon City; Ada Wong, the mysterious and beautiful female spy; and Ben Bertolucci, an inquisitive reporter.
The game contains two levels of play, Normal and Easy. With Normal Mode the player gets less ammo and health spray at the start. In Easy Mode the player starts out with more ammo and health sprays. There's also an options screen where the player can choose to have Manual or Auto aiming of weapons. Leon and Claire search through the many areas of the RESIDENT EVIL 2 world and find weapons, ammo, herbs, and people that reveal more of the story behind the mystery of the G-Virus.
A welcome change to the sequel is that not only does the player play the game through once, but twice! If the player chooses Leon for the first scenario then Claire plays the second, more difficult scenario, and vice versa. This gives RESIDENT EVIL 2 a lot more gameplay than the original. And if you finish the game under 3 hours there is a secret game you can play, extending the gameplay even more!

Another change is that the player is given a rating from S and A through F, which is determined by the amount of saves, green herbs and health sprays used. The rating is also determined by the time taken to complete each scenario. The graphics have been improved dramatically from the first game, and the same gloomy, scary music plays in the background at certain times of the game. The voice acting, remarkably, has improved from the first game, but the classic lines like "The Master of Unlocking" are replaced by "Don't Shoot! I'm a Human!"
One of the better improvements to the second game has the characters actually looking down, up, right, or left if there is a zombie or some other monster out of the view of the player or laying dead in a pool of blood on the floor. The classic RESIDENT EVIL monsters from the first game are back, such as the giant poison-acid spitting spiders, acid-spitting zombies, zombie dogs, and the deadly crows. There are also new, more frightening monsters, like the ravenous Lickers, reptilian mutations that can use their power tongues to get a good taste of the characters; the Ivys, plant-like monsters which spit paralyzing acid at their victims and squeeze the life out of them; and the Moths, which are not timid in the least, aiming for the head whenever possible.
There are a score of other monsters, most of them different incarnations of the G-Types and Mr. X (in the second scenario). If you are a big RESIDENT EVIL fan, the sequel is a great improvement over the first game. The graphics, music, and even voice acting work well together and add to the horror feel of this genre game. Definitely check this one out! You won't be disappointed!

Rating: **** (out of 4)