‘Resident Evil 2’ (1998): Twenty Years Later

“Resident Evil……Two.” The Resident Evil franchise as we know it today spans 22 years and at least 22 video games. It broke ground for the survival horror genre and their realistic graphics and sound made the games actually scary to play for the younger audience. The first game, released in 1996, was a smash hit, although it was heavily flawed. Resident Evil 2 improved some of those flaws while keeping the survival horror theme to make an even bigger smash hit which led to the dynasty we know today.

For those that don’t know, the survival horror genre is different than most shooting games. Most of the horror games that came out in the 1980s, such as Castlevania, Terminator and Contra for the Nintendo Entertainment System, had primitive graphics and a sidescrolling atmosphere that didn’t make much for scary. By the 1990s, games had added the first person POV, meaning you see the game through the eyes of the character you control. This led to a trio of games known as Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Isle of The Dead being released, games that challenged the player to fight monsters, Nazis and zombies face to face rather than from the side. It’s much scarier to see monsters coming directly at you isn’t it?

By the time Resident Evil was in the works in 1996, Tokuro Fujiwara and Shinji Mikami wanted to create a different kind of atmosphere. In all the other games previously mentioned, your character had plenty of ammo to kill anybody in sight and fight your way through the end of the level. Tokuro and Shinji decided that brute force would get you nowhere in this new game, so they designed it around scarce ammo and plenty of puzzles to make the player think instead of instantly react. The object was to survive rather than kill everything in sight, which made for a much more realistic atmosphere. Add in the rendered graphics, voice acting, actual cut scenes starring real actors and the great story, Resident Evil turned the gaming world upside down. Two years later, Resident Evil 2 would blow the industry away with its innovations.

The first game utilized two characters, a male named Chris and a female named Jill. Each had different strengths and weaknesses which also added new strategies since most two player game characters had the same attributes (Super Mario Brothers 2/Doki Doki Panic not withstanding). The story told of a special forces group responding to a series of disappearances in the mountains of Raccoon City and are attacked by mutant dogs. The survivors of the attack flee to a nearby mansion… and that’s where the game begins. The player controls Chris or Jill with the mission of finding other survivors and making it out of there alive.

As great as the first game was, it had its flaws. The controls were brutal to figure out, especially when playing for the first time. Instead of using the D-pad on the controller to move around like any other game, the D-Pad only moved your character in a circle causing you to press another button to run or walk. Try doing that under fire from a gaggle of ghouls and you’ll be lunch for the creatures more than a few times. The graphics weren’t that pleasing and the voice acting was beyond cheesy. Also, if you played as Chris, you were only able to carry six items. That meant if you had a gun, ammo for it, a healing item, a stronger gun and ammo for it… that’s 5 of the 6 slots right there.

Another frustrating thing was that you couldn’t just directly save the game. Oh, no. You needed ink ribbons and a typewriter to save your game. So if you’re carrying a shotgun, shotgun shells, a handgun, handgun ammo, healing spray and a plug you need for a later puzzle, you have to trudge all the way back to a chest, unload one of the items in favor of an ink ribbon and then trudge to find a typewriter. The good news is the enemies didn’t respawn, so if you cleared out an area, they don’t come back. For all its flaws, Resident Evil was a good game. Then came Resident Evil 2.

This time around, you could play as either Claire Redfield, the sister of Chris from the first game, or Leon S. Kennedy, a rookie cop on his first day of duty. The storyline to Resident Evil 2 is a few months after the events of the first game, Claire is on her way to Raccoon City to find Chris after he disappeared. Leon is on his way for his first day of work. Talk about horrible timing. The virus that mutates humans into zombies made its way through the actual city, making it a realm of death. Claire and Leon are split up for most of the game as they race to find each other and figure out how to get out of the infected city once inside.

Once again, they used a similar item system, but they were much more generous to Leon than they were to Chris. The same idiotic walking control was back, but at least gamers that played the first one would be used to it by now. So what made this game better than the first? The graphics were improved, the voice acting was a lot less cheesy and the storyline was great. Not only the that, the moans of the zombies were more realistic and different. Introduced for the first time was a new monster, the Licker.

Just like with the giant snakes and mutated sharks of the first game, you’ll do battle with huge spiders, reptiles and other nasties that will have you yelling at the TV more often than not. What also made this game more interesting was the option to play the game twice with a different mission. For example, if you played the entire game as Leon, Claire will pop up every now and then and vice versa. After you beat the game as Leon, you have the option to play a second mission as Claire to pretty much show what she went through while you were playing as Leon. In both second missions, you’re stalked the entire time by a giant monster known as the Tyrant.

Once again, brute force will get you nowhere and more often than not, planning a strategic retreat to save ammo is much wiser than standing, fighting and dying. If you beat both second missions, you get the option to play ANOTHER mission only with a new character named Hunk. Basically, your mission is to collect a virus sample and get out. If you beat that mission, you got one more… but this time, it gets ridiculous. In the final mission, you basically play Hunk’s stage, only you’re a huge block of tofu. Yes, of course, I’m serious. All you get is a knife, so if you’re not ready to throw the game out the window after 5 play throughs, prepare to dodge and jab away with a knife playing as a block of tofu.

Another new thing in Resident Evil 2 was getting a choice of alternate outfits which became a staple of the franchise moving forward. Finally, unlike the first game where you have a partner pop up now and then for cut scenes, this time you actually play as the partner for a bit. Claire meets Sherry Birkin, a little girl whose parents happen to be the primary antagonists of the game. Leon meets Ada, a spy working freelance for anybody who pays her. Ada would go on to become one of the most popular characters in the franchise.

So, how did Resident Evil 2 do once it was released? It sold 380,000 copies the first week in North America alone, grossing $19 million. That actually surpassed the total of Final Fantasy 7 and Super Mario 64. Most game reviewers preferred this over the original because of the atmosphere. It was dark, dirty and spooky for most of the game. Sure, the item system and lack of controls were still infuriating and the voice acting was still pretty cheesy, but the game play, story and hidden content made the game playable and enjoyable, even to this day. If you want a great way to kill a week and a half, pick up Resident Evil 2.