GAME CLEAR No. 316 -- Resident Evil 2 (1998)

Resident Evil 2 (1998, Multiplatform)

Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Clear Version: PS1 (Dual Shock version)
Clear Platform: PS5 (PS1 emulation)
Clear Date: 10/9/26

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Why should I care?
The original version of Resident Evil 2 thrills and terrifies brilliantly to this day. Don’t overlook it just because it has a shiny 2019 remake.

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X Gon’ Give It to Ya

Happy October! Every year around this time, I like to play spooky, scary, frightening, or otherwise occult-themed video games. The very first GAME CLEAR post was actually about a game in this tradition. Most years, I play things that are sort of on the cutesier side of “horror,” like the adorable Halloween Forever. I’ve never considered myself to have much of a stomach for true horror titles. However, way back in 2016, I played the Resident Evil remake, and I loved it. It stressed me out horribly, but I basically considered it a masterpiece. I knew I had to play more of them whenever I could muster the courage.

Ten years later, I’ve managed to steel myself for Resident Evil 2. In the interim, a remake thereof was released that was by all accounts great. My feelings on remakes have grown more complicated over time, but I think I now basically believe there is no such thing as a “definitive remake,” especially if the remake is for a platform that allows a leap in graphical fidelity and hardware capability as massive as the PS1 to PS4. The games simply become too difficult to compare. That’s not to say I am not interested in the remake; on the contrary, I will certainly play it someday. To me, there is only upside. I can see where the remake came from and then have it as a delicious dessert. Also — and I know I’ve said this repeatedly on this blog — I believe there’s basically no such thing as a game “not aging well.” It is either still good, or it never was, and for games as contemporarily well-received as Resident Evil 2, I tend to find that the former is the case more often than the latter. Indeed, that holds true here — Resident Evil 2 is a beautiful, pulse-pounding experience that is as enjoyable as it ever was and needs not to live in the shadow of its redo.

This second zombie-survival adventure takes place a couple months after the events of Resident Evil. That game took place in a mansion on the outskirts of Raccoon City that served as the base of operations of the Umbrella Corporation and their secret T-Virus (read: zombie virus) research. It exploded in the aftermath, so the horrible secret managed to remain covered up. Now, however, all of Raccoon City has succumbed to the virus save for a paltry few survivors, including rookie cop Leon Kennedy. Perhaps you’ve heard of him. Additionally, Claire Redfield, sister of Resident Evil protagonist Chris Redfield, has rolled into town at the peak of the outbreak looking for her missing brother. The two meet and then are quickly separated in the chaos, and they decide to rendezvous at Raccoon Police Department, the setting for our game.

One of the main gimmicks of the game is that you basically must play through it twice to get the true ending, and you must decide whom to play as first. You will play that character’s A scenario, followed by the other character’s B scenario. The events of each take place at roughly the same time, but decisions you make and actions you take in the A scenario will affect certain things in the B scenario. Basically, in the B scenario, it plays as if you are following closely behind the footsteps of your previous playthrough. Additionally, the famous Tyrant (a.k.a. Mr. X) only appears in the B scenario, as does the true final boss. Who can say if those things are related? It’s a neat system, and it makes you conscious of how things you do may make your life easier or harder when you take control of the next character, especially in a game so oriented around resource management.

Once you reach RPD as your starting character of choice, you will realize it is the most ornate police station in history. The in-game justification is that it is a repurposed art gallery, which is ridiculous. It hardly matters, though, because it’s a kickass setting for some beautiful pre-rendered backgrounds and fixed camera angles. If nothing else, that is what I wanted to experience in its original beauty before playing the remake. There is a real cinematic, terrifying quality to the fixed camera and yes the tank controls (the d-pad moves the character relative to his frame of reference, not yours). Every time you enter a room or hallway, you must use your ears first to understand if there are threats looming. You must then prepare your weapons for whatever may be shambling (or sprinting) toward you from off-screen. It’s a cool type of tension that simply doesn’t exist in the modern, over-the-shoulder perspective.

Navigating the Raccoon Police Station is basically a matter of solving puzzle after puzzle. Solve one to get a key item to combine with another to open a door to more puzzles. They are seldom terribly difficult, but they tend to require enough thought to make you feel a little clever. I think maybe the bit I liked best is that each character starts at a different place in the building, and key items appear in different places as well. I expected my second playthrough to feel overly familiar, but I was constantly pleasantly surprised by the way Leon’s path through the station kept diverging from Claire’s. It’s a tricky thing to pull off well!

You’re solving all these puzzles, of course, while fending off zombies and other horrible mutant biofreaks. Managing that is a puzzle of its own in the form of inventory management. Can I get away with heading into this new area with just a pistol? Do I have enough heals? Do I have enough saves? Yes, the early Resident Evil games famously rationed your ability to save the game in the form of ink ribbons (progress is saved at typewriters). So even saving raises a question: did I make enough meaningful progress since my last save to make it worth burning another?

When I played the first Resident Evil, I found this whole concept just petrifying. I hated the idea of a game in which I could get unwinnably stuck. I was basically glued to a guide when I played the first game. With Resident Evil 2, I tried to dive into the game without assistance, and I found it to be a much more rewarding experience. If you follow some basic rules of thumb, you’ll generally be okay. Don’t waste bullets on enemies you can feasibly just dodge. If you take too much damage attempting a run to a particular area, strongly consider loading your last save. Every time you enter a new area, mash the inspect button on anything that looks remotely like a container or storage because it may have something useful. Just doing those simple things, I was generally flush with supplies. Some things ran low, but rarely did anything run out.

Still, that fear that the well may run dry at any time remained present, and in a good way. I would describe both of the Resident Evil games I’ve played as essentially stressful experiences. My senses and heart rate are elevated most of the time I’m playing them. This is all exacerbated, of course, by the game’s brilliant sound design. Sometimes, the game’s only sounds are the player’s footsteps and the horrible sounds of the enemy. Other times, its eerie, unsettling, and effective score is allowed to set the tone. The mix of the two means neither silence nor music is ever a perfect indicator of safety or danger (except for the always-welcome safe room music). It’s brilliant.

The stress and suspense of Resident Evil is not an experience I want all the time, but it’s a rather cool one to have when I’m up for it. October is the right time for such a personal challenge.

While there is no doubt Leon’s and Claire’s poor mobility and old-fashioned controls would alienate some players accustomed to more modern movement, I found the basic action of running around and blasting zombies pretty cracking. In fact, I prefer it to what I call “Rockstar movement,” which is the kind found in the games by that studio wherein so much attention is paid to making the player character look and feel realistic that they do not in fact feel like game characters at all. I don’t want a realistic walk cycle and inertia! I want to press a direction and go in it! And in that way, Resident Evil 2 succeeds. The only place its basic systems fail is boss fights. Limited mobility and fixed cameras make encounters with lesser enemies thrilling, but they simply don’t scale to bosses. There are some cool-looking beasts you must contend with, but generally the approach is to just run as far away from them as you can while keeping them in frame, fire your strongest weapon at them once or twice, and then keep fucking running. To do anything else is to invite the much more mobile enemy to maul you. It is without a doubt a weakness of the way these early games are set up.

Despite that, no, it is not the movement that I expect is most improved in the 2019 game, it is the telling of the story. Resident Evil 2 has an absolute bounty of nice-looking prerendered cutscenes to help deliver the more cinematic bits of its plot, but the line reads are bad, the script is worse, and the story is largely a retread of the first game. Turns out someone at Umbrella is developing an even worse zombie virus! Wow! Formulaic serializations are kind of the norm in horror film, so that kind of makes sense, and as a fun piece of shlock, Resident Evil 2 works great, but I do imagine the presentation and delivery of the continuing tale of the franchise has mature considerably since 1998. I very much look forward to seeing how it progresses.

But I don’t know. I generally feel that the more a game is trying to be prestige TV, the less likely it is to appeal to me at all. It’s so hard to combine that with a game that really feels video gamey (for my vague definition of that, which is the only one that matters). Resident Evil 2 (1998) is definitely video gamey. It is likely in the ways that Resident Evil 2 (2019) is less video gamey that I will find myself affirmed in my belief that it cannot be called the “definitive” version. Based on the replies to this reddit thread, my determination for this to be true may ultimately be an exercise in defending against an opinion held only by a guy I made up to get mad at, as they say, but we all gotta do something to pass the time, okay?

Anyway, I haven’t played it, so who knows what I’ll think? Like Resident Evil 2 itself, I suppose my ultimate take on this work will have to be in two parts. I don’t know when I will play the 2019 version, but whenever I do, I’ll be sure to present my then perfectly formed opinion to you, my devoted readers.

Until then, happy October and happy gaming. Play something scary! 🧟‍♂️