It's been two months since the destruction of the mansion on the outskirts of Racoon City and just as things were getting back to normal....Strange things have been happening again! This time in the urban streets that is Racoon City there have been reports of what sound like....Zombies!!! On her way to the Police Station to find her brother and on his way to his first day of a new job Claire Redfield and Leon Kennedy are brought together by fate and as they travel into the depths of Racoon City things are looking really bizarre. Then in one frenetic moment the squad car crashes, a tanker explodes and Claire and Leon are apart again.
Welcome back to a new world of survival horror which is Resident Evil 2. In the sequel you can play as either feisty babe Clair Redfield, sister of STARS Alpha Team member Chris who after his unearthing and destroying the deadly T-Virus in the mansion has mysteriously disappeared, or rookie cop Leon Kennedy who was just on his way into work and upon arriving in the city seemed to think the "let's scare the new boy" tactics were being taken a little too far. Anyway, starting in the zombie infested street the main idea is to get to the Police Station where you can seek sanctuary and find out what the hell is going on. Unfortunately life in Racoon City is never that simple and you arrive in the Police Station to find it desolate. Well desolate of humans anyway.
As the story unfolds and you read the various diaries, reports etc. you discover that Umbrella, the company responsible for the destroyed T-Virus have now created a more deadly version named the G-Virus and it has somehow got out of hand infecting people in the city creating all sorts of mutant creatures. Your plan is to search for survivors and get out but life doesn't always go according to plan. Encountering new beasts, characters and involving more pant-filling moments than the original, Resident Evil 2 picks up where the first one left off and offers more. The graphics are again stunning and the sound is dramatic as ever, but new features include:- The ability to control secondary characters in certain scenarios, visual defects as your character becomes hurt, and a secondary mission where you will control the other main character who starts on the other side of the burning truck and whose ojectives are slightly different to the first mission. There are more weapons to discover, but more and harder beasties to take out so use your ammo wisely.
The backgrounds are excellent and create a somewhat claustrophobic atmostphere in places and the polygons and animation of the characters has been improved from the original. The attention to detail is second to none and the opening sequence and FMV inserts are superb and fit nicely into the story.
It is the sound that made the first game so atmospheric and once again the audio on RE2 doens't disappoint. The music is scary, the spot effects add more tension and the dialogue is ..well... the same naff acting from the RE1 that we all grew to love so much. Once again the use of sound to create the shock factor has been more so in this game as I am suffering from nightmares and have to sleep with the light on and I haven't finished the second mission yet.
If you have played and enjoyed Resident Evil 1 then you must get the sequel. It has been improved and enhanced a great deal but surely there must be a downside. Well the main bad point is the fact that it is quite a bit shorter than the original, but when you consider the back to back secondary mission you can just about accept this. The only other flaw is that unlike the original, all the puzzles have been made a lot more obvious (hence the shortness of the game possibly?). Apart from that it is one of the best games I have played and the end is set up nicely for "Resident Evil 3". I don't know if I'll be able to cope with another. Mammy, tuck me in and pass me dummy.
