Resident Evil 2 [Feb]

[Kongster]

C' makes a valid point about RE2's difficulty and Capcom knew it too. Hence why they made RE3 much more of a challenge.

[dataDave]

I actually found Resi 2 harder than 3.

[Ouenben]

I found them both pretty easy but did generally find myself being a bit more laid back in RE2. Saving only every now and again (woulda been even less if i wasnt worried about it corrupting again!) and not taking much healing stuff with me.
The hardest room in the whole game is probably the room you need two people to open, one from each scenario. As when you go in you have to fight 3 grey lickers the moment you set foot in it.

[fallenangle]

Probably not the place to say this but good as they are I actually preferred Dino Crisis to either the original RE or RE2.

[eastyy]

i loved dino crisis 2 .....really great action game

With resi evil 2 ....loved the bit of customizing you can do

[sj33]

I think people regard it as the series' peak because of the scenario, especially when you think back to 1998 and how fresh the context and setting was. I remember playing it in 1998 on my uncle's Playstation, fresh from completing the Saturn version of Resi 1. While I prefer Resi 1's claustrophobia in retrospect, at the time, it was like someone had opened up the game and taken it to a new level.

Certainly however, the game is probably the easiest Resi game, never any major challenge, though I felt it made up for it with the sheer amount of content it offered, while managing to maintain the attention of the player. RE3 is probably more satisfying to play, imo, and certainly an overcritisised game.

I always enjoyed the original Dino Crisis too! Though Dino Crisis 2 gave it some much needed differenciation from Resi. They obviously dropped the ball then. They should revisit Dino Crisis, we're not exactly drowning in Dinosaur-related 'horror' games.

[Fargo]

A new Dino Crisis game using the Resi 5 engine would be my dream game

[Kit]

I remember being absolutely blown away by the amount of detail they managed to cram into each prerendered background: smashed cars, readable sign posts and ads, it was a master class in art direction.

Really put me off Code Veronica when I heard it went 3d.

[sj33]

^Well granted Code Veronica was a bit of an experimentation, and I think it all worked quite well, much better than Dino Crisis in that regard. It did mean they could make some excellent use of fogging and lighting in some areas. Antartica wouldn't have been half as good if prerendered because of it's excellent use of these things.

But ultimately yeah, the prerenders were excellent, and really did wonders in REmake where they had the hardware to make the characters fit in nicely with the background. It really worked well.

[C']

I actually thought Dino Crisis was quite impressive for what it got out of the old PS1. The locations may have lacked some of the artistry of Resident Evil's pre-rendered backgrounds but there's no doubt it gave the developers the opportunities to do things that were not possible with the Resident Evil approach.

I actually thing Dino Crisis is an overlooked gem in the PSone catalogue and I was really disappojted with the direction Capcom took with the sequels (especially the risable Xbox game).

[sj33]

I have a very big soft spot for the original Dino Crisis, I thought it was a very well executed game in terms of scenario, and the fact that the dinosaurs were faster, and less common, than zombies gave a greater feeling of panic when you did come across one. This was obviously lost in Dino Crisis 2 because of the emphasis on points etc.

But I did think that Dino Crisis 2 gave the series a bit more differenciation from Resident Evil, whereas many of the lessons learnt in the original Dino Crisis should have found their way into Resi. Unfortunately, judging from RE4/5, they took the opposite direction.

[JamesS]

Okay, so I got Biohazard 2 from the Japanese PSN. I borrowed RE2 from a friend years back but didn't really get anywhere with it, so this is my first proper attempt to play it. Until now, RE4 is the only Resi game I've played to any great extent. I also tried Zero but really didn't like it, and that put me off trying more of the traditional RE games.

First impression is that it's not the most friendly game in the world. You're dumped straight into an area full of zombies with nothing really telling you even what the controls are. I managed to die on the 2nd screen trying to work out what the buttons do. Got a bit further on my second go - as far as a bus - but died again before I managed to reach any way to save. I'm not keen on the way the game gets harder when you're doing badly by making you move slower. Seems like it's putting the boot in a bit when you're already having trouble. It's particularly frustrating given that there doesn't seem to be any way to heal in the first few areas.

Controls are better than I was expecting. Moving around the world is fine, and aiming's less of a problem that I thought it'd be (does it autoaim a bit for you?). Graphically it's dated, clearly, but still looks nice enough, especially on the PSP.

Anyway, back to it. See if I can get a bit further this time.

Is there any particular reason to start with one disk over the other, by the way? Also, I'm tempted to put it on easy. Would I miss out on anything by doing that?

[sj33]

You're making a mistake if you're trying to kill zombies in the first outside area, you have to dodge as many as you can. I think the only ones you actually have to kill are by the basketball court, and in the bus.

[Ouenben]

Okay, so I got Biohazard 2 from the Japanese PSN. I borrowed RE2 from a friend years back but didn't really get anywhere with it, so this is my first proper attempt to play it. Until now, RE4 is the only Resi game I've played to any great extent. I also tried Zero but really didn't like it, and that put me off trying more of the traditional RE games.

First impression is that it's not the most friendly game in the world. You're dumped straight into an area full of zombies with nothing really telling you even what the controls are. I managed to die on the 2nd screen trying to work out what the buttons do. Got a bit further on my second go - as far as a bus - but died again before I managed to reach any way to save. I'm not keen on the way the game gets harder when you're doing badly by making you move slower. Seems like it's putting the boot in a bit when you're already having trouble. It's particularly frustrating given that there doesn't seem to be any way to heal in the first few areas.

The options screen does let you see what the controls are but obviously that's not much help on the japanese screen.
There is an option to auto-aim (I use it so I can shoot enemies I can't see due to the camera)
It's not neccasary to kill all zombies, and if one is in the way try staying back until it moves enough that there is space to manouver around it.
Also when you get attacked by a zombie have a quick button mash of everything, it usually means the zombie only gets one actual bite in.

[sj33]

Particularly early on in RE2, it's all about saving ammo. You could be a bit more gun-ho in RE3.