Resident Evil Zero review

Right, its been a wee while since my last post as I've been pretty busy with my college photography stuff but that comes to an end right now as this post is a brand new un with new content (no revisitations although there will be still a few of them coming up soon!).

So this post will cover a game for a change and the game in question is Resident Evil Zero, which I've just finished playing for the first time in years as I originally played it on the Nintendo Gamecube all those years ago back in 2003 when it was first released.  But after nearly 15 years how does it stack up???  Well let's take a closer look....

Oh and as there will be a mention to some of the story here, the following warning is coming as usual...

SPOILERS WILL BE AHEAD!!

STORY

Right, so a bit about the story (I will try and keep this to a fair minimum!) as the game is a prequel to the events of the first Resident Evil game and takes place just a day before the events of the original on 23 July 1998.  And it starts with STARS team member, Rebecca Chambers investigating the scene of a train crash, which she boards and finds it is swarming with zombies.  Rebecca while onboard encounters a former marine, Billy Coen, who was being escorted by police after being sentenced to death for killing 23 people.  Despite his alleged crimes, Billy decided to pool resources with Rebecca in order so they can escape the but they soon encounter a mysterious unknown man who sets the train in motion, forcing the duo to find a way to stop the train, which they eventually do as it crashes into the tunnels of an abandoned building.

Rebecca and Billy then explore the building and find it to be a disused training facility for future executives of the Umbrella company (the company behind all the viruses that create the zombies and other monsters in the game basicall).  And naturally its not long before they discover more zombies in the facility aswell as some new monsters and from here Rebecca and Billy must try and get to the bottom of these events and find a way to escape the facility....

THOUGHTS

As a prequel to the original Resident Evil (or indeed the Nintendo remake of Resident Evil) Resident Evil Zero works very well and as a game its a pretty tense and uncomfortable experience but at the same time its a game that's alot of fun to play as it marries the classic formulae of the series with horror and action.

It also makes good use of its settings and the start of the game on the train provides some good moments of suspense particularly when the train is set in motion and Rebecca and Billy must try and find a way to stop it.  And as the game goes on it seems to explore the familiar settings of the series with both players trying to find a way to get through their nightmare to escape.  

GAMEPLAY 

As for the gameplay things take a change here as a new co-op player mode has been incorporated into the single player campaign where Rebecca and Billy must work together and you can change between the two characters at any given time.  Both playable characters however have different skills that can be used in the game such as Rebecca has a mixing set, which she can use to mix herbs for healing or to mix chemicals for various purposes.  Billy on the other hand has stronger defensive skills given that he is physically stronger and taller than Rebecca, this allows him to push heavy objects and take more damage but he also has a lighter that can be used at different points in the game.

Another aspect of the gameplay is that R and B (for short!) can pick up items or leave them, rather than try and hunt around and find a save room to dump their items in a storage chest, the game refreshingly allow for them to just drop an item if they haven't enough space.  However Rebecca and Billy can also even exchange items, which can be done in-menu and this also allows to free up space for either player if needed.

As for the game's weapons they are pretty much the same as what we've seen before as both players start with a handgun but they soon can pick up other weapons such as shotguns, magnums and of course a grenade launcher.  The only issue with the bigger weapons such as the shotgun or grenade launcher is that it takes up two spaces in either players inventories, which means they have to drop another item to accommodate the weapon.

Throughout the game Rebecca and Billy can also choose to work together or split up and go off and investigate an area on their own, which is done normally at the player's discretion but there are also some situations where its required for one of the characters to do some investigation on their own.  This also plays a key part in the puzzle solving portions of the game of which there are plenty of puzzles strewn through the game that requires either character or in some cases both characters to solve.

GRAPHICS

As for the graphics, well RE0 already looked great in its original release for the Nintendo gamecube but its PS4 HD remaster looks fantastic as the game's environments are riched and detailed even if they serve as 2D backdrops although the game does feature some environmental moving effects such as fire, wind and rain etc. 

And what is even better is the character models, which look terrific for their time even if Rebecca and Billy aren't quite lifelike, their remastered models on the PS4 look very impressive for their time as do the zombies and other monsters, which look suitably horrible but in a good way (well sort of!).  In short RE0 is a game that has aged well graphically speaking and with its HD remaster it looks even better.

MUSIC AND VOICE ACTING

As for the music well its a pretty good score by Seiko Kobuchi and it resembles alot of the other scores, which the usual mix of foreboding tension and terror thrown in.  Its pretty much what you would come to expect from an RE score and it works pretty well overall. 

As for the voice acting well its not too brilliant but it certainly is an improvement on the laughable performances that featured in the original Resident Evil game on the PS1!  The performances are fairly credible even if the delivery of the characters lines are somewhat a bit stilted in feel but that is something the RE games would remedy as they progressed. 

FLAWS

As for flaws....yes RE0 has a fair few even if it is a pretty good game in its own right its gameplay formulae does have its problems.

And to kick off one of the main problems is to do with both characters only having six spaces for items in their inventory as eight would have been a better choice.  And this is also compounded by the fact that larger weapons require two spaces, so that's you already having to give up some potentially important items to accommodate them!  The sharing system for items does help remedy this a little bit but not quite enough for it to be not a pain. 

Another issue is of course to do with the static movement in the game as its exactly the same as in the previous RE games up to this point with the character's clunky movement mechanics, which sees them being unable to run in a straight line and run into walls all the time.  This wouldn't be too bad but the gameplay movement its far from realistic as when they hit a wall they still keep running! 

Further to this issue of movement is a problem to do with getting the character into a proper spot to pick up an item as sometimes you really need to fiddle with your character's positioning to pick up an item in the first place, which can take several goes before they finally do pick the item up!  And this can also be an issue when it comes to a character needing to climb say a box to get over to the other side of a room as you need to get them right centre before they will actually do it!  So I think its safe to say that the gameplay mechanics of the series by the time we hit RE0 really were in dire need of an overhaul!

I also felt that there were probably just a few too many puzzles in the game at times, which were more than liberally sprinkled around the game for the characters to have to solve.  Now to be fair they are not quite as frequent and annoying as they appeared in the remake of the original RE but there are still plenty to be found and never having been a fan of puzzle solving this has always been the most tedious aspect of any game in the series.

And lastly I would have to say that the characters of Rebecca and Billy really aren't that well developed in the game either as they seem pretty uninvolved with one another and despite helping each other, the only bit of humourous bi-play between them was when the first met and Billy asks if she was fantasising over him!  Well for starters she had only just clapped eyes on him!  But for the rest of the game their interactions are very cut and dry, which make for some rather bland dialogue scenes between them.

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So to sum up, Resident Evil Zero is a very solid entry in the series and its packs in plenty of good action and suspenseful setpieces that will keep most fans of the franchise entertained.  The co-op style gameplay of controlling both characters at different times also makes for a somewhat refreshing change from what has gone before where we had only small sections where you would play a different character.  The game also has great graphics and its PS4 remaster looks terrific as it really enhances the character models and the environments of the visuals themselves.     

It does however as I already mentioned still have some gameplay issues, particularly the movement in the game which is pretty clunky and at times static, which showed the series was badly in need of an overhaul of its movement mechanics, which it certainly got in the acclaimed Resident Evil 4.  Plus the characters in the game aren't that engaging or involving in the story either, which makes following the cutscenes not so much fun and often would have you skipping through them.

However if you can forgive all that, Resident Evil Zero is definitely still worth checking as it a gripping game and its gameplay despite any flaws, is still hugely addictive and it will keep you playing till the end.

Right, so that's it for now and I'll be back on here sometime soon when I can think up another review.

So till the next one its bye for now.