Resident Evil remake was released earlier this year and wowed gamers with its awesome graphics and nostalgic value. A true next Gen Resident evil using the familiar pre-rendered backgrounds. The core gameplay remained the same and the story was irrelevant if you had played the original Resident Evil on the Psone all those years ago.
Finally Resident Evil Zero rears its head to once again provide us with the action we expect from Capcoms series.
The first thing to point out here is that RE0 is set before the events in RE remake. Your story here begins as you assume the role of Rebecca Chambers, STARRS member medic and general rookie. This storyline basically uncovers all those answers as to why and what happened prior to the mansion incident of the remake.
The game begins with a cool intro fmv featuring the STARRS alpha team embarking on a mission to investigate recent murders in the area. Rebecca being part of this team is very much involved in the investigation that ensues. However on route to their destination the helicopter they were using as transport mysteriously experiences engine failure and crashes into some nearby forests. Luckily nobody is hurt and the team begins to continue the investigation regardless. The team search the area and discover an overturned military jeep littered with the dead bodies of its occupants. On closer inspection the team find out in horror that the military was transporting one of their own, a killer of 23 people to execution. The prisoner in question seems to be absent from the wreckage and so the investigation continues. The team split up and continue with the search for this fugitive obviously linking him to the recent murders. Rebecca now is alone and discovers a train that has stopped in the middle of the forest. The game now begins as you take control of Rebecca. Once on the train Rebecca encounters many strange things including dead bodies, zombies and rabid zombie dogs. She has no clue what is going on here but continues with the mission anyway's. It is here that she meets the fugitive and after a bit of posturing they decide to work together feeling they would stand a better chance of survival in this mad place. The game begins proper.
Phew that was a lengthy intro but necessary for creating the scene and for understanding how the game plays. RE0 is different to previous installments in many ways. For the 1st time you are able to switch between the two characters at will (as seen in the game Hard Edge for the Psone). This opens up possibilities as you can use a certain character for a particular situation. Billy Coen (the fugitive) is a much tougher character and is generally good at using firearms. Rebecca however is relatively weak but good at mixing herbs and running past enemies. The way you use the two characters is generally up to you and offers great replay as to how you play the game. Many people have said that Rebecca can be used as a pack mule for Billy and I would agree. That is only one way to play this game. You can for most of the game either keep the two separate or together as a team. This creates some cool gunfights as you and the CPU battle against the enemy unloading round after round in tandem with each other. You also get some limited control over the CPU character whereby you can position him/her, order them to stay put or follow and whether they remain passive or active in battle. Again Billy being more handy with weapons makes for a more aggressive CPU controlled partner as opposed to Rebecca being cautious and inexperienced. I found that this forced you to play as Rebecca more when you worked together.
Resident Evil Zero now allows you to drop any items wherever you want to. This adds some tactics as to what you take and leave behind as you only have six item slots each.
Enemies this time round are a mixed bunch of insects and the usual zombie crowd. The new enemies are a welcome addition to the wealth of monster types throughout the series. Although some argue that they are not as scary this time round. I disagree.
The weapons available are all familiar too featuring the usual handguns , shotguns, magnums and rocket launchers. Great for mashing those zombie heads.
Controlling the characters is easy but sometimes awkward, something you will get used to or not depending. This does not hamper your gameplay that much but may just add a little more tension if you have controller and zombies to deal with at once.
Resident Evil Zero is a cool game and tries hard to be different. I found the character swapping to be cool but badly implemented, especially during the more puzzle orientated moments. The Item dropping is also cool but should have had the option of the chests as well. The story seems to be very sparse with not much depth to the characters. The graphics in the game are faultless but maybe a bit repetitive in terms of the mansion styling's being present here also. The game has reasonable replay but I do suggest playing on Normal if you want to prolong the experience. RE0 is a cool addition to the series which fans will feel all too familiar with. Get out there and get mashing zombie heads now.
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