Resident Evil 0 HD Remaster (PS4) - Video Game Review

Since I reviewed Resident Evil 2, I've been slowly making my way through the entire series again so I can have a review for each installment of the Resident Evil franchise. Please be forewarned that there might be some light spoilers for the original Resident Evil as some of the main characters from that game appear in this one. Lastly, I played the PS4 version of this game as part of the Resident Evil Origins Collection.

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General Information
Resident Evil 0 was developed and published by Capcom in November 2002. It was originally made for the N64, but Capcom ended up moving it to the Nintendo GameCube due to memory limitations. The game was remastered in May 2016 and is now considered the most common version of this game. The HD Remaster version is available on countless platforms (like most other Resident Evil games). Reception to the game was generally favorable however this game is widely considered a bit of a red-headed stepchild to the series as it comes off as very disconnected to the rest of the series. 

Something worth noting to prospective new players is that this game was designed to be harder than the others in the Resident Evil franchise. I don't claim to be the best at the Resident Evil games, however if I were to rate the numbered series by difficulty, I would probably put Resident Evil 0 at the top (although I'd still say that Resident Evil: Code Veronica is the hardest). For new players to the series, I would actually recommend starting with Resident Evil HD Remaster and then going to this one.

The Story
As the name suggests, this game is the prequel to the original Resident Evil and loosely follows the Special Tactics and Rescue Service (better known as "STARS") Bravo Team that goes to investigate a strange occurrence in the Arklay Mountains. Apparently, the Arklay Mountains are the place where zombies and mad scientists like to hang out as there's a different outbreak that occurs prior to the one in Resident Evil. Players will start out as Bravo Team's young medic, Rebecca Chambers, who starts her investigation on a train that was attacked by a swarm of vicious leeches at the direction of a strange man with an even stranger fashion sense.

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The 1990's was certainly a strange time for villain fashion

Shortly later, Rebecca gets separated from the rest of Bravo Team and must team up with First Lieutenant Billy Coen, who is a convicted mass-murderer that served in the U.S. Marines. It is at this point that the player will start to play as both Rebecca and Billy. Unfortunately, this is also where the game's story problems really start to show.

First of all, my general thought on prequels is that they should serve to further augment the original story that they come from. In this sense, Resident Evil 0 essentially fails. Although the game explains how the T-Virus was created and how the original outbreak started, it has little to do with the incident in the original Resident Evil and its events are never brought up in the rest of the series. The most egregious example of this is that Rebecca (who plays a large role in Resident Evil), essentially leaves Resident Evil 0 as a hardened veteran with an arsenal of weapons and seemingly forgets all of that by the time the original game starts. Even more annoying is that the game introduces Billy but then the franchise never uses his character again while the rest of Bravo Team gets either ignored or delegated to talking on the radio.

Even with the prequel issue aside, the dynamic between Rebecca and Billy (from a story perspective) is pretty awful. In a game where there's a deep partnership centered on survival, Rebecca and Billy have virtually no chemistry and barely speak to each other throughout the entire game. I learned nothing more about Rebecca that I didn't already know from the original Resident Evil and Billy is about as charismatic as an oak tree. The awful dialogue doesn't help the few interactions the pair share and by the end of the game I found myself really not caring about either of the protagonists.

The Gameplay
The game retains the same controls as Resident Evil HD Remaster so you can choose to go with the traditional tank-controls or use the more fluid analogue stick, however both have some drawbacks. The tank-controls make it hard to navigate in situations that require evasive maneuvers while the analogue stick makes running straight somewhat of a difficult task due to the fixed-camera angles. Moving in the game didn't hold me back and the fixed-camera angles didn't bother me too much, but the combat controls were where this game struggled.

Like in the other old-school Resident Evil games, player characters are very rigid in how they move and attack, which is fine when you're killing zombies, but more agile enemies have a distinct advantage. Of all the old-school Resident Evil games, this one emphasizes that advantage the most. It has incredibly quick monkeys that will gang up on the player and stun-lock them to oblivion, as well as incredibly resistant leech-based enemies that can hit a player from across a room. The worst of the bunch is a giant bat boss that seemingly exploits every facet of the game to have his way with whichever of the heroes the player happens to be using at the time.

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This winged freak can go to hell

On a much more positive note, this game has some great additions to the original Resident Evil formula that make this game feel unique. First and foremost, the dynamic of playing as both Rebecca and Billy is a really neat mechanic as the player has to manage both characters' health and inventories. Billy is stronger than Rebecca and can push heavy objects, as well as take more of a beating from enemies. Rebecca can mix herbs and use her smaller frame to get into areas that Billy can't (you literally stuff Rebecca in a box at one point in the game). Players can choose to either split up and go off alone, or have their partner follow with an AI supporting them. It's a tricky decision to make as having your partner with you can literally double the fire-power you have, but it also increases the chances of taking damage. For me, I preferred to explore areas as Billy since Rebecca will die in a few hits.

One last awesome experiment in this game is that Resident Evil 0 foregoes the use of item boxes by allowing players to simply drop items they don't want and leave them wherever they choose. This added some realism to the game, however it also contributed greatly to the amount of backtracking that happens throughout. For new players, one can expect to spend a good chunk of time ferrying items around and managing their inventories.

Audio/Visual
The backgrounds are absolutely beautiful and stand out as the highpoint in this game. You can tell an incredible amount of detail was put into the design and the addition of dynamic background mechanics like flickering candles and dripping water really add to the ambience. The background music is pretty great too as it's fairly minimalistic, but has just enough going on to keep the players on edge. It all synergizes to create a sinister setting that makes the player never feel truly safe.

The character models are not nearly as good as the backgrounds, but they're pretty serviceable. I thought Rebecca looked great, and the enemies were particularly impressive, however the male characters seemed to have something off about them. One scientist rocked some type of peach-fuzz mustache that I couldn't help but stare at in every cut-scene he was featured in. The voice acting is so laughably bad that I still crack up every time I play.

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Looks like someone was a late-bloomer

Micro-Transactions/Downloadable Content
Your mileage may vary when it comes to what is available as downloadable content as there are numerous versions of this game out in the wild. For the PS4 version at least, the only extra content were alternate costumes for Billy and Rebecca. The base game already has one alternate costume for Billy and two for Rebecca. Costumes appear to cost one to three bucks for each pack (there are six packs in all). Personally, I had no interest in these packs as I love Billy's standard alternate costume and loathe all of Rebecca's (the skimpy leather outfit made me cringe).

Replayability
The game features unlockables and multiple side-content upon beating the main game. You can replay the game in "Wesker Mode" where Billy is swapped with the super-powered Albert Wesker from Resident Evil 5 (he's still featured as Billy in cut-scenes though). There's the Leech Hunter mini-game as well, which is somewhat similar to the Mercenaries modes in other Resident Evil games. Lastly, although it's not too big of a dynamic, there are parts of the game where you have to temporarily leave behind a partner to carry on. A second play-through would let a player change things up a bit for some additional variety.

The Best of the Best: Strategizing how to proceed in a new area when supplies are low.

The Worst of the Worst: The disappointing lack of chemistry between Rebecca and Billy as well as the lack of meaningful additions to the original Resident Evil.

Would I Recommend?

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Yeah, sure, Billy...

If you're a fan of the original Resident Evil games and want more of those sweet tank-controls, this is worth a play. It provides a healthy challenge and neat new twist on some of the standard Resident Evil mechanics. I can't recommend this one as a good starting point to the series for new players, nor can I recommend this for those that aren't interested in the series as a whole. Essentially, if you like the original Resident Evil, you'll have fun with this one, and if you don't then I would probably skip this one. 

Recommended Let's Play Channel:
Although I do recommend Alonzorion's channel (he runs through it on Hard difficulty on his first attempt), I actually have my own video to offer! Enjoy!

-------------------------------------------------Spoiler Comments-----------------------------------------------------

• It cracks me up that Wesker and Birkin are apparently good friends who went to school together. I feel like Wesker would constantly cheat in class and Birkin would be the type that got wedgies from bullies.
• I feel like Billy had to have died shortly after the picturesque ending to the game. He has no name and just wanders off into the Arklay Mountains alone, which are apparently filled with zombie dogs. The closest town is Raccoon City, which I don't think is any safer for him.
• Rebecca failing to discuss any of what she saw in Resident Evil 0, despite having a god-damn radio, either makes her either incredibly stupid or just mean. As Chris, I would've loved if she had been willing to share the magnum, grenade launcher, and shotgun she picked up with Billy as I could've really used that stuff... 

----------------------------------------------------References--------------------------------------------------

(1) Resident Evil Wiki. (n.d.). Resident Evil 0 image. Fandom. Retrieved from: https://residentevil.fandom.com/wiki/Resident_evil_0_(PS3_pre-order_theme). 
(2) Nerd Calendar. (n.d.). Leech queen image. Tumblr. Retrieved from: https://nerdcalendar.tumblr.com/post/155808855124/january-13-1978-james-marcus-perfects-the. 
(3) GamePressure. (n.d.). Infected bat image. Retrieved from: https://guides.gamepressure.com/residentevilzerohd/guide.asp?ID=33771. 
(4) Grim. (2016, January 30). William Birkin image. WrestlingClique. Retrieved from: http://wrestlingclique.com/showthread.php?t=163633. 
(5) SuperCerberus. (2015). Billy Coen thumb's up gif. Retrieved from: https://makeagif.com/gif/billy-coen-thumbs-up-AxrGN8.