Resident Evil 0 Preview

Capcom began developing Resident Evil 0 for the Nintendo 64 after it witnessed the relatively bright sales Resident Evil 2 enjoyed on that platform. The game was relatively far along in development before it underwent a platform shift to the Nintendo GameCube--then referred to as the Dolphin by the industry at large. Capcom was actually promoting the former N64 game rather avidly in the year 2000, and many journalists were able to play it at that year's E3 and Tokyo Game Shows. Since the platform shift was officially announced, however, not a bit of information has leaked out of Capcom's labs.

It is known that Resident Evil 0 is a prequel to the previous games in the series, as its title implies. The game stars Rebecca Chambers, a member of S.T.A.R.S. that players of the first game will definitely remember. Rebecca is a member of Bravo Team--the first squad sent by S.T.A.R.S. to infiltrate the legendary mansion in Raccoon City, whose undead inhabitants subsequently wiped the team out. Players will also be able to play as Billy Coen, a fugitive naval officer condemned to death for murdering two fellow soldiers. Though not much of the game's story has been revealed, Yoshiki Okamoto--the game's lead--has commented that it will touch on several of the series' more mysterious elements, such as the nature of the wicked Umbrella Corporation and the details behind the slaughter of the Bravo Squad.

Hands-on impressions of the N64 version of the game revealed a game highly grounded in the series' roots. The control scheme was totally unchanged--the control stick was used to pivot your character, and you moved in the direction you were facing by pressing up. Without a doubt, the most drastic gameplay-related deviation presented by the N64 build of Resident Evil 0 was the ability to shift between both playable characters at will. While Capcom hasn't revealed exactly how this will work in the final game, it's easy to envision this mechanic playing a potentially large role in its puzzles. Another definite gameplay shift was the lack of storage boxes--a longtime Resident Evil mainstay. Rather than being able to access stored items wherever you found an item box, the N64 build of Resident Evil 0 forced players to drop items on the ground when they were overloaded and wanted to make room for new ones. The new system allowed players to drop their entire inventory with just one command, which will conceivably make it easier to rearrange your inventory, when the need arises, in the final game.

Given Resident Evil 0's move to the GameCube, there's bound to still be a great deal about it that we don't know. We expect, however, to see the game at this year's E3, so keep your eyes on this space as that time nears.