Capcom still manages to perplex me. I’m under the impression that their logic is that if people buy a lot of Game X, then they should continue to put out sequels to Game X, without changing it at all. But, this logic is seriously flawed. Take a look at the Resident Evil series, for example. The games have indeed been, for the most part, great over the years. But, they aren’t perfect. The controls are totally inadequate to fight several enemies, particularly against faster ones. But after five games and several remakes and side stories, Capcom has yet to change the robotic control scheme. Resident Evil Zero is a good game, but it’s broken in the same ways all the other games have been and then in some new ways. The concept behind the game is simple: make it through several rooms solving puzzles and battling monsters trying to find your way out. But Resident Evil Zero does bring a few new things to the table, mainly the partner system and changes to item storage. The partner system works fairly well, although not like you’d really expect. Most of the time, you will just have your partner following you around, helping you kill anything you come across. This is actually quite helpful, as it takes off some of the load of combat. But of course, you will have to share ammunition and weapons with your partner, so don’t expect the game to be a cakewalk. However, puzzles involving your partner are not as well done. They basically involve passing items to one person via elevators or having one character turn a lever to open a door while the other runs in. These are puzzles that have been done to death before in the series, but this time you need another person to accomplish what you could do alone before. The new item storage system will have you in a similar love/hate relationship. The game finally allows you to drop items anywhere in rooms you are roaming through. This is occasionally nice, since there will be time that you brought more than you can carry and need to unload to pick something important. But there are two problems to this: you can only drop so many items in each room and you end up dropping items in safe areas anyways. Since item boxes aren’t around anymore, this method can get quite annoying, forcing you to store important items in numerous rooms and therefore increasing the amount of backtracking. Backtracking has already been a major complaint of the series, so this doesn’t bode well. But the partner system does help out a bit, since you can exchange items with them. Fortunately, the story should continue to please fans. Since the game is a prequel to the original Resident Evil, the game does shed some light into who Umbrella, the game’s evil corporation, is and how everything went horribly wrong in the outskirts of Raccoon City. But like most games in the series, there are more plot holes and unanswered questions by the end of the game. But, the story does feel fulfilling and shouldn’t disappoint. Unfortunately, the game seems to have also taken a step back from the remake of Resident Evil. You no longer have to torch zombies that you have killed, which means there are no super zombies. This is a shame since super zombies really added more intensity and challenge to the game. There are also no defensive items, which once again helped add a new element to the combat. It’s almost as if Capcom has taken a step back. But there are several new creatures to fight, such as leech zombies and infected monkeys. However, the combat still feels lacking. The graphics in the game remain as impressive as the recent remake, if not more so. There is quite a bit more motion going on in the backgrounds, even though they remain prerendered. The effect of the animation is simply jaw dropping. Since the backgrounds are prerendered, the game is able to use higher polygon counts on the character models, and boy does it show. These are really some of the best character models I’ve seen on the GameCube, and perhaps anywhere else. However, they still move like robots, which is unfortunate. My only gripe with the graphics is that the character’s mouths aren’t synched perfectly during cutscenes, but it is hardly noticeable. Of course, the characters wouldn’t animate like robots if the controls were done properly. Capcom maintains that the controls have remained intact, because it is part of what makes the game scary and challenging. Making a game challenging by forcing us to use horrible controls isn’t right. Hopefully, they will eventually learn and fix what has been wrong for the last seven years. I still can’t believe that after Capcom incorporated the analog stick and went to all the effort to make the series look fantastic that they would tarnish not only the game but animation with outdated controls. Shame on you Capcom. However, the game’s sound has improved quite a bit as the series has gone on. The music, which was always excellent, delivers once again on creating a tense, scary environment. The music will pick up when you walk into a room with a formidable foe, although it would have been nice if the music would have changed dynamically. Fighting zombies with a slow background tune going just feels a bit odd at times. The voice acting has also improved since the series’ early days, although not much over the remake. But thankfully, the characters’ dialogue is no longer painful on the ears. Overall, Resident Evil Zero is a little disappointing. Capcom has failed to change the controls yet again, and really hasn’t made any dramatic updates to the series. The few upgrades to the gameplay in the remake have not carried over here, leaving the game feeling a bit stale. However, fans of the series should definitely check the game out, since they are used to lack of any major updates. However, those new to the series should rent the game first or go purchase the remake of Resident Evil, which is the better game.
In 1996 Capcom changed gaming forever when the release Resident Evil for the Playstation, the story of how Alpha team entered the Spencer Mansion only to find that their compatriots had already been all but obliterated b... Read Full Review
I started playing Resident Evil in the way a lot of people did: Resident Evil 4. It was the first game of the series that took a turn for the accessible, abandoning the infamous tank controls (which I now adore, to be ... Read Full Review
