A rehash of a great Survival Horror experience.
The Rad: Zombies; A fun storyline; Cool enemy encounters; Scary foes; Interesting environments; Good graphics; Some good Replay Value.
The Bad: The Story is not fleshed out as it should be and just doesn't connect together as nicely as it should with the two characters; Still no way to quick turn; Sluggish "tank" controls; An annoying camera that just tends to cause problems; Not enough to warrant a second buy for owners of the original RE2.
Straight off the success of Capcom's Resident Evil 2 (RE2), comes fourth it's re-release titled Resident Evil 2: Dual Shock Edition (RE2:DSE). This version however doesn't only include Dual Shock support, but also an extra difficulty mode with a slight twist, and a fun new unlockable mini-game. Though for players who already have the original Resident Evil 2, there's sadly not enough content here to justify this games purchase. For new players to this series though or even just RE2, this is a must buy for the PlayStation. This game is a truly fun experience in the Survival horror genre that shouldn't be missed.
Not too long after the events of the first game, a rookie police officer, Leon S. Kennedy and a young girl, Claire Redfield, both enter Raccoon City for different reasons, Leon looking to start his first day on the job, and Claire looking for her lost brother and a main protagonist of the first game, Chris Redfield, but they instead find each other teaming up to survive a city overrun by the undead. For those expecting to find something new to the story of RE2, they'll be disappointed, as nothing new is added, which is a shame, because it would have benefited from it. Both characters have two scenarios, both slightly different than the others, and both follow the unlucky characters on their quest to survive, and both scenarios connect to the opposite characters as a way to show what the other character was doing at the same time, like seen in the movie Pulp Fiction. However, you rarely ever see the other character while playing, which doesn't make much sense since both characters are running around the same environments, doing most of the same things. This in turn hurts the experience because you never really feel like the other character is even there doing the things they are doing. When you do encounter the other character or have some sort of interaction with them, it is only during short in game cut-scenes, involving dialogue between the two, but nothing drastic or fun such as teaming up with them, which would have been really cool. There are some interesting things that take place though and for new comers to this entry, there is still a fun story to be found.
Gameplay handled the same way, with nothing is really different from most of the other entries in the series, so anyone who never liked the other games probably won't change their mind here. Controls are handled with the traditional "tank" controls, where pressing back will make them move backwards, and forwards will push them forward, unfortunately though, they tend to be a bit sluggish, which doesn't help when your backed up by enemies, as turning around is still a chore as it is in the previous entries in the series, but the main problem with this style caused by the games camera. This game, like most games in the series, has a unique camera system that has set camera angles for different parts of each room, which really only turns out to be more of an annoyance than anything good, as you will find yourself running straight into enemies because you can't see them due to the camera facing in another direction, even though the enemy may be right in front of you. Puzzles are still childishly simple and don't make much sense for being there, and they have you do a ridiculous amount of things for something like a regular key, like moving statues to get a jewel, to place into a slot to open a hatch, to acquire a key to unlock a door, all seeming overly necessary, also when considering with the games scenario system, your doing the a lot of the same puzzles that the other character does in their playthrough, and unlocking the same doors, which doesn't make much sense because it leaves the question of "shouldn't they doors already be unlocked and puzzles done in the next playthrough then?". The only way that the game connects things like that in a similar manner is by making certain special items that are obtained in one characters playthrough, not available in the other ones, but these choices rarely occur, so this therefore just ends at being a cool idea, but one that's never really fleshed out like it should be. Though this game is still a blast to play, and in comparison to the first game, players will find a better pacing as things tend to happen faster, a better variety of weapons to use, more enemies to face, and more horrors to find (especially when playing the B scenario. Just saying.), all making this a must play to those who have not a played the original RE2.
Graphic wise, everything is the same, which is not a bad thing at all. The environments are nicely detailed and compared to the first game, the character models look quite better, with more detail paid attention to them, and the same goes for the enemies. Blood nicely explodes everywhere when heads or legs are blown off your foes, and the enemies on screen at once have gone up a little, which helps make things look more intense and feel like a zombie invasion is happening. The FMV's look a lot better than RE1's and actually look really good, with one of them used to demonstrate a new enemy, making it one of the scariest moments in gaming for new comers. The enemies also all look really cool design wise, both being a horror, and a treat to look at. Sadly though, there's just more in-game cut-scenes used which aren't as pretty, and animations are a bit stiff, but they get the job done.
Nothing new really is added in the sound department for RE2:DSE. But there's no real problem with that, as the original RE2 sounded great. Dialogue, in comparison to the first Resident Evil game's overly campy writing, is a lot better and actually can be taken serious when listened to this time around as the voices sound really fitting to the characters. The musical score sounds amazing and it does a great job of helping the pace when needed, and you can really feel the emotion in it. I think the zombies could sound a bit better since they are the main focus of the game, but they don't really sound scary, though they sound alright and the other creatures sound how they should, which is scary.
As for Replay Value, a new arrange mode is included, and it is basically a rookie difficulty mode which is standard in the Japanese version of the game, and it is an easier difficulty that includes extra special weapons to use in the beginning of the game. The other addition is a new unlockable mini game titled Extreme Battle mode, which is an arcade styled mode that has you going through the games environments planting bombs to rid the city of the horrid monsters once and for all. Then there's also the extra stuff that was included in the original RE2. So there is some reason to keep playing, but I wish there was more for this being a re-release, but this is definitely a game that's always fun to come back to. I just really wish they added more to it for those who already had the original, which there just doesn't seem to be enough.
Overall, for new comers to RE2, or even the Resident Evil series in general, this is a pretty good starting point. But for those who already have RE2, just let this version pass you up. For people who played any of the earlier games/versions of this series, the same goes for them too, as the game hasn't really changed much, and is really just has more of the same. Still though, this is a good game and it should not be missed out on. RE2 is a true survival horror experience.
8 out of 10