Just finished Resident Evil 2 for the first time ever

How the hell is it considered to be one of the best Resident Evil games, and also, one of the best games ever made!? It's short, cheesy, filled with things that hurt the atmosphere and immersion, including the dullest backtracking I've ever seen, and the characters are dull as dung(how the hell is Claire Redfield any better than the rarely beloved Sheva Alomar? Good God). The whole game consisted of running back and forth to gather a bunch of pointless things, just to be able to open the path to the next area. Then the story is so forced and cheesy that it hurts. When I made it to the last CG animation, I was firmly holding the controller in my hands, because I was so sure that I had only completed half of the game and still had an awesome adventure ahead of me. And then the credits start rolling. "What...really?" was literally what came out of my mouth.

While it lasted, the game was pretty much as enjoyable as Dino Crisis, which I consider the classic, but the things I previously mentioned, eventually made it fall apart. At least Dino Crisis is a little more believable, less cheesier and doesn't have a story that ends abruptly as ****. It also has this bleeding system and the ability to move while aiming. Little touches that added SOOO much to the experience.

And people complain about Resident Evil 5 and 6...personally, I'll never ever say anything bad about any new Resident Evil that comes out. Ever.

It was downright terrifying in 1998. And if you've only just finished it for the first time, then you're only halfway done. Now you have to play NG+ with the other character.

Firstly the early RE games have not aged well at all considering thy are 15 years old. Also when you say completed do you mean finishing both Leon and Clare A and B?

The cheese factor in RE2 is one of the best things about it. I just loved the over the top dialogue and set pieces. In later titles (RE5-6) the cheese factor just didn't translate to modern audiences very well and the move to more action orientated game play is where they lost their fanbase.

RE2 is a lasting part of my youth as I have great memories of playing through it as a spotty teenager. It'll always hold a special place in my gaming collection. I'm a fan of the latter RE games (well 4 and 5 anyway) but the sixth instalment did nothing for me at all.

I know it was terrifying, I played a bit of it back when it was new. But that doesn't make me respect it. And I KNOW about the alternate scenarios. The game even made sure I would. But cheapness like that doesn't count...just no. I will not play through it again. I'll move on to Resident Evil 3 instead and see how that compares.

Well, I guess it has aged like crap compared to Dino Crisis then. I also played Dino Crisis very recently and instead, it's one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had. I like it more than most of today's games even. Hmm.

Cheesey/atmosphere-breaking moments, dull characters, force stories and backtracking?

I'm pretty sure those complaints could be levelled against any Resident Evil game (although the characters were certainly a lot less dull in the later games, with Salazar and Wesker and Quint massively camping everything up).

Isn't that mainly what people likeabout this series though? I mean, the original Resident Evil was the most intentionally hilarious survival horror game of its era...and the series only seemed to dip into serious horror during the REmake years, as far as I'm aware.

It's a decent game. I like Hunk's scenario, too. But I find people tend to give too much credit to the old games... REmake is far and away the scariest game in the series, and even then it's not quite as scary or masterful as Silent Hill 2 or 3. Still a great game, but people bitching about how the series isn't "scary" anymore are really lost in nostalgia... I don't know about you, but facing down evil with a rocket launcher isn't exactly horrific. I get some of the complaints, but most of them are dumb.

I still enjoyed RE2... I just wouldn't call it the apex of the series.

I like it. It sure is better than RE1. I admit that's setting the bar pretty low, but still.

I like the old formula. That's why I chose to play it in the first place. Thing is, I actually finished Dino Crisis for the first time last summer. And then I began to CRAVE more games like it. I tried everything. Martian Gothic, Alone in the Dark, Dead Space, still gotta try Parasite Eve but I think I won't like it...only Alone in the Dark came close to Dino Crisis.

And yes. Dino Crisis is better. Not that piece of **** sequel. The original. Everyone just played Resident Evil first. I guess I'm one of those lucky ones who happened to experience Dino Crisis first. It deserves at least half the attention that Resident Evil is getting, if not more.

Dino Crisis > Resident Evil > Alone in the Dark

Martian Gothic is a crazy piece of crap. Some of the worst voice acting I've heard in a videogame.

Theres no point in playing it now for the 1st time. Its only value now is nostalgia.

It's the first zombie game I saw when i was a kid...I like it but yeah, to each his own.

@CapnXtraObvious: The new game + is a whole different scenario, or at least it plays out differently.

RE2 was great according to most fans of the series, including myself. The game was long, the story and CGI sequences were -really- impressive for the time and the graphics and voice acting were a huge step up from RE1. I beat the A and B scenarios for both characters -and- the Hunk scenario. However, it's very old and has a number of anochronistic gameplay elements that would make it hard to play today so I wouldn't expect anyone to enjoy it today, but for its time it was awesome.

-Byshop

@ dvader654

I can....... For nostalgia :p

I'd rather play the old RE games (1-3) than the newer ones, which are pretty much just action games now.

Resident Evil 2 is the best horror adventure game ever done and i think still is.

Some games and game types hold up better than others. Early 3D games, for example, are like watching early CGI movies. They were technically impressive at the time but they don't hold up artistically when compared to even older 2D games. Compare a movie like Lawnmower Man to 2001. 2001 came out 8 years before I was born and it's -still- one of the better looking space movies out there.

While I love RE2 and I think it's a far better example of survival horror than most of the games that claim to be that in the last 5 years, it's a rough "game" by modern standards. The limited save capability, the crippling camera angles created by the pre-rendered backdrops, and the tank controls with no ability to strafe would be rough for a lot of people.

That doesn't mean that all old games are like this. Many early RPGs are -awesome- and still very playable like all the Bioware D&D games, Fallout 1 and 2, etc. Ultima 7 came out on 386DX computers and it's still a very pretty game. Point and click adventures also age very well and there are many others.

-Byshop