Resident Evil 2



Oh my gosh! I'm sitting here, with that rare feeling of satisfaction that one can only get from the completion of a videogame that you have loved every minute of... The fact that I'd amassed (a not too respectable), 36 hours, 35 minutes and 4 seconds to do so (on the easiest option) is testimony to the old adage, "Time flies when you're having fun..."


Let's put things into perspective... I had reached what I can only describe as 'gaming impotence' recently; despite having nine consoles to play on, and a plethora of unplayed and unfinished games to choose from... Plus the, as yet, untapped potential of my Wii, but nothing was doing it for me...


Then came a sustained period of sobriety, which as you may or may not know, is unusual for the Father... In a rare moment of clarity I knew what game I should be playing, and what console I should be playing it on... I dispatched one of the gingers upstairs to fetch RE2 for the Dreamcast. Since playing RE4 and RE: Code Veronica, plus RE1 in various guises (with varying degrees of success) the franchise had become a firm favourite. I'd had RE2 for years, and besides, I needed to gen up on the whole Umbrella saga before my most anticipated Wii release, Umbrella Chronicles...



From the moment I popped into that little white box of dreams, it was "love at first bite". Now, for those of you who've played the RE franchise chronologically, your first introduction to Leon. S. Kennedy and Ada Wong will have been in RE2... But I started at the most recent and worked my way backwards. Meeting Leon, Ada and Claire Redfield in RE2, was like meeting an old group of friends... and they were all in the same game! (Plus Leon looked so dashing in his Raccoon City Police uniform! (LOL!)

Now, for those of you in the know, RE2 was ported to the Dreamcast from the PS1. At the time (and indeed since) people were unhappy to receive inferior ports which despite some polishing, did not utilise the full graphical potential of the Dreamcast. This might be an issue for some, but not for me... You see, as someone who can still be 'wowed' by graphics on the Saturn, these graphics looked pretty hot! They were pretty much somewhere between the quality of the Saturn original and RE:Code Veronica...

Oh! But the best was yet to come! You see as a feature of the Dreamcast release, the player was given the option of the 'Arrange Game', where you can play as a Rookie... This option allows you access to more type writer ribbons (save potential) and both a machine gun and rocket launcher with unlimited ammo... Hoo-fucking-ray!!!

Now I know that will appall some of you more experienced and skilled gamers, I expect you'll accuse me of cheating... but for me it was like Christmas come early! It meant that I could gain access to the excellent storyline, characters and cut scenes, without the infuriating prospect of the frustration of playing for hours and then dying before a save point, or having to fight insanely tough bosses with the equivalent firepower of a pea shooter! The whole experience has been sublime from start to finish...

Now, my Dreamcast horror survival options are many, I've got Blue Stinger (with official strategy guide), Half Life (with official strategy guide!), RE 3 Nemesis, Ill Bleed and finally... Da da... D fucking 2!!!!



All these lovely titles to cram in before November the 3oth when Umbrella Chronicles comes out and I remember why I bought a Wii in the first place! Any way my lovelies, its late and I'm still reeling from an unexpected (free) trip to Old Trafford, where I saw the mighty MUFC knocked out of the Carling Cup by minnows Coventry City FC! Happy Days!!



So I'll love you and leave you, but expect another Shenmue post from me soon! This is FK signing off...

Good Night Dear Children, Wherever You Are...

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

As a proof of the synchronicity affecting our world, I started RE2 this morning! I bought it for 3$ a year ago, tried it for 5 minutes and put it in the box with my other Dreamcast games... 'til today! And I must say that the discovery of a mode where you don't have to count the number of bullets you're using, thanks to the machine gun and unlimited ammo, is the reason why I'm giving it a second chance.

Caleb said...

See FK! I told you like 6 months ago that RE 2 on the Dreamcast was awesome.

In any case I always liked playing it on the harder modes without shooting anything for the first part of the game so you get access to the special costumes and weapons.

It's great when a game like this can appeal to gamers looking for a different experience.

NebachadnezzaR said...

RE2 is a great game indeed! Played it on the PSX and it kept me hooked to the very end. In fact, I liked it so much, I even started again but this time in "mode B" (half of the game is the same thing, but the other half has new scenarios and additions to the storyline).

Unfortunately the cd was heavily scratched so I only reached half of the game in this mode.

But this rookie mode really leaves me perplexed. I mean, I passed the game counting the bullets on my pistol and you have both a machine gun and a rocket launcher whit unlimited ammo... DAMN!

Anonymous said...

FYI: All the Resident Evils for Dreamcast, aside from Code: Veronica, are ported from the Windows versions, not PS1. The same is true for Dino Crisis, and is proven by the increased resolution of the backgrounds and textures.

gnome said...

Right, you almost convinced me, but then you reinded me of the horribly horrible save sytem. Oh, and never knew there was a Half Life DS hint book. That's amazing and probably rare. Great writing once again Father...

fatherkrishna said...

I firmly believe in synchronicity anonymous 1... Glad that the forgiving firepower/save system encouraged you to dust it off and give it another go...

Caleb! I ALWAYS heed your advice, even if it takes me a while to act upon it...

The 'Rookie' mode was unlockable in the original, but an immediately playable feature of the DC port Nebacha...

Thanks for clearing that up anonymous 2...

But Gnome! The horribly horrible save system is avoidable in the Dc version...

Animated AF said...

Funny how even the Half Life DC guide book was published before it was cancelled, showing just how last-minute that cancellation was. Surely hey would of lost less money by putting the game out if they were that far ahead with it.. =/

gnome said...

Still, it's traumatic...