Resident Evil Zero Game Review

So in my continuing saga to get deeper into the Resident Evil lore, I have started a game run of the entire series, starting with Resident Evil Zero. I honestly can't remember if I played the original game or not. It has since been remastered for Playstation 4. My goal, in going through these games, is to really pay attention to how they build the story as it is a fun one that was bastardized in the films.

This one follows the journey of police officer and medic, Rebecca Chambers, and prisoner Billy Coen. On a train journey transporting the prisoner, it gets derailed near Raccoon City and Rebecca and Billy have to work together to survive. In the process they run across a mansion in the woods, overrun by (gasp) zombies and creatures. What a shocker! In the process they find out that there was biological experimentation going on in the mansion and it got out of control.

One of the things I forgot about early Resident Evil games is how 'crude' they were. Not in regards to story or gore, but in gameplay. I'm so used to games where we really have to focus on aiming and shooting but Resident Evil is more about pointing a gun in the right direction and firing. Also, they liked to use camera angles to change up the scene but it makes it so clunky that it is difficult to stay on track. It makes it to where walking from area to area becomes a chore, more than anything else. Plus, here I am on a PS5 but load times are still pretty long, especially when you want to save a game. Another thing is inventory control. Yes, they wanted to make it a bit more realistic about the amount of things you can carry, but it becomes boorish going back and forth to items. At least in RE0 you could drop items and pick them up (where in Resident Evil, you can't drop items!).

That being said, the game is still mostly fun. I did have to restart as I really didn't want to get into the quagmire of running out of bullets or health all of the time. The regular level of the game just makes it to where every bullet is like gold and every health kit, more than that. I decided, early on, to change to easy mode which made it way too easy but I was able to do what I wanted and get more into the lore and not as vested in the focus on inventory control.

Fun game overall but it is certainly not without its flaws. I am nearly done with the next game in the series which has even more flaws so this one gets better rankings at the moment.