Stunning entry in a classic series
The Resident Evil series is one which shouldn't really need any introduction to any serious gamer and while there may have been a slight wobble in terms of quality with the most recent games, these earlier examples remain true survival horror classics. Following the relatively small-scale original Resident Evil, which took the haunted house genre and added in a dark tale of genetic manipulation gone mad, with zombies and over-the-top violence galore. For the sequel, everything gets dialled up to ten, with a new epic storyline that explores the aftermath of the first game, as the zombie virus gets unleashed on the innocent town of Raccoon City and with more detail shed on the amoral activities of the sinister Umbrella Corporation. We get the first appearance of series favourite, rookie cop Leon Kennedy as well as some other now-classic characters, while the monsters on display here are even more wonderfully grotesque and horrifying and which are backed up by some incredibly atmospheric and varied environments. There's a great mix of action, exploration and puzzling and thanks to the use of fixed camera angles, there is a truly cinematic sense to the game which heightens the shock value of the many high intensity situations and which really cranks up the tension. The use of angles does bring one of the game's slight issues, which is the awkward control system and which does take some getting used to if you've never experienced it before but apart from this, this is a fantastic piece of action gaming. It remains graphically and sonically impressive, with well directed cutscenes and superbly detailed environments that are a joy to behold, while the story is engrossing and thrilling in equal measure. This stands alongside Alone in the Dark and Silent Hill 2 as a classic survival horror game and which simply deserves to be played.
