Resident Evil 2 is the first big game of 2019, which is a weird thing to say since it’s based on a PS1 title from over 20 years ago. Thankfully Kingdom Hearts III is close behind with a lot more on the way. Getting back on track, this was something I've been itching for since it was unveiled in 2015, which was just a few months after Square Enix announced Final Fantasy VII was getting remade. What a glorious summer that was to find out two of my favorite PS1 experiences were getting retooled for a new generation. In my mind Resident Evil 2 was still the best "classic" game in the series with the best obviously being Resident Evil 4.

To get hyped up for the remake, and for research purposes, I decided to replay the original game on PS1 via my PS3. What I found out was surprising. Again, in my head it was still an amazing experience, but it was surprising to go back to and come out thinking this. I don’t believe it holds up terribly well and I'm not talking about the graphics and tank controls. Those were two obvious things I knew weren’t going to be great. It was not the game I remembered it being. Nostalgia can be a funny thing. The Resident Evil 2 remake is much better, but bad in some similar ways, which is a whole other story.  If you're on the fence, maybe the🥀se 25 data points will help your 🌌purchasing decision. If I knew half the things I know now, I may have just rented it instead.

25 There Are Still Four Scenarios

Despite what early advertising seemed to imply, there's basically still a zapping system, which is to say there are four scenarios. In the ori🌊ginal, if you started with Leon he'd be labeled as Leon A and continuing on with Claire would label her Claire B. Both A and B were ultimately the same no matter who you chose, it'ꦺs just that certain characters would react differently. The same is true here and that's disappointing. I thought there would be one canonical run. It’s my biggest gripe.

24 Difficulty Adjusts As You Play

Here's a nice little tidbit of information. There are three choices for difficulty at the start: Assisted, Standard, and Hardcore. That's the basis for your run. However, depending on how well you're doing either good or bad, the game will adjust accordingly. Do you keep running ou𓄧t of ammo and are getting trounced by enemies? More health and ammo will appear. That's apparently how it works, but it's hard to tell what exactly changes. Take this with a grain of salt from Capcom.

23 It Can Be A Bit Too Intense

The original game was pretty bloody even though looking back at it now seems silly. It's just a bunch of pixels, after all. Even if heads do explode and limbs fall off. I expected the realism to be turned up for this remake, but I had no idea it would be cranked up to eleven. I have a pretty good stomach when it comes to this stuff, but I gasped in a few instances. It wa♕s more from shock than actual fright.

22 The Default Brightness Options Are Too Dark

One thing that kind of bothered me a🐟bout my time was the lighting. Yes,𝄹 going through dark hallways only to have a zombie pop out at you is frightening, but it can also be annoying. It was fine in the station, but the sewer was so awful I had to crank up the brightness just so I could see what I was doing. I used the default brightness at first thinking it would be fine, but I was wrong. It may defeat the ambiance, but don't be afraid to let the light in.

21 They Changed Voice Actors

This shouldn't have surprised me that much. After all, Capcom has changed the voice actors for a lot of their characters throughout the years. For example, Leon was different between the original on PS1 and Resident Evil 4, but🤡 it stayed the same from that point forward for all of his appearances. I does make sense to change them again for this since they are younger. Perhaps a bit too young, though. Especially Claire, but that's a different point we'll get to later.

20 The Tyranny Of Mr. X

In the original game, Mr. X, the trench coat wear꧙ing Tyrant, was only in one scenario: aka B. This gave that scenario a different feel compared to thꦿe Birkin plot in A. This time, however, he appears in both and boy is he annoying.

He literally will not leave you alone🍎 unless you go into a save room, but he'll be waiting for you when you get out. If you damage him enough he'll take a quick knee before giving chase again. It makes exploring really difficult.

19 Don’t Get Board

When I first heard there was going to be a mechanic that made you board up windows I was worried. Does this mean zombies are going to be coming in on a constant level? It turns out 𝓡I was scared for nothing. Yes, zombies can become annoying, especially if they pour in on areas where Mr. X is chasing you, but the police station is such a small portion of the game. That is to say ꦆit was kind of a meaningless add on and not something worth sweating over.

18 Using Headphones Is A Great Strategy

I just bought a new TV over Black Friday last year and I've been itching to test it on some new stuff. While the visuals and sound quality are great, I found that, for this game, headphones helped out a lot. It's not just for ambiance either. It will actually help alert you of danger. I played a good portion of the game without them and once I decided to try😼 them out, I regretted waiting. The best thing it does is alert you of how close Mr. X is. Well, that and other zombies, but mostly that hose biscuit.

17 Knives Are Breakable

If there's one thing I hate in games, it's weapons that break. 🌊If I'm using something flimsy like a piece of plywood as a sword, sure, I can believe it will break. What I can't believe is a knife snapping in two after a few co🀅mbat scenarios.

The game already holds ammo from you so a good strategy in the original version was to down a zombie and then cut it up to finish. Now you can't really do that. On the plus, I do like countering so that was ꦅa good surprise.

16 Zombies Are More Aggressive

When Capcom remade the first game for the GameCube, one of the biggest changes they made to it was the zombies. If you did not burn a corpse, it had the potential to become a Crimson Head, which was basically a super zombie. While it's not as extreme as that for this remake, zombies are surprisingly more aggressive and smart too. Sometimes they may seem gone only to be reactivatꦏed by another zombie’s moans. It's really hard to tell unless their head explodes upon a critical hit.