Resident Evil Zero takes place just moments before the opening scene of the original Resident Evil game. Whereas the original game had players entering a mansion to investigate the disappearance of a team of agents – Resident Evil Zero aims to tell the story of those agents and how they came to be missing. Similarly, it was to tell the story of the viral outbreak that would eventually shape the entire series and just what went down at Umbrella for such a catastrophic event to transpire. 482k3l
The story follows Rebecca Chambers, a medic and the younger member of special task force S.T.A.R.S. who have been sent to investigate a series of cannibalistic murders on the outskirts of Raccoon City. When her and her team arrive they discover an overturned military police transporter and the corpses of two officers. Eventually she meets up with Billy Coen, a death row escapee aboard the Ecliptic Express, an Umbrella owned train which has been overrun by zombies following a bizarre attack by leeches. Despite their differences, they must work together to escape the train and uncover the mystery behind the attacks.
Which is quite worrying since, as it’s a prequel, Resident Evil Zero is designed to fill in the gaps between itself and the original game. On the whole, it barely manages to do so. Sure, it develops the story behind the “masterminds” who are more or less responsible for the outbreak – but it barely touches upon much beyond showing how each member of Bravo Team would eventually perish. The biggest offender here (and most controversial amongst fans) is that Rebecca, who goes through all of this, says nothing of this game’s events in the original Resident Evil making this prequel feel tacked on.
Every area whether it’s a cabin on a train or a simple store room has had immaculate detail and care poured into it. Lights flicker and waver. Fires burn and crackle. Taps and sinks drip and overflow. Every environment in the game manages to tell a story in itself without saying anything, and it’s something to be commended.
Some other more liberal changes have been applied to the games presentation too. The pan and scan camera – which pans the camera across each scene rather than displaying the full scene – returns to compensate for the original games 4:3 presentation. Resident Evil Zero benefits better from this camera style as the locales are designed to be much more open than in previous games. There are a few other changes that might rub purists the wrong way – such as the recolouring of certain enemies or some minor adjustments to Rebecca’s face – but generally speaking the game remains as true to form as it can be. The soundscape remains untouched – which means the voice work is awful and the orchestral score is complements the mood and the ambience perfectly.
The redesigned control scheme from the original HD remaster returns in Zero, and with it comes all the issues associated with them. On one hand, they’re much more intuitive to use and are bound to make the game much more accessible for players who didn’t grow up with the configuration. On the other, they remove a lot of the tension from the game as they make playable characters much more manoeuvrable than they previously were. Thankfully, Capcom have included the option to switch between them (as with most of the changes made) so both sides of the argument can be satiated.
The puzzles in Zero are bound to be talked about differently depending which fan you speak to, but a whole lot of them focus around the idea of two characters. Most of them are reasonably easy to get through but some players may get stuck on one or two of them. Some of them are very strong puzzles in the same ilk as classic Resident Evil. Others feel like bog standard “puzzles” you’d find in any game that lets two people play it. Both press the switch at the same time! Navigate through a maze while your partner unlocks the doors! Hold a door open while your partner runs through it! All of these types of puzzles are unfortunately as tired as they were in 2002.
Speaking of prayer, your partner AI is somewhat competent in how they approach things. You can tell them to follow you or stay put or you can manually move them using the right stick. You can equip weapons on them and watch them use said weapons. But you’ll have to be a bit smart in how you manage your partner to be truly successful in Zero. Giving them too much ammo will see them chew through it like there’s no tomorrow. Alternatively, they can be pretty helpful if they take down an enemy who is mid-grab. You can even use them as a portable item box although it’s not recommended. We can’t be certain, but we do feel like in this HD Remaster that the AI is less aggressive and therefore wastes less ammo but we’d need to confirm it to be sure.
For the completely unseasoned player who has never touched a Resident Evil game before, the whole affair will be over in anywhere between nine to twelve hours. Those who are a bit more seasoned could possibly finish it quicker – but repeat playthroughs can easily be cleared in under six hours if you know what you’re doing. The HD Remaster introduces a new for-fun mode where players can use Wesker instead of Billy along with his strange superhuman powers, which is a fun diversion. There’s also a slew of costumes to unlock and a Leech Hunter mini-game that in itself is quite fun to play through.
But make no mistakes, Resident Evil Zero HD Remaster is a strong remaster in every sense of the word. The visuals are beautiful, the environments are polished and everything is a visual feast whether it be the characters or the locales themselves. It’s just a fantastic looking game that can now appeal to newcomers and series veterans alike – and allowing more people to experience Resident Evil’s storied (and colourful) history is hardly a bad thing.