Take Residence (Resident Evil 2)

Member Name: shadowhawk

Product:	Resident Evil 2
Date:	28/05/04 (166 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great Game, Cheap

Disadvantages: Not that scary

I enjoyed the first one of this series on the Playstation original ages ago and I really enjoyed it. So when in town and in Game Trader I stumbled across Resident Evil 2 for £3.99 I jumped at the chance for such a bargain if it turned out to be anything like the original.
It comes in 2 discs one being for Leon missions the second one being for Claire missions.
Unlike the original there is quite a bit of difference between the 2 story lines but both reveal really the same plots and shocks.
It starts of with a big action scene of FMV as my more geek like friends would say (Full Motion Video) this is very impressive ends up with Leon and Claire being separated (don?t worry I?m not going to give away any the story till later and ill give you a chance to skip that).
Cutting into the proper game, the graphics are still good for this time but age is really starting to show where graphics are involved.

~ Game Play ~
About a good 20 hours play out of this. Once you?ve completed all scenarios not much else to do. Plus not much fun when you have mates over but I leave it in the party pile when I have large groups over because never know whom is going to want to pick it up and have a go.

~ Audience ~
Could get a little scary for young children, I know I had to keep looking over my shoulder.

~ Scenario A and B ~
Changes which side of the car you are on in the start sequence, get them for the other character after completing and you save, very difficult but different story line worthy having a go at.

~ Controls ~
It was made before analog controllers (for me and you that?s the one without the mini sticks) so you only have the d-pad (the arrow type buttons) available to you so they are for the moving.
Moving directional refers t
o the angle your character is at, pushing up will always put them their straight forward and left and right refers to the characters left and right.
Circle: Brings up the menu here you can select to use items, view files, equip weapons, view map.
Triangle: Cancel in the menus
Square: Run
Cross: Select object
R1: Aim Weapon
R1 + Cross: Shoot Weapon
Start: Pauses
Select: Brings up Menu.

~ Weapons ~
To access the items menu hit Circle.
Pistol: Start with this on easy you?ll start with spare ammo on normal you?ll start with just a full clip in the gun. Leon?s pistol can hold 2 more ammo per clip. Watch the amount of ammo in a clip because selecting menu and reloading there is a lot quicker and less painful then when in the middle of a battle.
Shotgun (Leon): Powerful gun, slow reload speed with a big kick back
Shotgun + Upgrade (Leon): Gives it more power and more accuracy but has big kick back. If using against Zombies wait for them to get close and aim upwards one blast to the head if enough.
Cross Bow (Claire): Fires 3 rounds at once so the amount of ammo you have for it can prove misleading, do not get much ammo for this as you go around but is very good.
Grenade Launcher (Claire): Comes with 3 types of ammo all pretty strong, but this is a very powerful weapon so save your ammo because Claire does not get many weapons, need it for harder end bosses and enemies.
Colt Python (Leon): Very Powerful gun but the ammo is very little
Colt Python + Upgrade (Leon): Making this gun a lot more powerful, get it nearer the end.
Flamethrower (Leon): does not have any refills during the game, only good for taking out plant like enemies, takes up 2 ammo slots

Sub Machine Gun (optional): powerful gun firing off many rounds a second, no refills during the game and takes up two item slots.

~ Herbs ~
These items can be used during the game to heal your life. But if you mix them up they can do different things plus they take up less items space.
*Green: Cures up one level
*Blue: Cures poison
*Red: Useless on its own
*Green + Green: Double the healing power per single dose
*Green + Green + Green: Three times the healing power per single dose.
*Green + Red: Fully heals
*Green + Green + Blue: Double level heal, cures poison status.
*Green + Blue + Red: or a full house: This will cure any poison and fully heals.
*First Aid Spray: not an herb but heals everything fully, use herbs first.

~ Keys ~
Four main keys to the police station Club, Spade, Heart and Diamond. They open the doors, which have the names, sketched underneath. When you get a key select it on the menu and go to ?check? for the name of the key. Plus look at the colour on the head of the key this will tell you on the map what doors they open. (i.e. a green head opens the doors flashing green).

~ Items ~
It?ll give you big hints when to use an item, when clicking ?Cross? on an area and it says something like ?I need a cord to shut the windows? it means you need a cord, if you have it on you then don?t move hit ?Circle? click on it then an the option to use.

~ Game Layout ~
Basic idea of the game is to get from start to finish by doing what you have to. Your life is controlled by a metre in the menu it goes from Fine (green) to Caution (Yellow to Amber) to Danger (Red) you have to take herbs or First Aid Sprays to heal this.


~ Basic Enemies ~
*Zombies: People that have been turned by infection, they are slow but they can lunge forward quite fast, weak take 2-3 bites to take your life from normal to caution.
*Lickers: Virus has been injected directly into there flesh they do not stand up by they go around on all four, they have a big tongue, one hit with this on normal and it?ll kill you, but they do not use it often.
*Super Zombies (otherwise known as flashers, because they appear to be naked), nothing to be scared of just take a little more ammo to put them down but rarely get back up once knocked over.
*Plants: they try and spit you with acid, if you go too near they can grab you and they have mid range vine whip thing.
*Hunters: Not like those on the original they look a bit like lickers but the only have one big claw per foot plus no tongue, bump into these in the research lab.
*Crows: Nothing to really worry about, do not even really try and shoot these birds because they are weak and a lot of them take up a lot of ammo.
*Insects: only really seen once just ran forward if one does hit you it will not do much damage at all.
*Dogs: Infected dogs, they are fast and just to strike.

~ Bosses ~
*Moth: A big moth thing blocks your way, takes loads of ammo so best normally to turn of the auto ammo and shot the bugs on the computer and just do that and run out of the room.
*Mr X: Only appear in scenario B?s, it?s a big like fat zombie moves very slow but is very powerful, its hunting down Sherry.
*William: Well not the man himself but the monster he has turned into he?s is fast when he wants to be and powerful with the big claw, he is always involving into harder and harder forms.
*Gator: Mutated giant crocodile (or alligator), don?t get near this boss or it will crush you in its jaws.

~ Charac
ters ~
*Leon: a real Boy Scout police officer, believes in the good thing. One of the main characters, he starts of by driving into town because he has been transferred to the RCPD (Racoon City Police Department).
*Claire: come in search of her brother Chris (from the original), spends a lot of her time chasing after a little girl.
*William: the founder of the T-Virus, heads the research
*Ada Wong: Leon?s helper in search of her boyfriend.
*Sherry: Williams daughter, some how surviving the whole time.
*Chief of Police: A corrupt man covering up any leaks.
*Mayor?s daughter: Only see her dead.
*WILLIAMS WIFE: Williams?s wife, trying to keep the T-Virus for herself.
*Will Smith: Well not actually him but he tells you about the city being over run then locks the door.
*Hunks: One of umbrellas troops sent to retrieve the T-Virus.

~ Tips ~
*Using The Knife: Just don?t unless you and your mates are having a laugh, trying to avoid a zombie is less powerful then trying to stab it to death.
*Taking Out Zombies: Try not to use anything more powerful then a pistol, 6 to 8 pistol rounds should take out any zombie.
*Faking Zombies: Term referred to when you?ve ?pumped him full of lead? and he is laying on the floor make sure that you see a red pool of blood come out of the body in a circle, otherwise they will grab you if you ran over them or if you ran out and back in the room they?ll require killing from fresh.
*Killing Lickers: If your in the room with one stay still because they are blind, when it comes near you hit it buy aiming downwards, ran a lot from side to side wait for him to strike and shoot again, he should miss you if he doesn?t just
shoot him once more, 2 bow rounds or shotgun should kill it.
*Super Zombies: just stand you?re ground and start to blast really, but should really just be able to dodge them.
*Hunters: Don?t have the use of tongue really, should be able to load of 2 rounds of shotgun or bow before they know any better.
*Dealing with Crows: Just keep running if one comes close sweep left and right. Sweeping involves moving from pressing forward left to forward right and back again.
*Doggy Food: Dogs are simple if you have ammo, pistol should do, every time you hit one it falls down, if dodging them use-sweeping tactics (like crows).

~ Hidden ~
*No Ammo: If you do not pick up any ammo while you outside, after you go through the bus, and you are near the police station go down the stairs rather then through the park, there is a zombie there kill him pick up the keys and you have a change of uniform.
*Hunk Mission: Not sure how you unlock this, but search it on google. Only seen it around a mate?s house, good fun.

~ Big Tips ~
Ok these may give away some of the advance skills you may wish to learn so if you want to start from scratch and build personnel skills then look away. These all baffled me at first.
*Strip searching: Finding dead bodies on the floor click on them once and it?ll tell you about them try click on them twice to see if you take ammo rounds of them, click again for any further belonging that may be useful to you.
*Documents: You pick up certain files on your way around these tells you some story line based things, for in depth enjoyment of the game they?ll also give big clues on how to go the puzzles, saves a lot of guessing time.
*More then once: You will need to use the Lighter, and the valve more then once. Any other item becomes redundant after a use and will leave your inve
ntory.
*Flare gun: Leon will automatically light it, but Claire need to have her lighter on her, just after the first train you get off and you light the gun, you need to do this to see a key on the floor, can not otherwise pick it up. This key is to a locker that contains upgrades for Leon and 12 grenade rounds for Claire.
*Quick Crock: The crocodile that you have to fight you can take out easily, run back along the passage hit the button it will drop a gas canister just wait for the croc to go pass it picking it up in its mouth and one pistol round will blow him up.
*Lights on and off: In a room with camera, need to solve a puzzle where you switch lights on and off, after lighting the main gas chamber, it goes middle flame, close flame, end flame.
*Hidden Ammo: Some rooms have ammo that is hard to find, The STARS office (the one with the desks in it has a big poster up one end), at the front of the room with the desk go behind and about ¾ of the way up click and pistol ammo is found on the floor.
*Gun Shop, when zombies break through you can ran very quickly and click on the man twice to pick up the bow with Claire or shotgun with Leon, be quick before the zombies get up and you can ran back get the other ammo and back out that room.
*Run: in the integration office, the one you have to unlock using a key you pick up the cord from the table and item at the back of the room after picking this up ran like hell because a licker will jump through the glass, don?t need to kill him as you don?t need to come back into this room as long as you got the item and the cord.
*Using the cord: two places where you can use the cord first one is on the ground floor, but you can always bypass this corridor if you have released the emergency ladder, use it up stairs because you have to use this corridor again.
*Extra, extra: When you
take control of Ada or Sherry after they crawl through the vents, search around a bit because you can find ammo that is optional and all the ammo you get the better.
*Out my way: In the underground research lab you can turn on the gas to kill of plants, after you done this in the same room there is weird vine things, with Claire use the lighter to kill it, and with Leon use the flamethrower that you get to kill it, can then slide through the vent.
*Up and Down: in the sewers you can move the platform up and down, bring it down to get across but on the other side make you put it back up so you can get across without coming all the way back.
This should all make sense to you as you do the game.
All the rest should be common sense.

~ Story Line ~
Ok this is a real ruiner so go to the bottom of my review and finish if you do not want the story to be given away.
Starts of with your selected character riding in to town, they then find out to be surrounded by these mental people, bump into each other and hijack a car. They then crash it because a zombie is in the back seats jumps forward, then a big fuel tanker rams them from behind they jump out and separated. They find their way to the police station thinking that it?s going to be safe.
Find out that the police station is the centre of a massive operation by the umbrella corporation to continue research on a virus that turns a person into the ultimate fighting beast. Umbrella try to take the virus of Williams hands by sending in spies to uncover the labs then a hit squad, they do not fully kill William he then injects himself with the virus, and kills all 4 of the squad. Ends up smashing the virus sample, which then is eaten by rats and spread around the city. The chief off police who has been on the pay roll has covered up all the research. He has made sure that all attempts of escape
were unsuccessful hunting down individual himself if he has to. Claire finds out that Chris is not in the city at the time, so she never finds him. Leon finds out that Ada is really one of umbrellas spies sent there to cover it all up, she tries to stop Leon from leaving but she is shot in the back by WILLIAMS WIFE. Who they think is dead, she then dies there with Ada, and Leon throws away the sample of the T-Virus. Claire never finds out about Ada and watches WILLIAMS WIFE being killed by her husband William. The T-Virus infects Sherry, so WILLIAMS WIFE gives you the cure just has she dies she then rushes around and gets all the pieces together for a successful cure.

~ Disclaimer ~
Sorry that time but its that age isn?t it.
Your reviews do not reflect mine I am not held responsible, a views is a view and its opinion based.

**Thank You**
Take Care
© David James Clark
DavidJamesClark@hotmail.com
(any question e-mail or add me to msn messenger or 44(0)7733107699)

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