As a young lad growing up in the era of arcades (AKA the golden age of gaming) one of the former kings of gaming, Sega was the name that had instant recognition with me. From titles like After Burner, Outrun, Shinobi, and Virtual Fighter, Sega has mastered the art of separating one from their gaming tokens without fail. During my arcade travels, I saw a Sega title that turned out to be not only a classic arcade hit, but also was the inspiration for the Bloody Roar series: the revered but maligned Altered Beast for the Genesis.
In Altered Beast, you take on the role of an ancient Roman Centurion warrior resurrected by Zeus to rescue his daughter Athena who was kidnapped by the underworld ruler Neff. As this unnamed warrior, you do have a small-but-powerful advantage over Neff and his armies: the ability to power up into various beasts that change the tide of the battle. With this ability, the Centurion warrior sets off on his divine mandate to rescue Athena and defeat Neff.
Gameplay of Altered Beast is really simple: As someone who played side-scrolling games, I instantly took to the basic punch, kick and jump mechanics. As you go through each enemy, you’ll get a power-up orb that literally says “Power-up!”; this made me think that Zeus came down and gave commands. On the third power-up, you’ll go into your actual beast mode, which consists of forms such as a dragon, werewolf, werebear, weretiger, and a golden werewolf, each with their own unique powers. At this point, I’m thinking that this game is the origin for the popular phase “Beast Mode.” At the end of each level, you battle Neff in various forms. The graphics are pretty good for a transition from arcade to 16-bit console with little noticeable difference in quality for the time period.
Altered Beast does have a few flaws: When you defeat Neff at the end of each stage, he somehow takes away your power-up forms as a last parting shot, which is obnoxious. Also, the brief intermission scenes are grainy, making it hard to understand what’s going on. On the bright side, the replay value is awesome for those who want to relieve the golden days of the Genesis and those who want side scrolling action with a mix of horror.
Altered Beast is one of Sega’s classic gems that is worthy of another look. There was a modern-day remake released in 2005 for PS2, but it was critically panned. Fortunately, Sega decided to give Altered Beast another look, this time placing it among its other well-known properties in various TV and film projects. Sega altered the side-scrolling landscape with this epic tale of good versus evil.
Hop ‘n bops are the lifeblood of the older consoles. You didn’t have a decent console if it didn’t have one romp with a mascot-like character at the helm. Even the terrible consoles had at least one. So, it should be no surprise that a great system such as the Super Nintendo was chock full of great bops. While a bit on the easy side and slightly derivative, Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse is in the pantheon of good platformers for the SNES.
The game starts out with cutesy lore: Mickey and his friends Goofy and Donald are playing a game of catch with Pluto at the park. The ball gets thrown too far and Pluto runs off. Goofy and Donald chase Pluto and eventually disappear, leaving Mickey to search for them. Mickey tumbles down a cliff and finds himself in a strange magical land. After a bit of searching, a wizard appears to inform Mickey that Pete is a tyrant over the land and has captured Pluto. With that information, it’s now up to Mickey to save his canine companion and reunite with his friends.
While searching for Pluto isn’t hard, some of the mechanics are little cumbersome. The spin-and-throw mechanic is weird at first, but eventually it becomes second nature. It’s a little too off sometimes, making clean hits more miss than success. There are costume changes for Mickey that serve to highlight the magic usage of the game, and each has a way to be useful. The problem is, it’s not always clear what you should be using the suits for individually. And upgrading them is sometimes a chore. However, the overall basic hop ‘n bop mechanics are excellent and feel tight. Mickey is easy to control, and bopping through the beautiful scenery is an easy affair.
While the story isn’t anything to really get excited about, the graphics are. They’re super lush and beautiful, with detailed sprites and abundant colors to brighten even the darkest of realms. The music is also appropriately bright, with a lot of similarities to the later excellent Aladdin soundtrack. It’s a Capcom music show so the soundtrack is at worst decent. The tracks do add a little something to the romp through locations, so the music is serviceable.
This is the very definition of hop ‘n bop in the early days of 16-bit platformers. It’s got a decent story, beautiful graphics and a decent soundtrack with excellent platforming and a variety of mechanics to learn. If it had a save feature, that might have pushed it to the upper echelon of SNES platforming. But, that bit of missing magic along with some quirky control issues keep it from being an epic Mickey quest.
Bombastic bullets, bombs, and special attacks. You’re getting a taste of everything in the wild vertical shooter Gunbird 2 from shoot-’em-up practitioner Psikyo. Whether that taste is enough to whet your appetite for further shmup adventures is another story, one I believe is worth at least reading.
Gunbird 2 is your average vertical shooter in that it subscribes to bullet hell environments. There are seven characters to choose from, each with their own motivations for capturing three mystical elements and presenting them to their god. All of them fly around various stages in the Gunbird world, blowing up enemies and taking on the boss Shark and her cronies Blade and Gimmick of the Queen Pirates. The story is simple to get into and won’t take up too much of your time through static screens explaining the situation at hand.
It’s easy to understand the mechanics as well. Each character has five attacks: Primary, secondary, charge, melee, and super weapon. The primary weapon is either a concentrated or spread shot with all other weapons specific to the character in animation. It’s fun to try all of the characters to see how their weapons animate and behave, and it’s important to as well, because there is strategy involved. Knowing when to initiate a super weapon is crucial for maintaining combos and saving yourself or your teammate if you’re playing alongside someone else. The attacks are all assigned to buttons so you don’t have to do too much to move around and attack. It’s simplistic and yet chaotic at times, but it’s fun chaos.
The presentation is gorgeous while you’re dodging enemies and getting shot from all directions. The color palette is beautiful and the character animation shines. And, yes, even though Psikyo carried over Morrigan’s dog-tired sprite from Darkstalkers it still works here. You immediately know who she is, and it doesn’t look to terrible against the backdrops of bullet hell. The other characters look good for late ’90s animation. While the animation is good, the soundtrack is passing, if not a bit late ’90s mediocre. It’s not terrible, but it doesn’t standout. A single track caught our attention, which is OK. Not all shoot-’em-ups get to be Galaga Arrangement or Gradius.
Overall, Gunbird 2 is a good vertical shooter in a crowded genre populated by heavy hitters. It shoots its way to the middle of the pack, and while it won’t knock your socks off, it’s got replay value and charm built into its laser.
I know I’ve covered a lot of Sega games, but I’m a big fan. I partially owned a NES, a Master System and a Genesis, and while I did not have a lot of games for those systems, I enjoyed the games that I had for them, especially the Genesis. One of those games has an arcade background shared with Gauntlet with elements of the Dungeons and Dragons tabletop games. If you older readers know what I’m talking about, respect. For you younger readers, listen and learn of the tale of Golden Axe.
Inspired also by the Conan the Barbarian movie series of the 1980s, Golden Axe gives you a choice of three warriors: Ax Battler, who wields a broadsword; Gilius Thunderhead, a dwarf warrior with a battle ax; and, an Amazonian warrior, Tyris Flare, whose weapon of choice is a longsword. These warriors were brought together by twist of fate thanks to an evil entity known as Death Adder, who has captured the kingdom of Yuria along with its king and his daughter. The three heroes have also lost loved ones at Death Adder’s hands and set off on their quest to destroy Death Adder and restore hope and peace to Yuria.
Gameplay is simple with each character have the basic attack, jump and special attacks you find in regular side-scroller games. The one major advantage that Ax, Gilius, and Tyris have is their unique ability to cast magic spells that does serious damage to all enemies on screen. However, this special attack comes with two caveats: magic energy has a high cost and protecting your necessary magic potions from thieving elves is a chore. Now, this is the part where you ask, “what’s the payoff with the character’s magic attacks?” Good question! Tyris wields fire magic, Ax’s specialty is earth spells and my favorite character, Gilius, literally brings the thunder with lighting spells. It’s easy to understand the mechanics and use everything in the heat of battle.
If there was one negative thing that I found about Golden Axe, it’s that it’s too short on gameplay. The first stage is set on a giant sea turtle that moves across the sea in the second stage. You move to a sleeping giant eagle in the third stage and are transported to the fourth and final stage by said eagle. That’s entirely too short of an adventure. Easily there could have been a few more stages to flesh out the story.
The music has a strong combination of heroic and fairytale beats that are not too shabby but is a perfect fit for the game. The replay value is pretty good for a 16-bit game that has a short level of gameplay. Overall, this is a valiant effort by Sega to be creative with a game that has potential sadly but lacks creativity.
While it can be fun to play, the game needed some polish and a little bit more finesse to really shine. You’ll pull some hair at the length and some elements, but overall, it’s a decent hack ‘n slash. Just exercise calm and steadiness in this promising yet cruel venture.
Lush, breathtaking, complicated, trying. If you weren’t a fan of Monster Hunter as a franchise until you played Monster Hunter: World, consider yourself missing out on something wondrous. Monster Hunter: World is as close to perfection as an action RPG can be.
Everything begins with you. You begin your adventure as a hunter joining the Fifth Fleet on an expedition to the New World. You are tasked with exploring the vast wild in search of information and science. You’re supported with an assistant — Palicoes — and other officers of the Fifth Fleet, who help with hunting the flora and fauna in the wide unknown so that you may inform the Research Commission of your findings and possibly stop the extinction of vital dragons. The story is engrossing, well-written and easily digestible with hints of more to come as you explore every nook of the new land.
And explore you will because that’s the name of the game here: Hunting. You, the hunter, go into the world to hunt monsters of all sizes. During your hunts, you’re using your wits and the environment to your advantage, careful not to faint too many times while working to take down a creature so that you may get new parts to craft gear and weapons. The crafting aspect is fantastic. The variety of gear and equipment that can be generated is off the charts, and there is nothing more satisfying than taking down a new enemy and obtaining new, more powerful gear. Capcom knew the essence of the high that comes from winning a hard-fought battle, loot, craft better gear and repeat. And they’ve captured that essence masterfully here with increasing incentives and nuanced pacing. Fighting never feels weird, and it quickly becomes second nature to swing your sword and make waves in battle. My only gripe here is that there is so much to learn with the battle mechanics and item crafting and usage that sometimes it gets overwhelming. Taking your time to read the tutorials and work through scenarios in training is the way to combat that. I’m pleased with this setup because I’d rather get too much information than not enough.
While on your expeditions or even at the hub, stop a moment when you can and admire the beauty that Capcom has created. The game is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. I frequently stop to watch the scenery and take in the detail of the surroundings. And, I want to especially highlight the impressive character creation suite. If I can create my own character in a game, I want bold and accurate tools to do so. Monster Hunter: World gave me that and more. I spent two hours with it alone and I still wanted to spend more time there. The wealth of options is outstanding, and I’m extremely impressed with the diversity found within. I can make a character that accurately looks like me with gorgeous options for hairstyles … or not. But I love the options given, and I can’t praise that feature enough.
The soundtrack is another standout in the presentation. It’s fun, fast-paced and engaging. No track is out of place and it’s well-scored with so many different instruments that it puts almost every other adventure title to shame. This is big-budget music and it shows in every situation you’ll find yourself in every environment. Also, the Palicoes’ sound effects are some of the most adorable cat representations I’ve ever heard. If you love cats like I do, you’re going to be saying “Aww, how adorable!” every five seconds and it’s not going to ever get old. That’s the mark of good audio, honestly.
Monster Hunter: World is a masterpiece in adventure. No shortage of things to do, a wealth of options and story and great mechanics come together in a majestic magnum opus of crafting and survival. The hunt for perfection is over with Monster Hunter: World.
I previously reviewed Plasma Sword, the sequel to Capcom’s 3D weapon fighting game Star Gladiator. I played Plasma Sword and really liked Capcom’s approach that combined elements from Star Wars with elements of anime and fighting games. Years later, having played games like Soulcalibur, I wanted to play a fighting game with weapons. I’m glad I got my hands on the first game in the series, Star Gladiator — Episode 1: Final Crusade. In Star Gladiator, in the year 2348 humans have explored space for centuries, allowing for regular peaceful and trade relationships with various alien lifeforms. Unfortunately, some alien species have made threats against Earth, resulting in a defense project created by Dr. Edward Bilstein that uses energy of the human mind or plasma power. Once the project became known, Bilstein gained fame and profit. However, the Earth Federation uncovers that Bilstein engaged in unlawful human experimentation during plasma power research and imprisoned him in a satellite. Four years later, a federation base was attacked by disciples of Bilstein known as the Fourth Empire. With the Fourth Empire’s attacks toward Earth continuing, the Federation’s hopes rely on a project allowing plasma-powered users to activate their gifts on a whim. That project’s name is Star Gladiator. Star Gladiator is a complete departure from usual setup for fighting games like Street Fighter and Darkstalkers. Instead of using a six-button scheme for punches and kicks, Capcom used a four-button setup that resembles Soulcalibur. You have buttons assigned for kicks, defense, and weapon attacks. I found this simple and easy as I did not struggle with fight mechanics. You also have use of two counter moves called Plasma Reverses: One is called a Plasma Reflect, which allows blocking of an opponent’s move and stunning them for a brief period. The other, Plasma Revenge, allows you to counter an opponent’s fast attack while you unleash your own lighting attack. Star Gladiator also introduces the Plasma Combo System, which allows you to setup rapid attacks that, with the right timing, can result in a technique called Plasma Final that inflicts major damage. Finally, another standout feature in Star Gladiator is the plasma strike ability that lets you deliver heavy damage, if timed perfectly on the opponent. Keeping with the mechanics, let me deliver a safety warning: This game has a rotating and hovering arena that may cause motion sickness. With the rotating arena, if you are knocked out of bounds, you will lose automatically. I learned a hard lesson about using the Plasma Reflect and Plasma Final techniques: Like any other weapon-based fighter, your timing must be accurate; otherwise, your character will be open for a ring-out attack or Plasma Final that will end the round before you can blink. And, for those who see the Plasma Strike as an easy use anytime weapon: Plasma Strike is an impressive move; however, it can only be used once per round. The graphics and music are top tier for a 3D fighting game from the era it was released. It looks good and tries hard but without being over the top. The replay value is strong and is a great showcase for the start of the 3D weapon fighter genre. Star Gladiator is a classic 3D fighter that showed how fighting games transitioned from the arcade to the home market. I commend Capcom for thinking forward and not relying on the same formula. Star Gladiator is an example of Capcom’s brilliance in the fighting game arena and the series is long overdue to return. There’s certainly room for it in today’s space.
“Street Fighter perfection.” That’s what they were calling it in advertisements in 1999. Perfection it is. There are a select few Street Fighter games that we can call perfect, and Street Fighter Alpha 3 is at the top of that list. Street Fighter Alpha 3 begins and ends with the concepts of Street Fighter II and choices. Alpha 3 — set between 1987’s Street Fighter and 1991’s Street Fighter II — goes backward in storyline to tell the story of the future. Street Fighter II is what it is: A fighting game with simple mechanics and super moves — as of Super Turbo in 1994. But choices? In a Street Fighter game, no less? Unheard of, until Alpha 3. The mechanics present choices early and frequently. Once you pick your character, you then choose the fighting style from three main choices (four in the Dreamcast version). A‑ISM is straight-up Street Fighter Alpha. It plays just like the previous games in the series and grants access to three bars of multiple super moves. V‑ISM features manual custom combos, first seen in Alpha 2 and removes super moves. X‑ISM is most consistently like Super Street Fighter II Turbo, with access to one bar of super meter and one super move. There are distinct differences and nuances to using each ISM, and advantages and disadvantages in their styles with top characters for each. What works for Alpha 3 the most is the fact that there is so much variety for a single character across all three ISMs. You can make something out of nothing with almost everyone on the roster, even the lower-tier characters. And the roster is something to behold in this game. The arcade version has a nice roster of who’s who in Street Fighter up to this point but getting it home for the console versions adds even more playable characters. Favorites like Evil Ryu, Shin Akuma and Guile join in the fun and make it an even more rounded cast. Basically, if they were in Super Turbo or mentioned in Street Fighter they’re here with a few new additions like Cody, R. Mika and Karin. The roster plays nicely as well. The mechanics are easy to understand, especially if you have previous exposure to Street Fighter in any form. It plays beautifully and handles well in all of its various modes. And a variety of modes there are. While some have to be unlocked — such as Final Battle and Dramatic Battle — the other modes are fun to play and are well-interconnected. One of the best modes available from the outset is World Tour Mode. This is where you should spend most of your time because it’s fantastic. Traveling around the world facing various Street Fighters with specific conditions that utilize the different ISMs is the perfect way to learn how Alpha 3 works. Using World Tour Mode effectively blows the game wide open and is fun to play through with a ton of replay value. Also adding value is the soundtrack, one of Capcom’s masterpieces. The game is set in the mid-to-late 1980s and it sounds appropriate to that era. Beyond the bangers for multiple characters — Sagat, Balrog and Juli/Juni instantly come to mind — even the narration deserves praise. It’s over the top but it fits perfectly. The soundtrack also works well with the graphics. The sprites are big and colorful as are the detailed and stunning stages. It’s one of Capcom’s better-looking games and is a massive improvement from the rest of the Alpha series. It almost looks like it belongs in an entirely different game series. A perfect soundtrack, visuals and gameplay experience is what Street Fighter Alpha 3 brings to the table. As usual, it took Capcom to get it right by the count of three, but right is an understatement. Even after nearly 25 years, this is truly Street Fighter perfection.
Street Fighter Alpha 3 Dreamcast version The Dreamcast version warrants mention because it is significantly different from the PlayStation and Saturn versions. The Dreamcast version is enhanced with the addition of an online mode and later the Japan only Matching Service, which allowed online play as Capcom had with several other fighting game titles such as Vampire Chronicles, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and Super Street Fighter II X. The most notable and useful changes are the secret characters Guile, Evil Ryu and Shin Akuma are already unlocked for use and the additional ISMs and ISM-Plus mechanics available to unlock. The PlayStation version was plagued by a bug that prevented some ISM-Plus items unlocking in World Tour Mode. These were made available for the full experience, and the S‑ISM that CPU-controlled Final M. Bison uses was also made available. Finally, the Saikyo Dojo mode is available here. This mode pits a weak character against two strong opponents. It imitates the Saikyo character select mode available in the PlayStation version.
Ports of Street Fighter Alpha 3 Street Fighter Alpha 3, Sony PlayStation, 1999 Street Fighter Zero 3, Sega Saturn, 1999 (Japan only) Street Fighter Alpha 3: Saikyo Dojo, Dreamcast, 1999 Street Fighter Alpha 3: Saikyo-ryu Dojo for Matching Service, Dreamcast, 2000 Street Fighter Zero 3 Upper, Arcade, 2001 Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper, Game Boy Advance, 2003 Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX, PlayStation Portable, 2006 Street Fighter Alpha Anthology, PlayStation 2, 2006 Street Fighter Alpha 3, PlayStation Classic download, 2011 Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection, multiple consoles, 2018
I want to love Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha. I promise, I really do. It’s Street Fighter without being Street Fighter, but that’s the problem. It’s Street Fighter adjacent, and it’s not really Street Fighter. There are mechanics, characters, and other Street Fightery-type things here that make it part of the brand mystique, but this isn’t like the others and that isn’t necessarily a good thing. Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha starts off luring you with the promise of being some kind of “different” Street Fighter. It has most if not all of Street Fighter Alpha’s mechanics and it adds a few more. The most notable additions are the dedicated Guard Break and cancelable super moves. Guard Break here is a stun move that leads to a dizzy instead of opening an opponent up like in the Alpha series. Super canceling means you can cancel one super move into another. Both mechanics instantly freshen the Street Fighter II well-worn combo formula and give it a new feel. The game plays solidly, akin more to the similarly toned Rival Schools, and when the AI isn’t being obnoxious, you can do a lot and feel satisfied about the way it flows. The roster is decent and complements the Street Fighter name. Sure, you have a lot of Street Fighter veterans and mainstays here like Ryu, Guile, Chun-Li, Zangief and Ken, but there are some interesting Arika characters, too. Doctrine Dark and Hokuto are cool as is Skullomania. The character designs are nice and make it just a little bit different from regular Street Fighter with some variety and thought put into them. While I love the roster, there is something that grinds my nerves. Note that I said when the AI isn’t being obnoxious it’s playable. At this point, we all are aware of how Capcom’s AI can be in fighting games. Even on the lowest difficulty level, though, it’s not friendly. There were times I barely made it to the fourth fight before I got taken out, and I’m a Street Fighter and overall fighting game veteran. It’s hard to gauge if it’s intentional given that this once began life as an arcade update, but it certainly has that quarter-eater feel to it in a bad way. While I despise the AI, I don’t hate the graphics as much as I should. The presentation, for its time, is good. The backgrounds are gorgeous in some stages, and the polygons are super blocky and polygonal. However, this was 1997, so it’s acceptable given what everything else polygon-based looked like at the time. Again, as Rival Schools was around at the same time, it’s comparable to that game but it doesn’t look quite as good. The soundtrack is passable, much like the graphics. It wasn’t impressive but it wasn’t terrible, either. It’s reminiscent of other Capcom fighters at the time, despite this not being developed by Capcom. There was work to be done going from here, and Arika did make improvements. Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha is serviceable and a good start, but I don’t think I’d stay in this region of Street Fighter adjacent. It’s got enough to get me interested and going but the AI makes this a frustrating experience, and it all feels just a little bit like “well, we aren’t Street Fighter, but we can slap the name on and try.” Skip this one and see if there’s a little more Street Fighter and pizazz to your liking in the later sequels.
World Warriors collecting mad money in this bundle
Let’s be frank and call Street Fighter Collection what it really is: A money grab of the finest order. Thankfully, it’s a good money grab for the time period it was released in but make no mistake that you’d have to be a hard-up Street Fighter devotee to grasp the inherent value of the contents from Capcom. Street Fighter Collection features three games: Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold, Super Street Fighter II and Super Street Fighter II Turbo, two certified hits then and now and one that could have been left at home in comparison with the others. Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold is a slightly more enhanced port of the custom combo classic, featuring Cammy as a secret character and the perennial second-best evil shotokan Evil Ryu. There isn’t much else different in this port, and Alpha 2 is what it is: a better version of Warrior’s Dreams. Take that for what it’s worth if it’s the deciding factor in purchasing. The other side of the coin are the Super Street Fighter II games. Plain old New Challengers is here, and it’s instantly made irrelevant by including Super Turbo. Super Turbo is everything New Challengers hoped to be with super moves included, so the collection really didn’t need New Challengers. The only possible reason that both revisions were included in the collection is because it was a way to have the most recent Street Fighter II revisions in the latest generation at the time. Super Turbo wasn’t released for home consoles for obvious reasons — no one was spending $70 for another Street Fighter revision when New Challengers had just been released in 1993 for the dominant Super Nintendo. Capcom might have been foolish, but they weren’t trying to push their luck, either. Make no mistake, Super Turbo is the draw here, just by its existence alone. Because this is a collection of already existing games, we’re not touching on the graphics, sights and sounds, because you’re already familiar with Street Fighter II and Street Fighter Alpha 2. None of that changed for these ports and that’s actually a good thing. If you’re going to buy this collection, buy it because it’s arcade perfect for Super and Super Turbo. Sure, you can find other versions of these games these days and in faster, better formats, but this isn’t a bad collection if you remember what exactly they stood for: Accessible Super Street Fighter II revisions and an exercise in Capcom cash grab mechanics.
Evil still taking up residence in PSOne classic
Ah, Resident Evil, you’re a pleasure and a bane of my existence. Capcom’s survival horror series has enthralled its fans and raked in millions of dollars from follow-up installment games, a Hollywood movie series, three CGI animated movies and a poorly streaming Netflix show. It’s safe to say that Capcom has been pushing Albert Wesker and company hard on that big Umbrella plantation. One of those gems of RE introduces two fan favorites in the series’ universe: Claire Redfield and Leon S. Kennedy. They make up the sequel that’s loved, though not without its problems: Resident Evil 2. RE2 takes off a few months after the events of the first Resident Evil during in which Jill Valentine, Chris Redfield and the remnants of the Special Tactics and Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.) of the Raccoon City Police investigated a series of bizarre murders that took place in the nearby Arklay Mountains. The murders took place in a mansion used for covering up illegal scientific research conducted by Umbrella Inc. After defeating Umbrella’s secret prototype know as tyrant, the S.T.A.R.S. was able to trigger the mansion to self-destruct, destroying Umbrella’s evil plan and leaving for parts unknown. A few months later, Leon Kennedy starts his first day on the job as a member of a newly reformed Raccoon City Police Department and discovers that the city has been overrun with the walking dead. As he searches for the R.P.D headquarters, he runs into Claire Redfield — sister of the missing Chris Redfield. Now trapped in a city of walking corpses, they must find a way out of Raccoon City and stop Umbrella’s latest plan for absolute power. Gameplay of RE2 is like the first installment but with a twist. You have two discs dedicated to Leon and Claire. I found this to be strange at first but realized that they have different backstories, which adds a lot of replay value. Control of both characters is simple but requires use of the Dual Shock controller. Both characters start off with regular handguns but can find various weapons such as shotguns, crossbows, and grenade launchers. No matter which character you start with, I advise that you conserve your ammo; much like the first game, it’s in short supply. Leon and Claire will meet two sub characters — Ada Wong, a spy hire to recover a sample of the virus that turned Raccoon City into a city of zombies; and, Sherry Birkin, daughter of the virus’ researchers who is trying to find her parents. In addition to battling legions of zombies, you’ll be dealing with gigantic spiders, zombified crows and the latest Umbrella monstrosity, Tyrant aka “Mr. X,” who is hard to kill and can appear at any time. The puzzle elements from the first game have returned, also having an enormous impact on play. The graphics are OK for the PS One, but the hideous in-game camera appears even more useless than a tumbleweed as a car engine. The voice acting is OK but feels forced during the cutscenes. The music is outstanding, meeting my expectations from Capcom’s sound team. The game still plays like a tank, which either appeals to your established RE sensibilities or is a massive turnoff. Take your pick. “Resident Evil 2” continues Capcom’s foray in the survival horror genre. While a RE2 and RE3 remake were introduced to a new generation of fans, it’s going to be awhile for me to fully adapt to it. If you hear Mr. X’s theme music “X Gon’ Give It to Ya” by late rap legend DMX, either run and hide, or if you have it, present your rocket launcher to Mr. X; he’ll kindly apologize and go about his day. That’s the classic you’re dealing with in Resident Evil 2.