Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsThe lowest review I've ever given a game (to date)
Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2019
First, I got an Arabic copy of this game from the Amazon warehouse. Still plays fine, but based on other comments it seems I won't be able to buy DLC for this at the American playstation store. Since DLC is mostly cosmetic for now, I don't mind too much. I didn't knock off any stars for this, just wanted to get it out of the way. Now for my review.
When I saw the demo, I wanted this game. Immediately. When I bought it, I knew nothing about the game outside the demo, and looked forward to being genuinely scared. My first playthrough with Leon was a blast. Loved every second. The Tyrant... gave me genuine fear. After approximately 10 hours I finished Leon's adventure and immediately jumped into Claire. And that's where my problems started.
Claire's B run started off promising something different. It was definitely more challenging, which I liked. But after an hour in, I was basically playing Leon again. Except for some weapon changes, different enemy placement, increased difficulty and very slight variation on puzzles, this was the same experience as the last 10 hours. Then I got to the major changes in Claire's story, and I couldn't ignore the nagging questions in my mind. This was supposed to be a parallel to Leon's story, right? I'm supposed to see what happened to Claire while Leon was running around, right? So why do these stories overlap so poorly? Why am I doing puzzles that Leon already completed? Why are the shortcuts that Leon opened closed again? Why am I fighting bosses that Leon already sent falling into the abyss? And on it went for the entirety of my B run. At the end of it, I felt irritated. A and B runs don't play out like overlapping stories. But the game presents them that way, and does things like having Leon leave notes for Claire, leaving certain zombies behind for Claire to find, and other spoilers to show that these events happen side by side. They do that, then turn around and leave the majority of events the same. So I, the player, feel like I'm playing the same game twice, just with a different character. Which might be fine if the campaigns weren't so short. First 10 hours of an awesome new experience, next 10 hours playing something that is 80% the same as the first 10 hours. That wasn't fun to me.
But I did not want to give up. I dived into the Extra modes. They did nothing for me. I looked up playthroughs of the original Resident Evil 2 so that, if nothing else, I could see if they stayed true to the source material. The original ended up looking more satisfying. The stories actually overlapped, there was much more lore, and Leon and Claire actually built a relationship. In the remake, I forgot Claire existed for most of Leon's run. They barely say two lines to each other for the whole game, and act like friends without showing any foundation for the friendship. It was something a few extra lines of dialogue, or a couple more encounters could have solved. The box-art shows them as more of a team than content in the actual game.
But the real disappointment for me was at the ending of the two runs. I'll try to make this vague, but don't read if you're sensitive to spoilers of any kind. In run A, a massive set piece is completely destroyed during a boss fight and a certain character dies. In run B, the massive set piece is miraculously rebuilt, and destroyed again by the SAME boss fight. Shortly after, the same character dies. AGAIN. Such a major event in both scenarios, and they don't even try to harmonize this simple contradiction. That, on the back of dozens of other little contradictions throughout this game, solidified my opinion. Graphics 10/10. Gameplay 10/10. Story: they didn't even try/10.
I never expected to write a negative review on a game like this. But I have to be honest in my opinion. The A and B scenarios were lazily handled, which makes the overarching story confusing. Claire and Leon barely interact, so their chumminess at the end feels odd. 20 hours of content, 80% of which is the same in both scenarios, just leaves behind a shallow experience. At the end of what was set up to be amazing, all I felt was disappointment. And that's why this gets 3 stars, the lowest rating I've ever given a game to date. Oh well. At least Resident Evil 4 got 2nd scenarios right with Ada.
