Capcom is continuing its push to bring all of the original Resident Evil games into the world of beautiful HD, and their newest endeavor gives polish to one of the most underrated core Resident Evil games, with Resident Evil 0 (Zero).
Coming off last year’s spectacular high definition remaster of the original Resident Evil game (using the 2002 GameCube remake as its basis), the newly upgraded version of Zero fits in rather nicely with what Capcom is doing with their older franchises, and the upgrade/polish here is fantastic for fans of the original game.
Players can also choose between classic screen presentation or widescreen and, much like the RE HD remaster, there are various difficult levels from easy to hard. Players can even swap out DLC costumes for the two characters, and earn trophies and achievements. These additions are neat options for fans who’ve played the game a few times in the past.
Resident Evil 0 HD takes place right before the events of the original Resident Evil game. This is the story of Bravo team — the crashed helicopter that Alpha team discovered before running for their lives into a mansion deep in the Arklay mountains outside Raccoon City — and how team medic Rebecca Chambers ended up in that room under the stairs waiting for either Jill or Chris to come help her.
As Zero begins, Rebecca is teamed up with a new character, Billy Coen, an ex-marine, now-criminal who uses the chaos around Raccoon City to escape his looming death sentence for killing 23 people, and who is forced to help Rebecca so that they both survive the night. The tag-out mechanic here that was pretty revolutionary on the GameCube 13 years ago helps to create new puzzles as players juggle two characters, and sometimes two puzzles that demand cooperation to solve.
Rebecca is weaker, but she can create healing conceptions. Billy is stronger, but he’s limited in what he can carry. Juggling supplies between the two characters is very important, as this is an early (meaning pre- Resident Evil 4) Resident Evil game, meaning that ammo and herbs are rare and have to be rationed. The two character mechanic works well here, and gives the player options on how to proceed.
Resident Evil 0 HD also starts off players in a new and unique setting: a train racing through the Arklay mountainside. The tight confined area works well to create tension, and the new control scheme for the HD upgrade gives players the option of classic controls, or more sensible directional controls. I have always loved the train level of this game (and franchise), and to be able to play it in HD is gratifying. Players eventually leave the train and have new larger facilities to explore as the backstory of Ozwell Spencer, William Birkin, and Albert Wesker, and the hows and whys of Umbrella’s catastrophic experiments, are fleshed out.
Resident Evil 0 is one of those perfect prequels that adds so much to the previous games’ story, while seamlessly integrating itself into the greater narrative. And having just played the Resident Evil HD remaster a few months ago (so it’s still very fresh on my mind), Zero fits in nicely to the story as a whole.
Graphically, Resident Evil 0 HD looks as good as it can using old tech polished onto new powerful systems. Short of a full scale remake (which is coming soon for the iconic Resident Evil 2), this high-def polish makes the static backgrounds and frighteningly gooey (for lack of a better term) monsters really pop. An early battle with a huge scorpion in a dining car on the train has never looked better, and the new-gen systems have more than enough power to really bring a level of realism to enemies of the Resident Evil franchise — even inexplicable six-foot-long scorpions on trains. Other large insects, rabid primates, huge, terrifying monstrosities, and the thousands of leeches all work to give the player nightmares as they try and survive.
Personally, I’m glad that Capcom is giving the older Resident Evil games some much needed love. Last year’s Resident Evil HD was a reminder of why fans across the world fell in love with the series. With the same level of dedication and care shown here for Zero, and the RE 2 remake looming, long-time fans who have felt disenfranchised by the more recent “shoot-’em-up,” action-style Resident Evil games now have a reason to celebrate the franchise that they have loved for almost 20 years.
Yes, that is Albert Wesker as a playable character!
Capcom has upped the ante here by giving players the chance to play as Albert Wesker once they’ve completed a full game play-through at least once. Wesker assumes the role of Billy (and keeps his RE5 powers, which is cool!), and gives a neat little nod to the roots of the iconic franchise. This addition is new to the game and the series (to play as Wesker), and makes Resident Evil 0 HD a must-play for fans new and old.
There’s a guy on Ustream who goes by GameDungeonPro. He loves classic games and he broadcasts his gameplay of these games almost nightly. He streamed play-throughs of horror games during the month of October, and he played most, if not all, of the classic Resident Evil games on his stream, using the original systems (where applicable) with his camera aimed at an old CRT TV. These new remasters will give GameDungeonPro the power to play the games in glorious HD on new-gen systems, with the built in stream feature of each system. That’s exciting for me as a “viewer” of a stream like this, and I can’t help but wonder how excited GameDungeonPro may be.
And that, in itself, is reason enough to pick Resident Evil 0 HD; the chance to play these older games in HD on new systems, and start the story from the very, very beginning and see how it all began.
Resident Evil 0 HD is out now for the Playstation 4, Xbox One, PS3 and Xbox 360. A new collection, called Resident Evil Origins is also available and it collects both the Resident Evil HD and Zero HD remakes into one package. This review is based off the Xbox One version of Resident Evil 0 HD, provided by Capcom.
