Step this way please, fans of pre-rendered backgrounds and pixellated blood spatters. There is something waiting for you in the window of the local internet video game store, GOG.com. Resident Evil 2, the original 1998 survival horror, is now buyable, downloadable, and yes, even playable on PC.
It's up on GOG for £9 currently, boasting "Improved cutscenes and subtitles" while also making the bonus character scenarios unlocked from the beginning. For those who've forgotten, these are the two special runs you can do featuring gas-masked military man Hunk, or giant piece of sentient soy, Tofu. This port also seems to squash a few long-standing bugs. "Fixed issues with Rooms 114 and 115 (missing text), Room 210 (invisible diary), and Room 409 (looping sound)," says the blurb. Intriguing.
This is all part of an ongoing roll out of the original zombie-zappin' scarers. Resident Evil 1 was put on sale a couple of months ago, while Resident Evil 3 has also been listed as "coming soon" since then. It's not the first time any of the games have been out on PC, but it is now the easiest (legal) option when it comes to frollicking around Raccoon City in your big bloodstained bandage.
Old Resi 2 is a good aperitif if you've recently played the Resident Evil 2 remake. The remake plays with your memories of the late-ninties statue-pusher in some fun ways. You might gingerly walk down the much beautified bottom floor corridor of the police station, muttering in mental preparation that the first licker will appear overhead shortly. But then... it's nowhere to be seen. Only later, when you're lulled into puzzle solving mode, does the monster show up on another floor entirely, skittering across the ceiling with nary a FMV cutscene to steady your nerves. Well played, Capcom, you got me.
Since these small differences are set against a largely faithful recreation of the original's spirit, they stand out as fun expectation-bouncers rather than iconoclastic upheaval. As you can probably
PC
PS1
Capcom
Resident Evil 2
Nintendo
Horror
shooter
Action Adventure
Story Rich
Shooter: Third Person
Nintendo Gamecube