Resident Evil Zero HD Remaster – Review

Well where do i begin with this game, it’s a classic among the whole resident evil franchise and a remastered version does the game beautiful justice with better lighting, sharper graphics, cleaner movement (most of the time) and sharper sounds which is just too much when playing with a headset which makes it 10x worse.

They have kept the initial story while not adding anything new which is good for die hard fans of the game, and the point of a remake which they have done really well. I remember watching my dad play this as a 11-12 year old and it brought back a lot of memories for me and really enjoyed giving this game ago for myself.

The graphics of the game are the first thing you see whether you’re in gameplay or just in cutscenes they have remastered very well in every aspect of the game. The two main characters Rebecca and Billy both look at their best in this game by far and they have done just as well on the enemies making most of the zombies slightly different to each other which is a nice touch, the spiders freaked me out more than they used to with the updated visuals and just pop out of nowhere which forced me to pause my game and compose myself a few too many times.

The foliage of the game is great and very crisp it really makes you feel like you are on a speeding train, basement or a winding hallway it’s all done very well and complements the game, the only thing i am not over keen on is the forever changing camera angles as it pains me to say i have enjoyed the more recent resident evil games and i got used to the freedom to aim where i want and move where i want, so that did take a bit of getting used to again but after half hour it was fine and i was playing it like a pro…well in my opinion.

The movement in the game gives you the choice of classic or modern controls which is good but i don’t get on with the d-pad so much so i went for modern controls and i found them very over complicated there are a few variations but none of which i felt truly at home with so i just made do with what they had to offer.

“the biggest nostalgic memory was the music when i was in the safe room although not all of them have that sound which was upsetting”

Throughout the game you need to switch between the two players for various reasons be it solving a puzzle finding an item etc. and it’s easy to switch between them both and swapping items freely the only down side to it is when you’re getting attacked by anything my instant reaction was to mash buttons to escape and in doing this nine times out of ten i’d swap characters and that was very costly.

Both players handle and control in the same way even tho they both have their own strong and weak points for instance Rebecca can mix herbs and fit in small gaps where as Billy can take and deal out a lot of damage and move any big movable objects.

The sound of the game is great (i was wearing my TRITON headset though) you could hear the sound of the rain hitting the train when you started the game, the sound of the doors opening and going up and down stairs it’s all done really well, i love the fact that when you’re walking through the main hall there’s an echo on the hard floors and then a dampened softer sound when running on the carpets, when you’re running outside the crunch from the leafs or the squish in the mud is really authentic and real to life.

There are still staples of the classic resident evil like sounds of the typewriter when you’re saving the game the sound of it going off and of course the classics of the door knob turning when going into a next room or the big metal gates but the biggest nostalgic memory was the music when i was in the safe room although not all of them have that sound which was upsetting, there is something about that sound that just relaxes me…maybe it’s the flesh eating zombies on the other side of the room that make me feel at ease. I like the element of surprise in this game with the sounds, you will be running down a hallway you have been up and down throughout the game and then bang music kicks in and something will pop out at you and then that’s when i pause it and compose myself yet again.

The main aspect of the game is to play through the game and complete it of course there is not a lot of added extras, you do get a few costumes to change into which is nice though they do not change the game and or gameplay at all which would have been fun to have a little added extra like that with the game. On completing the game you will unlock a minigame or so to speak it is called leech hunter where you have to hunt leeches in doing this you can unlock unlimited ammo for certain guns depending on your score if you get for example 100 then you can unlock unlimited ammo for every gun so when you next want to play it you can just have fun with it or have ago at a speed run armed with just a magnum or a rocket launcher which can be a good challenge and a big incentive to play the game again in my opinion.