There are a few sequels one could describe as a perfect, and if this game ain't one of them then I don't know what would qualify. Truly an improvement to the original across the board, the higher stakes of being in an overrun town as opposed to a lone manor, while maybe you could argue is less intimate, did wonders for the bombastic approach this game took in it's story. The cast of characters here also had a lot more room to shine, when I reviewed RE2 remake i praised Claire as my favorite character due to her being an absolute selfish badass and I'm glad to see it's been that way since 1998. Keep on the trend on the male lead being a bit dummer, Leon doesn't really have any impediments as Chris did in the original, rather this time it shows when neither Ada nor Claire listen to him that much through the plot and he gets hilarously more frustrated each time. The RPD, in my opinion remains the better location between it and the spencer manor. It's puzzles feel way more intutive, I never even had to lookup a guide until some items where moved around on scenario b and still a few hints where all I needed to get going. Also the fact that the infection runs rampant throughtout the city and you can't cover all entrypoint just ups the tension in a nice way for me. I do appreciate the way this game incorporates complementary playthroughs through the A and B scenarios, however it didn't really fix the issue the first one had with regards to its cannon story, that we just have to accept that what happen was some amalgamation of both scenarios. Even in complementary A and B stories, both things can't happen at the same time as both characters solve the same puzzles and get sometimes the same, sometimes different rewards. In any event there was still enough cohesion that made the connection feel appriated, and since I enjoyed the game I had no problem beating it 4 times. Just know that the changes are very minor and 2 complementary A, B scenarios are enough to get the core
I absolutely adored the b movie feel of the entire game though it did come at the cost of not feeling quite scary to me just cheesy and awesome throughout. The FMV segments and funny voice acting where never a detracting factor for me, they only add to the charm of this. Having played the remake first it did shocked me just how stark the difference in difficulty was between Jill and Chris. While I knew Chris would have less inventory, no bazooka and no lockpick, I wasn't expecting remixed puzzles at the start, a whole lot more scarcity, just him having the ink ribbon mechanic and more enemies almost everywhere. It's just funny for me to imagine what it would have been like for someone in the 90s trying this for the first time no guides, no magazines just busting their heads with the Chris playthrough first only to then be shocked how easy Jill's rout is in comparison. Truly a worthy start to one of the most iconic franchises in gaming. If for some reason like me you're and were thinking of skipping this one in favor of the original, please consider playing both. While having the same overall stories the tonal, aesthetic and mechanical differences between them absolutely warrant separte playthroughs of each of them.
