Just completed Resident Evil 2, the current remake, with character Leonard S Kennedy. Though I started the game on standard play when I got to the 2nd or 3rd boss level against Birkin I changed the play mode to assisted because the game was beating the hell out of me. It was less being able to stay out of the way of danger and more a shortage of supplies as it was my first time (first run) playing through the game. My official RE2 game first run completion stats:
- Story Completed: Leon S. Kennedy
- Game Mode: Assisted
- Total Time: 25:59:26
- Saves: 50
- Grade: C
I will be playing through RE2 again now that I have opened up the “Second Run” portion of the game as Claire Redfield on the standard campaign setting. I’ll be following her story this time through and it should be somewhat easier as I know the maps and locations. There are absolutely differences to the game and story when playing as the other character on the second run from what I’ve read in various articles prior to the games release. There may be map differences as well as location and play differences, specials and bonus items, etc etc, though I really have no idea how much different the game might be playing as Claire instead of Leon. I’m really looking forward Claire Redfield’s run as I think the game is setup in such a way to “actually” be completed once you have played through as each of the two available characters. I have heard much about playing as different characters in RE2 during my research of the Resident Evil 2 remake prior to the games being released this year. I think the game was actually released late last year (2023, November/December) though it was released on Xbox Game Pass in mid January of 2024. This is a great way to keep the game relevant and challenging while also extending the playability option, which to me is always welcome. I’m not a person that just wants to play a game once, beat it, complete it, and then move on forgetting about it. I’m a bit of a completionist so on my first run through new games it’s always about just getting through the game and completing it. Then I come back on a second playthrough to locate all the secrets and missed locations. This is a great way to keep a game playable as well as getting your money’s worth when purchasing triple A (AAA) titles.
I started playing Resident Evil 3 today and I’ve almost completed the first section of that game, almost. Need to get out of the “city” ultimately but there is also another round of boss fighting against Nemesis at the moment which I need to get through. I actually thought I killed Nemesis during the previous rooftop sequence but I’m not surprised Nemesis is still alive after taking some 4-5 rocket launcher shots with incendiary and explosive loads. Man he’s a tough fucker. Plus now he has a laser assisted rocket launcher and I need to run and avoid the laser ‘lasing’ my back for his clean shot as I run through the city dodging the undead and jumping over obstacles while trying to locate the path out. But enough of RE3 for the moment as that is now front and center since I have now completed the first run through of Resident Evil 2.
The resident Evil 2 remake was all I thought it was going to be and more. There was a section later in the game in The Nest sequence which had me worried about the stability of the game because there was a section where the game kept crashing. I went on the Steam forums and was able to locate others who also had the game crashing in the same area and I was able to glean some ideas’ for the fix. Getting rid of an existing RE2 demo, reinstalling RE2, and adjusting down some graphic settings ultimately allowed me to finish the game without missing anything game wise with the slightly toned down graphics settings. The game was thoroughly rock solid on my 3rd generation Intel 3.2 gigahertz i5 CPU paired with a 2 gigabyte DDR5 Nvidia GT 1030. I know I know, pretty ancient by 2024 standards however I know how to customize and tweak my system (usually toning down the extravagant graphic options) so even todays titles play well if not fantastic on my ancient hardware. In fact the short amount of time I played RE3 today it seemed to perform better than RE2 on my system with similar settings which lets me know future releases on the same graphics engine (Reality Engine) will allow me to play the upcoming Resident Evil 4, and who knows RE5 and RE6. I’ve already played, though have yet to complete Resident Evil Village but that’s only because I have not been able to find it at a good price yet. Though lately I think I saw it around $14.99 on Steam recently, possibly less and if that’s the case, it will be the next game I purchase here in the coming days, as payday is just a few days away ;).
Resident Evil 2 was thoroughly challenging and totally fun to play. RE2 kept ones mind in the game with the various puzzles plus the well spread out maps where spatial skills and map/city/location memorization is key. If you forget how to get to various sections make sure you take advantage of the map. The map is surely one of the most indispensable tools in game. It provides so much more than just location information. It shows items you may have missed, save game locations, locations of the ‘save item’ box, paths you may have missed and so much more. During one of the rounds where Mr. X, aka The Tyrant, is chasing me it added to my already aggravated anxiety factor which made me temporarily forget map locations in lieu of simply trying to stay alive while trying to stay away from Mr. X which had me running in circles and going deep and far into sections of the map when I didn’t need to go to at one very challenging juncture. Though admittedly this works as a tactic to shake The Tyrant and lose him for a bit in the city. After I ‘shook’ Mr. X I had some time to peruse the map again and plan out the path ahead during a short amount of breathing room I had created while shaking the tyrannical Mr. X (The Tyrant). He will eventually locate you again via your gunshots but fast movement and taking advantage of quick sidestepping and quick forward and backward stepping will allow you to evade him most of the time and keep you from sustaining the heavy damage he inflicts. The size of the maps can make location navigation a little tricky if your not paying attention or if your attention is otherwise, well, encumbered.
You’ll notice my game time above clocks in at 25 hours however there were a couple nights where I left the game on but in a pause state with the clock running while I slept so I’m going to take a guess and say 12-15 hours is probably a little more accurate estimation of how long it took me to complete the ‘First Run‘ of Resident Evil 2. I’m going to take a little more care on my second run playthrough so that I might be able to get better than a “C” grade on Claire Redfield’s story as well paying attention to when the game is counting time and make sure I properly stop the “play” clock so that I can get that more accurate playthrough time.
I’ve been playing Resident Evil for years and it’s great to see Capcom knows what its clients and players want to see as far as how a game is made, as well as keeping to the very much fan adored lore, game, stories, characters and creating another captivatingly fun and challenging game. Capcom has been doing that with the Resident Evil series and I believe it’s because they cater to and listen to their fans and what we want so they can deliver expensive triple A (AAA) titles with such amazing gameplay that we instantly forget what we paid (I believe the core RE2 released for $59.95 plus there are other bundled or “ultimate” RE2 titles with DLC’s and other extras amounting to in game bonus items, character customization, item stockpiling etc etc which can easily run $60 to $80) because once again we as the consumer got everything we wanted in our tried and true ongoing Resident Evil series. Thanks again Capcom, and I now plow head first into Resident Evil 3, which from the outset is already a bit more challenging than RE2 but the gameplay is par excellence from what I’ve seen in the first hour of playing and I can’t wait to get deeper into RE3 story here shortly.
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