Resident Evil Zero: PS4 Review

Resident Evil Zero: PS4 Review

Platform: PS4
Released by Capcom

Initially released on the Gamecube way back in 2002, Resident Evil Zero wins the award for being the first remaster out of the 2016 box.

Uncovering the truth around Umbrella and the origins of the T Virus, this prequel to the series is the first to introduce dual protagonists to the game. Those leads are Rebecca Chambers and Billy Coen; Chambers is a medic and Coen is an escaped death row convict who broke out during the zombie outbreak.

Switching between the characters makes the game a bit more atmospheric and helps keep things fresh and it's fair to say the shocks keep coming in the game in a way that you'd expect with jumps and jolts. There's a few frustrations with camera angles and also with the save points in the game which are so few and far between that mar Resident Evil Zero from being a brilliant experience.

But to be fair, it has been adapted from a game way back in 2002 and therefore, the whole genre and expectation has evolved in the 14 years since then.

The switch between Billy and Rebecca is a little ahead of its time and set the trend for interchangeable protagonists; it's a shame that you can't co-op play with them given their skills ad abilities appear to work in tandem. You still get to order them about and even though those commands are limited, the game certainly feels like more of an experience than a companion to AI.

Exploration and puzzle-solving are the aims of the game really and the first section inside the train certainly brings those to the fore; even if it is occasionally too dark to really delve around. Even if that portion of the game is marred by extraordinarily long loading screens.

Fans of Resident Evil will love the game and the fact the final part of the puzzle's been brought into the current generation of consoles; but casual gamers may find the fact it's stuck to its 2002 ethos and MO a little jarring and prevent them from fully diving into the game that appears to have come back from the dead.