Resident Evil 0 Review: An Experiment In Mediocrity
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- čas přidán 25. 06. 2024
- Its spooky season and what better time to experience a game from my favourite series that I missed all those years ago….
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Davey
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WHY AM I THE ONLY PERSON CURESED TO LOVE THIS GAME??!?!?!? Honestly, I thought the item swap/drop mechanic was one of the best parts. With most games, increasing the difficulty means improving enemy damage output or heath pools, but in a survival horror game, I feel like this is how to increase difficulty. Make the survival horror elements like inventory management, way more difficult. BTW, everyone forgets to grab the grappling hook before the bat boss. HA! Even I forgot on my last playthrough.
😂😂
One of my best mates says 0 is his favourite too so I had high hopes going into this....
The best way to increase the difficulty imo is to limit the items even further, forcing you to make the hard choice to use your powerful stuff you may have more of on fodder or keep the area dangerous.
I really liked 0,liked the ideas it had,i know it had no item box's..but you could drop items on the ground anywhere
Holy crap. It's Avalanche. Love your content 👍
I loved this game too sorta,the only things holding it back for me were the eliminators and the bat boss,ether than that I had a blast solving the puzzles and enjoyed the difficulty,the leech men really made the game tense,though I do feel the training facility didn’t have enough herbs and heal items.But overall I liked all the puzzles and areas in the game besides the basement due to the eliminators obviously.I also definitely enjoy the corny line delivery from Marcus,I really enjoyed myself with this title,it may not be perfect,but it was a whole lot of fun even if at points I wanted to pull my hair out and got so stressed because I had no herbs.I give it a 7/10.
just started playing wesker mode and it is a blast
You're also curesed to be bald
Rebecca did play Basketball, maybe that's why she throws faster and farther
Good point 👌
I consider RE0 my true intro to the series. The first RE game I ever played was Code Veronica... but I was very young and don’t even think I ever finished it (then). RE0 was the first time I was really immersed in a RE game... the atmosphere, the OST, the lore ... and I absolutely adored it; it holds a very special place in my heart. I’m always a little disappointed to see the amount of distain it receives, even now ... but I did enjoy this review. 👍🏻
I'm glad you enjoyed it, I feel the same way for RE3 (ps1) that was the first time I fell in love with the series and people dunk on that entry so I know the feeling 😅
RE0 will always have a place in my heart as the 1st RE game I ever played, I remember playing this on the GameCube over and over while in 1st grade because I thought it was amazing. Hearing the safe room theme in your video brings back so much nostalgia
Nostalgia is so powerful! they say sounds and smells are the most effective and for me it's the save themes, they hit so hard
@@SSJdavey They really do
Great vid! This is still the only RE game that i find a massive chore to play. Just about completed it and probably will again when I'm 60 and bored lol. Love the save room theme and graphics though of course.
Thank you!
🤣 retirement for gamers is going be constant LAN parties its going to be blessed
This is my favorite and most played game in the series. The removal of the storage boxes, the ability to drop and exchange items, and partner zapping brought new dimensions to the formula. It is the one RE game to really test my chops in terms of decision-making in order to conquer the main quest, which runs at a good length. Other games like Code Veronica, REmake, RE4, etc. were good but felt too long and drawn out for what they were.
Its certainly unique! I have to give it credit, it tried to shake up the traditional formula and for puzzles it worked excellently. I found this game longer than REMAKE but maybe that's just me leaving items in dumb places forcing Crazy long backtracks. If it had an item box I'm sure I'd adore this game, it just pissed me off so much 😂
I'm with you 100% on wanting the series to go back to it's roots with static camera angles, pre rendered backgrounds, tank controls and true inventory management. That is true survival horror imo. Hopefully Capcom pulls there head out of their remaking asses and does this someday.
They’ll never go back to fixed cameras. It doesn’t make sense from a business prospective. Fixed cams will not work in 2022 lmao
Unfortunately you're right, doesnt hurt to hope for it 😔
@Josh baker I promise you free qgwtggggggggf 5gggww2wwwwww2wwwwthe original fanbase that gave rise to the franchise's popularity is MUCH larger than the "modern audience" and would be in full support of classic style games. I'm not saying this should be the ONLY formula for the games but if Capcom decided to make a few in that style I am all but certain it would be lucrative and received well by all. Don't be a dick.
@joshbaker8244 No, mate... YOU need to pull yours out of your rectum. Opinions don't have to appeal to everyone in a world where each of us is entitled to have one. And since where talking about what works for Capcom from a "business standpoint"- Umbrella Crops and RE Verse were the pinnacle of "success" in your feeble mind. But then again- Capcom and your kind share the same confusion between success and mediocrity.
I had a few surprise deaths due to the frogs too lol unreal
Frogs must be the ultimate life form. There's no other explanation
@@SSJdavey
Do you think we should we warn Alex Jones about the chemicals Umbrella is putting in those friggin’ frogs’ water?
@@markcobuzzi826 🤣🤣
Don't tell him, let him go and investigate himself so we can finally be rid of him
@@SSJdavey
I can just imagine the Lurker swallowing him alive, only for him to keep doing his podcast inside its stomach, and we can hear his muffled voice:
“I don’t like ‘em putting viruses in the water, that turn the friggin’ frogs supersized, man-eating… and gay! DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?!?! *whacks inside of Lurker with roll of paper thrice* Sick of this crap! I’m sick of being digested alive! IT’S NOT FUNNY!!! *drops some articles* Okay… dammit. I just dropped a bunch of stuff and it’s too dark in here. I need those articles. Somebody crawl in here with a flashlight.”
Speaking of which, have you seen that CZcams remix by placeboing titled “Gay Frogs (Alex Jones REMIX)”? If not, I recommend taking a minute to check it out. It still entertains me after multiple rewatches, and people have even used the remix to create their own Beat Saber levels. That same CZcams channel also did a similar remix about his goblin rant.
Zero is definitely among my favorite REs. It's worse than almost everything that came before it, yes, but better than everything that came after it, in my opinion. The last true RE game.
I have a massive soft spot for 7 even though its so different but you're 100% right it's the last bastion of classic RE. I wish capcom would give us another entry with the fixed camera and tank controls 😭
@@SSJdavey You never know when a renaissance is due. RE9 is going to be the final first person RE game, so who knows what comes next.
@@neamraven how do you know 9 is the last one in first person? Was that in the capcom leak?
@@SSJdavey Oh I'm just assuming based on the way everything has been going for the past 25 years. A different perspective and a change of tone every 3 mainline games. No leaks, just an educated guess on my part. Capcom have decided that they want to make completely new and unrelated games with RE, just keeping the name since it is their flagship title, so I expect them to continue in this direction.
Hahahaha what rubbish. That's just called being a contrarian. Pretty much every single game that came out after RE Zero is better than it, at least in the main series.
Great review! And your audio sounds buttery smooth too. Sorry you had to play this game 😆
Thank you!
Trust me I'm in the worst of it right now, I've had to play survivor 1&2 and Gaiden. 0 is a masterpiece in comparison 😂
This is a game I could never finish but still love it
Great video as always. What they could have done with the inventory system is to give the player multiple options. Give us the ability to use item boxes and drop items anywhere instead of removing the item boxes altogether🎮👍
That would be the dream 😍
The fixed camera angles are the best! It always made the environment more creepy. The first Resident Evil game I ever played was the Resident Evil on GameCube that came out in 2002. Playing it on Switch 20 years later and still is my favorite. I bought Resident Evil Zero thinking I would love it just as much. I have never finished it just because I lost interest. Zombies are what makes the games great! I couldn’t stand the leech monsters. So hard to kill and would eat up all my bullets. I finally gave up killing them and would run around them. Made going back and forth much more intense and unenjoyable. That’s just me though. My favorite part was the mansion. Reminds me of the first Resident Evil with Chris, Jill, Barry, and Wesker. So good! The background details were incredible overall in Zero! I especially noticed a whole lot more detail in the walkthrough because I wasn’t the one running away from monsters lol I did like the fact that there were much more added zombies in this game but just didn’t care for the other critters as much… hunters are always great though. I hope they do another game with fixed camera angles that’s similar to the original game in the mansion. The new movie Welcome to Racoon City reminded me so much of the original game! Very good! Really appreciate the walkthrough of Zero since I most likely will not try and beat this game. Too many cons over pros for me to play it and really enjoy it all the way though. I want to finish the mansion part of the game and be done 😂 🧟♂️🩸🧟♂️
If they ever went back to this style I'd be over the moon with it. I can't see it happening 😫
Capcom taking Resident Evil down the Game cube only path for a few years is what killed classic Resi, if RE master and Zero had been on all formats they would have sold well and the classic Resi formula would've carried on for longer but the poor sales of these 2 games caused them to re invent the wheel with part 4 to try and increase sales it didn't work as part 4 still didn't sell well enough on Game cube and it didn't sell well until it was released on PS2 which tells me it was probably never the case that fans didn't want classic Resi so they stopped buying it the problem was Capcom took survival horror and put it on what generation PlayStation considered to be a kids console so Capcom basically took the game away from its fans as most Resi fans at that time were PlayStation gamers, Nintendo gamers never had Resi and most of them weren't bothered about it they saved their time and money for Zelda, Mario Kart, Star Fox etc you know the games that you generally buy a Nintendo console to play on so Resident Evil was put in a spot where it couldn't win, its fans were on another system with no access to it and the system it was on was mostly owned by people who weren't ever going to be interested in that genre, stupid move by Capcom but in my opinion going exclusive with any AAA franchise usually backfires, AAA franchises usually work best when they are multiplatform so nobody is excluded from buying it.
You've made a great point there, I've never stopped to think about the exclusivity and if that killed classic RE or not 🤔 it couldn't have helped thats for sure
Enemies don't reappear though that's one of the only good things about this. Maybe a harder enemy would replace them in very few areas but if you kill a room fill of zombies it will always be empty
Thats really interesting, I could have sworn I saw a group that I'd killed previously return when I ran back to the main hall for supplies just before I fought the final boss 🤔
I loved the item swap and drop mechanic. Graphics were amazing for its time as well as an awesome RE backstory and intelligent partner AI.
I think that's the make and break with this, If the item swap and drop works for you it's going to be a mega hit and if it becomes annoying it takes a hit. Credit where credit is due its unique, trying something new for the series while keeping a traditional formula
Just first started playing it. Items are a pain in the ass. I'd love to be able to just swap items when trying to pick up something so that my dropped item would replace a pickup in its position.
Pickups are placed in such a way that you can see them and interact with them, while dropped items fall randomly in a circle around you and sometimes they fall behind any camera view or behind an object making it nearly impossible to find them. Took me a few minutes to pick up an ink tape that fell behind a cart in the train when I needed to pick up a herb.
Would love to have a limited item box at the beginning of each level tho. So that you can just drop the most important things into it and pick up later without needing to backtrack the entire map just for a hook gun or a quest item.
Otherwise it's a great game. I love static cameras, backgrounds, tank controls, zombies and puzzles. It just feels good.
Well, my only other problem with OG Resident Evil games are spiders, snakes etc. Imho it's the dumbest design for bosses/enemies. Giant spiders, giant scorpion, giant snake, giant centipede, giant sharks... are we in a zombie apocalypse or a post-nuclear west coast of the USA?
I thought I commented on this review, back when I was marathoning your RE content. But it looks like I never actually did. So I can share some extended thoughts on RE0 right now. Regarding the gameplay, I mostly agreed with the pros and cons stated by both you and The Sphere Hunter.
*But in terms of RE0’s story, these below are 10 ways I would consider retooling it, to provide potentially improvements for a remake and/or movie adaptation:*
*1.) Tie Billy Coen’s backstory more into the unfolding revelations about Umbrella (and possibly RE5, given that it is set in Africa).* For example, when Billy’s squad is sent to intervene in that civil war, they could be terrorized by zombie-like beings in the night, as they struggle to get their bearings. The cannibals’ attacks could contribute to the squad’s losses and mental deterioration, until they finally come across the innocent village. When one of the villagers turns out to be very sick, possibly from an unrelated virus, this adds to Billy’s other squad members becoming paranoid and accepting their superior’s corrupt order to massacre the village.
With those extra details, Billy’s flashback could come off as a scary short story in itself, like the Keeper’s Diary. This could allow Billy to have a greater personal stake in the narrative, when he has to relive his experiences with zombies. He could also gain some closure and be partially vindicated, when he learns that Umbrella used that African region as a test bed for weaker prototype strains of the Tyrant Virus. Finally, this could retroactively tie in with Sheva Alomar’s backstory, where she lost her family due to Umbrella’s operations there.
*2.) Have James Marcus’ consciousness be absorbed and preserved by a Nemesis Alpha Parasite he secretly injected into himself, rather than a “Queen Leech”.* After the assassination attempt, Umbrella could take his body and turn it into another zombie test subject, not knowing that the Nemesis parasite is inside and retaining the zombie’s previous intellect. That would help RE0 function better as a prequel to the original RE trilogy, when the zombified Marcus’ revenge scheme shows Umbrella how useful a Nemesis parasite could be, for other creatures like a Tyrant. It could thematically tie in further with Nemesis’ namesake too.
*3.) Have the Mimicry Marcus leeches still be present in the story, albeit as another one of Marcus’ side-projects.* James Marcus could become the leech queen in a metaphorical sense, rather than a literal one. During the final boss battle, those leeches could cover Marcus’ tentacled zombie form and yield that same overall shape, which we fight at the end of the actual RE0 game.
*4.) Retool the basic appearance that James Marcus has, before the final confrontation.* For example, he could wear ragged hooded clothes that partially conceal his face, like the Moroaica in Lady Dimitrescu’s castle. His voice could resemble the Scagdead comms officer in RE Revelations. His zombified body could resemble a Pale Head, with minute claws like a Crimson Head. And Marcus could lash out with Nemesis tentacles, coated in his own bodily fluids, to directly infect victims with the T-Virus.
*5.) Allow the other S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team members to play a significant role in this narrative, to compensate for them mostly being immediate/posthumous cannon fodder in RE1 and nothing more.* Perhaps there could even be segments, where Enrico, Richard, Kenneth, and/or Forest could be playable. They could uncover their own stuff, meet Rebecca more, perhaps learn the truth about Billy themselves, have a run-in with HUNK, etc.
*6.) If the T-001 Proto-Tyrant is to be in the game, perhaps it could be a recurring heavyweight enemy (like the G-Adults in RE2 Remake), rather than a boss.* I would consider this, because RE1’s T-002 Tyrant is already a prototype of Umbrella’s Tyrant line, while the T-001 just looks like a weaker and more zombie-like version. To help differentiate the T-001 more, it could occupy a different niche and really play up its zombie-like qualities, with new attacks like grabbing and chomping.
*7.) If Rebecca and Billy are to have encounters with a Tyrant-type boss, they could instead meet Sergei Vladimir’s Tyrant twins from The Umbrella Chronicles.* Those extra subplots from UC could have been good to actually see in RE1 Remake and RE0. The Tyrant pair could act as unstoppable pursuers like Mr. X and even dress in attire like him (saving their Russian Grey-like attire for their later appearance at the Caucasus Facility). To them distinguishable for now, one of them can have an orange-colored Umbrella insignia on his coat, while the other has a blue one.
Having two of them could mirror RE0’s partnership mechanic with Rebecca and Billy. To make them feel like Sergei’s “brothers”, the second one could have a separate name from “Ivan”. For instance, the first one with the orange insignia is named Ivan, while the second one is referred to as “Igor”.
*8.) The giant bat could be given more relevance to the lore, by being Marcus’ experiment that helped to inspire the creation of Tyrants.* Umbrella’s plan for the Tyrant project could spawn from an attempt to replicate the bat’s mutation on a human being, since it proved that some mammals can gain the T-Virus’ enhancements without a zombie’s defects.
*9.) In a film continuity, Rebecca Chambers and the rest of Bravo Team could be picked up by Brad Vickers in the woods, without meeting Alpha Team at the Arklay Mansion until the end of RE1.* This could solve a discrepancy between RE0 and RE1, where Rebecca Chambers learned so much about Umbrella, yet never caught Chris up to speed in RE1. Basically, an RE1 movie could play out like a playthrough with Jill Valentine. Only, Chris is allowed to do stuff too, the roles of Kenneth/Forest/Enrico in RE1 are taken by other Alpha Team members and Mansion occupants, plus Richard’s run-in with Yawn happens in RE0 instead.
*10.) To both make up for Rebecca not being Chris’ partner in a hypothetical RE1 movie and explain her absence in RE2/RE3, Rebecca could accompany Chris Redfield on his trip to Europe and even participate in the events of RE: Code Veronica.* On top of that, the surviving Bravo Team members could provide more fodder for Nemesis in an RE3 movie, besides Brad. So an RE3 movie can have its cake and eat it too, by giving Brad his alternate fate from RE3 Remake, while still giving Nemesis some S.T.A.R.S. members to kill.
Great ideas! I particularly like tying Billy's backstory in with re5 thats really clever
It was nice Rebecca got to be one of the lead roles in this games. Shame she hasn't appeared in any later games.
Not big on this one. While technically not as bad as Code Veronica or 5 and 6, the lack of item boxes and having to drop items if you’re inventory is full was beyond tedious and a bad decision. Especially when the levels were fairly large after the train. 0 also creates some glaring plot holes related to the 1 Remake being it’s set shortly before it. Like how was Rebecca really great in highly stressful situations in 0 but is suddenly unable to fight a Hunter despite fighting so many extremely difficult enemies a few days before or how come she can’t play the piano in 0 but she can in 1? It also didn’t really bring a whole lot to the gameplay formula that felt fresh for the series and was a sign the original copy paste formula of the pre 4 games was staling.
RE4 and RE5 > RE 0
This is the only mainline RE title (along with 7) that I’ve never played and have no interest in ever touching. Something about this just feels so contrived and the item swapping system sounds like a nightmare. I got the mist of the game’s story from that Wii shooting game spin off and that’s all I need to take from RE Zero’s plot.
Can't argue with that tbh, the game is good fun but its insanely annoying
It's a very nice looking game even today.
0 and re1 remake still look stunning you're bang on. It's a real marvel considering how old they are
I feel like it's trendy to hate on RE0. It's a great game.
All interacted items are highlighted on the maps
Yeah they are, it's just a pain having to go back and retrieve them instead of having an item box to deposit
I thought RE 0 was a great game and in some ways an extension on RE 1 Remake. Would have been great to see Billy return to Resident Evil in future games.
Damn with the damn item box and controlling two characters separately i feel this game would of been better and be recognized for better
The item box is the biggest issue for me, controlling two characters was fine but that damn hook shot....
Being unable to pick up an item you previously dropped may be a small nitpick for you, but it was a source of perpetual explosive rage for me. There were so many times that I'd drop an item, then try to pick it up, only to have a line of text appear at the bottom of my screen describing something totally unrelated. I tried playing this game when I was 12, but didn't have the patience. I gave it another shot as an adult when it was released on the switch. I beat the game, but have no desire to ever play it again, haha.
Totally understand your frustration, picking the right spot to drop stuff is an art form I swear
Ok HOW TO PLAY THIS GAME., a) Do not play with both characters together, the IA will waste bullets, always play separate, b) Do NOT play with Rebecca, she is weak, play always with Billy he can take more beating and heals with less with only plants, no need to waste mix herbs,.... those 2 are the most important aspects of this game, Re0 really is Capcom taking the classic formula to the max, i mean Re0 is INVENTORY MANAGEMENT the game, you´ll be 90% looking at your menus and inventories figuring out how to solve the scenario, but for experienced players, fans of the classic Re games could be fun as a challenge, but for first timers, even for Re fans playing for the first time this game could be really annoying
This game was very influenced by Alone in the Dark the New Nightmare, and the design of Billy reminds me of the RE clone on the ps1 called "vampire countdown", i think that it is very likely that CAPCOM was looking at the RE clones everybody was making and they too took stuff from them like they took from the Re games
Its been forever since I played that game! Is it worth going back to it?
I love re0 and I completely disagree with the No box one because there’s the central room that is always a hop skip and a jump away from almost any point in the game so I always made sure to drop my items off there and it worked just fine. You can only drop 10 items in any given room which was my only problem as I meant I usually just ignored handgun ammo and heals if I didn’t need them which playing on normal I really never needed the handgun ammo as I noticed Billy’s handgun did more damage so I dropped Rebecca’s and only used Billy’s throughout the whole game and since the game seemed to expect you to have 2 handguns it gave me an excessive amount of ammo for it so I was basically able to kill most enemies throughout the game
Its a fair point and I can see why you'd enjoy its implementation, It didn't work for me but I appreciate it trying something new
The inventory & item dropping system was half baked. The way the inventory works depends on the item boxes. Removing the latter would then require the actual inventory system to be changed as well. An RE4 style inventory would have worked well for RE0.
It also doesn't help that the training facility is basically just another Spencer Mansion, which we had already seen in REmake, RE: Code Veronica, & the original RE. So with the frustrating back tracking due to inventory spaces, it becomes a chore. Even worse are the many items that take up two spots.
Another issue I have is how slow it is using weapons. The enemies get a good window to attack because the weapon animations are very sluggish. The leech zombies are so obnoxious.
I don't hate RE0, but its frustrating how they put in so many terrible ideas. There are a lot of good ideas in it, but how did they think this opera singing goon being the main villain with so many leeches & eggs (which do not appear in the rest of the series) would be a good idea? The Bravo team are barely in it, & the game doesn't fit in with the REmake events.
Its a shame their isn't more time with Bravo team, its a missed opportunity for sure!
this game softlocked me and i had to restart my entire save file. i love over the shoulder RE, and FP RE, and I loved RE1 with all it's jank, but this game is so terribly designed that a few bad decisions with my items got me solftlocked, so no; I would rather play RE6. at least that game's entertaining.
That sounds awful! What caused the lock?
@@SSJdavey it was my poor recourse management, granted it was my first classic RE game; but I reached a point where I had to fight a leach monster (after exactly 16 attempts of avoiding facing him which were unsuccessful) to progress there were no healing items on the map left (i checked the entire map) because of how both characters were on nearly 0 HP there was very little I could do to not die. U had 1 Molotov left and again I checked the whole map for more which I did somehow without dying but I found nothing; I ended up reloading to a few hours prior and had my time wasted
honestly it's my fault for getting soft locked but for getting soft locked at all in this game i have grown a genuine despise for it, RE1's way better for sure at least for me
Thats a lesson most of us learn the hardway, I had the same thing with my first title (RE1 on ps1) NGL it's what makes the series (in its classic form) work so well; you can't one man army the entire game you need to pick your targets.
But yeah RE1 is better in every way compared to 0
Sure, the game has its issues, but I wouldn't call it mediocre. RE 0 has a lot of good points. I thought the cooperative aspect of the two main characters was great and made getting through areas require real teamwork. And when you made it through areas, you got a real sense of accomplishment.
Thats fair, the puzzles in 0 are great and the team work required is cool - just too many design issues that do my head in 😅
Yeah all you said was true, but it's still THE best resident evil game experience due to how much it challenges your strategy and strategy is what makes up resident evil. REmake to me felt long-winded, repetitive and some progress points made no damn sense - looking at you, waterfall. But otherwise it was fun, I just can't see myself going through that long ass, repetitive game again.
I find REmake flows super well, I guess maybe it depends on which one you've spent the most time with?
I think in all honesty the *reason* Re0 is so bad is that it's more appropriately titled "Resident Evil: Development Hell." Initially conceived as an N64 exclusive (the N64 port of Re2 even has files references it, alongside Code Veronica and Re3) the game just kept getting pushed back and pushed back until the N64 was sunset and it moved on to the GameCube, and by God does it show.
Defense items are likely not included because they're a mechanic created *after* the game began development and it wasn't worth Capcom's trouble to go back and re-implement them. Several of the voice lines are also apparently leftovers from the N64 build (Birkin, in fact, seems to have the same voice actor he did in Re2, while Wesker is voiced once again by Richard Waugh, as in Code Veronica, instead of Peter Jessop, who voiced him in the REmake); this also explains how unforgivably terrible the script often is (it feels like it was written in '98 and then forgotten about for four years) and how really painful every line of dialogue Marcus the Younger has (it's telling Capcom cut this character completely from Umbrella Chronicles; he's cringe given human form and bogs the game down). If you want an example of how badly written this game is, rewatch the cutscene where Marcus the Younger is first revealed (it's when Rebecca and Billy first arrive at the Umbrella facility): Birkin and Marcus seem to be having totally different conversations that were spliced together later, which is why one specific exchange flows like this:
Birkin: Who are you?
Marcus: *REVENGE!* On UmBrElLa!
Bill and Rebecca's voice actors are much better, although Billy is just written as a 12 year old's idea of what cool is and Rebecca's been given "generic video game heroine voice" instead of her actress from the REmake returning; Richard Waugh is still good as Wesker but jarring after Peter Jessop's much better performance. Enrico and Birkin are both awkward, but nothing ever reaches the levels of truly horrible as the weird decision Lyon Smith made to deliver every single one of Marcus Younger's lines by shouting without actually shouting.
I think the team's choice to use FMVs rather than in-engine cutscenes for most of the game is also a mistake, and again hearkens back to the design philosophy of the original trilogy, and it especially causes issues in the HD remasters, since the actual in-engine footage renders based on your hardware (and thus is comparable to the REmake and HD Re4 port), while the cutscenes feature models that look like a combination of balloon animals and Play-Doh. These looked okay back when the game came out and in comparison to the GameCube's native power, but Capcom should have just re-rendered these in-engine and axed the FMVs entirely, because they have *not* aged well.
The partner-swapping and item drop mechanics were initially fundamental design concepts for the game back as an N64 title, and unfortunately Capcom just chose to give into the Sunk-Cost Fallacy and continue using it even though both are manifestly a bad idea. The fact you must spend so much of the game backtracking is itself a massive issue but, as someone who did have massive issues with the partner AI being less than useless, the swapping mechanic is much worse. I quickly determined it would be more expedient to just play the game entirely as Rebecca and only use Billy to mule items to me as I progressed from the main hall (which seems to be where most players stash their items); Rebecca, at the time I first played the game, was one of my favorite characters and I still find Billy extremely cringey, so the less I saw of him the better. However, two of the game's most idiotic mechanics immediately become apparent if you play this way: the game generally doesn't have enough items for both characters at once, so while it does give you two shotguns and two handguns you'll want to ditch your support character's immediately, to say nothing of the number of herbs not being enough once you run into the Bullet Hell enemy known as the Eliminators, but to cap it all off, if you leave your partner in a room with respawning enemies, your partner will A, refuse to defend themselves, and B, not allow you to swap back to them, meaning it can be possible to soft lock yourself because you're in a place your partner is dying and the game won't let you do anything about it.
I've played the bottom of the barrel of the Resident Evil series, from ORC to Umbrella Corps to Re7, and I still thin Zero is probably the worst on a fundamental level. ORC is a good idea with terrible execution, UC is Capcom not really understanding Resident Evil isn't an e-sports game, and Re7 is at least functionally playable even if I loathe every single thing about it (it does what it sets out to do, it just sets out to be something I find is fundamentally at odds with Resident Evil), but Zero is a perfect storm of terrible writing, horrible acting, and frustrating gameplay. It just doesn't do anything for me, and feels wholly unnecessary.
It does have an absolutely fantastic soundtrack, though, and its enemy set is used to much greater effect to fill out Outbreak's roster, so it does have that at least.
It was a good game, it was the easiest Resident Evil to me though. I really like Rebecca too she should have had more screen time in later REs
They need to give some screen time to everyone apart from Leon/Chris tbh 😅
Zero is awesome as f. Play it on Hard to play it the right way.
I might need to try this at some point. Won't change the lack of item box though :(
I think MEDIOCRE is a bit much. This was quite a suspenseful game on GC. My gripe on the original version was the controls, but that was because I hated the GC controller. I seemed to switch characters at the worst times. With the HD version on Switch, I'm able to remap the buttons outside of the included schemes so problem solved. My second gripe being that the grappling hook was too cumbersome to have to keep lugging around. Losing all your good items cause you gave them to your now lost partner was infuriating, but just remember for the next play through. RE0 for me took everything we liked about the RE1 remake and and gave us a ton of cool areas.
I would rather replay RE0 over 4-8.
Its the grappling hook and lack of item box that caused me so much frustration. I haven't gone back to replay it since I did this review, when I get a bit of free time I'll revisit it and see if I feel different but I highly doubt it
@@SSJdavey With some anticipation of what to expect, it's very much worth a revisit. I think if you know the spots to not load up your partner with all of your good items, you'll see the game was just very tactile on who you trusted your items to. It's a different experience when you know what's coming next and have a chance to plan out primary and secondary fire with Billy and Rebecca. There's a lot of satisfaction in those attacks. I still value your opinion on the game, but there's much much worse I'd give the mediocre label to. Give it a weekend and play it through and figure out the annoying parts and then again "for real" and I think you'll realize it's pretty solid.
I'll give it another go before I do my final ranking of the entire series in a few weeks 👍
I love the game and Billy is fucking hot🔥
The long hair and tribal tattoo does it for you then
As a straight guy Even I can see the appeal, giving off those Creed vibes 😅
@@SSJdavey is not only how he is look,is his character also,he is very mystical character very enigmatic.
I don't know why Capcom didn't make him come back.
And of course Rebecca
@@vagelismihalis7426 I honestly don't understand why capcom create this characters and then do nothing with them: barry, sheva, Rebecca the list is sooo long
I enjoyed re0 on the gamecube only played it once and again on the ps3 when it released and never touched it again its just a meh game now for me same with re 1 remake, meh.
I was all on board with this till you mentioned RE1 remake
What makes that meh for you?
@@SSJdavey just played it too much growing up on the gamecube
I just finished my second run through before I write my next script (re1) leaving it 18 years since I last played it gave me a whole new appreciation for it. Might be worth leaving it for a decade and going back!
@@SSJdavey been like 4 years since i last touched it 😂😂😂
6 more to go then!
I hate how many insect enemies you had to fight in this game. They should have renamed this game to Insect Crisis. Or Insect Evil etc. I have no insect phobia, but Resi should be about Zombies. One or two mutated insect are ok. But not all the enemies...
And the later parts of the game, the Facility and what not. Is just bad game design overall. The places you enter later on, feel like they don't belong here. Its convoluted, made no sense. That comes to mind after you reach the half game mark.
I liked this game. Not as good as CV or 1,2 or 3. But vastly superior to part 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8.
Better than 7 too!? I'd have thought you'd like 7 seeing as you like the old school game design
@@SSJdavey I liked 7. And while I loved the story it just didn't feel like Resident Evil to me. I do love how they brought back the survival horror to the game though.
RE4 and RE5 > RE 1, 2, 3, CV & 0
@@michaelwhiteson7957 If you say so. Neither was anything like Resident evil from a survivor horror perspective. But I respect your opinion. Everyone likes what they like. Art is totally subjective.
@@stevienightheat1 those games are still superior to anything that came before
Boy.... wasted no time jabbing at Operation Raccoon City. Smh... I don't care what anyone says, top 3 RE for me.
Operation racoon city in top 3 or Re0?
@@SSJdavey ORC. Zero is ok but I love the free fluid movement and CQC in Operation Raccoon City. Highly underrated game.
Its been a long time since I played it but I'm sure I'll end up covering it at some point. If there's anything I've learnt from revisiting the RE games it's I can't take what I used to think as true nowadays
The thing is operation racoon city Isint really a resident evil game. It feels like call of duty mixed with John wick. It’s not really a resident evil game.
I do not like Resident Evil Zero, No I do not.
There's a good game there underneath all the annoyance 😅
@@SSJdavey It does have it’s moments
Playing this right now. It's garbage and I hate it.
What do you hate about it?
@@SSJdavey I have all the same problems with the game that you do except I find them way more frustrating. Trying to pick up items is infuriating. Backtracking for the hook shot is infuriating. Item management is a chore. The centipede picking up Rebecca when she had all my best items was infuriating. The levels have none of the flow of any of the other games. Like you I was expecting more of REmake, but 0 just has too many things holding it back. None of it feels balanced correctly.
Whoever suggested using the hookshot multiple times over the course of the game needs to be put in the stocks, so we can all throw mouldy cabbages at them
RE6 is fucking awesome, why all the hate ?
I dont hate the game but its the worst one out of the mainline series for me. If it was considerably shorter it wouldn't have highlighted its flaws and I'd have enjoyed it more than 4/5 but it is what it is....for me anyway
I'm learning more and more from these reviews that every game I've covered is split on people loving or hating each entry, its really nice to see such a difference in opinion. Makes the world an interesting place!
@@SSJdavey I loved RE6 because the coop was so much fun! So no i didnt mind it being long, actually, i didnt notice time going by, i just played every night with my brother, give it another chance bro!
I reviewed it a couple of weeks back, would love to hear your thoughts if you see it 👍
@@SSJdavey Will do ;) ill let you know
600 people worked in that game with ZERO vision. They got the gameplay right which is why I think the Mercenaries modes are the best part. The campaign was just a hot mess. 600 people worked on a game that looks downright ugly at spots.