All Aboard! Next Stop: Zombyville

Resident Evil 0 (RE0) is a game that Resident Evil fans will appreciate the most. Its plot answers a number of questions that surrounded the first game, such as how the secretive Umbrella Corporation came to exist and how the STARS Alpha team met its ugly demise. It delves more deeply into Rebecca Chambers, the plucky teen-age medic that appears in the first Resident Evil game. New to the RE universe is one Billy Cohen, a Marine who has been convicted of murder and escapes on the way to his execution. Billy and Rebecca run into each other, and are forced to cooperate in order to survive the mutated creatures infesting Raccoon Forest.

The graphics of RE0 are almost identical to the remake of the original Resident Evil game for the GameCube. There have been a few refinements to the game's appearance, however. One noticeable change is that the stair climbing animations for the characters has been greatly improved. Additionally, RE0 transitions into cut-scenes much more smoothly than its predecessor did. Overall, RE0 manages to improve over the jaw-dropping graphics of Resident Evil.

The Resident Evil remake added some very interesting twists to the classic Resident Evil gameplay of shooting zombies and solving puzzles, such as adding zombies that could resurrect themselves later in the game if left unattended. RE0 likewise adds some new gameplay twists, although they are very different than the changes made in the remake. The biggest gameplay novelty in RE0 is a system known as character swapping, where by the player can switch between Billy and Rebecca, and even have one follow the other around. Some puzzles require the use of this feature. For example, Billy may get locked in a room, and Rebecca must locate the key to free him. Another new twist is that there are no more magical item boxes that can teleport said items to different boxes hundreds of feet away. In order to make up for this, players can now drop items wherever they please, as well as managing both Rebecca's and Billy's inventories. Be careful; improper planning could result in backtracking across dozens of rooms to retrieve an item that has been left behind (as I found out to my sorrow!). However, despite these changes, RE0 plays much like any other RE game. There are puzzles to solve, zombies to blow away, and new weapons to upgrade to.

With the exception of the addition of a character change button, the controls of RE0  remain in the standard RE "forward is always up" style. This continues to be problematic for some players, but I maintain that it is still the ideal set-up for the manner in which RE games cut to different perspectives in rapid succession. The music of RE0 is full of spooky atmospheric tracks and adrenaline-pumping songs that play during surprise situations and boss battles. It is well done, although there isn't anything really memorable about it. The sound effects are top-notch, with everything from zombie moans to the sounds of rushing water in a cave portrayed very accurately.

In conclusion, RE0 is an entertaining, if not overly original game that fans of the series will find enthralling. Personally, I especially enjoyed the sequence that took place on the train. Anyway, RE0 adds some new elements to the RE formula, but it isn't a revolutionary new look at the series that some may have been hoping for. I heartily recommend this game to all RE fans, but those who have never played a RE game before should look into renting this one before they buy.

By Andy Rucker