Resident Evil 2 (1998) Is this game truly the greatest game in the franchise?

"What's your favourite Resident Evil? Is a question iv been asking friends and colleagues a lot lately. And id say 8 out of every 10 answers has been Resident Evil 2. Now RE2 is a game i rate incredibly highly, it was the first one i beat, i love the characters like the Chief, i love the soundtrack of the RPD and the save rooms, and i love the zapping system and mulitple scenarios. So is this game truly the best in the series? RE5 is the best selling, RE4 is considered the perfect revamp and REmake is considered the peak of survival horror, and while i agree with that there's just something about this game, i go back to it again and again and everytime i enter the RPD and hear that soundtrack, im flooded with nostalgia. On the flip side, iv had people say that RE2 is one of the most overated games in the series, criticizing it's short campaigns and lack of enviroments compared to RE3's City's, Hospitals and parks. I can understand that, as i feel RE3 dosen't get enough love for it's varied locations. This just seems to be that game that people absoloutly love and play again and again, or think it's overated. So is this game deserving of being called the best in the series?

I believe 1 of the main reasons RE2 is so beloved is the setting. Racoon City is, IMO, the perfect playground for zombie slaughter.

And I agree, RE3 does get overlooked, design-wise, despite the fact that it has more of the city to explore. The hospital alone was an exercise in how to fray nerves.

Now, I've mentioned this before on at least 2 other threads, but my favourite game in the series is RE2. It's the first game in the series I played, and introduced me to my favourite character in the series, Leon, and kick-started a lifelong obsession with zombies that's almost 20yrs old now.
At the time I first played it, I was 10yrs old, and obsessed with cops. Something about the uniform looked cool as ****.

So Leon, rocking up in his uniform, first day on the job, having to deal with a zombie outbreak, blew my tiny mind.
I've replayed the game multiple times over the years, and it still holds up. Yes, the actings hammy, and yes, the controls are clunky, but one thing that hasn't gone away, is the atmosphere.

So, yes, I believe RE2 does deserve to be called the best in the series (with RE3 a very close second).

You've got to realize games at the time other than most rpg's and impossible hard games, were pretty short. Resident Evil 2 compared to Resident evil 1 was waaaay longer with more environments and enemies/bosses. Its also pretty memorable and has a ton of iconic moments. Now honestly if its the best game in the series is up for debate seeing how almost RE games gives off a different feel and gameplay style. RE3 was a spinoff and made using models from 2 and came a year after so not much fairness comparing a sequal with its predecessor. RE2 is also a lot of peoples firsts in the series besides maybe 1 and 4.

I can't decide, RE1 and 2 have been fighting for the first place on my list for as long as I've been a fan of this series. (Well, at least until Revelations 2 came along and dethroned them both.) The story, the characters, the music, the different scenarios... I can't think of a single thing about RE2 that I don't like.

I also love RE3, which is fourth or fifth on my list, but I think people may not like it as much as the other classics because it was basically a step back from what we had seen until then. RE2 had two playable characters to pick from, resulting in several possible scenarios, four playable characters in total, up to six difficulty settings depending on which version you were playing, two unlockable mini-games (or even three, if you count Tofu's scenario as separate from Hunk's), and it moved the story forward by turning the initial contained outbreak into a city-wide catastrophe.

Then comes RE3, which only offers one character and one scenario to pick from the start, two difficulty settings and one mini-game, doesn't introduce any new lasting characters, and the plot can be summarised in one sentence. Even Nemesis was nothing new, we already had a persistent stalker before in the form of Mister X. The only new elements it introduced were the 180° turn, the reloading tool and the live selection. The latter especially made for some interesting story variations, and that's definitely not the only great thing about this game, but as I said, it's a new game that offers less than its predecessors, so some fans might have been a little disappointed.

As for the game that is most liked by non-RE fans, I'd say RE4 or 5. But this is just a guess and I don't have any numbers or facts to back it up.

Romero said:

RE2 is popular amongst fans, but I also want to ask another question:

Which RE game is most liked by players who are not Resi fans?

It's an impossible question to answer, but sales may be an indication. I checked Wikipedia and RE2 have sold 4.96 million copies, and RE5 (the best selling of the modern day games in the main series) have sold 6.7 million copies. But Wikipedia doesn't say how many would have bought the game after playing it... RE2 was, by the way, promoted with a US$ 5 million advertising campaign.

I like all games simply because they are Resi games, even the old ones in spite that I can't stand horrible voice acting. But I'm infected.

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When it comes to non fans, based on the numbers and personal experience id say RE4 and 5. Just because they are probably a lot more accessible to a non fan than the older games. You don't really need to know much of the past storyline when it comes to RE4, and RE5 has it's co op and mercenaries. In fact id probably say 5 has a bigger appeal to a non fan than 4 based on it's co op alone.

RE4 is the only one I could really get in to. #nonfan

RE2 is popular because of design. It took inspiration from romero films [think burning city, zombies, bus full of zombies, police station and assorted buildings with zombies]. Darkness played a big role in it being memorable [you are dropped into dangerous scenario, limited resources, over-powered enemies- at night]

Hel said:

I can't decide, RE1 and 2 have been fighting for the first place on my list for as long as I've been a fan of this series. (Well, at least until Revelations 2 came along and dethroned them both.) The story, the characters, the music, the different scenarios..

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Actually as cool as it sounds Leon&Claire's A&B scenarios are pretty much the same. RE3 actually had alternate events&paths you could take which is much better than RE2's scenarios in retrospect... why couldn't the leon&claire make live selection or take a different path and change the scenario depending on that? that would've been cool.

EDIT: I also dislike how the Zapping system in RE2 is just completely wasted.. instead of leon&claire switching back&forth you play as one character for the entire game.

Even Nemesis was nothing new, we already had a persistent stalker before in the form of Mister X.

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Except mr.x didn't run or chase you through doors or shoot you with a rocket launcher or do ALL of these things at once

RE3 is also the first game in the series to let you move freely through steps instead of pressing X everytime, it also had enemy randomizer, the only way RE3 is in any way inferior to RE2 is that it lacks more playable characters&extra modes and a less elaborate story(which i like cus the CGI cutscenes in early RE game are ugh.. not very good).

In my opinion, Re2 is the best in the series. Re2 to me is like Francis Ford Coppola's Godfather 2. I mean you ( I'm gonna get some flak for this..) have the ultimate baddie in Dr. William Birkin ( I don't think you can call him THE antagonist, he just wanted to protect his research), excellent replay value with the Claire/Leon scenarios as well as the mini games.

Also, if Capcom does finally decide redo not remake or reimaging (ex. Ghostbusters and Robocop) I would pay to buy that game..I mean I'll be extremely happy.

A violent and gruesome Birkin transformation I'm waiting to see. Lol

I haven't completed it yet, but so far, I'm preferring Nemesis over 2 TBH. Maybe it will get better and change my mind? Who knows. I just love the impending terror that is always there in RE3 tbh.

I love RE2 for sure. It was the first I played, it introduced my favorite character (Leon, since RE2) and it was a memorable experience. But I don't think it is the best RE for me. It actually my 3rd favorite. For me, RE3 is better than RE2 in almost every aspect. It got variety, "random" enemies and item placement (not really random, but at least it got a varied pattern), an genuinely scary pursuer (Mr.X is cool, but c'mon, you can take him down every single time he appear while still with his trenchcoat easily after your first playthrough) and a good challenge (and here lies my thing with RE2...it's way too easy. Too much ammo, too little threats, too easy bosses. I know that you can craft your own ammo in RE3 and became a Magnum Lord, but still harder than RE2.). I may had enjoyed RE2 more back then, but playing today, I cannot think that RE2 is better than 3. Maybe only in the character department.

I played both games recently, RE2 for the second time and RE3 for the very first time, and in my opinion RE3 might as well be the most underrated title of the series. I liked it more than RE2. It felt more challenging to me and the constant threat of Nemesis added another layer of excitement and suspense. Having to decide whether to shoot him down for a key item or to evade him entirely was brilliant.

I completed Leon's RE2 campaign in about five hours, and when I started playing as Claire afterwards, I had lost much of my excitement because I felt it wasn't very different and it didn't add much to the experience. The boss fights weren't very challenging, either.

My top two RE games are RE:Remake and RE3. Heck, the save room music from RE3 sent chills down my spine, and I remember at one point having to run from Nemesis, while my condition was in that red danger state, all the way to a nearby save room in order to heal myself. I will never forget that moment. Overall, it was a spectacular experience.

RE2 is praised so highly simply because it was such a vast improvement over RE1. Aside from being way more graphically advanced, the story was structured more coherently, characters were more relatable and expressive, acting was better, game direction was better etc, generally the production values were just greater. Most importantly though, its plot had strong ties to the first game's. A perfect sequel really.

Is this game truly the greatest game in the franchise?

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All of us are entitled to having a personal favorite Biohazard game, which means there's no such thing as a 'truly greatest' game in this series.

ArabPikachu said:

All of us are entitled to having a personal favorite Resident Evil game, which means there's no such thing as a 'truly greatest' game in this series.

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Your right, im not saying this game is the greatest in the series, hell it's not even my personal best. Im asking this question because it seem's like so many people hold this as their favourite.

The best resident evil will be always 4 not saying this as a fan! more like a pro point of view!!! and yes re2 has that feeling on us re fans nd so beloved by us!! reason of that becuse of settings characters and main thing is it happen in raccon city! in other words thats why most of us scream either 4or2 in my case 4

Resident Evil 2 is absolutely up there in my favourite 5 Resi games of all time, but Deadly Silence isn't budging from my top spot any time soon...

I'll keep hoping against hope that Capcom sees fit to re-release Resident Evil 2 (Deadlier Silence?) on DS... hmm.

Steve Powell said:

Resident Evil 2 is absolutely up there in my favourite 5 Resi games of all time, but Deadly Silence isn't budging from my top spot any time soon...

I'll keep hoping against hope that Capcom sees fit to re-release Resident Evil 2 (Deadlier Silence?) on DS... hmm.

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Deadly Silence was amazing! That rebirth mode and slashing with the touchscreen never get's old.

RE2 is amazing for its time.. and IMO it holds up. The music and pacing is insanely good. It's a monument. Is it the best in the series..? Probably. My mind wanders. One day it's the best ...another day it's second best... but let's acknowledge at the very least it's a gigantic piece of the universe. A face on RE's Mt. Rushmore.