Completion Time: 22h:02m:00s
Rating: 7/10

....................................................................................................

Beginning a Journey

....................................................................................................

I have a moderate history with Resident Evil, I've played a number of the titles to at least some capacity, but have only finished a handful. To that end, how many of them have I 100% completed? The answer to that one is 0. So given that fact, and it being the spooky season, I thought maybe I would begin to go chronologically through the franchise and try to 100% each of the Resident Evil games. Not all in one season mind you, I have two more planned GameCube completions for October and they aren't Resident Evil, but it's still a good person goal for myself to keep in the back of my mind, and the series is certainly one I'll be revisiting fall of 2024 for this blog series. But I'm getting ahead of myself, maybe I should just jump straight into my time with the precursor to the franchise (and the only RE title exclusive to the GameCube prior to its remake), Resident Evil Zero.

And so, our story begins

....................................................................................................

Surviving the Night

....................................................................................................

The biggest initial draw to the game for myself, and also one of my biggest fears, was the idea of controlling two individuals within a survival horror environment. The moment I got started on the train at the beginning of the game and was tasked with separating the characters into separate areas, I immediately started sweating as I realized that I would have to try and desperately multitask in order to keep both Billy and Rebecca alive. However, over time that fear faded as the game doesn't really use this concept to it's full potential. I envisioned myself having to swap back and forth constantly so as not to leave a character to their demise, but as with most Resident Evil characters, if you clear out a room then you're gonna be fine. Rarely does a room have new enemies spawn inside of it, and even then you'd have to leave the room and accomplish some task before that happens. No, in fact the separating of characters here is really just to solve puzzles, and even still the puzzles are just obtaining an item you have no use for, and sending it in a dumbwaiter to the other character to use on a door or something. A mechanic that doesn't really feel like it lives up to it's true potential.

More games should utilize riveting dumbwaiter gameplay

In true survival horror fashion, most of the game is either shooting enemies or solving puzzles to progress. At a certain point I was just doing my best to run past enemies as opposed to taking them out, as I was fully aware that the boss monsters would eat up all of my useful ammunition. This isn't really a negative, as I tend to treat all survival horror games in this manner, at least to some extent. I do this for the Silent Hill franchise too, it's the most effective method of survival really. But when you're bypassing enemies, you have to know where you're going, and something about my first playthrough had me constantly lost with no cluse where to go, even with the maps. My favorite of these had to be when Rebecca was dangling for her life and I had to go find the room below where she was so that I could save her. I was sweating bullets, thinking this was a timed mission that I could fail (spoiler: there's no time limit), and I ran back and forth and all around trying desperately to make sense of the map. I don't know what it was, it didn't seem to click. I knew where I was meant to go but just couldn't make my way there.

Hello? Rebecca? Are you over here?

Maybe she's hanging with the chimps?

Is this where she is?

Maybe over here?

The only other disappoint I had here were the enemies you fight. The zombies are going to show up in a Resident Evil game, no doubt. That's usually a pretty safe bet. But I was so looking forward to the other enemy variants that you get to fight. But they're just all different mutated animals, which usually amounts to "this thing, but BIGGER". Giant centipede, giant bat, mutated apes, you get the idea. The game sort of warrants this animal testing development to an extent, as the game revolves around these mutated leeches that carry the virus and whatnot. But I still wish they would've made these animal enemies a tad more interesting instead of aggressive versions of their natural counterparts (which by the way game, chimps are already terrifying. Didn't even have to tell me they were mutated).

Oh, did I forget to mention GIANT FROGS?!

But all disappointments aside, that isn't to say that I hated this game really, it was just a lot of things that I wish where done better or expounded upon more. It functions well enough and I always feel good when I can manage to solve a puzzle in these games just based off of a poem. And while the mansion is pretty standard fare for this franchise, I thought fighting and solving puzzles on a moving train and in the bowels of a hydroelectric dam where unique and interesting locations. Often times I was actually forgetting to check the map in these areas in particular, just because I was able to recognize distinguishing landmarks due to how the different rooms were laid out and modeled. And all things regarding enemies considered, I think the final boss is a lot of fun and a true joy, possibly because it isn't just draining some giant monsters health, but rather keeping alive and distracting it while your AI partner manages to save the day in the background. That's a least some management there!

Yeah! Turn that valve! Most excited I've been all game

....................................................................................................

Completing the Game

....................................................................................................

As stated before, this is my first time every attempting to 100% complete a Resident Evil game, and boy did I have my word cut out for me. Ultimately (and thankfully), I only had three full playthroughs, but the most of my time was spent getting through as much of the game as I could and then dying, meaning I'd have to restart as I wasn't saving progress so as to minimize time wasting. Although, some might say that I wasted my time overall by committing to that bit. Either way, if we're talking full playthroughs, I had my first run, which gave me the lowest possible ranking (I was leaving my GameCube on when no playing, what can I say?), my second full run got me an A rank, and my final full run I was able to get the elusive S rank. Nothing could describe my disappointment upon completing that second run and seeing that I was only about 20 minutes over the time limit, the biggest setback there being my forgetting that the grappling gun was required in the third chapter of the game, meaning I had to trek all the way back to the mansion to grab it. Of course, I continued to make more mistakes after that run while trying to bypass as many enemies and hang-ups as possible, and this lead to a ton of deaths and restarts. But finally, I hit my stride and was able to get that S rank I had been so desperately seeking. At this point, I'm pretty sure I know every in and out of this game I played through those first two levels so many times.

Sure it's an hour longer than most speedruns of the game, but I'm no Superman

However, another good chunk of time after that initial playthrough was spent grinding out unlocks in Leech Hunter mode. What's Leech Hunter, you ask? Well, it's a mode where you have to go around the mansion from the second stage of the game and collect two different colored leeches: blue, which only Billy can grab, and green, which only Rebecca can grab. The only caveat here is that there are 100 total, and when you grab them, they can't leave your inventory. And they only go up in stacks of 10, so eventually you'll get to the point where your inventory space is practically filled up with no room for weapons, ammo, or healing items. It took me much too long to realize the most effective method of getting an A rank in this mode was to go room to room, killing everything BEFORE collecting the leeches. At any rate, this mode is a must-complete prior to starting your speed runs of the main game, because it's how you unlock infinite ammo for the various weapons. It's much easier to get S rank in the main game when you're firing infinite ammunition from your rocket launcher in the early game.

The leech is a small, green glimmer of hope in a weary world

So did Resident Evil Zero leave a lot to be desired? Well, yes, but it wasn't the abomination that I think I was expecting based on hearing others talk about it over the years. It's just one of those titles that I kinda think had a lot going for it, but for whatever reason different aspects of the game weren't fleshed out to their fullest potential. I will say this though: this game is prime for a full remake wherein it's reworked to allow for online co-op. I can imagine playing this as a friend, I'm Rebecca and their Billy, as we go room to room and solve puzzles independent of one another until we can meet back up again. The game would take some reworking, otherwise one player would be sitting around waiting for the other's key, but I think that there's potential there, make it like those We Were Here games, but with zombies and apes!

This is another entry in a series where I go through and complete every GameCube game, as it is the largest part of my video game collection. GameCube Games: 8/652