Resident Evil Zero HD Remaster Review (Xbox One)

good
key review info
  • Game: Resident Evil Zero HD Remaster
  • Platform: Xbox One
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  • Reviewed on:
Resident Evil Zero HD Remaster look

Resident Evil Zero HD Remaster is a video game powered by nostalgia, the kind of experience that would not exist if not for the superb memories that many of us have of the past of the franchise and the many hours we have spent trying to deal with the puzzles and zombies that it threw our way.

I never played this particular installment in the series, but I remember spending tens of hours with Resident Evil 2, trying to find the best way to take out the bosses and the optimal approach to inventory management, which could often be the most challenging element of the title.

Resident Evil Zero HD Remaster can be played on the Xbox One from Microsoft, the PlayStation 4 from Sony, older home consoles and the PC and the title was also ported to the Wii from Nintendo in 2008.

Story

The story of the most famous Capcom franchise has been a convoluted one, built around multiple twists, over-the-top characters, and conspiracies that seem to take over more of the world with each new installment.

For Resident Evil Zero HD, players will be transported back to 1998 and to a train that's derailed near a forest outside of Raccoon City that protagonists Rebecca Chambers of the STARS team and Billy Coen, an escaped convict, will have to explore together.

The Ecliptic Express is taken by Umbrella to one of its secret locations and players have a chance to find out more about the origins of the virus that's causing the horrific mutations and the in-fighting that resulted in its widespread use.

Wesker makes his first chronological appearance as a supervisor inside the company, and there are plenty of narrative threads created in the game that will be explored in the many sequels that the series has spawned.

When Resident Evil Zero was first launched, the story was praised for the way it allowed the two main characters to connect and for the fact that it gave Billy Coen an interesting past. Yet, after 13 years the impact of the narrative is limited, and there are times when the interactions between the two characters feel forced, designed to push their narrative forward rather than reveal their personality.

Gamers who finish the game will be able to then head right into the remake for the first official Resident Evil to experience the action that takes place inside the old mansion where Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield make their name.

Gameplay

Resident Evil Zero HD is designed to showcase the original mechanics of the Capcom series, before the major shifts that it suffered as gaming hardware improved and allowed the developers to deliver more spectacle and less terror.

The title offers a classic take on the survival horror experience and challenge players to explore a range of locations, trying to stay away from zombie hordes or take them out while also hunting for the items they need to progress.

This version of Resident Evil can be hard and sometimes frustrating, but it does have unique mechanics, most of them borne out of limitations, and manages to create and maintain a feeling of constant pressure that more modern releases in the same franchise never deliver.

The core of the Zero remake is the way it forces the two main characters, Rebecca, and Billy, to work together to deal with the puzzles and with the various enemies they face.

The train is a great place to stage a series of zombie battles, with its tight corridors and constant sense of claustrophobia and the fixed camera and perspective shifts make it hard to be sure where an enemy might pop up from.

It's a slight disappointment that the action then moves to more familiar locations and gives players a sort of greatest hits selection from other titles in the franchise.

Ammunition and healing items seem to always be in short supply, forcing gamers to consider carefully if running might not be the best idea, and the game also features very limited inventory space that creates its own puzzles.

With only 12 total slots to share between the two characters, a lot of Resident Evil Zero HD is spent moving between locations to get herbs to Rebecca, who can combine them, or to make sure that the right character has the ammo he needs to get through a new infested area.

[QUOTE]Capcom makes the most of its cooperative mechanics, forcing the two characters to interact from a distance and to interact with different bits of the world to solve puzzles, but the ideas that once were interesting lost a lot of their appeal over the year.[/QUOTE[

The control scheme has been thankfully improved for this new version of the game, but there are still plenty of frustrating moments, like the times the player needs to carefully place himself among some dropped objects to pick up the right one.

Resident Evil Zero HD allows players to play the entire story once again after their first completion with Wesker himself becoming the partner for Rebecca Chambers, which means some pretty impressive new powers can be used to make the game somewhat easier, even if the tweaks to gameplay are limited.

Graphics and audio

Resident Evil Zero HD Remaster looks about as good on the Xbox One as it can given the fact that it was first released more than ten years ago and that Capcom is clearly not using the entire power of the more recent generation of gaming hardware.

There are clear upgrades when it comes to both the backgrounds and the character models, which manage to look decent in the right light but sometimes reveal some of their limits regarding quality when walking through bright areas or when close-ups are required.

One advantage of the classic Resident Evil titles is that the limited areas and the movement system mean the animations of both the protagonists and his enemies are precisely calculated to fit the environment and to create a sense of dread and threat that's often missing from the more tech advanced sequels.

The most annoying element of the presentation is the constant transition screens that pop up when the characters use doors or other elements of the environment to move from area to area and Capcom could have improved the experience immensely by eliminating them or replacing them with something that does not constantly break immersion, given that they serve no actual purpose on modern hardware.

The soundtrack for Resident Evil Zero HD Remaster is very atmospheric and engaging, with some impressive work by the composers, but the voice acting has not aged well, with characters appearing as parodies of human beings that are caught up in life and death situations.


The Good

  • Nostalgia value
  • Some cooperative puzzles and battles
  • Wesker mode

The Bad

  • Limited story appeal
  • Spends too little time on the train
  • Limited mechanics

Conclusion

Resident Evil Zero HD Remaster is a relatively unappealing game when evaluated from a modern point of view, but a good one for those who experienced it for the first time before 2005 and fell in love with its mechanics and story.

Most modern fans of the franchise probably do not have the patience to explore its core mechanics and see whether the story leads while dealing with the frustration created by the inventory, the fixed camera or the forced cooperation between the main characters.

I suspect that for those who have already played Resident Evil Zero memories of the title are better than the experience of actually playing it right now, which means that they should skip on the HD remake and instead reminisce with close friends about the past.

The remake might be a solid move for Capcom because it allows the publisher to keep the franchise in the minds of players without creating an entirely new title, but the company needs to either find innovative mechanics for future installments or to re-create the older games from the ground up.

Resident Evil Zero HD Remaster represents a piece of gaming history, and it's nice to see it offered on modern hardware but playing it is only fun for those who already know what to expect and appreciate nostalgia.

story 7
gameplay 6
concept 8
graphics 8
audio 7
multiplayer 0
final rating 7
Editor's review
good