The Final Episode - Resident Evil 0 Retrospective

The end of an era

Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve made it. After a month full of Resident Evil retrospective reviews, we’ve arrived at our final entry: Resident Evil 0.

Before we get into the review, here at the beginning, before reading fatigue sets in, I want to thank my subscribers for following this series.

Admittedly, I’ve always viewed Scanlines’ Journal as a publication with a bit of an identity crisis. What I really enjoy writing about is retro games, hardware and creating long-form reviews of what I play in the modern day; it’s also fun to just shoot from the hip and speak my mind about topics like Halo on PlayStation or CRT TV’s… but what gets me the most success tends to be short, digestible writing or listicles.

I’ve had a lot of people unsubscribe during this month: more than any other time in my publication’s history and truthfully? That’s fine by me.

This will never be a publication that posts one kind of writing, this will never be a publication where I write 5 minute reviews that barely scratch the surface, this will never be a publication where I focus on ideology and analysis through the dogma of critical perspectives, this will never be a publication about nostalgia and whining about modern gaming; what I care about is video games: how they play, how they look, how they sound and how they make people feel. If that’s not what you’re after then so be it.

Despite this stagnation, open rates have been consistently high among my followers and I’ve received some comments I loved reading, so thank you subscribers, I’m really glad you’ve been so into this, you’re the people I’m truly here to write for and I always get a kick out of posting an article I was really slaving over then seeing you all resonate with it too. Thank you!

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Background

We’ve come full circle: back to 2002.

As far back as the original Resident Evil there were plans to make a prequel; in the first game you are sent in to rescue S.T.A.R.S Bravo Team, so Bravo Team’s story and how people like Rebecca Chambers and Richard Aiken managed to survive a full day on the Spencer Estate is the kind of ripe prequel material Capcom were unwilling to pass up.

Resident Evil Zero began development for the Nintendo 64 in mid-1998 with the original plan being to use the 64DD expansion to help compensate for the cartridge-based machine’s technical shortcomings but sales of the add-on were low: so low that it never made it to the West. Capcom did experiment with creating Resident Evil 0 on the default console plus the Expansion PAK for added RAM (the computer equivalent of short-term memory) but the Nintendo 64 still wasn’t quite up to snuff; the Gamecube was soon announced and the project was shelved for later.

Resident Evil 0’s N64 build was shown off in the gaming press at the time and there are rumours of a prototype cartridge in the hands of private collectors.

For those who aren’t into the tech, the reason Nintendo has been so committed to cartridges all these years is that they load significantly faster than discs; the dominant disc media is Blu-Ray, which requires the paying of royalties to the medium’s developers, one of which is the enemy: Sony. Ninty gambled on players being unwilling to sit through loading screens too, something they were wrong about at the turn of the millennium but have ultimately been proven right on as time has passed.

To read data off a disc, a motor has to spin the disc on its spindle and the laser head has to move up and down and read the data off the data layer contained deep within. This takes time, creates several hardware failure points (the laser can break, the rail it moves along can break, the spinning motor for the spindle can fail etc.) and the laws of physics being what they are, it also creates excess heat and sound. With a cartridge-based system, load times are faster, the console is virtually silent besides cooling fans and much less heat is generated.

Resident Evil 0’s character switching system was actually developed especially with the Nintendo 64’s Game Paks in mind, it would have been a nightmare on a disc-based system like the PlayStation, which would have been churning and reading whenever you swapped between the two; it worked on Gamecube because the Gamecube was a pretty powerful piece of hardware at the time: slightly more so than the PS2.

Resident Evil 0’s other big gimmick: the lack of item boxes and higher difficulty was down to paying homage to Sweet Home: the Japanese proto-survival horror which the original RE was an ode to.

Resident Evil 0 released in November 2002 as a Gamecube exclusive a mere 8 months after REmake and sharing the game’s general look and feel. Like REmake, it didn’t sell particularly well but unlike REmake, reception wasn’t particularly great either. The poor sales, mixed reception and a hint of creative fatigue directly led to the death of classic Resident Evil with the release of RE4 in 2005; Devil May Cry fans, the first game was a by-product of Resident Evil 4’s messy development too, so I guess RE0’s failure had a pretty big ripple effect.

The fixed camera angles, classic gameplay and tank controls have never returned.

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Version Rundown

One last time, we make our way to Steam; the Gamecube original is my preferred way to play but I hate relying on others’ screenshots and let’s face it: the HD version of Zero is the way 99% of you will be experiencing this game.

Although (spoilers) the actual game is nowhere near as good, I’d argue that the HD version of RE0 is a better port than the HD version of REmake. I’m not sure I mentioned it back then but the backgrounds were upscaled primarily using AI because to my knowledge, most of the original images were lost, this resulted in some seriously choppy results in REmake; I can really tell I’m moving a character against a flat image compared to the Gamecube original. Zero on the other hand has preserved the image a lot better and has baked-in options for a 1440p resolution. The Steam page claims sound has been improved but truthfully, I can’t tell the difference.

I’m going to be honest, I only played Zero long enough to grab a few screenshots since I really don’t like this game very much and already in that short time, I had a graphical glitch that broke all my menus, so maybe look for a fan patch.

Once again, there isn’t much to talk about as far as console versions go because it’s all pretty much the same. They all run at 30FPS compared to the PC’s 60, which isn’t the end of the world but pick the Steam version if it bothers you; the Steam Deck struggles at the full 60 too as far as I’ve heard.

You can buy Zero and REmake together in the Resident Evil Origins bundle.

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Running Right On Time

Resident Evil 0 opens on the night before the first game where S.T.A.R.S Bravo Team has been dispatched to investigate the fate of a military police vehicle carrying a dangerous criminal: Billy Coen, that’s gone missing deep in the Raccoon Forest.

This is where Resident Evil 0 actually subverts expectations and in my opinion, does a pretty nice job of having Rebecca’s rookie status work for her, instead of against her.

She wanders off to investigate an abandoned train in the middle of the woods; moving into cramped interior with no backup is perhaps a move more experienced officers like Chris or Jill wouldn’t have made but it ends up saving Rebecca’s life as once you start playing, the other members of Bravo begin to trickle into the train in various stages of mortal wounding. Inexperienced characters don’t have to be stupid.

Of course, the train isn’t safe either and pretty quickly you’ll stumble across your first zombie.

We’ll get into RE0’s numerous faults later but if there are 2 things this game consistently nails it’s character and atmosphere.

The way Rebecca announces her presence, looks around the train nervously and calls out for survivors sounds like she’s repeating something she memorised in a book aloud, partially for her own comfort; Rebecca has knowledge but lacks wisdom. The way the zombie rises from its seat, silently, breathlessly is so eerie and we get a great fight-or-flight moment where she decides to run and get help. Rebecca was a slightly annoying, ditsy, cute side character in the original game and REmake but in Zero she’s really likeable and functions well as an audience stand-in.

Billy Coen: the other half of our playable duo is a character I’m a little more mixed on.

As anyone who’s ever played a videogame ever probably could have predicted, he’s not the bloodthirsty murderer he’s made out to be and even comes to Rebecca’s rescue shortly after their first meeting. I don’t want to spoil this game’s insane plot but Billy’s backstory is just too predictable, his introduction makes him too easy to dislike and while I enjoy his interactions with Rebecca, Billy’s voice performance sounds a little too much like somebody trying very hard to be Solid Snake.

Those tribal tattoos too, man, could you get more 2002? Anyway, back to the story and atmosphere.

Resident Evil 0, in my opinion, might have the most oppressive and uncomfortable atmosphere of the entire classic era because every location truly feels damned. In the rest of the series, no matter how bad things got, you found other survivors: other people who had managed to overcome the undead tide but in Zero? Nobody, not after the first half an hour. Billy and Rebecca are utterly alone, there’s not even a clear route of escape like the RPD’s underground or the Mansion’s courtyard.

The isolation to be found in Zero’s locales is another level too. In REmake/RE1 you could imagine that, had rescuing Bravo Team not been a priority, then Jill and Chris at the very least probably would have been able to fight their way back to the city. Not in Zero. Try to jump off the train? Dead. The Umbrella Training Facility? Surrounded by sheer cliffs. Of course, the Lab and Water Treatment plant are similarly accessible; Rebecca and Billy have no way to escape even if they hypothetically wanted to flee for their lives.

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Pattering Of The Raindrops

In this one area: presentation, Resident Evil 0 truly sent off classic, fixed-camera RE with a bang. Backgrounds are the most exquisitely detailed in the franchise and honestly? I think these are the greatest in the history of that graphical style; animated elements like rainfall and squirming leech eggs superbly bring the environment to life, as does the excellent lighting.

This shot looks straight out of film. In-game the eggs writhe and wriggle and Rebecca’s face completely shadowed brings all the focus downwards. Masterful.

The longer you look, the more you notice and in every carriage, rain beats against the windows.

The roof of the train is perhaps the greatest pre-rendered background in any video game to ever use the technique. It’s hard to capture its full brilliance in a still image: the dark trees roar past, rain batters Billy and Rebecca and the soaked metal sheets of the carriage look incredible.

I have to stress that this isn’t a product of modern remastering technology and HD resolutions, I own this game’s original version on Gamecube: it’s cheap, you should own it too and even there it looks absolutely stunning. When flawless art direction meets clever use of technology, that’s when video games look timeless; Wind Waker, Resident Evil Zero, Super Mario World, Halo: Combat Evolved, the list goes on; skilled artistry trumps technology and the passage of time, every time.

While the game takes a nosedive in quality in other areas after the train, I’m happy to say that the fantastic art direction persists. I’m not going to show more screenshots as to avoid spoiling everything but the Training Facility is an even more spartan, ancient feeling building than the REmake Spencer Mansion complete with areas for Umbrella staff to be instructed and rooms that let the imagination wander places you’d prefer it didn’t; the Lab and Water Treatment Plant continue the industrial look often found in such areas with a bit of a gross edge given Zero’s prevalence of slimy leeches.

I imagine for those who’ve never played this game you might be thinking “This looks exactly like REmake.” But I assure you, the animated layers, the more detailed backgrounds from what I assume might have been better familiarity with the hardware: it all comes together to create a more detailed picture. Perhaps it’s something that needs to be experienced to be understood.

If there’s one area Resident Evil isn’t recognised enough for by the wider gaming community then it’s music: this series has some fantastic soundtracks and Zero is no exception.

The Training Facility theme is so viscerally uncomfortable, to the point where it might be the most chilling piece of music I’ve heard in a video game. Absolutely gnarly. That repeated rumble almost presses on your ears and makes you feel more trapped.

Resident Evil Zero’s save room theme is my second favourite in the series after Code: Veronica. In a game with a soundtrack this intense and atmosphere this heavy, I really appreciate such a light piece of music.

This track honestly reminds me of some of John Carpenter’s work in Halloween or The Thing, it’s reeks of suspicion, of being stalked in the dark.

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Zero Sum Game

Tragically, Resident Evil Zero drops the ball in the gameplay department and it drops that ball hard; classic-era RE ended here and it went out with a whimper.

There are 2 playable characters in Zero: Rebecca and Billy and you control one with either analogue stick and can give some useful commands like getting your partner to wait too, sort of like Bethesda companions. The creativity behind this idea and the strategic options it provides makes Resident Evil 0 worth playing even if you don’t like the game, there is nothing else quite like it.

I mentioned before that, especially in the case of Rebecca, their characters were a highlight of the game but it’s such a shame that Capcom backslid in the gameplay department. In REmake, in comparison to the original Resident Evil, there were lots of pros and cons to playing as Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine: different health values, different inventory sizes, weapon draw speeds, all sorts; in Resident Evil Zero, there is no reason to play as Rebecca except from when the game forces the 2 characters apart, Billy is stronger, has more health and possesses the superior handgun. Rebecca will inevitably become the pack mule and the herb slave, as only she can combined them together for some reason.

My face trying to control both characters at once.

RE0 is probably the hardest Resident Evil ever made but it’s not because of difficult enemies, scarce supplies or challenging dodging, it’s because you have to babysit two characters through rooms full of zombies with no clear dodging routes… and they respawn far more often than in any previous game in the series. In the first Resident Evil, enemies only respawned down in the lab and in similarly isolated locations in the rest, however, in Zero, it’s quite common, breaking immersion, burning your ammo and adding frustration.

But let’s cut to the chase, Resident Evil 0’s biggest gameplay flaws: missteps so big that they ruin the game in my opinion, are its incredibly ill-conceived inventory management changes.

While the ability to use herbs straight off the ground is (unhygienic) but useful and being able to leave items on the floor anywhere is too, the removal of the Item Boxes adds absolutely nothing to the game and leads to horrendous backtracking; if you’ve played this game, you know exactly the part I’m thinking about while writing this. All their absence does is force the player to ferry the sum total of their playthrough’s loot to the next major save room when a new area is accessed, it’s absolutely horrible; the main hall of the Training Facility will be covered in assorted crap, mark my words. I think a good compromise if/when the much-rumoured remake arrives would be to make the Item Boxes disconnected from each other, which was a second playthrough setting in some games anyway.

I can’t help but feel that Zero’s arsenal is a missed opportunity too, this game makes great use of the CO-OP mechanics for puzzles and exploration but there isn’t a single weapon that requires the player to operate both characters in unison. Yet again, it’s the same old weapons.

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Bloodsuckers

If you’ve not picked up on my general feeling towards RE0 yet then let me make it clear: I do not like this game. It looks and sounds superb, the train is one of the greatest RE locations and it has some nice character moments but besides that? Resident Evil 0 is not enjoyable and totally fails as a prequel.

A good prequel should enhance the original: it should teach us something new, give us information that recontextualises future events and allow us to create a deeper bond with its characters; we know who lives and who dies and we know roughly what will happen, so you have to bring something else to the table besides a predictable chain of events to make the experience worthwhile. The best video game prequel ever made (and my favourite video game of all time) is Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, that game recontextualises the entire series by depicting the betrayal of Big Boss and showing how his warped ideology was forged from experiences exactly like those of the franchise’s hero: Solid Snake; play Metal Gear Solid 3, please.

Zero utterly fails at being a prequel because the plot has almost nothing to do with REmake or Resident Evil 1, worse, it’s an absolutely bizarre tale that creates inconsistencies and all those bodies of Bravo Team in the Spencer Mansion are still off-screen deaths.

Essentially, the plot of Zero is that Doctor James Marcus: one of the three founders of Umbrella and tutor of Albert Wesker and William Birkin has been resurrected… by viral leeches who imprinted on him and who now mimic him, retaining his memories and personality complete with a thirst for revenge.

Sentimental, human-mimicking leeches. Only the Japanese can make up a plot this batshit.

It is admittedly cool to explore the location where characters like Wesker and Birkin learned the tools of the trade but ultimately? It feels like there are 2 different stories being told that never intersect: on one hand we have the story of Billy and Rebecca learning to trust each other and trying to escape, with Billy’s shady past being uncovered as the game pans out and on the other hand we have Wesker and Birkin’s feud with the undead Dr Marcus; you kill the leech Marcus at the end then the game is over, we don’t learn anything. Worse, Billy Coen vanishes into the woods and we’ve not seen him in Resident Evil since, with some fans convinced he was recaptured and later became Nemesis.

I mentioned inconsistencies that are created too and one of them is pretty severe, Rebecca kills a damn Tyrant in this game and yet, in REmake and Resi 1 she’s a whimpering, clutz!

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Curtain Call

Listen, it’s been a long month of retrospectives, I’m a little fatigued from writing so much and there are a few big posts I want to finish this year with, so I’m going to wrap up my review of Zero: and this series, here and now.

Resident Evil 0 is a mediocre video game, a below average Resident Evil and an awful prequel; it has its fans and its merits, I’m anticipating some disagreement below but I just cannot bring myself to finish this one. Zero is my second-least favourite Resident Evil game, saved only by the fact that Resident Evil 5 is a bland, grey-brown mid-2000’s shooter with none of the charm and memorable setting of RE4. Boom.

Everyone should try this one: you might enjoy it but never in my life have I heard anyone declare RE0 to be the best Resident Evil and there’s a good reason for that.

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Thank you very much for reading to the end, I hope you enjoyed today’s post, as always I’ll be happy to chat in the comments below and please like and subscribe to the Journal for more.

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