Resident Evil 2 is coming (to N64) - Miscellaneous - http://maxpages.com/theskank/Resident_Evil_2_is

The scoop on Capcom's first
Resident Evil horror adventure
for Nintendo 64. Click, or die.

February 19, 1999

Turn back the clock a few months and
read the comments in our letters section
about Capcom's entry into N64
publishing... Mickey Tetris? Many
gamers were outraged that out of
Capcom's incredible lineup of classic
titles, the Japanese mega-publisher
would only consider releasing a
Disney-licensed puzzle game on N64. To
be quite honest, we were as puzzled by
the decision as you were. Mega Man,
Ghouls'n'Ghosts, Street Fighter --
and Resident Evil -- there is no doubt
that any one of those titles could have
been an instant million-seller on a
platform overrun by racers and cutesy
platformers. Thankfully, Capcom Japan
seems to have come to its senses and
now sees the N64 as a viable platform to
develop for -- mainly because of its
success in the US.

Bringing RE to N64
If you had asked us a year ago whether
we thought it possible that Capcom
ported one of its Resident Evil games
to N64, we would have told you: "No
way. Too much stuff. Cartridges are too
small." Imagine our surprise when
Capcom Japan told us that "Bio Hazard"
is coming to N64 -- in a big way. Next
to plans for another possible Resident
Evil adventure from the mind of Flagship
scenario designer Yoshiki Okamoto,
Capcom has elected last year's Japanese
best-seller, Resident Evil 2 to get the
series started on N64.

After shopping around the idea for an
N64 Resident Evil game to a few US
and European developers, Capcom has
reportedly chosen the makers of Ken
Griffey Baseball, Angel Studios, for
the job. The company, which is about to
step into the hi-res arena with the
Nintendo-published baseball sequel, is
said to use the latest wonders in
compression technology to bring the
PSX adventure home with vast graphical
improvements -- and no load time.

The Story
Welcome to Raccoon City. Imagine a
normal mid-western US town, built at the
base of a vast forest. Business thrived here, especially with the advent of
several new industries in the surrounding areas. Everything was A-OK in
this peaceful little town, until the "corporation" arrived...

Rumors about the strange goings-on in the company began to spread like
wildfire and strange things started to happen. Unidentifiable creatures
appeared out of nowhere. Fatal accidents happened at an alarming rate.
Then word got out about a severe accident at a mountain lab. But with
no one on the inside, nobody knew anything for sure.

The Raccoon police department, in an effort to calm the growing fear
among locals, recruited several new officers. As one of the most
promising new recruits, Leon S. Kennedy heads out to the town to join
his new unit. Although his attempts to contact his new captain are in vein,
Leon continues into Raccoon City to report to his new job.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, a distraught Claire Redfield (the
sister of the hero from the first Resident Evil game) searches for her
missing brother, Chris. Claire begins her search in Raccoon City, the last
known location of her brother nearly two months ago.

Little did both Claire and Leon know – they were about to enter
Capcom's infamous "world of survival horror."

The Game
The gameplay, which goes back to the French PC classic Alone in the
Dark, involves equal shares of exploration and action. At the beginning
of the story, the hero (or heroine, depending which one you pick)
emerges from a car wreck and runs through zombie-infested streets to
the local police station. Armed only with a knife and handgun with limited
ammo, it's up to the player to decide whether to stay and fight or to avoid
conflict with the brain-munching monsters and get to the police station.

Like the PSX original, the N64 version is played from a fixed perspective
with prerendered backgrounds. You effectively navigate your way
through pseudo-3D tableaus, similar to the scenes outside the Temple of
Time in Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Reach the edge of the
screen and the angle will switch to reveal another part of the environment.
While much of the background is just eye candy, there are also plenty of
elements that can be examined, or even pushed around.

The developers are said to have come up with some amazing
compression routines to fit the two-disk adventure onto cart.
Background images are represented in all their splendor using JPEG
image compression (the compression is so effective that the developers
are even considering hi-res images) and the fast access speed of the
cartridge format will make those annoying in-between room loadtimes a
thing of the past.

Monsters and player characters are all polygonal, allowing for dramatic
scene changes and action without the need to adjust the camera. In
addition to using items to solve the game's many (and often obscure)
puzzles, players can also pick up new weapons to really blow the armies
of the undead to bits. The weapons include:

9mm Pistol: This is your standard issue police handgun -- and
pretty limited and weak. Luckily, there is plenty of ammo to be
found for this one, so it is still the weapon of choice for smaller
enemies.
VP70: This upgrade to the 9mm lets you choose between manual
firing and automatic firing. It fires a burst of shots.
Crossbow: Only Claire can use this one. It fires off three arrows at
the same time.
Grenade Launcher: Is there anything better than splattering
zombies with a grenade launcher?
Shotgun: This upgradable beauty will turn Leon into a dangerous
killing machine. Throughout the adventure, you will find new parts
and add-ons to the gun which makes it all the more potent.
Uzi: This rapid-fire machine gun will help you take out anything
that moves, alive or undead.

But Resident Evil isn't really about weapons, it's about scares -- and
there will be plenty of them. Whether you're talking about
Hitchcock-inspired bird attacks, rabid Dobermans, or zombies appearing
in the most inopportune moments, Resident Evil 2 is probably the scariest
game out there. The latest audio and speech compression routines will
make sure that the atmosphere is just right, with all the hokey dialogue of
the original and plenty of eerie sound effects. It remains to be seen what
Angel will do with the many movie sequences that took up the greater
part of the PSX CD versions, but Capcom hinted that both realtime
movies and MPEG compression were being discussed. Rumble Pak
support is guaranteed.

Outlook
While die-hard RE fans will have to wait a little longer for the first true
RE64, N64 owners who have never played any of the Resident Evil titles
should already start to salivate over the prospect of RE2. If Angel
Studios and Capcom manage to faithfully bring the horror classic to the
N64 in all its glory, we should be in for one sweet load-time-free port.
Here's hoping the dither filter stays off this time around -- and Nintendo
cuts Capcom a nice deal on a big fat cartridge to do the game justice
(64MBs anyone?). Look for Resident Evil 2 (tentative name) in time for
Christmas '99.

MOVIES from the Playstation game(do contain blood and gore):
Gross-
http://psxmedia.ign.com/media/previews/video/reseve2.1.mov
Kill It-
http://psxmedia.ign.com/media/previews/video/reseve2.2.mov

Luke "Yoda" Rendar
Not Availiable
Somewhere	Not Availiable	00000
Not Availiable
Fax Not Availiable
no of your bees wax

Sign Guestbook

View Guestbook

Visitors: 00543

Page Updated Thu May 27, 1999 6:20am EDT