Resident Evil Zero Import Review
Capcom's prequel port feels lazy and rushed.
Australia, July 20, 2008 - This time last year, Capcom was reacquainting us with the brilliant Resident Evil 4 via a Wii Edition release that refreshed and, overall, improved on the original game. This year's sort-of repeat performance, with Resident Evil Zero as Capcom's subject, isn't worse than RE4: Wii Edition just because of the difference in quality of source material – it also suffers because Capcom has seemingly forgotten to remake the game to take advantage of the Wii and/or its control options.
To be fair to the developer, this Wii version of Resident Evil Zero isn't advertised as a 'Wii Edition' like RE4: WE was – it's just plain old Biohazard Zero printed on the packaging – but it does smack of pointlessness to bring a GameCube game to the Wii and not do anything interesting with the conversion opportunities.
"Wow, your butt is firm. You must totally work out."
So, specifically what hasn't Capcom done? Most obviously, it hasn't really embraced the Wii Remote. Yes, you can use the Remote in tandem with the Nunchuk to work your way through the game, but only their digital buttons and analogue stick are functional: motion controls are completely absent from this production, so there's no point in plugging your Remote into the Wii Zapper holster unless you want to make-believe you're still playing Umbrella Chronicles.
Where Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition was done a great service by the transferral of its targeting and shooting to the Remote sensor and the use of an over-the-shoulder view, RE0 doesn't present such opportunities because it's all stuck in an awkward third-person perspective, played from the viewpoint of the series' (pre-Resi 4) old-fashioned fixed cameras and set in pre-rendered environments.
"Take back what you said about my crap haircut. Now!"
It would have taken Capcom some significant reworking of the game's structure to create an opportunity for the implementation of proper Wii Remote weapon control, which is probably why the Big C hasn't. To compensate for this, we're given a choice of controller options including use of the Classic Controller, the Wii Remote and Nunchuk as a kind of split joypad (just like the RE4: Wii Edition setup, only without the ability to use the Remote as a pointer) and, ironically, the GameCube Controller. Plug in a Wireless Wavebird and you might as well be playing the GameCube version – which just highlights the curious pointlessness of this Wii release.
Here's something else Capcom hasn't done: anything about the graphics. Resident Evil Zero on Wii looks virtually identical to the GameCube original. This isn't a criticism as such, because the game still appears moderately pretty six years on from its debut, but it does unfortunately mean that there's no 16:9 mode (resulting in black bars down the sides of your widescreen display) and no visual enhancements to speak of either. At least the game runs in progressive scan at 480p, but then, so did the GameCube version.
If you've read this far, you're probably not expecting any surprises… and you're not going to get any. (Sorry!) Aside from simply replicating the GameCube version with some very minor tweaks to remap the controls to the Remote/Nunchuk and Classic Controller, Resi Zero on Wii has nothing to offer. Nothing new, anyway – no new features, no fan service, no real love.
The main problem here is that RE0 was pushing things a little too far down the clunky, fixed-perspective gameplay route when it appeared in 2002 (and Capcom can thank RE4's reinvention of the series for its extra life). In 2008, it's quite painful to play. There's no exhilaration from the pace of the action, because Rebecca and Billy spend their time comically moonwalking and pulling unintentional disco moves as they move from one area to the next. It didn't look too hot six years ago; now it just looks silly. Ditto the gaps between each environment, with blackouts and endless door-opening/stair-walking screens that belong in the 1990s, which only highlight how much more advanced Resi 4 is/was.
"Thanks for coming over. It's hard to meet girls when you live in a mad scientist's lair."
In spite of its obvious shortcomings, though, RE0 isn't a bad game. There's still enough dramatic tension here to sometimes make you jump, even if you've already played through the game one or more times in its GameCube format. RE0 is dripping in atmosphere (despite the accidentally hilarious voice acting) and there's great satisfaction to be had from making progress and staying alive. The puzzles are solid, the cutscenes tie everything together pretty well, the player-switching partner mode is still as engaging as any buddy system (in spite of Capcom's reluctance to experiment with a genuine co-op mode for two players because, as we've found out, this is more of a port than a remake), and on a higher difficulty setting the game presents quite a formidable challenge. Plus, this is the title that fills in the details pertaining to Umbrella and S.T.A.R.S. prior to the events of the first Resident Evil game, which is the kind of thing fans need to know. So if you didn't play RE0 first time around, this is at least another opportunity to see the whole picture.
As we mentioned earlier, Resi Zero on Wii can only be bought in Japan. Even then, it costs around 4,000yen, which is only 1,000yen less than typical Wii games cost in that part of the world. Not surprisingly, given its weak sales pitch, Capcom has no intention of releasing Resident Evil Zero on Wii outside of Japan, and frankly we're happy to support that decision and keep hold of our GameCube copy of this game.
She's totally be hot if the graphics weren't so dated.
There are remakes – Wii-makes, if you like – and there are vanilla ports like Resident Evil Zero. Some developers seem to have the right idea when it comes to redeveloping old games for a Wii-owning audience: SEGA's Samba De Amigo and Bass Fishing conversions both add to their source material and provide value because they neatly Wii-interpret (see what we've done there?) the functions of some expensive accessories. Hell, even Capcom itself nailed the process last year with RE4: Wii Edition and did an interesting job of resurrecting Okami. But this port of Resident Evil Zero seems to have gained only a larger-format game disc (and a cut from two discs down to one) in the six years since its GameCube release.
Closing Comments
The question we keep asking is “Why?” Why even bother to re-release an old game on a new(-ish) format, and at a price not far off from that of a new game, without doing anything to bring it up to speed? For once, you can probably be thankful that a Japanese publisher has no plans to bring one of its releases to the West. We’re certainly not going to lose any sleep over Capcom’s decision, although we can’t help wondering why Capcom Japan sanctioned this release in the first place.
Australia, July 20, 2008 - This time last year, Capcom was reacquainting us with the brilliant Resident Evil 4 via a Wii Edition release that refreshed and, overall, improved on the original game. This year's sort-of repeat performance, with Resident Evil Zero as Capcom's subject, isn't worse than RE4: Wii Edition just because of the difference in quality of source material – it also suffers because Capcom has seemingly forgotten to remake the game to take advantage of the Wii and/or its control options.
To be fair to the developer, this Wii version of Resident Evil Zero isn't advertised as a 'Wii Edition' like RE4: WE was – it's just plain old Biohazard Zero printed on the packaging – but it does smack of pointlessness to bring a GameCube game to the Wii and not do anything interesting with the conversion opportunities.
So, specifically what hasn't Capcom done? Most obviously, it hasn't really embraced the Wii Remote. Yes, you can use the Remote in tandem with the Nunchuk to work your way through the game, but only their digital buttons and analogue stick are functional: motion controls are completely absent from this production, so there's no point in plugging your Remote into the Wii Zapper holster unless you want to make-believe you're still playing Umbrella Chronicles.
Where Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition was done a great service by the transferral of its targeting and shooting to the Remote sensor and the use of an over-the-shoulder view, RE0 doesn't present such opportunities because it's all stuck in an awkward third-person perspective, played from the viewpoint of the series' (pre-Resi 4) old-fashioned fixed cameras and set in pre-rendered environments.
It would have taken Capcom some significant reworking of the game's structure to create an opportunity for the implementation of proper Wii Remote weapon control, which is probably why the Big C hasn't. To compensate for this, we're given a choice of controller options including use of the Classic Controller, the Wii Remote and Nunchuk as a kind of split joypad (just like the RE4: Wii Edition setup, only without the ability to use the Remote as a pointer) and, ironically, the GameCube Controller. Plug in a Wireless Wavebird and you might as well be playing the GameCube version – which just highlights the curious pointlessness of this Wii release.
Here's something else Capcom hasn't done: anything about the graphics. Resident Evil Zero on Wii looks virtually identical to the GameCube original. This isn't a criticism as such, because the game still appears moderately pretty six years on from its debut, but it does unfortunately mean that there's no 16:9 mode (resulting in black bars down the sides of your widescreen display) and no visual enhancements to speak of either. At least the game runs in progressive scan at 480p, but then, so did the GameCube version.
The main problem here is that RE0 was pushing things a little too far down the clunky, fixed-perspective gameplay route when it appeared in 2002 (and Capcom can thank RE4's reinvention of the series for its extra life). In 2008, it's quite painful to play. There's no exhilaration from the pace of the action, because Rebecca and Billy spend their time comically moonwalking and pulling unintentional disco moves as they move from one area to the next. It didn't look too hot six years ago; now it just looks silly. Ditto the gaps between each environment, with blackouts and endless door-opening/stair-walking screens that belong in the 1990s, which only highlight how much more advanced Resi 4 is/was.
In spite of its obvious shortcomings, though, RE0 isn't a bad game. There's still enough dramatic tension here to sometimes make you jump, even if you've already played through the game one or more times in its GameCube format. RE0 is dripping in atmosphere (despite the accidentally hilarious voice acting) and there's great satisfaction to be had from making progress and staying alive. The puzzles are solid, the cutscenes tie everything together pretty well, the player-switching partner mode is still as engaging as any buddy system (in spite of Capcom's reluctance to experiment with a genuine co-op mode for two players because, as we've found out, this is more of a port than a remake), and on a higher difficulty setting the game presents quite a formidable challenge. Plus, this is the title that fills in the details pertaining to Umbrella and S.T.A.R.S. prior to the events of the first Resident Evil game, which is the kind of thing fans need to know. So if you didn't play RE0 first time around, this is at least another opportunity to see the whole picture.
As we mentioned earlier, Resi Zero on Wii can only be bought in Japan. Even then, it costs around 4,000yen, which is only 1,000yen less than typical Wii games cost in that part of the world. Not surprisingly, given its weak sales pitch, Capcom has no intention of releasing Resident Evil Zero on Wii outside of Japan, and frankly we're happy to support that decision and keep hold of our GameCube copy of this game.
There are remakes – Wii-makes, if you like – and there are vanilla ports like Resident Evil Zero. Some developers seem to have the right idea when it comes to redeveloping old games for a Wii-owning audience: SEGA's Samba De Amigo and Bass Fishing conversions both add to their source material and provide value because they neatly Wii-interpret (see what we've done there?) the functions of some expensive accessories. Hell, even Capcom itself nailed the process last year with RE4: Wii Edition and did an interesting job of resurrecting Okami. But this port of Resident Evil Zero seems to have gained only a larger-format game disc (and a cut from two discs down to one) in the six years since its GameCube release.
Closing Comments
The question we keep asking is “Why?” Why even bother to re-release an old game on a new(-ish) format, and at a price not far off from that of a new game, without doing anything to bring it up to speed? For once, you can probably be thankful that a Japanese publisher has no plans to bring one of its releases to the West. We’re certainly not going to lose any sleep over Capcom’s decision, although we can’t help wondering why Capcom Japan sanctioned this release in the first place.
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