BIOHAZARD 2 (Resident Evil 2) was the sequel to the critically acclaimed and successful BIO HAZARD. The game switches location from a solitary mansion to Raccoon City which is now overran with zombies. The game stars Leon S Kennedy, a rookie cop, and sister to Chris, Claire Redfield. Resident Evil 2 was at the time the fastest selling game of all time after significant delays and reworkings. The game features unique storylines with four scenarios inter-connecting depending on which character you choose to play as.
Plot Synopsis
Two months had passed since the mansion incident. The illegal Bio Organic Weapons that the elite S.T.A.R.S. had uncovered were systematically ignored by the chief of police, Brian Irons, and as life went on as usual for the Umbrella Corporation controlled Raccoon City.
The experiments did not cease, and Umbrella continued their research. Deep underground in his own private laboratories, William Birkin had finally succeeded in developing a new virus, one that was stronger than the T-virus. Birkin's new G-virus which he had developed since its discovery within Lisa Trevor was his prized possesion and nobody, not even Umbrella were going to get their hands on it.
On the 22nd September 1998, after catching wind of his betrayal, Umbrella send in two U.S.S units, lead by HUNK to procure the virus from Birkin. Not all went to plan, and Birkin was fatally wounded by gunfire as the U.S.S. took both T and G-virus samples. As his life drew to a close, Birkin still clutching a G-virus sample, took one final act, and injected himself with his virus. He became his own creation, and began to hunt down the soldiers. Both units were wiped out with the exception of HUNK who was knocked unconcious. However, the briefcase containing the T-virus was broken, and the virus leaked into the sewers. The resident rats began feeding on the virus and soon spread. Raccoon City was heading for its devastating fate.
Canon Events
The actual course of events which take place in BIOHAZARD 2 are mostly Claire A, Leon B. However, Leon comes into possession of Sherry's pendant and later throws it away.
Development History
Versions
Dual Shock
With the introduction of the new Dual Shock controller for the PlayStation, Resident Evil 2 was re-released to utilize the rumble and analog features of the new controller. This version gained a new mini-game titled "Extreme Battle Mode", and a cheat code to gain unlimited ammo was included that would carry onto all other releases following this one.
Nintendo 64
To some people, this is argueably the definitive version of Resident Evil 2. The N64 version is an incredible technological achievement, because the company that ported this version (Angel Studios) managed to fit just under 1400MB of data into a 64MB cartridge. That's a compression rate of around 20:1. Nothing was comprimised except Extreme Battle Mode and a bit of graphical, audio, and video quality. To make up for this, new files called the EX Files were included. These helped fill in some of the gaps of the Resident Evil timeline and are directly connected to the events witnessed in Resident Evil Zero with references even to Resident Evil Code: Veronica and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis.