The DC has a rather large lineup of games that offer zombie-killing, bladder-control problems. D2, Carrier, the aforementioned Code Veronica and Sega's own entries: The House of the Dead 2 arcade gun-game and Zombie Revenge. These newer games offer some incredible graphics and gameplay that varies from just 'OK' to outstanding. What RE2 offers is two-fold: nostalgia and great story telling. The fun of playing an older game like this is to see the gameplay elements and devices that have helped to shape one of the biggest markets in gaming today. The tedium and illogic, mentioned before, are very-much a staple of this game and are either something that the player will find very novel and challenging (in the way that MYST is challenging) or something that will drive you crazy. Survival Horror is moving much more toward the idea of games that make sense, and are therefore more immersive. RE2 offers the Dreamcast owner a view into an old vision of gaming that is fading. The other serious plus, as stated earlier, for this game is that it is, within the context of its design, very well thought-out. A two-disc game, one offers the story from the side of Claire Redfield, who later appears in Code Veronica, and the other offers the experiences of a rookie cop named Leon Kennedy.

Their adventures take them though a massive police headquarters in the town of Raccoon City, near the location of the events of the first Resident Evil game. The level-design, while very strange and unrealistic, is the perfect battleground for our heroes and those infected by the killer T-Virus. A room that has value to Claire, in her story, might be meaningless to Leon in his more action-oriented path. In terms of the type of thinking that makes a game truly fun and successful, RE2 has it. The zombie models are duplicated a little too often, but many of the tougher badies and their animations are simply awesome. The dialog, while pretty pathetic, is very well suited to the type of terror (B-movie style) that RE2 offers.

The graphics are pretty poor, by Dreamcast standards. The characters do not exhibit aliasing or screen "crawling", but do have very noticeable pixelation. Compared to the PlayStation's own Dino Crisis 2, flames look extremely pixely and the backgrounds are very low-rez. These things do not affect the fun of the game, but can make items difficult to spot. Load times are just long enough to make the player glance over up at the machine, occasionally. The sound effects are sometimes repetitive, but combine with spot-on controller-rumble to make the most of every surprise. It is also nice to hear classy touches like varying footstep-sounds on different types of ground.

The package is completed by crisp, entertaining CG cutscenes, multiple endings (adding immensely to replay value), a cutscene theatre mode, two hidden characters to play alternately - in connection with the storylines, assault action mini-games, a 3D-character model gallery, and concept art gallery. RE2 is in no way a breath of fresh air, or innovative, but it is a very solid game, with a ton of extras, that showcase the glory of yesterday at a fair price.

If you don't mind dated-graphics, the bizarre puzzles and occasional aimless wondering around, there is a lot of fun to be found in this game and an excellent tribute to a classic gaming experience.