I won't go into the story of the first game; Capcom says that 2.5 million of you (where does the .5 come from anyway?) already know it. RE2 starts out about 2 months where the first left off. No one believed Chris and Jill about the horrible experiments the Umbrella corporation was involved in.After all, a large portion of Raccoon City is employed by the Umbrella corp.The residents were warned, and they didn't listen. Then one day all hell breaks lose. Leon, a rookie cop, drives into town for his first day on the job to find a ghost town with zombies lurking and killing everywhere. He meets up with Claire Redfeild, Chris's sister and they both head off to the police station, as the horror begins.

You "will" jump, and you will be disturbed. Capcom has pulled the stops this time around.Little things like doors falling off their hinges when you walk by will have you jumping even after you've gone through the area for the umteenth time.The zombies and other enemies in this game are truly twisted with minds of their own and unpredictible attack paturns.The Zombies may be slower, but they know how to corner now. Also gone are the superman skills of the origional characters.Now the characters react and show physical damage after attacks. You'll find yourself wetting your pants over and over again while trying to load the shells into the shot gun, and finish them off as you limp for cover.I also assure each and everyone of you that the voice acting in RE2 is leaps and bounds better than the first game's.I know countless individuals whom never even attempted to enter the world of survival horror simply because they couldn't stand the acting in the first game.The ridiculous hand motions are still there, though (think old NinjaTurtle cartoons); I can handle that.

The control in RE2 is a lot easier to handle.Buttons are placed much better around the controller, allowing you to flip through option screens and weapons much faster. You also have the ability to "auto aim." This means that when you draw your weapon to ready position to fire, you will face the nearest enemy to you. You can then use the L1 button to target through the different enemies.This makes the game easier and more enjoyable for the novice. I admit, it’s not easy to hit your mark in some of those camera angles. With the extra IQ added to the zombies and the speedy other enemies, you’ll thank God and Capcom for this feature.

The puzzles in the game seem a lot easier. I don't really mind this so much as RE2 is much more of an action/horror game.It does make the game a bit shorter than it should have been. The violence and scare factor really make up for it, though. You have your mind more on what's in the next room that's going to send you to hell, rather than thinking of where this new damned medal that you just acquired goes. It all balances out for the better. If you do think the game is short, and aren't satisfied with it when you're finished, don't go just yet.Capcom has added a nice little feature.You can start the game as which ever character as you wish.Just put in Claire's disc for Claire's adventure, or Leon's disc for Leon's adventure. Sounds simple right? I’m not done yet. Leon and Claire's adventures are really along the same lines. Something separates them up at the beginning of the game and so on. Here's where the fun begins. When you beat the game as Leon you save your game. To your surprise, it's a Claire's saved format (meaning you have to load the saved game on Claire's disc). Load it up and you get to play as Claire and find out what the hell she was doing behind the scenes while Leon was trying to survive the world of survival horror by himself.This means that you have to beat the game in a total of about 4 times to find out what "really" happened.

In RE2 the weapons are almost doubled for both characters, you have more ammo, and more ways to use it.You can also upgrade the weapons with add-ons you find later in the game; Shot gun to Super Shot gun (instead of blowing a Zombies head off, take the whole top of the body...hehe), Magnum to Custom Magnum (oooo, look at this...a row of five zombies! BOOM!). You get the point.The Sub machine gun (fires fast and hurts that way. Tons of ammo!), Flame thrower (cook the bastards!), and Spark gun (leave it where you found it) all are gauged by percent instead of rounds; 100% is full, 0% is not.For those of you who are wondering, yes, the grenade launcher is available in Claire's game. You'll have plenty of times to use it.

Resident Evil 2 has earned its place on my list as one of the best PlayStation games of all time, right up there with Final Fantasy 7. Another reason to own a PlayStation! I still play it over and over just because it is fun to play.You really don't get bored of it, and the cinematic feel you get everytime you play is just unmatched. I'm on the verge of getting the ability to play as the secret characters (bitchin). I can't tell you how much you need to add this game to your PlayStation library. Even if you didn't like the first one, give this one a try. Come with me, enter the world of survival horror!