[POSSIBLE SPOILER WARNING!]

Okay, first impression, it looks NICE.  The character in the demo was
Leon, and he starts in front of some burning wreckage (looks like a car
blew up) in the middle of what looks like downtown with several zombies
coming after him.  The street you start on is not very interactive, but
you quickly make your way to a gunshop (which was actually IMO the lowest
quality area -- not that it was bad, but I wasn't *as* impressed there),
into a dark alley, past several police cars, complete with dead officers,
and when you step on the police sheilds, you hear the clank of walking on
metal. Fun thing in this game was that the zombies could be knocked into
the flames and would start burning (but would continue toward you
unhindered).  The game looks like MUCH more attention was paid to detail,
as zombies have different "looks" based upon what they were most likely in
their human form (street punk, average joe, police officer -- even a
hooker!).  The polygon count seems to be up (could have just been the
detail on the character textures), and the movement looks a bit more
realistic -- tho not *that* much more.  There's also more animation, your
character tends to move his head to look at zombies (whether dead or
"living" as it were), bodies of zombies you've killed sometimes continue
twitching while on the ground, zombies react more to getting shot (they
might take the bullet and keep coming, they might stumble backward, they
might start to stumble but catch themselves).  Also, when a zombie is
truly "killed" there is still the pool of blood that forms.  Somehow it
seems slightly more realistic than in the first game.

   Next, playing.  Basically, the game engine of Resident Evil remains
unchanged.  You still have a redicilously low Item limit, you can still
combine ammo clips to reduce inventory clutter, when you pick something up
you will get the "Will you take the XXX" screen.  The zombies still fall
when you shoot them, only to get back up again (but considering that there
were usually a good number of zombies on the screen at one time, you would
probably want to try to get away rather than fight).  The save feature is
the same (there were typewriters, although a message informs that save was
not available in the preview).  Various "hot-spots" in the game can be
"examined" for a short descriptive message -- although there seemed to be
a lot more in this game (not that most of them were very useful, but some
were amusing -- "Nothing is wrong" in a room covered in broken glass and
splattered blood).  There seems to be little that is actually new
regarding gameplay, tho I think that attacking zombies can be pushed away,
reducing the damage they do.  Also, they seem to be slightly smarter -- I
turned my back to a zombie and it lunged at me.  It then slid down my
character's back and started chewing on his leg until Leon had the sense
to stomp onto its head.  Zombies can still be killed with one hit from a
point-blank shot from the shotgun -- which is now a 1337 sawed-off -- but
to actually blow their heads off you need to aim up this time, otherwise,
they just die without the cool-looking splatter (I'm not sure that the
first game had as many projectiles coming off of heads as this one), and I
haven't tried blowing their legs off yet.  There was one "puzzle" type
area that involved pushing statues onto a specific place in the floor --
same principle as the first game, and the character animation didn't look
any different.  Overall, this is a new storyline and setting fitted over
the same game engine.  Oh well, it worked the first time around...

   Oh, I forgot to mention sounds.  The old sounds, like the shotgun
firing, the steps, the pistol, some of the moans are still there.  More
sounds have been added however, such as the female moans for the female
zombies (IIRC, I only saw one in the demo) and some new moans for the
zombies.  There seems to be some background music too, tho it was kind of
hard to tell (the sound quality of the tv wasn't too terribly high), and
it doesn't seem to be that semi-omnious backdrop of the original (at
least, not what I heard) but more of a living-dead movie feel (which makes
sense, as that seems the be the inspiration for the game's storyline),
with some tinge of metal.  Don't quote me on that however, I could have
been hearing things that weren't there.

  Final notes.  Notable moments.  Entering the gunshop, you will be
pleased/dismayed to discover that the voice acting is *just* as bad as the
original.  ("Don't shoot!  I'm a human!")  Mind you, there was only one
scene with any dialogue in this demo, so it might have been the game's one
weak moment (as I said, I wasn't impressed with the gunshop in general).
Of course, what *was* cool about the gunshop was what happened to the
owner a few minutes after you enter the bulding.  When I first saw it,
someone else was playing, and as soon as he exited the back door of the
shop, you hear a scream and a thud.  Returning, there were a number of
zombies coming after him.  When *I* played, I was still in the shop when
*five* (maybe six, I didn't count) zombies came crashing through the
window and took the owner down. (after putting the zombies away, I went to
check on the guy, "He is not breathing". -- but he did have a shotgun :)
-- and another in the police HQ, TWO shotguns in the game so far!).  Also,
when I entered the police HQ I was struck with the oddest feeling of
deja-vu...someone else who has played it tell me if you don't think that
the main hall looks like the dining room of RE1 (sans table of course, and
a bit bigger).  Oh yeah, the S.T.A.R.S haven't been forgotten either --
there's a room for them in the police HQ.  It isn't in the best of shape
(apparently someone else was looking through it too), but there's a trophy
case with a Marksman trophy -- for Chirs Redfield.  Nice to see that the
plot of the first game is being well-incorporated (at least it seems that
it will be).  Finally, the game over screen is a bit nicer.  I saw someone
actually lose at the demo, and what was seen was the zombie tackling Leon,
the screen flashing white, then black, with only the zombie munching on
Leon's body.  Blood splatters up ("splattering" on the screen in 3 places)
and YOU DIED appears on the screen.  Some things shouldn't change.

Conclusion: If you liked the first one, get this.  If you were unimpressed
by the first one, you probably aren't going to want to bother.  I will be
making my pre-purchase as soon as I have money.

- Keenan Wilkie

============================================================

So I take lunch and I'm walking to Wendy's as I always do on Fridays and I
decide to stop into Software Etc. to check out the 1800 or so games that
came out this week. I walk in and my eye catches a monitor with a screen
that says 'RESIDENT EVIL 2 PREVIEW". I think to my self, EXCELLENT, it must
be a movie, so I'm watching and watching, then "PRESS START" appears, and I
quickly scan the store and spot a demo Playstation set-up in the corner,
UNATTENDED and sure enough, RE2 is on the screen. Quickly I press start,
and skipped through the intro screens..

I was the male character, I wasn't offered a choice. The game looks
fantastic 2-3 zombies on the screen at once, you start with a handgun and
15 shells, a first-aid can, and a lighter. I played for about 15-20 minutes
(no one kicked me off so.. I kept playing!!) I found 2 shotguns, some more
ammo, wacked some zombies, blew off zombies head (that one always gets a
'ooohh' from the crowd!). Well placed head-shots can kill two zombies at
once! Kind of wish I had watched the intro and or the opening sequence so I
knew what was going on... when you start there are car wrecks everywhere
and lots of flames. I quickly found a gun shop, where I loaded up on ammo
and the owner of the store is still human and alive so there's a cut-scene
dialogue which fills in a few details.

The control was kind of shaky...it seemed you could either move forward or
turn, but couldn't do both at once. It might have been just the demo
version, or bad controllers, or maybe that's how the control was in RE1 (I
forget, it's been sooo long).

The action is similar to RE1, zombies move a little faster though. I got to
the police station which looks like a giant mansion (hmmm? where'd they get
that idea?) a big open area when you walk in with a desk, an upper level
with doors, and 2 doors on the lower level, one is locked, the other has
the key to the locked one. Also a typewriter on the desk, you still use ink
ribbons and typewriters to save your progress. Zombies are bigger too,
there still some skinny ol' ones, but a bunch a cops turned zombies are big
boys!!

Before I knew it my lunch was almost over and so I rolled on out, easily
could have played the game all day though, I will have to take a vacation
from work when RE2 comes out. 

- Murph

============================================================

Bio Hazard 2 Demo came out last week with the Director’s Cut in HK and
I got to finish it in less than hour.  The Japanese version is in
English but with Japanese subtitles.

Spoilers Warning !  Do not read this if you don’t want to know the
story.








The screen introduction reads ....The real nigtmare begins two months
after the mystery of Racoon City  was solved by the STARS members.
The demo game opens with Leon a STAR officer in the middle of a zombie
filled street in Raccoon city surrounded by fire from burning cars.
The city is in ruins !  The music is dramatic and the atmosphere is
very tense.    Armed only with a knife and a 15 shot pistol he shoots
his way through eight civilian and police zombies, and runs into a
weapons store.  There is a cinematic where the owner nearly shoots him
thinking that he is a zombie.  Unfortunately, the same bad acting
dialogue in the first Res Evil is present in this version but it
didn’t spoil the excitement for me.  Leon ducts out of the back door
into an alley way, past a basketball court filled with zombies, but
luckily the gates are locked.  After seeing more of the undead he runs
towards the gates Raccoon City Police Courtyard.  There are several
overturned police cars hre with dead bodies of cops  all over the
street.  It looks like they lost the battle to hold the Police
Building from the Undead.....  

He runs into the zombie filled courtyard into the Police Headquarters,
and it is here where you will do the exploration of a few rooms on two
floors before the demo ends.  Leon will enter a few save areas with
the typewriter but will not be able to save in the demo version.  The
ending gives a fading glimpse of an attractive mysterious character.  

Some notes:
More graphic and blood thirsty zombies !
If zombie gets close enough to you it grabs your legs for its dinner. 
You can split the torso from the legs of zombie with a shotgun blast
but the torso comes after you !
Leon can hold eight items.  
If Leon gets hurt he grabs on to chest and limps.
Once a monster is killed Leon looks down at it while walking past it.
The items and weapons in your status/inventory display are not 3D like
ther first version but 2D drawn.
There’s a screen to display current weapon in use and a screen to show
a current used item.
Women zombies.
New Fleshy monsters. 
Scary events that will pop you out of your seat.
Some references and items of STARS members from the first game will be
seen.

- Patrick

If you have any comments or questions you can e-mail me at
pat49@hotmail.com