way better than Doom, Doom II: Hell on Earth, Quake, and likely other alumni. also way better than many games aping it and its peers: Dusk, Prodeus, and so on. it's actually kind of surprising how good it is, actually, given details regarding its production. is way harder than any of the aforementioned games. that can largely be pinned on something of a signature and infamous feature: the Cultists (and Fanatics): a common mook, the second monster met, is a fairly long-range high-damage shotgun hitscanner, with an elite tommy gun counterpart. they can't really be dodged or outranged, and they kill faster than an enemy first met in the penultimate episode. their presence alters the first-person-shooting on a close-to-if-not fundamental level, requiring peeking and pre-firing given that every half-second spent around a corner could cost ~50 health. learning how to counter them is counterintuitive and excruciating but rewarding; it's something special and not a sort of experience that would be replicated in the genre for around two decades.

there are only two real issues. first, the use of bullet-sponge boss enemies as recurring enemies after their boss fights -- boss fights which aren't even good. second, some maps (more parts of maps) are relatively and needlessly labyrinthine, bordering on reminiscence to contemporaries, but this is basically a nitpick in the face of largely above-par level design.

is [sort of] to Resident Evil what Metroid Fusion is to Super Metroid. that is to say, the game is a lot more linear than it's immediate predecessor, or at least feels more linear. also much easier and much shorter, despite sporting higher enemy density and taking place over a larger diegetic area. perhaps for all of if not strictly those reasons, the game is worse. the loop of 1 wherein one attempts to make the most of each of their dangerous saves to the end of conserving ink ribbons is gone in spirit if still technically present; combat is too easy and ink ribbons are too plentiful, and the structure of the world means you'll rarely be using the same typewriter twice if you are over-conserving due to lingering instincts from the previous game (as i did). you're given multiple weapons (at least as Claire) that you don't even really need and will have plenty of ammo for by the time the game ends.

still, like Fusion, it's ultimately a good game; the most notable improvement relative to 1 being that the dialogue writing and voice acting are vastly improved to the point where you no longer notice how comically bad it is, though it is still often on-the-nose or stilted. another is that the aesthetics are even more on point here: the pre-rendered environments far more detailed, especially noticeable in the introductory alleyways of the city, and Birkin is gross in a way 1 never was.