I finished Resident Evil 0 recently. It felt like slog at times- the removal of item boxes makes for maddening backtracking to pick up and move all the junk you were forced to drop on the floor. Having to drag that hookshot around the whole game, not knowing if you'll need it or not, really bites. It's been said before but Marcus is confusing at best. His motives aren't clearly stated and his boss fight is anti-climatic.

RE0 shares similarities to S.D. Perry's 1998 Resident Evil novel Caliban Cove insothat it features Rebecca Chambers traversing an Umbrella facility that has been overtaken by rogue scientist (also both feature chess puzzles). Like Marcus, Dr. Griffith of Caliban Cove is an amoral scientist more concerned with his own research than the motives Umbrella (also both really hate Bill Birkin). I think it would have helped give Marcus some more credibility if they pulled more from Griffith, and made him a famous scientist who's work Rebecca was already familiar with. Honestly though, I doubt anything could be done to make this opera singing, Final Fantasy looking boy seem scary (or interesting for that matter).

I'll admit when Wesker and Birkin popped up I cheered a little but ultimately, their involvement is really pointless. The game presents the boys like they'll be pulling strings behind the scenes but they really do nothing of note. Birkin (and his dumb mustache) say he'll go to the basement of the training facility to set the self destruct then we never see him again. The place explodes so we have to assume he was successful- but that means this little nerd was sneaking around just out of sight dodging zombies and Eliminator Apes and then managed to get out before the place exploded- I just don't buy it. Ultimately they're only there to be a part of Marcus's muddled revenge motive and the fact they just vanish from the narrative muddles things even further.

Some people seem to be really bothered by Rebecca going from competent badass to the frightened girl we meet in REmake. Caliban Cove being set between RE1 and RE3 was the right move as it lets Becca build on the experience she gained in the Mansion Incident. Like many other things in RE0, it being a prequel muddies things. But I'm not really bothered by Becca's continuity- she's going from the frying pan and into the fire. It's been a long night, day, and night for Rebecca Chambers- you'd freak out too.

Also, I really love Billy. Even though he's (another) solider, being an escape con makes him different enough from other RE protagonists that I find him refreshing. I'd place him up next to Joe Baker (RE7: End of Zoey) as a delightfully atypical player character. Too bad Billy trips and dies as soon as the game ends and we never see him again RIP.