Look again at the encounter in the gun shop, a scenario clearly devised to replenish your ammo stocks and introduce some of the weaponry you'll later get to wield. Trapped behind the counter as zombies pour in, frantically blasting away at the horde that just won't stop coming, it's as potent a realisation of what makes the undead so unnerving as you're ever likely to play.
Claire Redfield was originally going to be Elza Walker, a new character with no connection to the existing characters. By the time you reach the police station itself - the point where the first game effectively began - you're already exhausted, on edge and probably in desperate need of a health spray or green herb. You're engaged, an active participant with a clear and pressing goal. There's quiet ingenuity too in the choice of a police station to get the story rolling. What better way to establish the stakes than to reveal that the very heart of law and order has been torn out and devoured?
Nobody is surprised when a spooky old mansion gets overrun with monsters, but when a well-armed police force is lost to the darkness? As Martin Lawrence so wisely said, s*** just got real. While the game introduced much that was new, Capcom's incremental approach to evolution meant that Resident Evil 2 didn't shake off all the original game's clunky elements. The interminable door openings that tried to mask the chugging loading times. The awkward inventory that made reloading your gun a fumble.