There’s a fine line with nostalgia that needs to be walked with some care. The result of dabbling with it can be something special, or something lacking any real bonus over the original. The Resident Evil series is one that has fallen on both sides of this nostalgia-line - the Gamecube’s remake of Resident Evil stands as one of the best examples of a re-imagining in the history of gaming. The game had its graphical engine brought up to (at the time) modern standards, puzzles were reworked, dialogue re-recorded and generally speaking it was about 70 per cent new game.

But that seems to be where Capcom’s desire to put time and effort into their re-releases and remakes ended, as their subsequent output has been lazy, if not pushing into downright cynical territory. Resident Evil 4 on Wii was a decent enough port, but it didn’t add anything beyond taking advantage of the system’s control scheme. Now we have Resident Evil Zero; part of the Archives series which will see some older titles in the series brought back for those who missed them first time around (or those who just want to play them again, natch). And what does the Archives version of Zero bring to the table? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

That’s not to say the game has nothing going for it, mind you. RE: Zero was a decent entry to the series back in the day and there’s still fun to be had with the game all over again. It may be harder for the newcomer to appreciate, but the old hands will be right at home, jumping in shock and blasting their way through the zombie hordes for the few hours the game lasts.

Unfortunately Zero just hasn’t aged very well. It doesn’t look terrible, but the sound quality is some of the worst we’ve heard in a long time – crackly, downsampled and outright bad in places. As for the numerous mechanics we had learned to embrace and live with back then – well, we’re older, wiser and we’ve even managed to get bored of another Resi control system that was introduced in number four in the series. It’s bad form to knock something for being a product of its time, but this really is two very difficult steps back. Those of you looking for the introduction of Wii motion controls can just keep on looking – you will find nothing of the sort here. It just feels so very clunky, though there are good ideas strewn around and some groundwork for the co-op of Resi 5 rears its head on numerous occasions.

You can pick up the Gamecube version of RE: Zero – which works perfectly on Wii – for about £15 or less on eBay. This version adds nothing to 2002’s version, and has a slightly more expensive RRP, though it can be picked up for... wait for it... about £15 or less on eBay. The point: we do not know. It’s still a decent game to play (though weighed down by archaic game mechanics), but this smacks of a cynical move by Capcom and it’s not one we’re moved to encourage.