By the default Japanese controls, X is the run button and it also serves as the special ability button if you're in the "ready" position (otherwise known as drawing a weapon in the previous RE games). George will tackle an enemy (it's a charge move so the longer you hold it, the stronger it is), Kevin will kick, while Yoko crawls and so on. Aside from the button activated ability, each character has additional abilities/unique characteristics as well (some more than others). To give you a better idea, Yoko has a backpack so she can carry 8 items at a time, while Kevin and Alyssa have a sharp shooting ability and Mark handles melee weapons well. George arguably has the most useful ability of preparing the pills that stop the spread of the virus by combing an herb with a medical kit he has.

Melee weapons are plentiful in the game, varying in sizes and durability. They do receive realtime damage and once they're completely worn out, your character simply throws it at the enemy. Perhaps the biggest, though very subtle change is that the weapon drawing button (R1 or R2) is basically the "ready" position button, so if you hold it without equipping a weapon, the special abilities still work and pressing the fire/action button will result in a tackle. That applies to all character but it's not as strong as George's special move tackle, though it does make thing more comfortable when you're trying to conserve ammo, or if you haven't found a weapon yet. It's worth noting that with the exception of Kevin, every other character starts off without any weapons.

As far the communication aspect goes, the game has a preset list of sentences for each character that can be used both offline and online. The square button triggers the "random" comments including the occasional chuckles, while the right analogue stick is used for more specific lines: Tap the stick to the left to trigger a cry for help, right for a "thanks" line, up to order partners to move, down to shout out a sentence to get out of an area as a group (e.g. "Let's go!" complete with a hand signal). The not-so hidden R3 command is simply for obnoxious comments such as "Your timing sucks!" and "Your worst than my ex-wife".

As far as visuals go, the game won't disappoint, especially when you consider the fact that it had to be designed with the limitations of an online infrastructure. The game is fully realtime with some great high resolution textures that make up very convincing and detailed environments; in fact, those are some of the best textures on the PS2 surpassing those of SH2 and 3. The environments are very detailed, and aren't far behind pre-rendered quality, and at certain points, they are combined with some streaming FMV. The game was designed with a different approach than the SH games with lots of prelighting and shadows in the backgrounds to allow the best possible resolution (on the realtime textures) to mimic the pre-rendered look (undoubtedly an approach that's used in RE4 as well). The SH games rely on the other hand dynamic shadows and lighting. Both approaches provide nice results without a doubt, but as far as pure eye candy goes, I'd have to give a nod to the first one. There are volumetric effects that are among the most realistic seen in a video game. The character models are equally impressive, and the designers managed to create extremely realistic looking character from fewer polygons (than an offline game).

What impresses the most is that the game has the best animations seen in the series; every character has his/her own unique set of animations (for the most part), and they're very fluid. The enemies are well animated as well, but the character animations really outshine them. It's worth noting that the running speed is similar to the recent Gamecube games, so it's slower, more realistic running and the speed varies from one character to another. In addition to that, the "blur" filter used in the GC games is back as well, perhaps to add polish to the overall image quality; the game does have the best image quality on the PS2 with very little artifacts. However, the visuals aren't without any flaws as there is a noticeable clipping problem with the characters and enemies, and some low resolution textures in the fifth scenario that stick out. Once in a while, you'll encounter a momentary lag in certain stages with volumetric effects; otherwise, the game runs a very consistent frame rate (30 fps). To a minor extent, it's a bit disappointing that there is no progressive scan or widescreen support; we'll just have to wait for BH 4 for that.

The intro CG movie is extremely well done with some stylish directing, and the quality is excellent as well but certainly not on par with the Onimusha series CG. The rest of the CG movies are a mixed bag, and vary in quality from one scenario to another (since each scenario had a different director), but the overall quality is good though not spectacular.

The audio in the game is excellent all around. The enemy, door, and menu sounds are all recycled from RE3, but the samples are much crisper now, though the highlight of the game's audio is the new set of effects. Almost every character has unique footstep sounds (separate for walking and running) and they're extremely crisp much like the footstep sounds in the cut scenes of MGS2. There are also unique sounds for drawing/reloading weapons (not unlike MGS2) as well as crisp environmental sounds such as wind etc. The music in the game is well done as well, though it lacks variety in some stages; the game's theme and ending tracks earn high marks for being very memorable. With all this, it's a pity that the game doesn't support any form or surround sound, but we have yet to see a BH game to do so; again, one can only hope that BH4 will be mixed for Pro Logic II setups.