Resident Evil
Developer - Capcom
Publisher - Capcom
Players - 1
Extras - Memory card
The bit on the box
"You're dead scared. Face your fear!
A series of gory attacks in the area surrounding a remote biotech lab brings
in S.T.A.R.S. (Special Tactics and Rescue Squad) to investigate. On arrival,
Bravo Team communications are abruptly cut off. Now it's up to your team.
You arrive at the isolated mansion under-powered and on the run. Arm yourself
with anything you can find: knives, pistols, shotguns, flame-throwers -
search for hidden rounds to stay alive! There are puzzles to solve, traps
to disarm and mysteries to uncover while trying to avoid a blood-bath with
the freaks of nature that populate the mansion. Each lurking horror you
survive will bring you closer to the source of the Resident Evil."
Graphics
Resident Evil's graphics bear closest comparison
to the Alone in the Dark series of games on the PC. But even the
most aesthetically pleasing of those games does not come close to the rendered
backdrops and well animated polygonal characters that are on display in
this game. Zombies shuffle along as a zombie should (not that i've seen
a real zombie, but my brother comes close the day after a night out at
the pub) and the characters under the players control walk along believably
trying to look well hard. The creatures on offer are very imaginative,
taken from mutated versions of actual animals, and twice as deadly. The
FMV intro and ending do look a little out of place however as the rest
of the movies in the game are done in rendered graphics (which are very
nicely done).
Sound
The sound effects and music in Resident Evil really
put forward the atmosphere of being in or watching a horror movie. Although
the
voice acting is B-movie class at best (I lost track of the amount of times
the characters say "What is it??") the weapon sounds are all very effective,
and groans, screams and growls from the monsters are all suitably creepy
and frightening. As in movies of this type also, watch out when you enter
a room with no music (or when the music stops), it might be a set up for
something about to jump out at you (or in at you depending where the enemy
is hiding). If it wasn't for the great ambient sound this game would have
lost alot of it's appeal.
Gameplay
If you have played any of the Alone in the Dark
games then you know what to expect from the control system here. Pushing
the forward direction arrow makes the character move forward while the
left and right directions make him/her turn around (a bit like Tomb
Raider but without the moving camera). The control system is easy to
use but sometimes targeting with a weapon can be too pixel perfect, leading
to wasting valuable ammunition. The camera angles can be a pain sometimes
too, in some circumstances you can enter a new passage and be attacked
before you even see the creature leaping down the corridor at you, causing
loss of energy that could have been prevented. Also the longevity of the
game can be questioned, as it actually encourages you to finish the game
in under 3 hours to get a bonus weapon.
I feel a verdict coming on
Capcom have taken an ambitious step away from their usual
beat em up formula to create an exciting and compelling graphic adventure.
It will make you jump in your seat, and put real chills in your spine that
before now had not been done successfully in a video game. It is dubbed
as "survival horror" and that is pretty much the name of the game, as you
will be desperately scourging the area for ammunition and new weapons,
and also trying to carry healing items in your very limited inventory.
I have not met many people who did not enjoy this game, and even know some
people too scared to play it (they don't watch horror movies either, a
testament to Capcom for getting this just right), and have no hesistation
in saying that Resident Evil should adorn the shelf of everyone's
software collection.
Review by D.R.T.Barrett
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