Gameplay
     The game folds out like this, a secluded mansion in Racoon City has been the test site of top secret biotech experiments for several years, funded by the company Umbrella. Then, reports from scientists stop coming in and gory attacks start happening around the area. In response to this the Alpha and Bravo teams, of the S.T.A.R.S. team, are sent to investigate.  But the Bravo team quickly vanished and the Alpha team is sent to find them, and once again they all vanish except for Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, and a few lucky (or unlucky) others, that's where you start. You play as Chris or Jill, using hundreds of items throughout this 3D Action-Adventure game to protect yourself and solve puzzles to find out what's going on.  You start out the game with a single weapon, but can quickly find tons of other high detail guns from shotguns to Rocket Launchers. Each weapon inflicting it's own unique level and style of damage, of course. As with all adventure games, it's a must that you utilize your weaponry and items well or you'll wind up with as little skin as your killer. One change to the new Resident Evil is the placement of ammo in the game. You'll now have a much more difficult time locating ammo in the game now, which forces you to strategize more on your usage of weaponry. Not only does the shortage of ammo make the game more difficult, but the ability to drop items wherever and whenever you want has also been removed. Instead, you now have to locate designated Item Boxes, which can be used for storing unwanted, or unneeded items. This forces you to decide which items you will need to take with you, and which items can be left behind. But in order to carry around or store items in the item box you have to find them. Most important items in the game glisten with a white flash to draw your attention to it, but there are also a lot of hidden items that you may spot in the corner, or just happen to press "A" over. But what good are weapons and ammo if you have nothing to use them on? There are plenty of human zombies, zombie dogs, mutant sharks, and other monsters waiting to infect you with the T-Virus. And a new feature to the game are the "Crimson" Zombies. They are regular zombies that have already been killed, and then come back to life a few hours later, stronger, faster, and scarier. The only to finish off a crimson zombie is by either lighting them on fire, or blowing off their head.
     Now as your probably aware, one of the biggest parts of the Resident Evil series are there challenging puzzles, and there's certainly no shortage of them in this version. They ranger for small and pointless, to elaborate and very difficult. Most puzzles involve one or more items that you find throughout the mansion by chance or by completing smaller puzzles. Some items are puzzles within themselves, forcing you to go to your item screen and examine the item more closely. You may find a switch, or combine two or more items together to trigger an event. So while the core gameplay remains unchanged, some of the major areas that were changed create a brand new gaming experience.

Graphics
     The original Resident Evil was known as being one of the single most frightening games ever made. But as of late, the series has drifted away from it's horror styling, says Capcom. But they feel that with the GameCube's graphical capabilities they can get back to the original horror gaming feel. All of the creepy mansion locations and frightening monster have returned (and then some), with more detail then ever, making it a more frightening gaming experience than ever! In the new GCN version you'll see more variation in your enemies, not just the same one over and over again. For example, there are now several different kinds of zombies, like both civilians and scientists. One of the most exciting things about Resident Evil is that the original creator of the franchise, Shinji Mikami, is leading the production of Resident Evil GCN. He has basically gutted out the old graphics systems, and replaced it with a new beautiful, and life-like graphics system. Resident Evil already looks to be the most realistic and frightening video games ever made.  Hundreds of thousands of special effects have been added to the new version. Everything from shadows changing by a wall's texture to water splashing from foot steps.  One thing that has improved greatly over the original version are the blood effects. In the original blood would just blast out in all direction with little realism, but in the new one the blood can squirt out with incredible realism. Blood can hit the walls and drip down, or soak into the already filthy carpet. While the game uses pre-rendered backdrops, just as the original did, they have been totally revamped giving it an even more impressive look. Since pre-rendered backdrops require such a small amount of the GameCube's energy, there is still much power left for player, enemy, and other overlapping polygon models to look fantastic. 
     One area of Resident Evil that can make the game loads more frightening, can also make fighting enemies way more difficult. I'm talking about the camera system of course. Cameras in Resident Evil are set up from unusually positions in a room or hallway to create a more spooky mood. Cameras are placed in such area like the bottom of a staircase looking up, or at the end of a long hallway to create a long shadow across the floor. But when it comes time to filling zombies with led, you may have trouble seeing them, or sometimes, even knowing where there at. But because of pre-rendered backgrounds, there's little that could be done to change them, but you should get used to them after a while.

Sound and Control
     The sounds in Resident Evil also didn't go without changes, most background noises have be totally redone. There are no sounds for everything you do in the game, from walking on plywood, to grass, all the way to blood and guts. And to add to the suspense, music scores build and build, only for you to find nothing there, and other times you'll hear complete silence, and then suddenly a dog breaks through a window, or a zombie smashes open a door.
      The controls of Resident Evil are of much debate in the gaming community. Because of the pre-rendered backdrops and camera angles, a control scheme had to be set up to make travel and combat easier. Unfortunately it has quite a few flaws. You move your character with the analog stick, press "R" to go into an attack mode where, by pressing "A", you will fire or attack with whatever weapon you have equipped at the time. When in attack mode, you press up or down to aim up or down, respectively. Since theres no specific mark when firing up or down, the bullets tend to sway to the target, mostly for small targets like bees and birds. Many people who don't care for the default control scheme (not me!), have the option of two other ones, a popular one seems to be Control Type C. Check it out if your having trouble with the default one.

Overall
     All in all, when you've killed all the zombies, and solved all the puzzles at the end of the game, I guarantee you that you'll be more than satisfied with the game. And the game doesn't stop there. There are 10 different endings, bonus weapons, and much more. This "new" Resident Evil is a totaly different experience from the original Playstation version. So if you've played the original, you'll still get a ton of enjoyment out of this game, and if you haven't played the original, then I strongly suggest you buy this one now!

MY RATING:  9.2
By: Alex Zman

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