Written By Shaun McCracken
Resident Evil is a bit of a suprise in some ways. First off, the series is
GCN exclusive for some time, due to a deal between Nintendo and Capcom back in
2001. Second, instead of just a mere port of the most recent RE, which was Code
Veronica X on the PS2, Capcom went back to the first game in the series and
gave it a major graphical overhaul. While sticking to the pre-rendered visuals
that was a mainstay for the majority of the series' run, rather than having a
camera follow design in Code Veronica, RE still manages to pull of the most
amazing visuals on any console so far. But the fact that it's pre-rendered gives
Capcom a little less merrit for it's efforts. The game, in a way, still plays
like a point and click adventure. You can move, but the scenery can't really
be touched. I admire the game's look, but it's interactivity is still pretty
low. But that's not the worst thing about the game.
Before we get into details, a little about the game's story (or premise).
Back in 1998 (although the game was orignially made in 1996), members of the
S.T.A.R.S. squad investigates a mysterious occurance in a mansion outside
Raccoon City. After the helicopter goes down, squad members find horribly mutated
dogs chasing after them, and their only refuse is that mansion. After entering
the mansion, you search for clues of what's going on, and keep yourself alive from
the evil within.
Now, on to the gameplay. It still plays like it did back in 1996. Unlike some
games, this ISN'T a good thing. In fact, I think the control design has worsened,
either by redesigning the game or by comparing it to other games in this genre.
If you need to run from zombies, which are even more ballsy and aggressive than
they have ever been, you shouldn't have to whip your character around 180 degrees
and try to figure out how to run. For a "Survival Horror" game, correct controls
and precise movement is neccesary for survival. Rather than calling the control
schemes A, B, or C; be more realistic and call them "Run Into Enemy", "Run In
Circles" or "Hope You Make It!". This is the worst facet of the game. As for
design, it's kind of limited. You can't explore the enviornments here like you
can in Silent Hill 2. You're limited to where you can go, and limited to what
you can interact with. Not much can be affected by the player, other than certain
objects that should be moved. While it seems limited, it's by no means awful.
I've seen worse designs in gameplay than this, so RE shouldn't fear too much.
I wish it would have been more like Code Veronica, but then it wouldn't be one
of the best looking games around, woudln't it?
The graphics are top notch, although having pre-rendered backgrounds seems
like cheating in a way. But if you compare these pre-rendered models to the past
PS1 or DC Resident Evil games, the GCN's visuals are miles ahead of what was
done in the past. The pre-rendered visuals are now in high-resolution, and even
include some nice effects with lighting through video layering. If you've ever
played Fear Effect, then you know how the backgrounds were all in FMV. Here, some
backgrounds are, while others are static. The FMV backgrounds do add visual depth,
and make the game less static than it used to look. And I love the character
models. By far, these are some of the most realistic people I have ever seen
in a videogame. While some designers tend to do some work on the face, and then
just give them flat looking clothes, the entire body and outfits are modeled
and textutred nicely. My only complaint is that the characters don't really
show any facial emotions while playing (just in FMV). Other than that, this
game does look fantastic.
The sound also shines pretty well here as well. While it doesn't use any
Dolby Surround encoding (I don't think Capcom ever has used Dolby in their games),
the sound is still very good and does sound three-dimentional. The voice acting
is marginal. It's not nearly as bad as it used to be, but the actors seem uninspired
by the screenplay. Then again, the actors in the RE movies seemed the same way.
Still uses sound to it's advantage for frightening moments, and often is done
successfully.
If I made RE seem a little negative, that wasn'y my intention. It's still
a very good, very playable and a pretty challenging game. The game looks fantastic,
and it looks better than ever. Also, since everything has been moved around,
and that new things have been added, it does feel like playing a different RE
game. I never quite liked the first game in the series, and never got too far
into it, but now it feels like it's the RE that was meant to be. Some things
are placed better, and is designed better than the first time around, and it
just looks a lot better. A remake well worth checking out, but as it being the
best "survival horror" game, it still has a way to go to catch up with the
better. Recommended? Sure.
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Resident Evil
