Resident Evil

Written by Adam Woolcott  on May 06, 2002

Reviews: Jill, staring down at an obvious pool of blood: УWhat is it?Ф Barry, wondering if Jill really is the master of unlocking: УIt's bloodЕI hope this is not Chris' bloodЕФ

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The control system was unique for its time - while it's old and cumbersome today, back then it was actually quite good. The Director's Cut version introduced an auto-aim that was incredibly useful for locking on to those blasted zombie dogs. You know, the ones..well if you know what I mean if you've played it.

And then of course, there was the horror end of Survival Horror. And hoo-boy, there was some scares. Yes, many other games attempted to scare you or disturb you in the past, but Resident Evil just did it that much better than the rest. While I think the newer RE games are more disturbing than scary (besides RE3: Nemesis which wasn't scary or disturbing at all..though that hospital thing..), this RE game was the skin-crawling type all the way. Thanks to the weird camera angles presented, due to the 2D, pre-rendered backgrounds, you'd never know what was waiting beyond the next corner. This especially peaks in the second half of the game, right after you fight the infamous Plant 42 (if you're unsure what I mean..Its messed up stuff). What was once a tame, zombie-infested mansion becomes a house of horrors, with giant spiders and those frog-like Hunters looking for your blood. And when they appear out of nowhere, I pretty much guarantee you'll jump in your seat. And the little sound effects like moaning zombies, walking spiders, and shuffling feet add to the ambience the game intends to deliver, which it does.

The mix of scares, puzzles, story, and action makes for a ride that is still fun to take even 6 years later, if only to remember how the Resident Evil story became what it is today.

As I said before, the visuals take a giant hit compared to even the sequel Resident Evil 2. While the pre-rendered 2D backgrounds are very nice and detailed, they aren't interactive at all, and they hinder the camera to a forced, fixed position. The character animations take the biggest hit - the sewn-on limbs look makes RE look like a puppet show at times. Though the explosions of zombie-heads look really cool. While very nice in 1996, Resident Evil's graphics today look extremely dated, even with PlayStation 2's enhancements.

As for the soundtrack and voices, one is great, and one is horrible. The soundtrack is a personal favorite of mine - the best done RE soundtrack of them all. I especially enjoy the creepy theme that plays in the Guard House/Guest Hall/Whatever area; it creates quite a tense and immediate atmosphere. While there aren't a lot of different themes to be had, all of them are very well done and fit the mood of this game to a T.

It's the voices that leave a LOT to be desired. Now, if they went and admitted that the voices were intended to be so corny and Z-movie quality (yes, we're beyond B-movie here) and laughable, I suppose I'd be okay because it would have done the job. However if they're intended to be serious, they did a terrible job of hiring actors. The classic lines like "You were almost a Jill sandwich!" "Master of unlocking" and "Is that you, Chris?" (while Jill is 5 feet away from him) take the cake for ridiculousness. Subsequent RE games improved on this aspect by a wide margin, but the ones found here are downright pitiful. Still, lots of great quotes come from it.