Darkness and desperation... and that’s just the reviewer!
Resident Evil first came out on the original PlayStation console, wowing gamers with excellent (for the time) graphics and actual scary moments. It is this game that we’re looking at here, basically the same, except with a few extra bits added on and a complete graphical facelift. Now the levels look much, much grimmer, and the characters look so much more realistic than the originals. Everything has loads more detail and to some may even look like a completely different game altogether.
Control freak
Because this is a conversion of the original game, the backgrounds are still pre-rendered, rather than being full 3D like the Dreamcast and PS2 game, Resident Evil – Code: Veronica. And because of the pre-rendered backgrounds and the way each scene cuts into the next, the push-up-to-walk-forward-and-push-to-the-side-to-rotate control method that is getting very, very tedious in Resident Evil games now, has to remain. Using the analogue stick to guide your character as he or she runs down corridors results in a humorous side-to-side wall-bumping effect that no human being with a normal sense of direction would ever recreate, even blind drunk on cheap cider.
Whilst this is mildly humorous to watch and indeed laugh at when writing a review, the control method is not funny for long. It soon starts costing you your life, as the inept method of turning around and dodging between zombies just doesn’t work well enough.
Lightning flashes and swaying lights get your heart pumping and the gruesome, rotting, bloodied look of the zombies and their groaning noises, really puts the boot in.
But get past the frustration and you will find a thrilling game. The fact that it looks so nice and everything is so well presented is the major plus. Little graphical niceties such as lightning flashes and swaying lights cause enough unsettling moments to get your heart pumping and the gruesome, rotting, bloodied look of the zombies and their obtuse groaning noises, really puts the boot in. More fun still is when you can get hold of some serious weaponry, at which point you start blasting the heads off of anything that approaches you.
Adding some sense of realism is the way in which your characters have limited means for carrying useful items, like the aforementioned weaponry and keys and herbs. Combining items is a useful trick to gain an extra block of storage space. For instance you can combine a gun magazine with a gun, essentially filling the gun up, or you can mix herbs used to heal your wounds, together so they are more powerful. Adding to the tactical elements are the boxes littered around the levels that allow you to store some of these items for use later. Should you have sufficient energy and a mass of herbs you can place them here for use later.
A close save
Along the same lines as these is the method for saving your game. You can’t do it when you like, it’s reliant on your being near a typewriter and having some typewriter ribbon on you as well. Over use of the ribbon will result in you not being able to save and if you happen to die after trekking over much ground and after picking up many items it can be the most annoying, heart crushing experience ever. It’s enough to make you give up on the game altogether.
Resident Evil is a fairly give up quickly or replay again and again sort of game. Should you ever finish it you may well want to do it again, this time using less saves and conquering it all in a quicker time, however falling foul to many of the game’s harsh puzzles or infuriating control moments and you may well give up, forcing the game to the back of the gaming shelf or even exchanging it for something else. Which would be a shame, because Resident Evil does have the content and the substance to still truly amaze, especially with its new face-lift. It may be a conversion of very old game, but that old game was one of the best and so is this.
If in doubt, just look at those graphics!
GAME's Verdict
- Looks amazing.
- Home to some of the most gripping and intense gameplay around.
- Presentation and cut-scenes are excellent.
- Essentially the same as the other Resident Evil games.
- Control method is clumsy.
- Can be frustrating.
Review by: Jay 'Jill Sandwich' Filmer
Review Published: 10.02
Published: 21/03/2003
Comments