"When will the madness stop!?"

This game was first released for the Dreamcast a few years ago. This is the fourth release of the game and nothing new has been added. The graphics might have been slightly updated but that's it.

Story 8
Claire goes to Europe in search of Chris, her brother. But she gets captured and is put in Prison. She is then released and this is where the mayhem begins. You are let go and told you have no chance. You have to somehow get off an island infested with zombies, dogs, hunters (Giant Frogs), Bandersnatches and the super, always there TYRANT! There is also the story of Alfred and Alexia Ashford which is very strange and quite disturbing. I won't spoil anything.

Sound 8
Excellent sounds. Everything from the moans of a zombie to the pop of the handgun. Voice acting is great. There is one flaw though. It sounds like the shotgun in this game sounds exactly the same as the shotgun in the PS version of the original RE. Everything else is great. Even the different sounds your feet make on different surfaces.

Graphics 7
Long gone are the pre-rendered backgrounds with 3D characters on 2D backgrounds. We now see fully polygonal backgrounds where the camera will often pan around so you can actually see what is around the corner. The real standout is the lighting effects. The detail is just phenomenal.

Gameplay 10
Excellent! Extremely fun to play. With a wide variety of weapons to take down enemies, the game doesn't get repetitive. Also a lot of puzzles to keep you entertained the whole way through. The atmosphere will get you scared. The lack of atmosphere will get you scared! Once again Extremelly fun.

Lastability 10, Replayability 2
People often put this as one category by going ''Lastability/Replayability'' but they are two different things. Lastability talks about how long it will last and replayability is how fun it is to play over and over again. This is a REALLY long game. I consider myself to be good at Resident Evil and my first time through it ttok me 16 and a bit hours, hence the name of the review ''When will the madness stop!?''. But let me warn you, it doesn't have much replayability. There are no alternate endings although I must say the ending is very good. You might not want to play the game through many times but might like to keep reloading your save before the final boss just to beat it again to the ending over again. You won't be disappointed.

Rent or Buy
I choose buy. I didn't rent this game and I was not disappointed with my purchase. This game sucked a good 30 hours out of my life from the battle game and main story. I didn't mention it before but there is a battle game after the game is completed (no matter what time you get). There are 5 characters to choose from (most difficult to easiest): Wesker, Steve, Claire normal, Claire (skimpy Bikini), Chris.

Overall a great game, hope this review helped.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/26/04