"The game that has revived the Resident Evil Series"

Having played the original (well, its Gamecube remake), Resident Evil 0, 2 and 3, I was excited about this game, and was quick to get it when I saw it in the shops. I was not disappointed.

Gameplay - 10/10

This is great, and is an improvement on the previous ones. Rather than the somewhat linear format of some recent games, this one involves a large amount of backtracking between the various areas to get different items. For example, at the start you will be constantly going back and forth between a military base, a prison camp and a mysterious residence.

For the first half of the game, you will be playing as Claire Redfield, recognisable from Resident Evil 2 and then the action will switch to Chris Redfield, from the original. Both characters go around virtually the same areas, making it sound a bit like the "A and B game" style of Resident Evil 2, but it's more interesting than that - especially as in Chris' game, you get to open up new areas.

The enemies seem less repetitive than before; as well as the classic zombies and dogs, there are new enemies, such as Bandersnatches, which have some impressive manoeuvring abilities, allowing themselves to stretch their arms out at you, which can be very alarming when one attacks you from off screen.

Bosses are mainly impressive, although one particular one is a little disappointing as it remains in water and won't go near you if you stay on land to shoot it. Others are more impressive, including a boss who has large tentacle-like arms that can actually throw you to your death (a first for the Resident Evil series).

There are some puzzles, but they are less annoying and time-consuming than the ones in Resident Evil 3 (for example), but they are still interesting. At one point, you are given a logic puzzle with the only clues being a series of pictures of members of a family and some text explaining which order to press in. There are some old bosses that are revived, notably the Tyrants from the original (there is an incredibly intense tyrant fight at one point where is seems virtually impossible not to end up seriously injured because the play space is so small).

Unlike the other games, there is only one difficulty setting, which is good in the sense that there is no ridiculously easy mode, which effectively means this game can be harder than the previous ones; I actually had to restart my game halfway through because I was very low on ammunition. My one complaint is that, like with Resident Evil 2, you have to press A to go up and down stairs, which seems somewhat unnecessary.

Graphics - 9/10

The graphics are an improvement on 2 and 3, but not quite up to the quality of the original remake, or the incredibly sharp graphics seen in Resident Evil Zero. The characters are very realistic looking, and at one point I actually forgot I was looking at an animation. Like in previous games, there is a lot of attention to detail, having various objects lying around the place.

There is one cinema in the game that I found to be genuinely scary, but that I will not spoil for you.

Story - 10/10

Well, frankly it is more interesting than some of the other games in this series (a character or characters encounters zombies and has to escape from them while finding out about the research carried out by Umbrella). In this version, there are interesting villains - one of them an old enemy (who now has amazing powers, though it's not exactly clear what their relevance to this game is, and a new bad guy, who is actually a lot more three-dimensional than the traditional style villain. There are a couple of enormous plot twists that will astonish you considerably, and probably make you look at one character in a new light.

The only problem for me is that the ending cinema goes on for way too long. I genuinely thought I was about to end up in another fight, only for Chris and Claire to then make their escape.

Sound - 7/10

It's generally the same as before; there isn't a great amount of music, but when there is, it is good. The voice acting is also great and very believable (even when a certain character starts talking in a fake female voice), and the main villain of this game really should have Queen's Killer Queen as a theme - it just seems to fit somehow.

Replay Value - 9/10

Like all Resident Evil games, you will want to play again and again, to improve your performance and unlock new things. There is a very enjoyable mode that can be unlocked where you are walking through a number of rooms in the game, killing enemies - and this can be done in both the traditional style and first person view. Each character has different weapons and faces a different boss at the end.

Final Verdict - Buy

If you are a fan of the Resident Evil Series, you'll love this.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/04, Updated 10/17/05