Resident Evil

"The best remake that I have ever seen!"

This game has been giving me the creeps every time I play it. The graphics are really awesome. The addition of being able to do a 180 with the C Stick was a heck of a lot easier this time around. By easier meaning being able to get away from enemies a lot quicker. Also the addition of the zombies and hunters being able to follow you just about anywhere now makes it all the more creepier. For example if you're running down a hallway for instance on the second round of the main Mansion, a hunter will come bursting through the door and try to attack you. That's how panicky you can get sometimes as it happens unexpectedly. Now the zombies following you down the stairs is what really got to me sometimes as I'll be low on health and I would see a zombie following me down the nearby stairs. The new enemy AI is kinda revamped but there are still ways around it. Now there are the addition of defense items. Both Chris and Jill can get daggers, but only Chris can get the Flashbang Grenade and Jill can only get Stun Gun batteries for her defense weapon. I think that Chris' defense item is a lot more useful than the stun gun as it eliminates the need for burning the bodies after they die as it decapitates the head. Which does save a lot of shotgun shells in the long run which he is going to need considering he doesn't get the grenade launcher or Barry's Magnum. Chris is a little short of inventory space as well as he has two spaces less than Jill and for the doors with simple locks that Jill can pick at, Chris has to find keys dubbed old key. It is a small rusting key that is used for the doors that have the simple locks to get open.

If you don't kill a zombie by decapitation or incineration, then they turn into a mean breed of zombies called Crimson Heads. They have a more aggressive behavior, have sharp talons instead of fingernails, and their moving speed is amped up considerably when they turn to Crimson Heads. Also they also have a crimson color to them and they have a green mist emitting from their mouths. Which is very helpful to spot in Invisible Enemy Mode. Also there are some new areas added to the main game and the infinite rocket launcher that you get is very sweet. It looks like a rifle type of Rocket Launcher. Which means that you can aim in all sorts of directions but sadly there is no type of explosion that makes the body go boom. It just knocks them down but for some odd reason, it blows the dogs' head off. That is about the only thing that it does blow off. There's also a very special zombie that can be unlocked. The zombie is essentially Forest Spyer. The person that Jill gets the Grenade Launcher from. Thing is though, now he is strapped with grenades. Sort of like a suicide zombie. If you even shoot him or even use a defense item on him, it will count as a game over because it will make the grenades on him explode somehow. Thing is though he will act like a normal zombie but he will be moving at Crimson Head speed.

I absolutely loved the lighting and shadow effects in this game. This is the one console game that I have seen pull it off so nicely. This game actually shows the graphical prowess of the gamecube if you ask me. Even the character model for Lisa Trevor is freakish. She really looks like a test specimen that was experimented on as a child and she is looking for her mother's body so that she can finally find some peace. Considering Umbrella disposed of her mother's body since she died from being tested on and for some reason Lisa lived on. She was also the testing subject for the Nemesis prototype. Believe it or not. She is practically invincible because of her being injected with the T-Virus, T-Veronica virus and finally being injected with the G-Virus and add to that, her absorbing of the Nemesis Prototype that they tested on her earlier. That's what makes her so invincible. She can be knocked down for approximately four to five seconds but she is back up after that. It takes three incendiary rounds from the Grenade Launcher to make her stay down for that amount of time, but there are two ways to get her off the ledge. One is to push all of the four coffin shaped stones off the edge and the other way is to actually shoot her off. But enough about that.

The weapons are pretty much the same for both characters. Except that Jill can get two exclusive weapons on her quest. Those two weapons are Barry's .44 Magnum, and Forest's Grenade Launcher. They both can get Richard's shotgun which can hold 10 shells and fires at a faster rate than the normal shotgun. Jill can get it a lot earlier than Chris can. So Jill can get 3 types of magnums in the game. The Derringer or Self-Defense gun, the .357 that you get from the grave, & Barry's magnum. Chris gets it when he is in the Aqua Ring, while Jill can get it if she helps Richard defeat the giant snake named Yawn. The only way that these two characters can get his shotgun is if they save him by retrieving a Serum that cures the victim of Yawn's poisonous snake bite. You fight this snake two times. Once in the attic where you use a key to get in the door and in a library where you get the Last Book Vol. 2 item which contains the Wolf Medal.

The details on everything is incredibly lifelike. Like when Jill and Chris are running, you can actually hear the ripples of their pants. Also as Chris if you have is first alternate outfit on, and you happen to shove a flash or launch a rocket at something, the explosion is reflected in the sunglasses that Chris is wearing! Now that is what I personally call extreme detail folks. Jill's second alternative costume is her outfit from Nemesis. Which is pretty awesome. I liked to see that outfit in this game. I at least now know what it would've looked like if Nemesis got a graphical makeover. Hehehehe. Besides invisible enemy mode, there is Real Survival which automatically set to hard, the item boxes are no longer linked to each other, hence if you leave a item in the item box before the Lisa Trevor final fight, then it stays there, it cannot be carried over to the Laboratory item box. Also there is no auto aim. Which means that you have to be really good in aiming in manual mode. The once again mode is where Forest the zombie shows up in. It is basically the same mode as you started it is just that now there is the addition of Hard on the difficulty settings. There were just Normal and Easy when you would first start a file. The zombie noises, and the hunter sounds are just wonderful and creepy at the same time. Wonderful as in perfectly pulled off and really seemed real and creepy as in scary type of creepiness. Just hearing the moaning is something that I would be running from. If a real zombie infestation really happened. Now that I think about it, Yawn kinda looks like the Bassilsk from Harry Potter but I think that Yawn would win against it don't you think? Also the hunters are more ferocious this time around. As they can decapitate your characters head and cause instant death. Good thing for those defense items, those can help you if you get into that moment when the hunter jumps on top of you and tries to decapitate your head. After you stick the hunter with the dagger or whatever else defense item you got, it is kinda funny to see the hunter try to get the dagger out or the flashbang if you are playing as Chris. Then if you planted a flashbang, you will have the pleasure of seeing the hunter die a very painful death which is always satisfying considering how much trouble that they can put you through at times. While staying on the subject of hunters, they are more life like than ever before. At some camera angles you can see their muscles move with every step that they take. It is pretty amazing if you think about it. The sound effects for stuff like water, mud, foot sounds on creaking wood, and water are all pulled off nicely. This is stuff that makes the game amazing at times.

The opening movie is more intense than ever. At least it is believable now as it is not really cheesy as the orginal was. You actually see Joseph's final moments before he is mauled to death by the dogs. You actually see his death through his camera that he was packing on his back. You see everyone who survives running in panic which is kinda cool if you like believability.

All in all, this is the best remake that I have seen since I first started to play games. Capcom pulled off this remake quite nicely. They basically made everything that was good about the original even better and redid all of the cutscenes, voice acting even the opening movie which everyone was poking at in the original. Well anyway, I am amazed at this game and I still am. This game has me coming back for more and I even plan on doing a speed run on this game. For now adios until next time.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 09/02/05