Resident Evil: Director's Cut

"Welcome to the original survival horror"

Resident Evil Director's cut is the First in the long running series of the infamous resident Evil trilogy. This is basically the first game, still focused on the Umbrella Corporation's first mistake, which soon turns out to be a super nature nightmare. The STARS team is fooled by Wesker by traveling to a remote Umbrella mansion.

Gameplay - Classic. The tank controls are actually fun to use and the games engine is quite amazing. This basically an RPG with action elements so allow
Me to explain. You press R1 to draw whatever your current weapon may be and then press X to fire/use that weapon, it works perfectly. The game also has the general attack and health point system on the enemies. And not all your attacks do full damage depending on the weapon and to what position you use it. Like an shotgun blast from afar will tear any zombie or other creature apart, but may not kill them. However, up close you will more than likely blow the creatures head off or cause major damage. All the weapons in the game are very well done. Depending on what playable character you pick you'll get things like shotguns, bazookas, .357 magnums even flamethrowers and rocket launchers. All work differently damage wise. The Bazooka also known as the grenade launcher has 3 types of ammo; acid, explosive and napalm. All in all the battle system works great. However some flaws such as not being able to attack enemies while they fall is quite annoying. The gameplay is just like an other RPG, you go and solve puzzles to gather key items so you can progress, it works perfectly.

The games balance of creatures is quite well done as well. Your going to fight every thing from Hunters (reptile bio-weapons) to the undead to garden snakes and plenty of other deformed animals and bio weapons. They all can be dangerous as works the damage system. Zombies can bite you or if they crawl, they can bite your leg. Its rather interesting. You get poisoned as well by the snakes, spiders etc. The bosses are amazing as well, you'll see everything from a Giant plant known as Plant 42 to Yawn. The boss of the game is the ultimate bio -weapon and it's down right wicked. The game's artist did such an fine job on designing these creatures that it's almost freaky. The game other wise is really straight forward. The way you heal is by use of herbs or medical first aid sprays. The Herbs are interesting because you can mix different one. There are three kinds of herbs (red, blue and green) that can form very powerful healing formulas. This also helps keep the system of surviving more immersive. All the health conditions can be seen in your status screen. Things like Fine (max health) to danger low health. I loved all the things in the game, its the first and even after finishing every single one, I still loved this one. The game delivers a good balance too as far as Unlockables go. You can earn secret weapons, separate endings as well as a few extras, Like costumes. Each character is different and that's the cool thing about RE. Jill can take less damage, hold more items and gets different weapons. As well as different cut scenes and characters to meet. The game takes them through great levels that all work to create an terrifying world. From the dark manor to the laboratory hidden deep beneath the surface, the game is pure art

A far as Violence goes, Resident Evil is as said to be, very graphic. The game starts with one of your partners getting chewed apart. Then things get worse. You find your friends all over the mansion, all in very bad shape. Ken is decapitated and half eaten, Richard is almost torn in half, and the blood just show's up everywhere. Zombies just explode in a red mist as soon as you shoot them. The violence is extreme. You can blow arms off zombies, their heads as well in an explosive of fleshy bits. Every thing from action to gruesome can be found. The game otherwise isn't too bad. Wait till' you play Resident Evil 2!

Graphics - The game looks as good as it plays. While the character models are very blocky and sketchy, the game isnt effected by it. The backgrounds and general envronments look fabulous. The games textures are much more crisp on the Playstation. The game also has the greatly improved sound track thanks to the Director's cut version, which offers new sound tracks. The game all in all is awesome. The sound is creey, the music is bone chilling and the graphics are smooth. Not only are the viusals nice, but the animation is good as well. The game is pure art. The cut scenes look very real as well and again, the games crisp looking compared to other consoles. The only negative is the lacl luster voice acting, which is laughable.

Whats new to the Director's you may wonder?

It was an extended version of the original game. The Director's Cut featured new music, and a new theme to the ending of the game. However, the largest addition to the Director's cut version was the newly added advanced mode. This mode is the same as the others, but with new costumes, weapons and the locations of the items are re-arranged. The advanced mode also has reset the locations for the enemies, and also increased the overall amount of them. Resident Evil Director's cut went on to be entered in the greatest hits library in 1998.

I love this game. Its the original and it's great. If you see this you must buy it, then go on to the next games, the series just goes uphill. I highly recommend you buy it.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/30/06