Resident Evil: Director's Cut

"A classic horror b-movie experience"

Resident Evil Director's Cut is an Action\Adventure developed by Capcom. I will say three things at fast forward and then move on with the actual review. 1.The game is overrated and not scary, 2.I don't like horror b-movies but I liked THIS horror b-game, 3.This version of Resident Evil is a typical example of how can a company make money without actually doing anything of value.

Story: 6/10

The game follows the steps of 2 heroes of an elite police in their quest to save their lost comrades in an old Mansion in a deserted area of the imaginary town Raccoon City. Upon arriving at the Mansion you are attacked by a strange wolf-like monster and enter the mansion only to find that things are worse inside. From there on starts your quests of unraveling the mystery of the appearance of the monsters and of course your struggle to survive. First of all the game isn't mysterious at all and everything becomes crystal clear after the second or third piece of evidence your lay your hand on. Everything is predictable and most of all, the plot twists near the end of the game. However the presentation is quite decent and I particularly enjoyed reading all these scattered notes found throughout the game. Bear in mind that the whole game looks like a good b-movie, so don't expect a sophisticated and mysterious storyline with realistic characters and all, this game is for those people that enjoy these old, low budget horror films that where more funny than scary and that's what RE is about, an entertaining b-movie.

Graphics: 6.6/10

While looking old, (and the ARE old), the graphics of Resident Evil are quite good and have the right style. Models in the game are very simple compared to the next 2 RE games but don't actually look bad although they are not very smooth and have simple textures full of visible pixels. However everything looks as its supposed too, like zombies and giant insects to strange mutations and big monsters. The designs of the monsters aren't something original but as I've said this game has a pure b-movie look. The backgrounds though are much better since they aren't 3D but 2D images rendered directly from 3D scenes. They are quite dark something that may annoy some people but they create the right atmosphere of the game and make each area stand out. Finally a no substantial thing that has been added in this version is the use of different camera angles in certain areas something doesn't really help the game.

Sound: 7.8/10

People praise all the time RE for being so damn scary, but I would describe it more as cheesy. In the sound section though things get a lot creepier. Eerie music themes full of orchestral strings that in some occasions create a VERY spooky feeling and finally the ambient sounds like footsteps of a monster that draws near or the howling of wolves outside the building. So far so good but now its time to talk about the legendary voice acting of Resident Evil. Its one of these occasions where something is so incredibly bad, that it is actually good, (something b-movie funs love and understand more easy). Prepare yourselves for the worse acting of your life, something that will either make you wanna break the controller on your screen or just laugh until your stomach hurts!

Gameplay: 6.6/10

RE is a third person Action\Adventure game where you kill bad guys and occasionally solve a puzzle or two. Those of you who expect something special forget it, puzzles in console games have always been quite easy and only served as time killers and monotony breakers while playing a game that was mainly an action one, so puzzles are of the use-the-right-item-in-the-correct-and-obvious-place variety, so let's talk more about the action part. You move your character with the back and forth buttons and rotate them with the right\left ones, a control style that may annoy the typical directional button gamer who usually plays Metal Gear Solid and things like that. I personally have no real problem with that but take note that your hero isn't the faster of fellows, because in order to run away from danger you have to slooowly rotate him and THEN start running, something that can be almost suicidal in certain parts of the game like boss fighting. In order to shoot you raise your gun by pressing the R button and shoot. Now here is the second and most important addition in the Director's Cut version. Instead of manually aiming you now have the ability to auto aim in the closest enemy a feature that almost every game of its kind now has.

Along your quest you'll find some only a few weapons but that's not something bad since RE isn't Doom, here you must be careful with your ammunition because you want find a large amount of them. The main weapon is your berretta then a shotgun that is useful in group killing, a grenade launcher with 3 kinds of ammunition and an extremely powerful revolver that kicks major zombie booty. You'll also find many items that will aid you in your quest like herbs that heal you and can be mixed in order to create a more powerful healing object. For example a red herb does nothing on its own but mixing it with a normal green herb you multiply the healing power. One big problem in the game is the limited inventory space. If it was only for ammo and weapons it wouldn't be a problem but quest items pile in your inventory and force you to run to the closest save area to unload them in order to pick up a single herb or a key you need.

Resident Evil although a good game isn't so good as people say, (and wasn't the first of its kind either). It's good but not SO good. Its not extremely easy but its not challenging either and most of all its quite linear. When talking about replay value RE offers 2 playable characters that don't really have great differences between them and multiple endings that aren't really that great. However in Director's cut two new difficulty modes have been added that may enhance the game a bit.

Positives:
-Great B-movie atmosphere
-The Auto-Aim addition
-Good music and sounds
-Voice acting that is so bad that it becomes entertaining
-2 characters and multiple endings
-2 more difficulty modes

Negatives:
-The control style may disappoint some people
-The limits of the inventory
-Voice acting that can't be worse
-Typical story

Also Play:
Alone In The Dark: The New Nightmare (PC)
Resident Evil 2 (PS & PC)
Resident Evil 3 (PS & PC)
Resident Evil (PS & PC)
Silent Hill (PS & PC)
Silent Hill 2 (PS2 & PC)
Silent Hill 3 (PS2 & PC)

Highly Recommended:
Resident Evil 0 (GC)

Overall: 6.7/10

Surely a classic game, but it has more historical\collective value than and doesn't worth so much as an actual game, not that it is bad but it just isn't so good as the gaming press and most fans out there tend to say. Find it at a next-to-zero price only to take a look at it and then play its sequels that are far better…

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/10/08

Game Release: Resident Evil: Director's Cut (EU, 12/10/97)