Resident Evil

"Still fun after all these years"

Capcom's Resident Evil series is one of the most widely known gaming series in the business. There are now tons of Resident Evil games on tons of systems that are still spawning spin offs and sequels to this day. With the series now delving into the realm of the action genre, it's refreshing to go back and play the original survival horror style of gameplay and experience what the series originally intended.

Resident Evil was one of the first console survival horror games that came to us over a decade ago. It's well known for its creepy atmosphere, unfounded puzzles, and voice acting so bad that it makes you want to wear earplugs while you play. However, for some reason it all comes together very well, and ends up being a fun experience regardless of whether or not you find the subject matter scary.

I for one don't think the Resident Evil games are scary at all. If you want a game that will instill fear, then play the original Clock Tower on Playstation, that game is terrifying. Resident Evil more or less straddles the line between an action game and a puzzle solving game. Each method of play compliments the other very well, and you are left with a game that doesn't make you blow away endless hordes of zombies all the time, but a game that will have you searching for clues to solve puzzles, and dispatching zombies and monsters when you come across them.

This requires a bit of ammo conservation, some smart item management skills, and quite a bit of backtracking. You will need to find keys to open inaccessible areas, and you will also need to keep you weapon at the ready since you never know when a monster is going to pop out and try to make you one of the living dead, or just lop your head off.

That's about enough for my intro. Most people already know what this game is about and have been through it like 50 times, much like I have, so I'll get to my review.

Graphics 8/10

In order for Capcom to make a freaky survival horror game, the visuals must be a bit unsettling, and Capcom has mostly done a good job with this. Resident Evil drops 3D character models into pre-rendered backgrounds for some pretty good results. The character models are very “Playstation era”, and lack details on the characters' faces and they look pretty pixelated. Despite this, the animations on the characters are pretty good.

The game mostly takes place in an old mansion that is prolifically overrun with zombies, zombie dogs, and many other types of lurking monsters. The pre-rendered backgrounds do a great job of obscuring your view so it's difficult to tell what's around the corner, often leading to a surprise confrontation with a monster.

The enemy models are gruesome, and offer some different tactics to take down. The zombies kind of wander around randomly and this provides you with plenty of time to map out their demise, but the zombie dogs will attack quickly and force you to stay on your toes and make haste when dealing with them. I think the most interesting monsters in Resident Evil are the Hunters. Hunters are introduced into the game about half way through, and are much harder to deal with than the standard zombies. They can run at you extremely fast, jump your gunfire, and slash you to ribbons in seconds if you are not careful.

Overall, the game maintains an eerie feel graphically, and even though the graphics lack details, they seem to fit in well with the style of the game.

Sounds and Music 8/10

Resident Evil really delivers with an inconsistent music style that often has you walking in silence, but plays some creepy tunes in certain areas. The track list is not huge, but it doesn't really need to be. You will be more focused on the game than the music, but the music does a great job of conveying a dreary mood.

The sound effects are excellent. Zombies moan as they lunge for your jugular, dogs crash through windows and lash out at you, and the footsteps of the Hunters simply cannot be ignored when you run into one.

You can find a wide range of weaponry in the game. The basic weapons are a Baretta, a shotgun, a bazooka, and a Colt Python. Each weapon is good for taking out certain enemies, and learning which weapons to use on which enemies will help with your ammo conservation. The bazooka has different sound effects based on what type of rounds are in it, and the shotgun sounds great as it blasts through the awaiting abominations.

Now we come to my favorite and least favorite part of the game: the voice acting. The voice acting in Resident Evil is bad……..really bad………some of the worst you are ever going to hear in your gaming life. Ironically, the voice acting is so bad that it ends up being entertaining in its own right.

The game is full of nonsensical tropes, like Barry telling Jill: “You were almost a Jill sandwich”, after she is nearly crushed by a falling ceiling. Seriously though, the game has so many bad lines that someone should make a FAQ that lists them all. If there is not one already.

Regardless of the legendarily horrible voice acting, Resident Evil sounds pretty good. Maybe not creepy, but appropriate.

Story 7/10

Resident Evil starts with you choosing one of two characters to play as, either Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine. Both of them are members of S.T.A.R.S., which probably stands for something, but I'm not sure off hand. When the members of S.T.A.R.S. are not trying to outdo one another with their terrible voice acting, they apparently tote around guns and help people.

You can see the S.T.A.R.S. members in the opening scene of the game to catch up on their identities, but I'd recommend skipping it since it's done with real actors and it's almost as offensive as the in game voice acting.

Anyway, most of the members of S.T.A.R.S. are impertinent, and the game will only revolve around a few of them. The others will briefly show up to make you laugh with their ridiculous dialogue and will then go away, or die.

The team somehow gets stuck in a town called Raccoon City, and they are forced into an old mansion by some wild creatures. This is where the game starts, in the entrance of the mansion. It won't be long before the team starts uncovering the nihilistic horrors of the mansion. Instead of being smart and sticking together, the team disperses due to their own stupidity, and off you go as either Jill of Chris, to solve the mysteries behind the perilous mansion.

The story isn't really all that great, and it's made worse by the terrible voice acting. It's just kind of hard to take your teammates seriously when they sound like they are reading from a script and say some of the dumbest things imaginable.

The story may start out pretty bad, but the end picks things up a bit, and does provide some actual meaning to the whole mess.

Gameplay 8/10

Resident Evil has its fair share of problems, but the gameplay really does make up for some of the game's shortcomings. The game has a simple interface that allows you to explore the mansion with ease. Your “X” button is used for checking items in the environment, “Square” is used to run, and holding the “R1” button readies you available weapon for firing. It's a nice little control scheme that many games have copied since.

As I said before, Resident Evil is a survival horror game that has some action elements and some puzzle solving elements to go along with the action. The game strikes a good balance between the two, and the pace of the game seems perfect.

Aside from the standard enemies, the game has six different boss fights, which are great presentation-wise, but are incredibly easy to overcome with a little bit of skill.

Another interesting part about the game is the branching paths that the story can take. Certain actions you perform or don't perform may impact one of your fellow S.T.A.R.S. members. This may result in their death, or it may result in having another run in with them later on in the game. This sets up the game to have multiple endings, and multiple possible ending scenarios. One of them even allows you to bypass the final confrontation of the game completely.

Even though Resident Evil has a gaudy exterior, the gameplay can sometimes be a hassle. You have a very limited space in your inventory, which leads to excessive backtracking to item boxes to drop off your unneeded items, and there is no way to dispose of an item once you have picked it up. The lack of ammo can sometimes leave you hard pressed to find ways past certain enemies that stand in your way, and one false move in a boss fight can often spell your demise. There is also limited saving. You have to find ink ribbons to save your game at typewriters, and these are in limited quantities. Sometimes sitting down with the game for fifteen minutes is not a good idea since it will dissolve one of your ink ribbons, which you may need later.

Longevity and Re-Playability 7/10

The main game is rather short. I was able to beat it in 7 hours with prior knowledge of the game, but since there are two characters you can choose from the onset, you can easily go through the other scenario after you complete the game with the first character. Chris and Jill each have their own way of getting through the mansion, and they will meet up with different S.T.A.R.S. members along the way. Playing through the game in both Jill and Chris's scenarios is rewarding.

Conclusion

There may be bigger and better survival horror games out there now, but Resident Evil is what inspired most of them. It's impressive that I was still able to enjoy this game over a decade later.

If you are into the current Resident Evil games and want to know how the series started out, give Resident Evil on Playstation a try. It may not be as action packed as the latest Resident Evil games, but its survival horror done right.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/28/09

Game Release: Resident Evil (US, 03/30/96)