Resident Evil: Director's Cut

"I seriously hope the movie isn't like this..."

Resident Evil...until now I have had no desire what-so-ever to play this game until I found motive. What was my motive you ask? Simply put the movie translation looks AWESOME. Definitely terrifying and chock-full of action. So I wasted no time and bought the game. A FATAL MISTAKE. Even the trailers and commercials of the movie put this one to shame. I guess it's somewhat unfair to try to equate the movie to this game seeing how they are like 4 years apart. Meaning that the game in 1998 probably was awesome for that time and has had enough time to up its pace. But don't see the movie and then run to your nearest game retailer and buy it hoping to keep the action going. Here's why kids...

GRAPHICS-7/10
Yeah the idea of using real people for the intro and ending movies is a great idea...but when working that idea with lets say a $75 budget and very bad costuming and visual effects(that drooley mouth is an undead hellhound? PUH-LEAZE!) no and no and no again... bad Capcom! Stick to the cg movies (as they did with the later sequels). As for the game itself the Mansion and other surroundings are very creepy though at times it is hard to tell what your looking at (i.e. a door, a corner, a dead end, etc.) and the characters themselves from afar are your moderate 3-D characters, but up close Jill Valentine is nowhere near as cute and nifty as her Marvel vs. Capcom 2 counterpart. The monsters are nicely detailed though.

SE (Sound Effects)-8/10
Very gory sloshes and splices; Yes. Narley zombie yelps and monster cries; Yes Yes. Awesome fire power effects that make you want to shoot into thin air; YES AND YES AGAIN! Blurry and fuzzy and overall corny dialogue from the main characters; What? Huh? What?

BGM (Back Ground Music)-6/10
If you're like me then you're too concentrated on not getting eaten alive or loosing a limb during the action and scary sequences to actually pay attention to the music. And the music during all the other parts is either moderately mood setting or no good at all.

GAMEPLAY-7/10
Why exactly do they give you a knife when a novice like me never ran out of ammo during gameplay and when it doesn't do you any good anyway? I tried it on my first zombie encounter and he threw up on me...ick. I'm split on this too because they try and make it challenging on your brain (where a simple penny or spoon on the floor you were supposed to pick up 6 zombie filled rooms and 4 hell dog flooded halls ago can TOTALLY determine your ending or even advancing to the next level altogether) but that can make it a little too challenging. I don't want to have to examine every nick and nack in the 24 roomed mansion. This is where I wish Dino Crisis 2 had come in a little sooner. Its nice and consistent with action and its got a puzzle to it but its one that's fairly simple. Had it influenced Resident Evil any, it wouldn't have taken me 12 hours to complete it. Controls work as well as can be expected. As I said before the scare sequences aren't all that consistent compared to the movie commercials. But again, in 1998 this was a GREAT GAME, I guess. As for creativeness on the monsters? well...I think that the zombies were great, the cerebrus were also a good nod to the scare factor as well as the mighty nemesis himself. But come on, Hunters look like they jumped out of Beetlejuice, the Deep Blue Sea shark riff, the Anaconda-like mutant snake (is this Jill Valentine or Jennifer Lopez I ask you?), and the Mutant plant? Come on Capcom you guys are a bit more creative than that.

OVERALL-7/10
As I said in my one liner for a header...I hope the movie is a lot more like the sequels rather than this first installment. Sure some of the scares and action sequences are great but there aren't enough of them. And we seriously need to not try to mutate every little thing from a wasp to a house plant to a fish. A nice game for a series pilot. But I warn you, if you see the R-E movies previews and the movie itself this Friday and love it so much like I know I will DO NOT come to this come in hopes of continuing the action because it won't. Those of you who are looking to dip into a new genre of gaming then this is your game to start with. See you at the movie kids!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/14/02, Updated 03/14/02