Resident Evil: Director's Cut

"Brilliant, the start of an exceptional series"

Introduction- To make up for the delayed release of Resident Evil 2, Capcom released a so called Director's Cut of the original, as well as an RE2 demo disc. The Director's Cut was later released as part of the Greatest Hits collection along with dual shock support. The game disc falls short of a real Cut, as the original cut scenes are still missing, but the two new modes make up for it. In my opinion, if you want the first RE for your PlayStation, this is the disc to get.

Gameplay (10/10)- The game is very creepy and atmospheric, genuinely scary. The controls seem to get a lot of debate, but once I got the hang of them, I never had a problem. This disc uses an auto-lock feature to help exterminate those zombies even quicker, making this disc all the better.

This version features three modes, though most reviewers seem to focus only on the arrange mode.

Training- This is actually the Japanese version. It's basically an easy version of the original game. If all you want to do is blast zombies, choose this one.

Original- As the name implies, this is the original Resident Evil in all of it's glory. Most reviewers forget to mention this, but it's here.

Arrange- This is the Director's Cut of the title. It features new character graphics, harder difficulty, arranged items, and some new and improved camera angles. This is probably the biggest selling point of the disc, though to be honest I prefer the original.

You get a number of weapons to help your zombie problems, and you're often presented with a puzzle, which is always thought provoking, but never that hard.

Story (10/10)- Perhaps still the best story in the RE series. I won't go into great detail, the story has been gone over a number of times, but here's the main point. S.T.A.R.S. members Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine (as well as few others) are trapped in a mansion that has been used by the corporation Umbrella as a research center. As a result, the place is filled to the brim with zombies and other horrors. The story is definitely scary.

Graphics (8/10)- These graphics aren't much today, and even for a 32-bit system, they're not the greatest, but they get the job done. The pre-rendered backgrounds are beautiful to look at, and the characters, though pixilated, look decent enough. The animation is excellent and pretty realistic.

Sound (8/10)- I hear Capcom tampered with the music for this second release of the Director's Cut. Even so, I didn't find it to bad, it was usually mood setting. But then, RE is scariest when there's no sound. Nothing's creepier than a zombie stumbling toward you moaning.

Everybody knows about the voice acting, incredibly cheesy and fake, but it does have a B movie quality. To be honest, it does give you a laugh in the middle of all the intensity.

Replayability (10/10)- With three excellent modes, you'll have plenty to replay. After beating the original version, and breezing through the training mode, you'll want to work on the harder arranged mode, which doesn't offer anything really innovative, but it is interesting.

Final Recommendation- If you could only have one PSX game, this should be it. It's a tough choice, but this game should be chosen over RE2 for it's pure creepiness and story. Even if the voice acting is bad (although 'bad' is an understatement), the game is so intriguing and cool, you can't help but keep the thing in your PlayStation for weeks. Not only do you get the original RE, but you also get an easy training mode and arrange mode. It's not much if you own the first RE or RE:DC, but dual shock does add another element, and makes the game all the more involving. Capcom has long been known for quality games, and this game has to be one of their very best.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 09/01/03