Resident Evil: Director's Cut

"Resident Evil Complete"

-Visuals 10/10-

In this version of the PSX classic, Resident Evil, it offers up brand new visuals for the eye to see, some of these, are minimal, but alot of them are truly new to the first of the Resident Evil Trilogy. Placing you back in the mansion, you have, yet again, to face the horrors that the mansion in the woods have to offer.

The visuals of the game are much much cleaner this time around, giving you new character animations in the terms of clothing, movement, and coloring. The monsters and zombies of Resident Evil, which are the true stars of this title, come back with more detail, more color, and better visual accuracy, they are no longer blurred.

Camera angles were added to the Director's Cut, and are noticable throughout the entire game. The textured backgrounds, have a more sinsiter look to them, which are also noticable as you come through the game, blowing away monsters that pop up all over. The cinematics from the opening scene, have also been enhanced, to include a few seconds more than what was in the original release of the game.

All of this, added together, makes for a more complete version of the first Resident Evil, in which it takes what complaints there may have been about the first release, and repairing them so that you have a much more enjoyable time with the viewing of the game. You'll notice that this game also offers up more scene's in-game, that were never there before. Anyone who has played the first release, will notice this immediately.

-Audio 10/10-

Back again with the spooky, dark mansion music, this aspect has not only remained the same, but has some enhancements made to it. Now the music follows you everywhere, and with a good stereo, you'll pick up the re-verberations of the music, passing from room to room.

The effects of the game, have been turned up a notch, to make a scarier sound across a surround sound system. You'll be able to pick up on the small enhancements with the surround sound system, listening to a zombie go from left to right behind you, and grow closer, until it's right on your back. Again, this is a great improbvement on something that was already amazing to begin with.

The story has not changed as much, but there is a noticable tone of music while the people speak to each other..this was something that was not in the first release of the game, another example of the improvements upon the original game.

-Control: PSX Controller 9/10 - PSX Analog Controller 10/10-

The control remains the same, being able to open up a menu, select your weapons or itmes, and look through the maps or documents that you have come across in the course of your explorations. The same problems remain with the regular PSX control, some stiff movement, and the fact that running and then needing to shift at an angle to get around a zombie, or other monster, can get a little hard to do.

While this doesn't effect very much, it does cause you to lose the valuable life that you have, and force you to go out of your way to get healed up again. This isn't something that you want to do very often, it interfers with the game. This has been corrected with a nice little added addition to the game interface.

That would be the Analog compatibility. If you have a Dual Shock controller, then you're in luck. This version of Resident Evil supports not only the Analong sticks, but the Dual Shock rumbling. Now, you can have the true feeling of firing a pistol in your hands, as it shakes everytime the trigger is pulled.

Actual control over your character is easier with the analog stick, because you can shift direction in mid run with little more than a slight press of the thumb. This is a great improvement, and you'll notice how fluidly your character moves when you use this option.

-Gameplay 10/10-

The gameplay remains the same for the most part, in which you're exploring the mansion, trying to survive the zombies and monsters that are out for your blood. The changes that come across here, in this version, is the fact that scenes have been added in that you must play through. You'll notice one in the first 10 minutes of play, because I don't believe in spoilers in a review, you have to play to find out.

The camera angles of the game, now allow you to play through, as if you were viewing a horror flick on the television. A constantly changing view, it might give you a sense of vertigo, but it also hides some of the monsters from your view...which makes it much more difficult to know just what's going on at all times.

The puzzles of the game are still the same, but where the gameplay has changed, is in which all of hte items are in different locations now. If you've played through the first version of the game, then this is all brand new to you, and you'll spend alot of time trying to figure out what you're doing, or where you're going, that just adds to the gameplay itself.

It does offer three modes, a Training Mode, an Original Mode{For those of us who loved the original} and the Advanced Mode{The enhanced version of Resident Evil}. All are straight forward, the Training makes the game simple to get through, the Original is the first release of the game without the enhancements, and the Advanced is the harder of the three. New camera angles, item placement and less ammunition.

Choose your destiny anyone?

-Overall 10/10-

With the visual improvements in the game, and the audio effects, this is the complete version of the hit classic Resident Evil. You'll find everything that you could be looking for, and more, in this title alone.

For those of you that have played this, this is the title to purchase for a collection, not as though you didn't know it already. For those of you who have nevr heard of Resident Evil, well...come out of hte cave you've been living in, and get this game, purchase it, although you may wish to rent it first.

It's got all the makings of one of those rare games that deserves a full 10 all across the board, in all aspects. It's fun, scarey, and a blast to play, all at once. Definately a keeper.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/31/00, Updated 03/31/00