Resident Evil: Deadly Silence

"100% Portable Evil on the Nintendo DS"

Resident Evil fans, if you've wanted to play a solid Resident Evil on the go, do not avoid this classic. It's the original Resident Evil 100% faithfully reproduced on Nintendo DS, and it's truly amazing.

Much like what Grand Theft Auto did for the PSP, Resident Evil: Deadly Silence does for the DS. I'm just simply blown away that all this game fit into the tiny little cartridge, but enough of that! Onto the full review!

Story (8/10): The original Resident Evil had a decent story, nothing mind blowing but it was enough to get by. It does lay the groundwork pretty well and the story has evolved into greater things as time went on. Here's a rundown:

Bizarre murders are happening in the outskirts of Raccoon City, where people are being attacked and eaten by large groups of people in the Arklay Mountains. Bravo Team of Raccoon City's finest, the Special Tactics and Rescue Service is sent in to investigate. When contact with Bravo Team is mysteriously lost, the Alpha Team members (Which includes our heroes, Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine) are sent in to go find them.

During the mission, Alpha Team is abandoned by their sissy helicopter pilot when things take a turn for the worse. Forced to take refuge in a gigantic mansion, the remainder of Alpha Team finds themselves in the middle of a very dangerous situation involving terrible creatures.

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Gameplay (9/10): Guns, puzzles, and lots of tension. Blasting away monsters is just as fun as it was in 1996, and the addition of the new Rebirth mode comes with a few neat little surprises. For instance, first-person knifing events! Sometimes upon entering a room you'll be greeted by monsters in first-person with your knife at the ready, and you'll use your stylus to slash them to pieces. A pretty neat and entertaining distraction from the normal RE formula. Rebirth mode also adds more enemies to crank up the action.

The puzzles and item hunting are fully intact, along with new surprises for the Rebirth mode as well. Problem solvers will have plenty to do here. The item hunting and management can be a chore sometimes, but it's really not that big of a deal.

The difficulty is about medium to hard, depending on the monsters you're facing. Other factors of the difficulty ultimately depend on how you play it. Ammo can be hard to come by, so conservation is important. Learning to avoid encounters if possible to save ammo can help make the difficulty easier, as you won't run out of ammo for when you really need it.

Other factors of difficulty depend on which character you choose, Chris or Jill. Jill has the easier game with 8 inventory slots, access to more powerful weapons early on, and her exclusive weapon is far more effective (Bazooka). Chris has only 6 inventory slots, cannot complete some puzzles without help, doesn't have access to a lock pick for certain doors and drawers (Must use tiny keys for drawers), and it takes a little longer to acquire his bigger guns.

Resident Evil: Deadly Silence is a solid mix of action and problem solving, you will be very entertained.

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Control (N/A): The control is really something that's hard to review, it's incredibly easy to pick up for some while others will just be frustrated. RE veterans will have zero problems adapting to the Nintendo DS.

It's a "Tank" like control scheme, where Up always makes you go forward regardless of screen position, and to turn you must turn your character with the Left and Right d-pad buttons. With time the controls eventually become a second nature, and you'll be having fun in no time.

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Graphics (9/10): By the DS standards, the graphics are absolutely stellar. As I said earlier it does for the DS what GTA did for PSP. The game is very faithful to it's PS1 counterpart, along with improved models.

The only graphical element that takes a big hit are the FMV's which practically scream from the pain of compression, but luckily the meat of the game doesn't rely on FMV cutscenes.

Resident Evil can finally be done right on a handheld.

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Sound (8/10): The Resident Evil score is very tense, and the DS does justice with it's big ol' stereo speakers. The music and atmosphere go very well together, and will have new players looking over their shoulder at every corner.

The voice acting: Atrociously cheesy! In a good way I suppose, as it unintentionally brightens up even the players who can't handle the tension. Some dialogue here will embed it's unintentional hilariousness into your memory forever.

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Bottom Line: It's the classic Resident Evil on the go, 100% complete with an action packed new mode and it's as fun as it ever was. Frequent travelers or hardcore RE fans honestly shouldn't miss out on this title, regardless that it's nearly a 10 year old game. Newcomers who don't travel much are definitely better off scoring a copy of the Remake for Gamecube, or Resident Evil: Director's Cut off eBay if they're eager to play the original.

Final rating: 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/10/06, Updated 02/16/06