Resident Evil: Deadly Silence

"Over the forest, through the woods, to Grandma's house we go...oops, wrong turn."

---------Ahh Resident Evil….this game takes me back to the wonderful times I had with it. The screaming in fear, the uneasy feeling in my stomach, and the crying for my mommy….they were all terrible experiences for me. But give me a break…I was 6! Now ten years later, Capcom and Nintendo have decided to release a remake of the original game on the DS along with a totally (well, I wouldn't say totally) new way to experience the horror, but will how will it stand up to its predecessor?

The game takes place in a made up place somewhere in the United States (I forgot where) called Raccoon City. Resident Evil opens up with a helicopter flying over a mountainous area. Apparently, the S.T.A.R.S (Special Tactics and Rescue Service) Bravo Team (I guess the less experienced team) went missing cause their helicopter crashed. They were sent to investigate casualties near the area. The victims were eaten.

The Alpha Team's copter lands and sees that no one is in the Bravo Team's helicopter. A member of the Alpha team (poor Joseph…) finds a dismembered arm and screams for help, but is killed by a pack of dogs…zombie dogs. Brad, the pilot of the copter, flies away, leaving his members to die. The Alpha members run away from the gruesome sight and find a mansion to hide in. Now they must find a way to escape the mansion and the secret horrors within it. Ehh…a simple story. If you've played the Playstation version, you've seen it before.

Gameplay works like this. You can choose to play as Chris or Jill and each player has a different storyline. You walk around the mansion picking up items, and killing zombies and what-not while trying to solve the mansion's traps to become one step closer to escaping. Shooting enemies is fun and some of the puzzles are quite interesting. There are a few scenes that might make the squeamish jump, but I do not consider the game to be scary, since it is a handheld game (not saying that handheld game can't be scary…just saying that no handheld game has yet to set the scare factor to 10…maybe someday). You can even tone down the blood by switching the color from red to green (actually, it starts out as green…weird)! Saving in Resident Evil uses the original ink ribbon formula, which keeps the game tense by allowing you to save only a certain amount of times.

There is another mode called rebirth, and it is pretty much the same as the original version, but with way different puzzles, and a first person knife mode. Sometimes, entering a certain room will cause enemies to come towards you, but you can not use anything besides your knife. You must use the stylus or your finger to slash at the screen to kill enemies. This would be a fun little gimmick if you were able to move!! But you can't. Not being able to move in knife mode stinks…and what is up with the fact that the game chooses when you go in first person? But I digress. Puzzles in rebirth require players to use their stylus and they are very quirky and enjoyable. The difficulty in rebirth is a little more extreme, so it would be a good idea to start with classic mode…or you can always change the difficulty to easy mode by holding the right directional pad at the selection screen.

Controls take some getting used to, but veterans will feel comfortable with the controls…they are the same as always with a few extra features. Sure the DS buttons are smaller, but it doesn't really matter. It should take a maximum of 15 minutes to learn everything. The game has two control modes. Type B has the Y button set to run and the B button to action. I prefer Type A since RE's control scheme is usually the B button to run instead. Players can switch between control modes whenever. And now you can bring the knife out whenever you want just by pressing L! Convenient.

Graphics….yea. Everything is pre-rendered (cept characters) just the way you like it…or hate it. The graphics look well done on such a small screen, but some players might feel bothered since a few of the textures look a bit blocky and grainy. Blood looks like crap though, since it extremely pixilated. I had no problems with any other graphics. Everything is detailed to the fullest point and I even stopped noticing the blockiness and the crappy blood within 10 minutes of playing the game.

Capcom did a great job with sound (notice I did not say VA). Even though there is very little music in the game (like 3 or 4 tracks), the music that is there is excellent. They did a fantastic job keeping the atmosphere cold and creepy with the sounds of moaning zombies, growling dogs, and screeching hunters and the other freaks in the mansion. Voice acting…..is like…..a B-horror, no wait, a C-horror movie. I can guarantee players will laugh quite a couple of times cause of the corny voices, like the infamous “Jill Sandwich” line. This kind of tones the scare factor down, but like I said, the game is still hardly scary.

The Extra features of the game are nice, but they are also sort of a letdown. Choosing Jill or Chris will lead to a different ending…and depending on the actions you make, you will receive a good or bad ending…so there is some replay value there (but it'll only last for about 20 hours till you've done all there is). If you get a good ending, reload your file and there will be a key in the inventory to get a special costume for the character. If you beat the game under three hours, you will receive a rocket launcher for all your troubles (sweet!). Finishing the game once also unlocks the Masters of Knifing mini-game. Objective? Complete 5 stages of knifing enemies and try to get a high score. That's about all the unlockables….I am disappointed by the fact that there are no extra modes like in REmake such as Real Survival mode, or Invisible Enemy mode……I guess you can't have them all.

Oh, and multiplayer? I have yet to try it out, so I cannot really give my opinion on it, but I heard it is good fun. Choose one of the S.T.A.R.S. members and play with your friends in two modes…. One mode, players have to cooperate with your friend to escape the mansion…The other mode, players compete with friends to see who can earn the most points by smashing zombies' heads (I mean killing them). Downside of all of it? Every player needs their own RE cartridge to play.

Resident Evil is a nice enjoyable experience away from all the console games of today. If you have enough cash to spend, it would be wise to pick up this game. Resident Evil does have its share of flaws, but the overall flow of the game makes this one DS game that is hard to put down.

Happy people
+ Rebirth mode is a fun way to play differently
+ Shooting zombies is always great fun
+ Interesting puzzles on classic mode and rebirth mode
+ Bring out the knife with L! WHOAMG!
+ Chilling sounds and music
+ Good for on the go (pick it up, play a little, set it down, then play later)
+ Quite addicting (I don't know why)
+ Multiplayer
+ Ink ribbons are back
+ Laughable voice acting

Mutated freaks
- Unable to move in knife fights
- Unable to choose when to join in a knife fight
- Controls might be a bit weird for first timers
- Graphics might look weird to some (not me though)
- Not enough extra features
- Multiplayer requires multi-card play (boo)
- Ink ribbons are back (some might hate the ribbons)
- Laughable voice acting (some might also hate the horrendous VA)

8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/21/06