[Review] Resident Evil

REVIEW # 00000000 00100100

There are only three S.T.A.R.S. members left now. Captain Wesker, Jill and myself. We don’t know where Barry is.

After the survival horror has become popular among the filmmakers and the gamers (so approximatively in the last 20 years) having a game with a dark atmosphere, monsters or zombies, old and deserted mansion it’s nothing special. However in 1996, the year Resident Evil (or Biohazard in the japanese version) was released, the horror in video games was something unusual. A few games had an horror plot before but especially due to technical and graphical limitations, the gore and the suspence was impossible to find; maybe only Alone in the Dark had a bit of suspense but nothing compared to the Capcom masterpiece.

Then Capcom in 1996 gave to the world Resident Evil which was (is still) a milestone in history of gaming: it was more frightening than 90% of the horror movies ever made, its third person perspective was terrifying and  was so perfect in a cinematographic way, that the natural next step was the creation of a saga around the game, starring Milla Jovovich (with some really awful chapters).

Every single frame of the game gives you shivers and you can be sure that playing it alone during the night it’s the closest to nightmare experience you’ll ever have in your life.

My heart says…

I first watched my uncle play Resident Evil in 1996 when I was still young and it was so ghastly that even nowadays I play the first chapters (I know them in every single detail) with an incredible fear.

I mean no game before (and even after I might say) can make you tremble just for the position of the camera in every single shot. If you played it try to remember the shivers you had every time you open a door and you see the screen gping comlpetely black. Remember your heartbeat everytime a Licker comes in front of you with histerrible gaze.

Really, I would have so much to say that I’m lost for words…

Splash screen

Maybe I’m a bit a partisan having a trmendous fear of the close-up of an eye wide open, but seeing that oye in background in the main menu has always put a bit of fear in me.

But the top of the top is the movie before the main menu that puts you in the mood: evil dogs, an obscure mansion…Wow it was amazing. And shoot with real actors! Nothing can beat it, even if in the end looks like a real badass intro…

Graphics

For 1996 this was an excellent 3D graphic. It’s a pre-rendered graphic with some real-time rendered graphics only for the objects the characters can interact with.

By the way the best things about the visuals are the camera positions and the wonderfully gloomy colors. The colors themselves are one of the most important features that makes RE like a real horror movie.

Narrative

The plot of RE is superb. It’s simple but very articulated and it so many side stories and characters that a long long list of games were created after this.

The story is set in 1998, so two years after the release date. This is the first great idea: giving to the story a precise location gives the player the idea that the facts could have really happened in the future (or at least it was so for me, and I was paralysed by the fear that a zombie invasion could have hit my town in 1998)

The game starts as a survbival horror then the player discover the real secret of the mansion and the existence of the Umbrella Corporation.

I think all of you will know the story but I don’t want to sapoil anything because it’s too beautiful to re-discover it playing the game… 🙂

Gameplay

In this impressive third person masterpiece you can embody Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine, two members of the S.T.A.R.S. and there are some little differences between the two, but nothing particular.

The game it’s a perfect mix of shooting, horror, action and puzzles and this balance is never broken: you have an horror scene, than a shooting moment, than you can breath and try to solve a puzzle and then a sort of panic room where you can release the tension, save the game (another great feature, a room where you can save your progress on a typewriter with an ink ribbon!) and search in the box for the items left there.

The way you can move Jill or Chris or let them use the weapons is quite natural and easy to manage after 10 seconds and, even if it seems a stupid thing, one of the major features in the gameplay is the inventory. Managing the items it’s easy and different from the previous games: now you can handle just a fixed numbers of things not as much as you want…

In the end a perfect gameplay!

Sound

Again, shivers: the only word that comes to my mind when I think about the sounds, the whispers and the music of RE. I can almost say that the best part of the game sound is the silence. Being in a large mansion, infested with zombies and like and hear nothing but the protagonist footsteps it’s a fundamental part of the gaming experience.

Longevity

There are at least two factors that increase the longevity of the game: the big amount of puzzles and challenges during the game and the skepticism with which the player proceed in the “haunted” corridors of the creaky mansion. Sometimes it happens that it’s too scary to proceed with the game even because in every corner there’s the possibility that you can shit in your pants.

Final Score 100/100

I first gave my 100/100 to Super Mario Bros. 3 and I think now it’s the time to expand the category “The Game” with another title. Resident Evil deserve to stay at the top of the ranking; it should be the same grade (or even better) also for some of the sequels, like RE2 and RE3: Nemesis but being this the first chapter of an entire genre has a little plus on its side.

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Year: 1996

Developer: Capcom

Publisher: Capcom

Genre: Adventure, Survival Horror

Games Mode: Single Player

Original Platform: PlayStation

From same developers/publishers:

• Track & Filed (1983)
• 1942 (1984) and sequels
• Ghost ‘n Goblins (1985)
• Castlevania (1986)
• Metal Gear (1987) and sequels
• Bionic Commando (1987)
• Mega Man (1987) and sequels
• Street Fighter (1987) and sequels
• DuckTales (1989)
• Final Fight (1989)
• Adventures in the Magic Kingdom (1990)
• Little Nemo: The Dream Master (1990)
• Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers (1990)
• TaleSpin (1991)
• The Little Mermaid (1991)
• Darkwing Duck (1992)
• Cadillacs and Dinosaurs (1993)
• International Superstar Soccer (1995)
• Silent Hill (1999) and sequels

Inspired to:

• Splatterhouse (1988)
• Sweet Home (1989)
• Alone in the Dark (1992) and sequels

If you liked you can also try:

• Silent Hill (1999) and sequels
• Dino Crisis (1999) and sequels
• Project Zero (2001) and sequels
• Forbidden Siren (2003) and sequels

Other chapters of the saga:

• Resident Evil: Director’s Cut (1997)
• Resident Evil: Director’s Cut Dual Shock (1998)
• Resident Evil 2 (1998)
• Resident Evil 2: Dual Shock (1998)
• Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (1999)
• Resident Evil: Survivor (2000)
• Resident Evil Code: Veronica (2000)
• Resident Evil Code: Veronica X (2001)
• Resident Evil Gaiden (2001)
• Resident Evil: Survivor 2 Code: Veronica (2001)
• Resident Evil Zero (2002)
• Resident Evil: Dead Aim (2003)
• Resident Evil Outbreak (2003)
• Resident Evil Outbreak File 2 (2004)
• Resident Evil 4 (2005)
• Resident Evil: Deadly Silence (2006)
• Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (2007)
• Resident Evil 5 (2009)
• Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles (2009)
• Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition (2010)
• Resident Evil Outbreak Survive (2011)
• Resident Evil: The Mercenaries Vs. (2011)
• Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D (2011)
• Resident Evil 4 HD (2011)
• Resident Evil Code: Veronica X HD (2011)
• Resident Evil: Revelations (2012)
• Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (2012)
• Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles HD (2012)
• Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles HD (2012)
• Resident Evil 6 (2012)
• Resident Evil: Revelations HD (2013)
• Resident Evil 4 Ultimate HD (2014)
• Resident Evil HD Remaster (2014)
• Resident Evil: Revelations 2 (2015)
• Resident Evil Zero HD Remaster (2016)
• Resident Evil: Origins Collection (2016)
• Resident Evil 6 Remastered (2016)
• Resident Evil: Umbrella Corps (2016)
• Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition Remastered (2016)
• Resident Evil 4 Remastered (2016)
• Resident Evil 7 Biohazard (2017)

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