This game being a remake.... of a Remake
It was first released in 1996 in Japan named
Bio Hazard and it was released by Capcom for the Sony Playstation as Resident Evil. It was then Remade for the Gamecube in 2002.
So everyone knows and that this is clear through-out this review I played neither of the originals. I am coming from a perspective of a first time player of this game and had no knowledge of what awaited me in this dark mansion of horrors. When writing this review I beat the game on VERY EASY, NORMAL, HARD, and TRUE SURVIVAL MODE. (4 playthroughs, 1 as Chris, 3 as Jill)
GameplayI am going to start off with my thoughts in my first of many playthroughs. The first moment you run into your first zombie will send a chill down your back, and every corner and door has a new surprise for you. The music of this game can make you even fearful to turn the next corner or go into the next door. But not only do sounds and music make things creepy but the loading screens you will see hundreds of times. The loading screens in this game are doors opening in a black screen. You think by reading this that it won't affect you, but it has quite the impact.
Another thing I realized when playing this was the fact that there weren't hordes of zombies unlike todays zombie titles. Instead combat is against 1-2 zombies at most, but you don't have the most massive selection in weapons, or ammunition.
Zombies are not your only enemy in this game, there are a few other types of elements you deal with in this game, and one of the classic things is puzzles. I went though this game using a Resident evil Wiki and every time I found something new I looked up what it was and what it was for. If I decided to not use the wiki I would have spent a possible 5-10 more hours on my first play-through trying to figure things out. Of course it could have been fun, but with my ADD and not-so-great memory, it could have been right in front of my face and I wouldn't notice. So if your like me, a wiki can be your best friend in this. I do not recommend watching a walk-through though because that would spoil things and ruin some fun challenges that don't require someone showing you.
The fighting on this game is different then games today which of course is expected since its a re-make from 2002 on Gamecube. Once you get the hang of this game you start to understand that fighting everything isn't the best way of going about this. In fact when I found my first zombie I died to him about 3 times trying to knife him.
I decided to go with Chris in my first playthrough, which anyone reading this first should probably choose Jill. If you wan't to know their differences you can read this:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/535836-resident-evil/48488505At the time for Gamecube there was no "difficulties" instead you had Jill and Chris (Chris being hard, Jill easy).
For Gameplay I give this a
9/10 due to the fact that you can basically beat the game without killing anything. If there was a bit more of a requirement in killing more I would give it a 10/10 but the requirement to finish the game killing very little is a downfall, I mean where is the difficulty if you can just run from your fears? You should have to stand up and fight them at moments
Story The story for this game is quite interesting, as there is basically a multitude of ways of going about this game. Your first choice right away is Jill (female) or Chris (Male). I usually never play as female in video games unless it is required because being a male I don't like "pretending" to be a female.
At the time this game was out for the Gamecube im sure it was fantastic that you had choices when playing the game, but someone like me playing this for the first time choices don't feel unusual or unique. Todays games choices are becoming more and more common, especially RPG's. Don't get me wrong im not saying its bad or anything, its good you have choices as it makes the game more appealing and when you play-through it multiple times (if you plan on completing it you will!) you will have more things you can do differently from the other run-throughs. I think this is something that is great in this game and makes the story interesting, so this is a plus.
I for one enjoyed the story and it had a great ending. It wasn't fantastic but you cannot expect that much from a game that originated in 1996.
Something that really does make this story get better is all the notes you get to read laying around, along with pictures and what happened where you read them. Something that also tells the story is blood stains or dead bodies laying around. These alone are worth a 1000 words. The darkness in this game is probably its best quality.
I give the Story a
10/10. I think the story was well portrayed, and what got me the most was the interesting setting and things that on their own tell a story, not just cut scenes every 5 minutes.
Mechanics/Graphics
(Comparison of Hunter in original and Remake, if you don't know what a hunter is I wouldn't recommend clicking)
Now something that made this game different from the Gamecube version is that the control scheme has been changed. I don't know the old control Scheme but the controls were perfect to me. Now this is comparing it to other Resident Evils that I have played (mainly Resident Evil 4 HD) I knew right away how to play. And a bonus and interesting challenge is TRUE SURVIVAL MODE takes auto aim away. Of course when starting this game you should get used to Auto Aim right away. Once you get used to it, playing without is great to test yourself a bit!
While playing this game I couldn't exactly find a problem with anything graphically or mechanically, there is only 1 cut scene towards the end that seemed odd and distorted was
. Other then that I didn't see or have any problems. No glitches ever occurred while I was playing and the game physics worked perfectly.
The Graphics were great to look at, you could still tell this was a re-make of an older game, but in comparison to today's games, I hardly felt a difference. As in I never stopped to tell myself this game looks horrible, because its the opposite. I took time in every room looking at every corner, while collecting every item for that Every Nook and Cranny achievement
.
The 1 thing that can get annoying with mechanics, and im sure many people can agree on is the Camera. Games today don't do this exactly for this reason, the game follows your character through the game with cameras set in corners. You have no control over the camera at all, and if you walk in certain spots or try to run, you could accidentally run backwards. With practice you can get used to this, but in the beginning its extremely annoying. With this system you cannot look around corners or ahead of you. You must use your ears, patiently take your time going around corners, and hope there isn't a zombie right at the edge of the camera change as you are approaching it. At the same time this is a bit of a good thing, it can make the game more fun as you cannot see what is coming for you, and you have to listen to the moans or footsteps. I believe this area in the game could be improved, but doesn't ruin the whole game.
Overall for Mechanics/Graphics I give it a
9/10. Would be a 10/10 if the cameras weren't annoying at times.
Sound Effects/MusicThis is something that to me especially is an extremely important feature, the first thing I noticed and was happy to see was that you can control the game volume (Halo TMCC you cannot...). Someone like me who has no headset and uses their Kinect to talk to people is great. You can turn down the volume and hear the other person instead of having to listen to the game volume at the same level as the person your talking to in a party.
The Music in this game is creepy and eerie, it is well done to make this game what it is and how it should feel while playing. To get the most out of this game turn your volume up and lights off late at night, you will have a night to remember.
I give the Sound Effects and Music a
10/10. Just right for this game!
Replay Value How many hours can you spend on this game? I would say if you want you can be finished with it around 20 hours if you want. But I for one would keep this game and play it again in the future. I have played a total of 33 hours so far and plan to play for 7-10 more hours to finish it. If I mess up 12-14 more hours. So I will be in between the 40-50 hours for this game with expecting to come back another day. This game is extremely fun and has plenty to do in it, even if you beat the game there is more to do and more to see. So the Replay Value is easily there. If you plan to finish this game expect to keep doing the story, and enjoying it every time.
Replay Value
10/10 due to it not getting old even though you beat it.
Overall this game is definitely worth the 20$ it is currently! If you have played it when you were younger or more power to you if you haven't played it at all! I for one have been enjoying my first experience with this game and love every moment of it. It has challenges, it has good times, it has scary moments! If you like horror this is the game for you!
As for me, it will be a game I will never forget and if anyone ask's what horror game to play I will point them in this direction!
Verdict:
5.0