Author Topic: Resident Evil  (Read 3267 times)

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Offline Christberg

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Resident Evil
« on: February 10, 2003, 09:07:58 AM »
(yet andother shackreviews repost)

Gameplay:8.5
Resident Evil games have always been about ammo management and puzzle solving. Basically, the premise of this game is to use whatever means at your disposal to get out of the mansion alive. This is no easy task, and this is easily the hardest RE I've personally played. A lot of people expect an action game and are sorely disappointed when the enemies kick their rear repeatedly, as they tend to do in this game. Let me reiterate:the point is to SURVIVE the game, not kill everything that gets in your way like Doom or something.

Anyway, the new puzzles are just hard enough to be interesting, and not so hard as to be total guesswork. The rather nifty addition of 3d inventory objects adds a neat spin on it, and the way you have to combine/disassemble objects adds a lot to the game in ways that are now much more thoroughly realized in this game than ever before. The ammo management constantly keeps you tense, and if you play it on hard, you have to avoid as many enemies as you kill. Sound like fun? It is for me.

The storyline is the same as the original RE, except the delivery is much better than past games thanks to improved voice acting and translation that actually makes sense for a change. There's really not much that's screwy in this at all, except using the word "monster" which isn't what the hell I'd use to describe seeing an actual zombie for the first time. Other than that, a much improved delivery overall, for better or worse, takes a whole lot of goofyness out of the cutscenes and story. Somewhat subjective I suppose.

It still has RE controls, which you either get used to or hate. They're set up with absolute positioning, so up is always forward, back walks backward, left TURNS left etc. Sound hard to get used to? It is, at first. The thing is, this is NOT a platform game, so if they're a little slow... it works out fine because there's no platform jumping in this game, and frankly I'd be disappointed if there was. Check out control type C if you don't like the controls, as that may make them more tolerable. My only real complaint is the lack of analog turning.

Graphics:10
This game, prerendered backgrounds or not, is hands down the best looking console game I've ever seen. Period. Better than Halo, Rogue Leader, FFX, whatever. Hands down the prettiest game out there right now. As previously mentioned in pro reviews, sometimes the movies stutter, but it's maybe one in ten times you play it. Not an issue really. Amazing lighting, awesome fog and particle effects, great, great models. The best of this console generation thus far.

Sound:9.5
The sound in this game is really good, too. The voice acting is actually quite good (unlike past REs) and the gunshot sounds and ambience move around the sound field really well. The footstep noises definitely bear mention just like all the internet reviewers have. There's a ton of these. My only complaint is that some of the enemies have kind of limited sound selections, but it's not enough to drag the game down in any way. The music is pretty darn good when you hear it, and fits the game well.

Replay value:9
As far as single player games go, this game is about average in length at about 15 hours, then if you keep playing with both characters, probably about 25, take maybe 40-50 to unlock everything. And you know what? I think I'll probably keep myself pretty interested for pretty much the whole time. Thanks to the open layout of the mansion and somewhat non linearity of the game, you can really put a lot of thought into the most efficient way of doing things, shooting for the golden "3 hours or less" play through for unlimited Rocket Launcher ammo, which really adds an element into it that, unlike most non RPG games, would actually be worthwhile.

Final Score:9.2
RE is a very, very good looking game with a decent storyline, top notch sound and voice acting, interesting puzzles, and unlike some of the other games, actually manages to capture the feeling "survival horror". If you like horror movies, or just plain like puzzle games in an interesting and beautiful wrapper, then you should run out and buy this now. The controls are essentially unchanged and analog turning/aiming would have been a welcome addition, but it's not really necessary. Some people will hate it, but I'm fine with them the way they are. Don't buy this game if you expect an action game or a platformer, because it's not. I'd advise people expecting to kick ass, take numbers, and expect to do it stylishly look elsewhere, as the controls and overall difficulty of the enemies doesn't really allow for this. It's intentional though, and it's really part of what makes this game great.

In concusion:
YES if: You like survival horror games, puzzle oriented games with some gore, or just horror movies in general. If you liked other RE's, this is worth purchasing the system for. Seriously.

RENT if: You don't like the way the controls are described but haven't played one of these games before. At least give them a chance. Also rent this if you hate these games but wanna show off the 'cubes graphical power.

NO if:You don't like survival horror games or can't entertain the thought of a game without super precise, nanosencond reaction controls. If you didn't like other RE's, well, this is just a prettier one, but is still an RE game through and through.