Enter the Survival-Horror
Night of the Living Dead. Frankenstein. Resident Evil? Indeed, Resident Evil has cemented it's name into the history of all horror stories with this game. Gone are the well-lit hallways and weak zombies. To take their place we have shadows, darkness and freakish zombies that chase us from room to room. The plot is darker, the corny one-liners are less. It is more violent, and it is scarier than any Resident Evil game to date. It is inventive, and sticks to the stuff that works. It creates scares the way no other game has, and that is truly something special. There's something cool about the mansion, something that can't be found in any of the other Resident Evil games. It has that certain atmosphere, the one that dares you, that challenges you to go further. And once you take up that dare, and go further, it scares the hell out of you for your troubles, and throws a plot twist at you. Isn't that what a horror story should be all about? The answer is yes. And this particular horror story ( survival-horror story, some would say ), starts off in the soon to be infamous Raccoon City...
Raccoon City is a quite midwestern town in American, fueled mainly by the profits of its ever growing tourist industry. The city is surrounded on all sides by the Arclay Mountains, a vast forest range stretching for miles and miles. After several murders in the foothills, in which the victims were apparently eaten, the citizens of Raccoon City grow uneasy. Roads to the mountains are blocked, but the death toll continues to mount. The public demands police action, so the RPD calls on the STARS ( Special Tactics and Rescue Service ) to aid them. BRAVO team is sent into the forest region, but they are forced to make an emergency landing after experiencing engine trouble. BRAVO team has been out of contact with the police for 24 hours. The investigation turns into a rescue mission, and the ALPHA team is on their way.
They discover the helicopter, but no one is left inside. That is, except for the dead body of the pilot. Joseph is attacked by a strange dog-like creature, and killed. Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine, along with captain Albert Wesker and Barry Burton, race through the forest, trying to outrun the dogs, when Brad lifts off in the helicopter. They are stranded, so they make for a nearby mansion. From here, you take control of either Chris or Jill, and must explore the mansion and find a way out. As the game says, enter the survival-horror.
If you've played a Resident Evil game before, you will feel right at home. You must kill zombies and other freakish monsters, as well as solve puzzles, look for an escape route, find your missing teammates, and find out what's going on in the mansion. Sound like a heavy workout? Indeed it is. But you'll have some ammo and superior controls to help you out. I will start out by saying that this game is hard, and is part of the reason why I like it. Even for a die-hard fan of the series, I found myself running low on most every kind of ammo towards the end of the game. So, if you thought the original game was hard, you'll be up against an even greater challenge in the remake. The controls remain relatively unchanged, with a few nifty new features that were lacking in the original. Now a standard in the series, you have the ability to do a quick 'about-face', which helps you escape from creatures with much more ease. It may not seem like much, but trying playing the original to see what I mean. It is without question a lifesaver. In my opinion, the most notable addition to the gameplay are the defense items.
Remember back in the days when you were cornered by a zombie, but didn't want to waste ammo, so you had to take a hit to get out? Well, with the addition of defense items, those days are gone. If a creature grabs you, you can keep them away before they have a chance to damage you. The most popular use will be on a zombie, so I'll use them in my example. If you have a defense item equipped, the main character will duck out of the way of the bite, and then jam a dagger into the zombies head, forcing it to loosen its grip. Each character has their own unique defense item as well. Jill has a battery pack, which will explode all over a zombies body, usually killing it. I prefer Chris' item, though, since it reeks of coolness. As the zombie tries to bite him, he stuffs a flash grenade in its mouth, forcing the zombie off of him. Now, you can run away while the zombie blows up. I prefer to shoot the grenade while it's still in its mouth though. It's one of the coolest things you'll do in this game.
You'll have plenty of enemies to test these goodies out on. You've seen 95% of the enemies before, but they still manage to shock you. The hunters are as scary as ever, and the sharks following you, their fins creating waves on the surface of the water will make you wish you could run faster. And then, we come to what are known as Crimson Heads. It is amazing that one single enemy can bring an entirely new layer of depth to an already deep game. You see, you can kill a zombie once, but can you kill it twice? This time around, the zombies will come back to life, unless of course, you dispose of them properly the first time. You can burn their bodies with kerosene, but you don't have enough for every single zombie in the game. So, what zombies will you burn? It adds a layer of strategy that other Resident Evil completely lack. Besides the zombies, the enemies are tougher in general this time around. Hunters will decapitate you more often, spiders are more likely to poison you, and all the enemies will take more bullets before going down. It makes the idea of surviving and conserving ammo that much more important.
You'll have to conserve with your limited item slots. You can only carry so many weapons and healing items, along with mission critical items before you run out of space. When this happens, you'll have to deposit items into something called the Item Box. This allows you to store items, and also increases the amount of time you'll spend backtracking. This isn't always a good thing, since you may have to run through the same zombie-filled room once or twice. But, it keeps your items from getting lost, and after all these years, it's still an effective method. The puzzles, most new and some the same, are just as wacky as ever. Some puzzles can take up to two hours to complete, some take 30 seconds. I know it doesn't make much sense to not just kick the door in, but this is Resident Evil. You want to unlock that door? Well, you better find that key.
This game is all about the atmosphere, and the graphics are no slouch. In fact, they are the best in any Resident Evil game to date. Candlelight will bounce off the wall, creating shadows. Wind will blow through the forest, causing the trees and bushes to sway realistically. The graphics may take a while to hit before you realize just how good they are. The forest is exceptionally good looking, and is probably the scariest part of the whole game. The character models are basically perfect. There are a few up close shots that were so good, I thought a CG movie was about to start. Prerendered backgrounds make their triumphant return, and allow the game to be that much more detailed. This is probably one of the finest looking games I've ever seen.
Like any good horror story, sound is key. Resident Evil does not disappoint. Walk through a hallway with open windows, and you'll hear the sounds of the forest outside. And they sound damn good. It almost feels like there's a monster right under the window. The enemies sound great as well, from the zombies footsteps to the bone-chilling scream of the Crimson Heads. And you have the music, which goes from low-key and spooky to downright scary in a matter of seconds. And then there's the lack of sound. When you enter the forest, all you hear is the wind blowing through the trees. I find this far more effective than any musical score.
This is an undeniably classic and fantastic game. You'll realize why it's classic horror at the very end, when you see the shadow of the Tyrant looming over you. It's something I really can't explain. You'll have to live it, that is, survive it, for yourself.