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Review: Resident Evil for Gamecube
Written: 05/10/02
Webster’s Dictionary defines the words ‘Resident’ and ‘Evil’ as "Inherently Present" and "An evil force, power, or personification." Put them together and you get "Inherently present an evil force, power, or personification." Sounds like bad Engrish, eh? But isn’t Resident Evil more than that? Yes, yes it is, and I’ll tell you why.
Allow me to start off by explaining that I’ve never played the original, and the whole of my experience with the Resident Evil series amounts to a couple of hours spent with RE2. That said, I’m going to review this game without comparing it to the original; as if it were a brand new game. If you want to know how it’s different/better than the PSX version, go read a review somewhere else, you traitorous bastard. If this is your first outing (basically) with the series, just like mine, then you’ll get plenty out of this.
The game opens with the S.T.A.R.S. Alpha team searching for their lost Bravo team comrades after a series of mysterious murders in a mansion out in the Arklay mountains. It isn’t long before you find yourself being chased down by ravenous, bloodthirsty zombie dogs and have to run into the mansion for safety. After a few quick cut-scenes, you finally gain control over either Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine. Each character has their own strengths, though Jill seems equipped with more, making her the character those playing for the first time will probably want to go with as they familiarize themselves with the play mechanics. Also, she’s hot, so there’s that too.
Gameplay
As mentioned above, there are slight differences between Chris and Jill. Aside from a fairly different take on the story, Chris only has 6 inventory spaces and carries the lighter with him at all times. Jill has 8, and comes equipped with a lock-pick. The differences seem fairly simple at first, but as you progress through the game, you begin to realize just how different they really are. If you play as Chris, you’ll be cursing yourself for having to pick up an item when you have no space available, or as Jill, when you don’t have your lighter on you to burn a zombie or light a candleholder.
The controls are slightly awkward at first, but you should get used to them fairly quickly. To be honest, I never really tried out A or B, as I heard that the easiest to use and thus best option was Control Scheme C. Using R to walk or run forward and the control stick to alter direction, you should be able to get around relatively easily. You aim with L (which can also be used for defense items it you have them set on manual) and fire with A. Simple enough. I really don’t see what everyone is complaining about. No matter where your character is, if you move the control stick to the right, your character turns right. How hard is that? It gives the game an extra level of immersion, as you’re moving as if you were the character, like you’re actually there. I liked it, and anyone who doesn’t like them or can’t use them is a simpleton.
One thing I noticed is that the game gets easier as you go along, as when you start out, you have limited ammo and are trying to avoid zombies in close quarters. Later in the game, you get more ammo and better weapons, and you run into hunters instead of zombies or crimson heads. As such, the game becomes less about conserving ammo and dodging zombies, and more about solving puzzles. The puzzles are really neat, and for the most part follow simple logic. Anyone with half a brain will be glad for this respite from the "run from the zombie because you’re out of bullets" syndrome.
Graphics
There isn’t too much to be said about the graphics, except for TEH PRETTIES! The game looks absolutely fantastic, even on my crappy 13 inch TV using an RF Adapter. Sure, the backgrounds are pre-rendered, but in this case it’s a good thing. The GameCube can use that power to instead make the characters look incredibly realistic. The giant snake, for example, looks "Awesomely outrageous" (to quote Joshums) when you see it for the first time and it opens its jaw, revealing huge fangs. The real-time lighting is to die for. Pay close attention to shadows in the game. For the most part, the animation is dead-on. I only have a small qualm with the way the characters turn and the "shaky" look they have during cut-scenes (kind of hard to describe). One thing to note is that the game doesn’t support progressive scan. No big deal unless you’re some rich bastard with a nice TV. It doesn’t really matter, though, because the game still looks gorgeous regardless.
A quibble here: during cut-scenes, things often freeze up for a second, meaning someone will be moving or jumping, then they’ll stop or blur into what is seemingly several frames of animation later. Nothing huge, but it needs to be said.
Sound
eeh, I’m probably not the person to be talking about the sound, since my TV is mono. Still, let’s see how well I can do, hmm?
First off, there’s the voice acting. The RE series is well known for its horrible voice acting, although there’s a sort of cheesy charm that it adds to the games. The improved voice acting is a double-edged sword in this sense. Although, it is FAR from perfect, so perhaps they were trying to retain some of the cheesiness to not alienate fans of the original. The sounds of the enemies are well done, with your typical moaning and diaper sound from the zombies (I swear, zombies sound like they’re wearing diapers when they walk. This goes for ALL zombies, not just ones in Resident Evil), your barking and squealing from dogs, etc. When you make a transition from one surface to another, you’ll hear the sound of your footsteps change. Nothing new, but still a nice touch.
The music (what little there is of it) is nice. You’ll know what to expect the second you hear a song playing, since each little area/event has its own music. Puzzle rooms, boss fights, zombie fights, safety rooms, they all have their own unique, easily identifiable themes. Once you get to the shark room, you’ll know exactly what I mean. The music that plays in Resident Evil isn’t anything you’ll be humming while you’re around the house cleaning or disposing of dead zombies, but it definitely gets the job done. Joshums describes it as "horrifically eerie," and I’d have to agree.
One thing I have to make fun of real quick - there’s a scene where Chris has to play Moonlight Sonata to solve a puzzle. As he begins, not being skilled in the ways of the piano, he plays only a few notes and gives up. Just then, Rebecca comes in, and from listening to Chris play THREE NOTES VERY BADLY, she says, "That sounded like Moonlight Sonata." Right, three notes that were way off, and somehow she can recognize it. Uh huh.
Replay
Resident Evil shouldn’t take anyone more than about 15 hours to go through the first time. Fortunately, there’s plenty to keep you coming back for more. First of all, there are the costumes you can earn on different difficulty settings. Secondly, there are plenty of other unlockables, like the Samurai Edge and the rocket launcher. You’ll be finding yourself playing over and over trying to get quicker and quicker times. Thirdly, with two different characters who each have four different endings (and slightly different play experiences), you won’t get bored with this game any time soon. Then again, the endings amount to 10 second FMV’s, and each ending is BARELY different from any of the others. Notwithstanding, the other aspects mentioned should make for plenty of replayability, especially for a one-player game. The fantastic atmosphere of the game is something you’ll want to enjoy time and time again. The graphics and sound are just that good.
So, in the end, Resident Evil is a blast to play. It creates a fantastic, dark atmosphere, is full of scares (albeit cheap, It’s-quiet-for-a-second-and-then-BAMLOUDNOISE scares), and everything else you could want in a game. Another quibble I have with the game, however, is the shoddy port job. There are a LOT of typos and grammatical errors in the game. I mean, for crying out loud, look at the STARS manual, where it says "Climbing on and Climing down..." Smegging bollocks, they spell climbing right, then three words later it's spelled incorrectly. Too many instances like this were overlooked, but it's not a huge deal.
Also, a final note: the game takes up eight blocks PER SAVE. Most games will take up x blocks for y number of saves, i.e. Pikmin gives you 3 saves for 19 blocks. However, you will see 5 saves available on the load screen and think "Wow, 5 saves for 8 blocks. WHAT A DEAL!" You later find out EACH OF THOSE SAVES IS EIGHT BLOCKS! I haven’t seen this ANYWHERE else, so I felt it needed special mentioning. If you want those 5 saves, you’re going to need a full 40 blocks free. Not pretty. I can see why Japan got a free memory card with the game.
Final Score
94%
Alexander M. Massa, Staff Writer
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