Resident Evil: Director's Cut

The Good
What we have here is Resident Evil 1 repackaged with extras. The core game is the same as it always was (no bad thing) but now we have a new mode to play through. This mode is basically the same as the regular game but many of the camera angles are different, monsters appear in new places to give you new scares, you can change your outfit in one of the closets right off the bat, and it's harder.

The Bad
All the same things that were wrong with RE are still wrong here. The biggest disaster about this release (and the cause for the title, Directors cut) was that the original uncut cinema for the intro sequence along with the other cinemas in the game that were originally cut, were going to be re-inserted. Sadly, they weren't and even though on the US version it says the cinemas were included on the box, they were left out leaving many fans infuriated. Unfortunately what's left over is not really enough to warrant a repeat purchase.

The Bottom Line
If you don't have RE then get this version over the regular one but those who have the standard edition would be wise to leave it alone.

The Good
Resident Evil, what a game. With its memorable puzzles, fear, and the terrible voice acting. And of course, when you think about horror games, what comes to your mind? Resident Evil.

Game play - The game play is passable, not action packed, but its definitely not something you'd fall asleep to. Resident Evil's atmosphere suits the story line very well. Often people do not appreciate the puzzles in this game. Well, I do agree, they aren't necessarily puzzles, but more like a game of hide-and-go-seek. You have to find keys to enter a room, have special items, etc. Honestly I think it gives Resident Evil some originality. What good is a survival horror game if you just spend your whole time blasting away zombies and everything being easy? Its nice to have a game that gives you obstacles that will have you thinking and that the game gives you a little sense of fear. When you think about it, that's pretty much the whole game. Finding items to progress further into the game. You'll feel some incensed feelings with this game, but when your done, it will feel like a huge accomplishment.

Sound - There aren't really much sounds in the game. The whole game is pretty much overtaken by the sound of wind, footsteps, crow noises, and zombie moans. There are some compositions in this game, but a majority only play when an event is taking place. The sound is nice, but the footsteps can get you a little annoyed.

Difficulty - I'll save this for the bad.

Selection of items - I suppose there is some good stuff in Resident Evil. The weapons aren't very powerful as you think they would be, which is sort of a downer. I'll save this for the bad as well.

The Bad
Resident Evil is a great game but it is also shows some flaws at times.

Game play - There is not enough ammo in Resident Evil. At least not for the better guns. The Beretta does you little to no good against your enemies. You can waste an entire clip on a single foe, and it would still have a chance of getting up. The save system in this game is ghastly. Why must you collect "Ink Ribbons" to save your game? I'll give it credit and say it was an original idea, but this save system causes too many inconveniences. The inventory space for the characters is rather pathetic. But I guess it adds a more life-like element to Resident Evil. The voice acting is pathetic (as said in nearly all Resident Evil reviews).

Sound - Very repetitive. Annoying sounds constantly appear in odd places, the background music is irritating and it makes it hard for players to concentrate.

Difficulty - Difficulty is arrangeable but still a bit challenging. Even on the easiest setting (Training), its still challenges your survival skills, as Medium and Hard, are frustrating. How the hell do the makers of Resident Evil expect you to beat the game on hard? Especially when you have those ghastly creatures around every corner, with little ammo, and a character whose is very un-durable. I guess the only good thing that comes out of the hard setting is that you get alternate clothing. They still aren't that good though...

Selection of items - You don't get a very big selection of things in this game. Resident Evil mainly consists of having 1 gun and some ammo, and herbs, in your inventory, and leaving the other 3 slots open for keys / puzzle pieces / jewels / etc. Their are only 4 guns in this game, unless you accomplish the special objectives, but even those aren't worth it.

The Bottom Line
Resident Evil is a great game. Very original, very neat. Its definitely one of the most memorable survival horror games around, and could prosper any day over any classic survival horror game.

The Good
In the early days of the Playstation, when few gamers had one, probably due to the hefty price tag. Resident Evil, known as Biohazard in Japan, hit the fledgling console. And for some reason helped sell the console. At least Westerners got the better title…Biohazard…gimme a break I could pull a better title out of my ass.

The game begins with strange occurrences by an old mansion, in the out skirts of a town poorly named Raccoon City.(This is no joke.) So finally the local police, which for some reason have an elite corps known as S.T.A.R.S., send a team to investigate, after they go missing a second team is sent in. So in other words the plot of this game is pure idiocy. More on that later.

Well the only good thing I can think of for the good section of this review is that it made the genre more popular, spawning more games like it, this is also a bad thing, but at least before RE, horror games were only made for the PC.

The Bad
Just about every thing else in this game is bad. The only scary thing about the RE series is that people actually like it. The plot is laughably bad. First off the old mansion thing is such a cliché, and was used in better horror games, I.e. Alone In The Dark, the true creator of horror games. Just because Capcom gave the genre a name does not mean that they created it. That’s like if I claimed I invented the T.V. because I call it a ViewScreen, who the hell do they think they are kidding?

Anyhow back to the plot, not only is it lame, but there are also to many inconsistencies. Firstly, my did the police send the less capable team in first? Second why send another team to there doom? Thirdly, why does a small town have an elite task force? I have live in small towns and cannot recall any of them having elite corps, it is just moronic.

You thought that was the end of the bad plot, ehh? Well it is not. Raccoon City? Are you serious? No city anywhere in the world would ever have such a stupid name. Should not a name in a horror game have an ominous name like, Silent Hill, or Innsmouth? Lastly the plot point that the zombies are being designed as military weapon is stupid as hell. Hmm, instead of trying to make better “super soldiers” instead Umbrella Corp. makes “not so super soldiers”. Zombies are slow, weak, and not very intelligent, so how would they be an advantage in battle? It just makes no sense. But what confuses me the most is that no one else seems to have noticed all of these plot holes. Maybe video games do make people dumber.

Enough about the plot now allow me to go over the gameplay, if it can even be called that. All you do in this game is fight, find keys, rinse repeat. Such great gameplay…not! Furthermore, this is a horror game, well then I have to know, where is the horror? This game is not scary, I have episodes of Sesame Street that were more scary. All the “scares” if they can be called that are predictable. Let me regale you with an example, Jill, enters a room, and the camera’s focus, is on the window, approach the window and a zombie breaks through, as if you did not see that coming.

Speaking of the camera angle, most such angles are not even camera angles, I may be wrong but I am pretty sure that camera angles are supposed to show you what is happening on screen, yet half the time in this game the view is so bad you cannot see what is happening. The controls are laughably bad, and tend to be relative to the camera angle, this is just confusing, and disorienting.

The Graphics are bad, even for the time, look at RE2 compared to this one and you will see what I mean. The polygonal characters are a pixelated mess, and lack detail. The static backdrops, all look washed out, and have not motion, despite the fact that motion is possible in pre-rendered graphics. None of the monsters are scary, not even, the endgames Tyrant.

The sound is quite possibly the most horrifying aspect of the game. No not because like Undying, the sound effects evoke terror, but because they are so lame. Any one that says a game has bad voice acting, has to hear this game, it is about ten times worse than the worse game you can think of. Not only are the voices bad, but the dialog is poorly written, I often found myself laughing instead of being scared, as was the games intent. Infamous lines such as “Don’t open that door!”, remind me of another infamous line “All your base are belong to us!” Did Capcom just pull it’s “actors” off the streets? There is very little music in RE, but what there is hardly stands out.

This game also spawned more crap RE games. As well as terrible games like Carrier, and Nightmare Creatures, so thus making horror games more popular also hurt the game market.

The Bottom Line
Overall, unless you want a good laugh avoid this game. There are so many better horror games, that would be a better use of your time. A drunk monkey could make a better horror game.

The Good
This game is very cool. Not only did it start the Resident Evil series (Uh, didn't the original Resident Evil start the series? --Editor), but it has all sorts of elements that make it like no other game I've ever played. The graphics are about as good as you can get off of the PS, and the sound is very spooky... especially the old clock that is always ticking...

The Bad
Very hard. Near the beginning you never have enough ammo to take on the zombies who seem to be super-tough. The knife just can't get the job done as well as a 9mm to the head. When you start finding other weapons though, then the game picks up.

The Bottom Line
It's great! If you want a challenging game, this is it. If you want a survival/horror game, this is also it. It has a little bit of something for everybody!