Resident Evil

aka: Biohazard, RE
Moby ID: 1195
PlayStation Specs
Buy on PlayStation
$84.34 used on eBay
Buy on SEGA Saturn
$189.99 used, $3,000.00 new on eBay
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Conversion (official) Included in See Also

Description official descriptions

A team of S.T.A.R.S (Special Tactics And Rescue Squad) members are called to investigate a series of murders near Raccoon City. While searching the woods near the city, the team is attacked by bloodthirsty dogs and they have to retreat to a nearby mansion.

The player chooses between Jill Valentine or Chris Redfield and starts to explore the mansion. It soon becomes very clear that it isn't just any mansion, but a hellish place where the undead walk the corridors, and other horrors are lurking in the darkness, waiting to eat some heads. While solving puzzles, collecting keys, and shooting monsters, the player has to unravel the mystery behind this mansion and, if possible, get out alive.

Exclusive to the SEGA Saturn version is a Battle Mode bonus mode, where, with limited ammo and under the threat of limited time, the player must survive a series of rooms filled with monsters.

Spellings

  • バイオハザード - Japanese spelling
  • 惡靈古堡 - Chinese spelling (traditional)
  • 生化危机 - Chinese spelling (simplified)

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (PlayStation version)

94 People (90 developers, 4 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 85% (based on 54 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 219 ratings with 13 reviews)

Beware of mansions in the hills.

The Good
This is a chilling game. There are some definatly scary moments in this game. Remember when the lurker first sneaks up on you? Wow that freaked me out. Why here and not other games? Well this game has got that elusive element of atmosphere.

The plot is you are a member of S.T.A.R.S. an elite rescue team sent to investigate some strange goings on in small remote town. Things go bad and you end up trapped in an apparently empty mansion. As you explore the game you will unravel the mystery of the Umbrella Corp's experiments. While the story is pretty standard zombie movie stuff, it was presented well and was quite intriguing. The mansion is huge and interestingly designed so you will keep playing late at night just so you can find that next key.

I also loved the music and sound effects for the game. While the sounds were not the greatest ever, they worked for the game. I really enjoyed the music. The music in the kitchen made me totally paranoid!

The Bad
The acting is hilariously bad! In a way it enhances it as a computer version of the countless zombie movies that inspired the game.

As mentioned in another review, the second half is weak, previously safe areas now have enemies in them and since the combat is functional but not great, all the fighting is tiresome at that point.

While the game is a nice mix of adventuring gaming with real time combat. The puzzles are not that challenging. Console gamers aren't use to these type of games so they were probably a lot more challenged by it. But any old time computer adventure gamer will find the puzzles fairly obvious.

The Bottom Line
While I love the series, I have to admit that this was orginally done better in the first Alone in the Dark, which is game fans of this should check out.

Windows · by woods01 (129) · 2001

Not the original survival horror title, but the one that re-defined it.

The Good
Resident Evil was probably the first game that I found to be truly terrifying. The visuals displayed beautifully rendered rooms and corridors with realtime 3d monsters that make your skin crawl. Music is, for the most part, wonderfully orchestrated haunting melodies and sharp, shock inducing starts that make you jump out of your seat. A lot of fears and phobias have been addressed. Hate spiders? You'll find giant ones in here not to mention all the sharks, snakes and zombies you'll encounter. The events are generally interesting enough to keep you going but it's the environments that really push you forward because it's always thrilling to see what comes next (I won't spoil them for you.) Gameplay wise there's a lot of adventuring to do and the exploration and battles are good enough to keep you glued to the screen for hours.

The Bad
The voice acting has gone down in history as some of the worst acting ever in a video game and with good cause. The dialogue and delivery are both horrible and inappropriate. The story is fairly weak and the combat system is fiddly at times. Lastly, the puzzles are far too simplistic for my tastes and have clearly been aimed at the common console gamer. There are very few exceptions to this rule and most of the time you'll only get stuck if you forgot where the door was that you have to unlock with the key you found.

The Bottom Line
Resident Evil is a great Survival Horror title which, while being surpassed by it's numerous sequels, has a certain atmosphere about it that none of the titles since have ever been able to replicate.

PlayStation · by Sycada (177) · 2002

I'll take a 2nd of brains please...

The Good
I never really played a game like Resident Evil before it. I never remember actually getting freaked out by a video game. PS1 was new to me, I was late getting one and this was the first game I rented. and rented. and rented. I loved it, it was freaky and I couldn't believe a video game made me jump out of my seat... crazy, I'll never forget it... Capcom did a wonderful job bringing the mansion to life (aside from the voice-acting). It reminded me of the Alone in the Dark series for the PC which was released prior to Resident Evil but Resident Evil seem much more dark and real. (aside from the voice-acting ;)

The Bad
SO... the voice acting. I find it hard to believe that someone actually ok'd the dialogue. Someone down at Capcom actually said, "Yep! Sounds great! Go ahead and release the game." I just have a hard time believing that. I've heard text-to-speech programs that sound more life like than the dialogue in the game. The game is so dark and creepy but as soon as a cut-scene begins, it instantly becomes a comedy. "Wesker?! (insert a 15 second pause and a blank stare) Jill?! (insert pause) Wheres Barry? (insert 10 second pause)" the acting was terrible and it caused a break from the game's seriousness. The loading times were annoying from room to room but what do you expect from a PS1 drive? Inventory is annoying... not matter how big or how small the item is, it takes up the same amount of space in inventory. You can't carry very much stuff. Apparently Capcom thought that holding 6 keys should take up as much room as holding 6 large weapons.
A lot of the game is just busy work, trying to deal with the limited inventory space and just a lot of running around unlocking doors and solving stupid puzzles. Needed more ammo I thought, pot-shooting is always a fun thing to do. The saving system is ridiculous.

The Bottom Line
Play it, great game, can get annoying but its definitely fun :)

PlayStation · by OlSkool_Gamer (88) · 2004

[ View all 13 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
What is your favorite Resident Evil? TwoDividedByZero (114) Apr 16, 2010

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Resident Evil appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Cancelled Port

Significant work on a port to Game Boy Color was completed before Capcom pulled the plug citing quality concerns. This port was a fairly direct adaptation of the original with characters moving about in 3D on prerendered backdrops.

Cut Content

  • When originally released in the US and Europe (for the PlayStation), the game had several cuts in its cutscenes, and some death sequences. Thankfully the PC version (excluding the UK version) restores all the missing stuff and plays like the original Japanese release.
  • The Japanese version had a color intro but in the Western release the intro was Black & White and was censored.

Dewey

Bravo Team's pilot, Dewey, was originally conceived as a thin African-American member of STARS who would've also served as the game's comic relief. He and another character named Gelzer (a giant man with cybernetic implants) were planned to appear in the game, but were discarded from the final version. The Edward Dewey in Biohazard 0 is a tall Caucasian and is a departure from the character's initial concept. The thin African-American 'comic-relief' character was eventually recycled into Jim from Resident Evil: Outbreak.

Ending

Along with the remake, this is the only Resident Evil to feature a "best-case-scenario" ending which does not elude to a possible sequel or spin-off and suggests that "everything is finally over". The reason for this is possibly because the company was uncertain how well the game would be received, so this game could stand on its own story-wise if it failed economically.

GameCube Remake

Completely redone for the Nintendo GameCube: includes better graphics, CG FMVs (rather than live-action), different item placement and other goodies. Part of the Resident Evil exclusive GameCube deal which includes ports of other instalments as well as Resident Evil Zero.

Inspiration

  • Resident Evil was originally inspired by the Japanese game Sweet Home for Famicom (NES).
  • The American film Night of the Living Dead was credited as inspiration for this, the first game in the series.

Japanese Voice-Acting

Although Japanese games with English text/dialogue are not uncommon, Resident Evil was originally intended to have Japanese dialogue for its domestic release. These were discarded before release, however, and to date the only Resident Evil media to not have spoken English in its home land has been Resident Evil: 4D Executer, a short movie that played over an "interactive ride" that was only shown in Japan.

Name Change

Originally entitled Biohazard, the game's name had to be changed to Resident Evil in US and European versions because of copyright issues - the name Biohazard was (and is) being used by an American metal band.

Novels and Movies

A book adaptation of this game was published in 1998 by Pocket Books, written by S.D. Perry and entitled The Umbrella Conspiracy, launching a seven-book series of novels by the same author adapting from the Resident Evil games (described under the individual games' trivia sections) and inspired by their themes and premises -- of those latter, notably number 2 in the series, 1998's Caliban Cove, and #4, Underworld, published in 1999.

A separate series of novels inspired by Resident Evil has been published in Japan:1. Biohazard: The Beginning (1997), by Hiroyuki Aniga; 2. Biohazard: The Beast of the North Sea (Biohazard Hokkai no Yôjû) (1998), by Kyu Asakura; 3. Biohazard: to the Liberty (2002), by Suiren Kimura; and 4. Biohazard: Rose Blank (2002), by Tadashi Aizawa.

Of course, the series has also inspired two movies starring Milla Jovovich: Resident Evil: Genesis and Resident Evil: Apocalypse, with which you are likely to be far more familiar, each of which also boasts novelizations of their own.

Parental Consent Trial

In 2002, St. Louis Judge Stephen Limbough reviewed a videotape of four games, in order to decide whether or not parental consent would have to be granted for children to purchase M-rated games. There was much hilarity online when the original Resident Evil, one of the four games, was incorrectly identified by the court and its reports as The Resident of Evil Creek. In the end, the judge's decision said the city could regulate video games because they were not free speech protected by the First Amendment.

References to the Game

This game is referenced in the Eiffel 65 song My Console.

Sales

According to publisher Capcom, Resident Evil has sold 2.75 million copies worldwide since its initial release (as of June 30, 2016).

Sega Saturn Release

The Japanese Sega Saturn release of Biohazard does indeed contain the uncensored introduction but it is still monochrome. Joseph's death is extended and there are shots of the Cerberi being torn to pieces by the gunshots.

Awards

  • Electronic Gaming Monthly
    • May 1996 (Issue 82) - Game of the Month
    • March 1997 (Issue 92) - Adventure Game of the Year runner-up (PlayStation / Saturn version) + PlayStation Game of the Year (Readers' Choice) + Adventure Game of the Year runner-up (PlayStation version) (Readers' Choice) + Game of the Year runner-up (All Systems) (PlayStation version) (Readers' Choice)
    • November 1997 (Issue 100) - ranked #1 (Readers' Top 10 Games of All Time) (PSX version)
    • 1998 Buyer's Guide - Worst Voice Acting Runner-Up
  • Retro Gamer
    • October 2004 (Issue #9) – #37 Best Game Of All Time (Readers' Vote)

Information also contributed by Ace of Sevens, Andrew Pine, J. Michael Bottorff , Kyle Levesque, Lain Crowley, Matthew Bailey, MegaMegaMan, Oyn, Pseudo_Intellectual, Sciere and Tiago Jaques

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Resident Evil 4
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Resident Evil 2
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Related Sites +

  • Resident Evil Fan
    With tons of videos, artwork, interviews and a Resident Evil encyclopedia, this fansite contains everything that the passionate fan could ask for.
  • Wikipedia: Resident Evil
    Information about Resident Evil at Wikipedia

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 1195
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Matthew Bailey.

SEGA Saturn added by Kartanym.

Additional contributors: Trixter, Zovni, Unicorn Lynx, tarmo888, Foxhack, Alaka, DreinIX, —-, Paulus18950, CalaisianMindthief, Patrick Bregger, FatherJack.

Game added March 27, 2000. Last modified March 8, 2024.