Resident Evil

The Good
| Unspeakable Perfection |
I thought I've seen everything there is to see when I was playing Resident Evil Zero, which would only be logical if it came after this one, but no, this game simply breaths perfection. And not just everyday perfection we yearn to achieve or easily get tired of. No, it doesn't show you perfection itself, but the feeling it casts upon you while you're being a resident of this evil breaches all the limits developers tried to make you experience. Games like this don't deserve to cost anything less than $100 and yet we can find them for ten times less price. Either way, getting a console for this game alone is a good bargain I'll say.

| The Setting |
After a prelude of opening cinematic, depending upon your selection, you are casted either as Jill Valentine or Chris Redfield. Each of them starting differently, and ending differently, yet generally experiencing the same storyline and visiting same places. Starting point - mansion. Ending point - end of a long line of RE fans awaiting for next RE game similar to this to come out. Forget about this game as some silly AITD clone without head or tail, this one has a story, this one does connect to every sequel and prequel, and this one does carry an immense sensation of atmosphere with every step you make. Every footstep alone will tell you where you are, walking over the muddy water, under the loosen boards of floor, or across the broken glass. Blowing wind, flickering lights, it's all not only visible on objects around you, but accompanies by the sound that will get the chills up your spine if you let yourself go too much.

| Details, Details, Details |
I've never seen so many details as in Capcom's games, that's a fair statement. But this one outstands all the things you throw against it. There's detail in sound, atmosphere, graphic, motion, and objects. You are not just walking past the static 3D pre-rendered backgrounds that will take your breath away, you are walking past very dynamic backgrounds, and characters and monsters are on home terrain there, as their details are just as breathtaking as the background art. Just think of being in a mansion where you can see your shadow casted properly up on any light source you encounter. And if that's not enough, think of the flickering lights that add up to the spooky effect. And if that's not enough, think of lightnings that crack the clouds in the sky during the stormy night and you see every flash through the windowses and reflected on your character's face. And if that's not enough, think of raising a dust with each step you make over the wooden floor. And if that's not enough, think of seeing moths flying and bumping into any outside light or lamp post. And if that's not enough, think of seeing all kinds of bugs and cockroaches wandering around the rooms and corridors. And if that's not enough, think of breaking a statues or windowses every now and then when in need, making a piles of debris and broken glass that stays all the time afterwards. And if that's not enough, think of reflection you can see upon every mirroring surface, such as glasses, water pools, and such. And if that's not enough, think of every grass type, every bush, every tree that swings on the wind. Naming details is a rather tough job when it comes to this game, and noone should have grudge against the lack of details.

| Momma, Is This A Cinematic? |
No baby, it ain't. This game barely has any cinematics. If you don't count the first one, you won't see but a very few in the game itself, and that mostly goes for showing some water-filling effect or such, no characters included. But the game has lots of ending cinematics, as there are lots of endings you can achieve. I can think of at least four with each of the characters. That might explain why you get to play only like half an hour or so when you reach disc two. But ingame cinematics, that's every now any then, and it looks amazing. Perhaps not any better than in Silent Hill 3, but not worst either. Depends upon which part you look more carefully. Character motion is outstanding, especially ingame, it looks even too real to believe a set of skillful artists could achieve something like that. Accordingly, monster script for movement is just as emphasized with each of them moving accordingly to the look, skills, and other attributes, and making a perfect combination when character and monster interact, it's not just bunch of 3D polygons running each other through, it's a melody of balance and perfect assembly.

| Play Me More |
The replayability level is done as good as the one of Resident Evil 2 or such, only this one bares to have lot more different ending cinematics, selections in the game that may ultimately change the balance that affects ending, and thus lets you try over and over to your amusement. And although I don't care about replaying the game but rather prefer it to be longer instead of wasting talent for making it more repetitive, Code Veronica comes to mind as longer, lets you play with more characters and has different ingame parts yet all sums up to one ending. Plus, you play as either Jill or Chris which is a definite must replay, like it was with Leon and Claire in Resident Evil 2. However, this all just makes it sound like a different story, depending the character you play as, so continuations and sequels loose meaning on it. I haven't seen any game beside AITD4 that made it great on such account, there you replayed game with different characters, and each was accordingly solving one's puzzles, visiting one's places, and battling one's bosses, and all that for the same ending. So, if they couldn't do it this way, Capcom should've make it like in Resident Evil Zero. But all this is kinda weird, 'cos it didn't bother me in Resident Evil 2, and doesn't much bother me here, but still... to which of the multiple endings from this game do sequels continue? Is Wesker disappeared without a trace? Is he just plain killed by Tyrant? See, that just complicates the stuff, bah. Whoever likes replayability, such players are not for horror-survival and adventure games. They should play some online or multiplayer games where you do same thing on and on and on... tsk tsk tsk.

The Bad
| Itzy-bitzy Err...#&%$#&$ |
There's not much to repel you from this game, no matter what you like, but there are some minor things that do apply to this section. No matter how perfect everything may seem, character movements and all that by itself, but you can clearly see an error when your character is using the stairs, seems like his/her footsteps are basically flying a little above. But it's a small price to pay to overall quality. Makes me wonder why did I even mention such a detail... must be 'cos this was done errorless in Resident Evil Zero, so I was just wondering why not here as well. Perhaps they realized this error and fixed it in the next game, which is, by the way, a great game with lot more cinematics and a definite must have alongside this one.

The Bottom Line
You owe it to yourself to play this game (remake, I don't care for the original).

The Good
the graphics are amazing to look at if the graphics were a woman they would be SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR thats how good they look.

the amount of detail that`s gone into the background scenery is just top class the best looking game out there so far.

ive read that some find pre-rendered graphics not too good well if capcom listened to them wed have sh*tty games looking like MGS2 WHICH IS ARSE COMPLETE ARSE INFACT.

pre-rendered makes the game look good and gives it a more realistic look to it it pulls you into the game more than any other type of graphics . that`s what you need in a game of this type after all capcom are trying to give the player a real sense of almost being there which they succeded in doing here.

the sound effects were spot on as well its as if it was thought about very carefully before they attempted to re do it from scratch im glad they took their time and did the game the way it was supposed to have been done first time round.

every gun looks and sounds far better here than in any other res-evil game so far.

lighting effects are amazing walking down a dark corridor barely visable and the next thing thunder and lightning strike and a flash lights up the hall for a split second and then all goes dark again this add`s to the atmosphere 10 fold.

the amount of detail gone into the characters and the monsters is really good the best looking characters and monsters in any game yet.

just think guys if George A Romero had done the movie it would have been like this game full of atmosphere and horror but instead we got some peace of cr*p that is pathetic to watch oh well heres praying Mr Romero gets the funding for part 4 of his zombie movies i dont see why they shouldnt give him it because they can give a no talented maggot like anderson millions and he wastes it on that feeble excuse of a zombie movie and Mr Romero is struggling for money for his. thats not right a man with Romero`s talent should not have to be struggling for the funding it should be that m*ngo who made the res-evil movie thats struggling.

not much else to say about the game other than its the best looking survival horror out there and its the best playable survival horror out there as well.

well done Shinji Mikami sir well done cant wait to see what you have up your sleave inregards to - (res-evil zero) and the sequel to veronica.

The Bad
the fact that the characters run just a little slower than in any other evil game. and anyone who disagrees should play R E-Nemisis on the playstation or on the dreamcast and youll see what im on about the characters move quicker in those versions but not here this is the only fault. it feels as if your character is running in slow motion.<br><br>**The Bottom Line**<br>the best survivial horror game out there for atmosphere and graphics none can beat it. if you like these type of games theres no excuse why you should not get it as soon as possible.

The Good
Everything. I found the gameplay to be excellent, the graphics to be stupendous, and the characters to be real and the monsters to be paralyzingly realistic! As a matter of fact, I couldn't play this after a while. My wife wouldn't and couldn't watch me play, as it upset her and gave her nightmares. I myself tried to play it by myself both day or night, and couldn't, especially at night!! For example, when the dogs smashed through one of the windows, I almost had a heart attack! My heart skipped a beat and I had to stop the game to calm down.
When I saw my first zombie come BACK to life, faster and with more evil intent, I ended up trading it in towards some other games. I know, what a wuss! The dogs were bad enough, but now I had to contend with superzombies? You never knew when or where they would come.
Very very creepy! And I played "Silent Hill" to the end, so I know scary! If I didn't feel like my heart was going to burst out my ribcage, I would probably of played this longer, but I couldn't take it anymore. It truely transends the game world and pulls you deep into it's story and environments!

The Bad
About the only thing that bothered me was the camera control. It was quirky and cumbersome. In this kind of game that is a BIG problem. You really need to be able to see around you and quickly. There wasn't a problem with vision, you do have total 360 degree vision on both planes of view, but it was sloppy to control.
A bit annoying with the save stations being difficult to locate and get back to, which made for a lot of restarts. This isn't a big problem, except when you haven't had a chance to save for a while, and you loose all your progress!!

The Bottom Line
One of the all time classics. One of the all time scariest survival horror titles made!
Personally, it really did scare the crap out of me, and if you play it, be warned.
I wish I could have played it to completion, but I, I....j-j-just couldn't, no, I couldn't....no, no.......no.....not again, no.....sob..."What was that?"...."Who's there?"....gulp