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It’s often difficult to
review a game without giving away too many surprises.
It’s even more difficult when reviewing a game where
most of it’s brilliance comes from it’s surprises.
This masterpiece from
Capcom’s studio headed by Shinji Mikami is only the
second in the “Survival Horror” genre on the Saturn
following the original, yet poorly received, Alone in
the Dark, not bad for a man who’s only past gaming
achievements were based on Disney franchises.
Resident Evil follows the story of four members of
S.T.A.R.S, Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine, the two
available characters in the game, Barry Burton and
Albert Wesker, the latter of whom disappears at the
start of the game resulting in the player finding
themselves alone in a mysterious Mansion on the
outskirts of the fictional Raccoon Forest, where the
game is set.
For a game where memorable moments come from Horror, the
majority of the game comes from the Survival aspect.
Barricaded in the mansion by genetically diseased dogs,
responsible for the deaths of several of your team
members, the game revolves around finding another way to
escape.
As your communication from
your team members is cut off, you’re left alone to try
and find a way out yourself, thankfully the rich detail
of this game and it’s linear nature makes for a game
requiring thought, if not also a little more patience
than you might have.
Searches for keys to allow
you access to more rooms becomes a long drawn out affair
thanks to the frustrating limitation to the amount of
items you can carry, you’ll need a good memory to keep
track of the many store boxes and save points in the
game, ammo limitations often hinder your progress
throughout the game, managing this is a game in itself.
With the “Survival” out of the way, it’s time to talk
about what separates this game from anything that’s gone
before, the “Horror”. Seeing members of your team
disemboweled in the opening scenes of the game sets your
heart pumping from the very start, the first sighting of
a zombie is one of the most memorable moments in gaming
history, the way the zombie looks at you with his hungry
eyes as he munches on one of your team mates is
something that sticks in your mind throughout the game.
Zombies themselves aren’t
too much of a problem, dogs on the other hand are,
shotgun blasts will merely buy you time to flee the
area.
Another memorable horror
moment from the game comes from a giant tarantula
lumbering over a pool table, the attention to detail and
especially the animation is chilling.
So there you have it, a small pinch of what one of the
richest in depth games ever released has to offer.
Some people may complain
about camera angles, whilst often making the control
less than perfect they add to the sense of horror in
what is a broken classic.
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