The new version of Resident Evil brings a classic back to life in spectacular fashion. This release features retouched visuals, additional enemies, more areas around the infamous mansion, and many new supporting character stories. The game is a remaster of a remake. It looks similar to the GameCube version which shipped more than a decade earlier. There is also an alternative control scheme that makes maneuvering your character much easier. Readjusting to the old level design and controls can take some time though, especially if you have not played it in many years. Overall, Resident Evil is an excellent game and the added features make it a treat to experience again. It maintains what made the original truly sensational, while also giving longtime fans more to discover.
For those unfamiliar with the story, Resident Evil revolves around a string of unusual murders attributed to cannibalism just outside of Raccoon City. The local police department sends in a team to investigate the matter, but they disappear. A second team is sent to locate them and they stumble upon something far worse inside an abandoned mansion. The player takes control of Jill Valentine or Chris Redfield as they try to uncover the mystery behind it all.
While the story may seem rather stereotypical by today’s standards, it was quite eerie when the game originally shipped almost twenty years ago. How the campaign progresses from one that feels supernatural to one that is rooted in fringe science is still remarkable. The setting also helps to build tension, as do mansion’s narrow corridors. Finding the corpses of vanquished team members is always disconcerting, and forces the player to consider what terrifying culprits could commit such horrors. Scarcity of bullets and defensive weapons adds to the panic. Limited inventory space and its aggressive management amplifies that sensation. Resident Evil also enjoys multiple endings, a feature which was quite revolutionary for its time. How well you do depends on how many people you can save.
Now when gamers hear of Resident Evil, they tend to associate the franchise with action rather than problem solving. Recent titles in the series have focused on the former exclusively. However, the original game is as much about solving clever puzzles as it is about surviving the undead. You need to collect keys and other objects, examine them, and then use them in certain situations. For example, the player may need part of an item to open a secret entrance on the other side of the map. Remembering where particular doors and pathways are is vital because the game requires a lot of backtracking. Puzzles play an important role in Resident Evil and it is this combination with horror that makes it unique.
Resident Evil is frightening and tense. The fantastic sound design adds to the dread and suspense. It is commendable that even after all these years the game feels exciting and keeps you on the edge. The audio is sinister and varies in intensity depending on the situation. The growls of monsters and undead are truly terrifying. Even the animals sound horrific. The ravens perched on ledges are probably the worst offenders because they sound just like screaming humans. Resident Evil features some of the best audio ever created for a video game.
There are also a number of issues with the game, largely associated with its age. One of them pertains to the control scheme. While the layout is designed to make shooting and evading the undead difficult, it still leads to frustrating moments. For example, if you are going up a flight of stairs and push forward, the camera angle changes at the corner and pushing forward actually causes you to go back down. Sometimes it feels like a constant battle with the controller.
Limited character movement also detracts from the experience. Even though it is part of the game design, many players will find this vexing and aggravating. Occasionally you are not sure where you are shooting. It may look like you are shooting the wall next to an enemy, but then you end up hitting them somehow. In other instances it looks like you are aiming directly at an enemy, but then you miss them completely. The reason for this boils down to the finicky camera and odd controls.
Apart from that, the extra areas added to this remaster of Resident Evil have a completely different feel than the others. Even though the majority of the game looks like the GameCube version, the new Arklay Mountain sections feel much more modern. It is quite jarring to witness this transition. Even though it is a daunting task to remaster everything in a game, the finished product should still have a consistent look. The regions appear as though they were tacked on from a different title.
Lastly, the voice acting is still horrendous to say the least. Updating the voice-overs would have taken away from the original experience, but some dialogues, especially those voiced by Barry and Wesker, sound unintentionally comical. This chisels away from the tense atmosphere because just hearing them makes one chuckle. Maybe adding new audio, while giving the option of enabling the original dialogues, would have been the best solution here.
Resident Evil is a long game that can take ten to fifteen hours depending on how fast you are able to navigate the mansion’s puzzles. As stated earlier, you can play as either Jill or Chris and both of them have unique abilities. While their campaigns progress in a similar fashion, the differing skills make playing the two feel distinct. Jill is quite fragile but can pick locks and hold more items. Chris is able to withstand much more damage but needs keys to unlock doors. There are many weapons and costumes to find as well. The game is not linear so you can explore the mansion and surrounding areas however you like. This enhances the replay value because it requires multiple play-throughs. At £15, Resident Evil has great value because this.
The game is a classic and Capcom have done an amazing job bringing it to newer consoles. This remaster will appeal to fans of the original because it stays true to what they experienced all those years ago. It will also appeal to newcomers because it provides more modern controls and updated graphics. While Resident Evil may not feature completely modern visuals, it still manages to evoke horror through the atmosphere and tension it creates. The frame rate on the Xbox One version is stable and does not have any stutters or noticeable slowdowns. Resident Evil 7 should go back to these roots and features puzzles along with intense combat. Capcom should look at this title for guidance on how to further the franchise.
Asher M is a games journalist, former News Writer (Gaming) at Windows Central. They contributed 18 articles to ICXM between 2014–2015, focused on game reviews, and Xbox news: one of several bylines used by Asher Madan during his time at ICXM.