It's not as good as Resident Evil 2 but this is bar none the best way to play Resident Evil 1 not counting remakes.
I was super hooked to this, the exploration, the mansion, the music, the zombies, the hunters, the cheesy dialog… I liked it more than I thought I would, being the first one in the series.
This review contains spoilers
"Enter The Survival Horror"
While "Resident Evil: Deadly Silence" wasn't my first foray into the "Resident Evil" series nor my first foray into playing the first title in the franchise, it is the entry that I finished my first playthrough of the original game in. My initial response to the first title many years ago was underwhelming in nature, and I found much of the combat to feel frustrating and the controls clunky. Nowadays, I have aimed to be just a tad bit more patient with a lot of game in general, and while it hasn't led to much of an increase of enjoyment for a large majority of those games, it did increase my enjoyment of this title. "Resident Evil: Deadly Silence" is a great port of a good introductory entry to the RE franchise, and is a great symbol of the older roots of the survival-horror genre as a whole.
My first playthrough was with Jill, and I would have to say for gameplay purposes it was the better playthrough. The increased inventory size compared to Chris as well as the reduced need for backtracking due to Jill's lockpick outweighed the higher health bar and speed of Chris. I enjoyed Jill's grenade launcher over Chris' flamethrower as well. Overall, the game felt smoother to play with the perks of Jill's playthrough compared to Chris'.
However, the game itself is functionally similar for both characters. Shooting is a bit rigid, and movement is restricted to tank controls that aren't the worst to interact with but do take some getting used to. Zombies are tricky to avoid, as sometimes they are as dumb as a sack of bricks and easy to maneuver around while at other times they are able to grab you in ridiculous ways. The adventure-style puzzles are nice to interact with, and the health system is nail-biting to juggle despite its clunky nature with the menu system. Overall, the gameplay holds up fairly well with some minor complaints with the movement system, AI interaction, shooting mechanics, and clunky menus at times.
Story-wise I found Jill's to be more entertaining (due to cringe), but Chris' made much more sense in terms of flow and character personality. Wesker is a very on-the-nose villain for Jill's playthrough, but in Chris' its actually a surprise when you uncover his status as a double-agent. For Jill's journey, the enjoyment can be summed up with one word - Barry. Barry Burton is a an awful character, but is somehow amazing at the same time due to how ridiculous his writing is. He'll always show up and say some insanely weird stuff, and the voice acting for him (and every character in general) is very comedic. As for Chris, the addition of Rebecca Chambers is a bit weird at times, but ultimately a better dynamic than Jill's/Barry's.
The horror tones of this game are pretty solid, though nothing is really "scary" for me personally. I'm sure at the time this stuff would've been creepier, but now it feels like a game with elements of horror rather than something traditionally "scary". This is totally fine though, since there is plenty of blood, gore, shock, and awe to come with a playthrough.
The soundtrack is pretty solid as well, and the visuals (while on a Nintendo DS) are not too shabby. There's a bit of a lack of enemy variety, but for such an old title its a forgivable issue in most respects.
Overall, I enjoyed my time with "Resident Evil: Deadly Silence". This port is probably the best one available due to its refined controls and additional content, and the gameplay and story are enjoyable despite the clunk and cheesiness respectively. It doesn't really excel at anything in my opinion, but its not too weak in anything other than the writing/voice acting. I can Recommend a playthrough for newcomers of the franchise as well as anyone wanting to explore a horror gaming classic, as its still a good experience to have nearly 16 (technically 26) years later at the time of writing this review.
Final Verdict: 7/10 (Good)
While "Resident Evil: Deadly Silence" wasn't my first foray into the "Resident Evil" series nor my first foray into playing the first title in the franchise, it is the entry that I finished my first playthrough of the original game in. My initial response to the first title many years ago was underwhelming in nature, and I found much of the combat to feel frustrating and the controls clunky. Nowadays, I have aimed to be just a tad bit more patient with a lot of game in general, and while it hasn't led to much of an increase of enjoyment for a large majority of those games, it did increase my enjoyment of this title. "Resident Evil: Deadly Silence" is a great port of a good introductory entry to the RE franchise, and is a great symbol of the older roots of the survival-horror genre as a whole.
My first playthrough was with Jill, and I would have to say for gameplay purposes it was the better playthrough. The increased inventory size compared to Chris as well as the reduced need for backtracking due to Jill's lockpick outweighed the higher health bar and speed of Chris. I enjoyed Jill's grenade launcher over Chris' flamethrower as well. Overall, the game felt smoother to play with the perks of Jill's playthrough compared to Chris'.
However, the game itself is functionally similar for both characters. Shooting is a bit rigid, and movement is restricted to tank controls that aren't the worst to interact with but do take some getting used to. Zombies are tricky to avoid, as sometimes they are as dumb as a sack of bricks and easy to maneuver around while at other times they are able to grab you in ridiculous ways. The adventure-style puzzles are nice to interact with, and the health system is nail-biting to juggle despite its clunky nature with the menu system. Overall, the gameplay holds up fairly well with some minor complaints with the movement system, AI interaction, shooting mechanics, and clunky menus at times.
Story-wise I found Jill's to be more entertaining (due to cringe), but Chris' made much more sense in terms of flow and character personality. Wesker is a very on-the-nose villain for Jill's playthrough, but in Chris' its actually a surprise when you uncover his status as a double-agent. For Jill's journey, the enjoyment can be summed up with one word - Barry. Barry Burton is a an awful character, but is somehow amazing at the same time due to how ridiculous his writing is. He'll always show up and say some insanely weird stuff, and the voice acting for him (and every character in general) is very comedic. As for Chris, the addition of Rebecca Chambers is a bit weird at times, but ultimately a better dynamic than Jill's/Barry's.
The horror tones of this game are pretty solid, though nothing is really "scary" for me personally. I'm sure at the time this stuff would've been creepier, but now it feels like a game with elements of horror rather than something traditionally "scary". This is totally fine though, since there is plenty of blood, gore, shock, and awe to come with a playthrough.
The soundtrack is pretty solid as well, and the visuals (while on a Nintendo DS) are not too shabby. There's a bit of a lack of enemy variety, but for such an old title its a forgivable issue in most respects.
Overall, I enjoyed my time with "Resident Evil: Deadly Silence". This port is probably the best one available due to its refined controls and additional content, and the gameplay and story are enjoyable despite the clunk and cheesiness respectively. It doesn't really excel at anything in my opinion, but its not too weak in anything other than the writing/voice acting. I can Recommend a playthrough for newcomers of the franchise as well as anyone wanting to explore a horror gaming classic, as its still a good experience to have nearly 16 (technically 26) years later at the time of writing this review.
Final Verdict: 7/10 (Good)
For a hardcore RE fanboy, the multi-player mode where you can play as the ill-fated Bravo Team members was a selling point for me.
Either my DSi is crap or the touch screen stuff is really hit or miss. Otherwise, it's Resident Evil, albeit the hardest version of this game I've played.
My ideal way to play the original. You get some quality of life tweaks, plus, if you’re so inclined, the rebirth mode is a nice little extra for when you want something different. 2 is better, but 1 still holds up quite well.
LA MEJOR FORMA DE JUGAR AL CLÁSICO
Resident Evil es un título legendario que dio a conocer los juegos de terror en el gran público y si quieres jugar el clásico por conocerlo esta es sin duda la mejor versión (obviando el Remake)
La pantalla doble está excelentemente implementada al usarla para ver el mapa en todo momento y se añadió que el cuchillo fuese un arma aparte sin gastar espacio en el inventario, dos detalles que hacen al juego más rápido y cómodo.
Resident Evil es un título legendario que dio a conocer los juegos de terror en el gran público y si quieres jugar el clásico por conocerlo esta es sin duda la mejor versión (obviando el Remake)
La pantalla doble está excelentemente implementada al usarla para ver el mapa en todo momento y se añadió que el cuchillo fuese un arma aparte sin gastar espacio en el inventario, dos detalles que hacen al juego más rápido y cómodo.
Una buena manera de jugar al primer Resident Evil en una portátil.
Os controles e o combate são terríveis, puta que pariu.
probably the funniest version of resident evil 1
Très bon remake.
Oubliez pas d'appuyer sur eux avec le stylet :3
Oubliez pas d'appuyer sur eux avec le stylet :3
The touch knifing is hilarious
Otherwise the changes are good I think
permanent, no inventory-occupying knife is a bit silly but of course they did it considering re4 was out. And it's not like this game gives you little ammo lol. I had so much ammo left by the time I beat it every time (played 3 times) after barely using the knife after going to the garden
Upper screen map by itself is reason enough to play this version over the other ones, and the door skips, albeit not exclusive to this version, help considerably especially on replays. I don't skip the cutscenes because I have a soul
The rebirth mode, besides the aforementioned touch knifing, is also good and decent incentive to further replay this already very replayable game
I love this game's level design and progression/pacing! It's better with Jill and the bigger amount of ammo types but it works great with Chris too. Awesome campy but still slightly creepy early 3d atmosphere. The tank controls handle wayyy better than REmake's which are just annoyingly clunky when you're not running. Very memorable locations and bosses. Fun characters! It's so good really. Maybe I'll further see the light for 2 when I replay it but I just gel with this one's atmosphere and locations more
Otherwise the changes are good I think
permanent, no inventory-occupying knife is a bit silly but of course they did it considering re4 was out. And it's not like this game gives you little ammo lol. I had so much ammo left by the time I beat it every time (played 3 times) after barely using the knife after going to the garden
Upper screen map by itself is reason enough to play this version over the other ones, and the door skips, albeit not exclusive to this version, help considerably especially on replays. I don't skip the cutscenes because I have a soul
The rebirth mode, besides the aforementioned touch knifing, is also good and decent incentive to further replay this already very replayable game
I love this game's level design and progression/pacing! It's better with Jill and the bigger amount of ammo types but it works great with Chris too. Awesome campy but still slightly creepy early 3d atmosphere. The tank controls handle wayyy better than REmake's which are just annoyingly clunky when you're not running. Very memorable locations and bosses. Fun characters! It's so good really. Maybe I'll further see the light for 2 when I replay it but I just gel with this one's atmosphere and locations more
A shockingly good lil port. It's outdone by REMake, but if you want to play the very original then this might be a good option.
neat port of RE1
Playing this just for the original mode, re1 still holds up and is really fun to play through although some of the itembox and save point locations were really evil. Like no you cant save and have items in the same place GO walk for 6 minutes NOW
I dont belive this game actually exists
JOGO FINALIZADO COM A JILL (Nintendo DS)
Ele replica tudo do Resident Evil 1 clássico porém portado para o Nitendo DS, com gráficos melhorados, e com novas mecanicas utilizando o microfone e a caneta Stylus.
Os problemas que o jogo tem são os mesmos que tinham no clássico, dublagem e atuação horrorosa e o furo de roteiro que tem mas não irei falar aqui pois é Spoiler.
No geral um bom jogo vale a pena conferir
Ele replica tudo do Resident Evil 1 clássico porém portado para o Nitendo DS, com gráficos melhorados, e com novas mecanicas utilizando o microfone e a caneta Stylus.
Os problemas que o jogo tem são os mesmos que tinham no clássico, dublagem e atuação horrorosa e o furo de roteiro que tem mas não irei falar aqui pois é Spoiler.
No geral um bom jogo vale a pena conferir
I was amazed when I saw this running on the DS, great game for the system!
Descent for a DS game
Hokey voices and acting aside, this was pretty alright. Mostly spooky and the gameplay was somewhat off, but overall good. The backtracking in Chris' scenario was pretty annoying tho, like goddamn.
It's the original on the DS, all right. The GameCube version is the better version in my opinion, but this is a fun way to play the game and it has some gimmicky DS exclusive mechanics that tug on my DS loving heartstrings. Pick it up if the Arklay Mansion is your favorite Resident Evil location.