This is one of the best ways to play the original Resident Evil! It's the original version, but on the go with improved character models and various QoL improvements. You can now quick knife á la Resident Evil 4, reload at any time in combat, and view the map in tandem with the actual gameplay. Best of all: you can skip door animations and most cutscenes, making repeat playthroughs more enjoyable.
There's also a mode called "Rebirth" which is essentially this version's take on the "Arranged" mode from Resident Evil: Director's Cut. Like that mode, key items and enemy placements are shuffled around. However, the volume of enemies is larger, enemies die more quickly, new puzzles leverage the touch screen, and there are on-rails segments where you use the touch screen to slash enemies with your knife. The latter initially seemed like a nuisance, but it won me over with more challenging enemies and a fantastic boss fight. I wouldn't recommend the new mode if this is your first time playing the original Resident Evil, but it's great fun if you've already played the game to death.
There's also a mode called "Rebirth" which is essentially this version's take on the "Arranged" mode from Resident Evil: Director's Cut. Like that mode, key items and enemy placements are shuffled around. However, the volume of enemies is larger, enemies die more quickly, new puzzles leverage the touch screen, and there are on-rails segments where you use the touch screen to slash enemies with your knife. The latter initially seemed like a nuisance, but it won me over with more challenging enemies and a fantastic boss fight. I wouldn't recommend the new mode if this is your first time playing the original Resident Evil, but it's great fun if you've already played the game to death.
classic line reads and sexy costumes
Omg if you thought tank controls on a controller were bad then stay far away from this game. It’s like driving a car with your knees, so so strange.
neat port of RE1
…is it weird that this is my preferred port of this game? original mode only though; fuck that touch screen mode.
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)
A pretty incredible port all things considered. It came with two modes of play Original and a new Rebirth mode. Original was the exact same game as the original. Rebirth mode added a few tweaks and changes and added new DS centric puzzles and first person knife fights. Both modes are great to play. Their are times when i wanted to play the new mode and other times I just wanted to play a better version of the classic mode.
Character models were updated but still kept their look intact. Having the map always on one screen is nice for new players. Door animations can now be skipped as well making this a very smooth experiance of the original title. All the old unlockables are here plus a couple of new costumes. Capcom even added a multiplayer mode if you had two copies of the game. You could even play as the other Alpha and Bravo members in it. That is so cool. I wish I could have tried it. Over all it was an 15th anniversary celebratory port and it's honestly one of the best versions of the game.
Character models were updated but still kept their look intact. Having the map always on one screen is nice for new players. Door animations can now be skipped as well making this a very smooth experiance of the original title. All the old unlockables are here plus a couple of new costumes. Capcom even added a multiplayer mode if you had two copies of the game. You could even play as the other Alpha and Bravo members in it. That is so cool. I wish I could have tried it. Over all it was an 15th anniversary celebratory port and it's honestly one of the best versions of the game.
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.
Pretty good after all these years and all the new additions are pretty nice. It was an amazing foundation back then to one of my favorite genres and franchise ever and still is a fun, highly replayable game. And this is probably the best version so far, gameplay-wise.
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.
Honestly a pretty solid port.
Fart jokes aside (deadly but silent, y'know), a pretty good port of the original RE1. I never beat RE1 back in the day but I wanted to give it a shot because I love REmake and this version interested me because of QoL changes (transition skips, quick turn and quick knife). It really makes you appreciate REmake even more (difficulty balancing and added content mostly), but it's great on its own.
My complaints are that it's really really easy (you're showered in ink ribbons, herbs and ammo) and the caves are ugly as FUCK.
Pretty easy to recommend to anyone interested in playing the OG after REmake because the game is like 4 hours long.
Note, this is all based on a Classic mode Jill's good ending playthrough. I'll play Classic mode Chris in a bit. Don't really care to play Rebirth mode though.
Edit: classic Chris is as easy as classic Jill save the start, just has a lot more walking. Rebecca is a queen tho
My complaints are that it's really really easy (you're showered in ink ribbons, herbs and ammo) and the caves are ugly as FUCK.
Pretty easy to recommend to anyone interested in playing the OG after REmake because the game is like 4 hours long.
Note, this is all based on a Classic mode Jill's good ending playthrough. I'll play Classic mode Chris in a bit. Don't really care to play Rebirth mode though.
Edit: classic Chris is as easy as classic Jill save the start, just has a lot more walking. Rebecca is a queen tho
Coming from playing the RE: Remake, this version makes you appreciate the upgrades done to REmake and the overhall done.
Para mí la mejor forma de jugar a Resident Evil 1 sobre todo porque el cuchillo ya no ocupa espacio en el inventario y también se pueden saltar las lentas animaciones de las puertas. Además, si no te gusta el modo renacimiento, el cuál tiene situaciones que requieren del uso de la pantalla táctil, puedes jugar a la versión original.
I didn't like a thing about this. Tank controls, clunky inventory management, weird first person touch screen knife combat, obtuse puzzles, general difficulty, so much of this game repelled me. It's hard to say whether I would've liked the original better, I suspect not, but regardless this janky port was so not to my taste, I regretted buying it immensely.
I dug this out with the intention of traveling to another country to play the co-op mode with someone I've barely had any communication with, but then I got covid and had to stay home and play it myself.
I never had a PS1, got no nostalgia, but even so this still holds up as a solid little adventure with bags of weird charm. And it's so well suited to the DS, visually, structurally, atmospherically, it feels right at home. Shame we never got 2 and 3 on here as well, this would be my ideal way to replay them.
Also it's nice that I'm actually way more familiar with the remake, as this still holds a fair bit of mystery for me. I've probably got a few months before my next chance for co-op, so I'll be slowly battering through the various modes and going for all the endings and unlocking all the cool guys until then.
I never had a PS1, got no nostalgia, but even so this still holds up as a solid little adventure with bags of weird charm. And it's so well suited to the DS, visually, structurally, atmospherically, it feels right at home. Shame we never got 2 and 3 on here as well, this would be my ideal way to replay them.
Also it's nice that I'm actually way more familiar with the remake, as this still holds a fair bit of mystery for me. I've probably got a few months before my next chance for co-op, so I'll be slowly battering through the various modes and going for all the endings and unlocking all the cool guys until then.
game is actually very loud, despite title. i have similar complaints about silent hill
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.
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 fantastic port of an incredible game. Stocked with its own arranged mode with DS gimmicks as well as the original experience, alongside brilliant QoL additions such as cutscene/door skip and quickturn make this one of the best ways to play the classic that started the franchise.
Absolutely reccommended!!
Absolutely reccommended!!
This is the definitive way to experience the original Resident Evil. Forget Classic REbirth on PC, this game has Classic mode and Rebirth mode. That's right, now you can play through this survival horror classic... with touch screen puzzles and combat sequences... if you want. But this version also has quick turning, quick reloading, quick knifing, quick everything. Two screens means twice the speed. The costumes are cute, the knife swiping is punishing, and sadly some of the FMVs are censored. Overall it's the second best way to live out your fantasy of being Sphere Hunter's wife.