Yes Barry, push random buttons on the computer connected to the bioweapon directly next to it. I'm sure that'll go great.

Resident Evil for the Playstation. While it defined an era of horror, not just in gaming but within media as a whole, it just doesn't really hold up. Between the graphics, the voice acting, and those awful tank controls, it just doesn't really hold up in the modern d - hahaHAHA just kidding, it's always been great and always will be. All of these things and more arguably do more to add to the experience, rather than take away.

The idea of survival horror wasn't really a thing at this point - hell, it was Resi here that coined the term itself to begin with. If you've seen or played Capcom's earlier Famicom game "Sweet Home", you can see some of the foundations that formed mechanics within Resi, itself originally intended as a remake of that game. Limited inventory slots, multiple playable characters with differing abilities, albeit both downplayed somewhat compared to their spiritual predecessor. I've always hated the sound of limited inventory and save items, but in practice, it's ingenious in how it establishes difficulty in this way.

For reference, I played this game through the Director's Cut, but specifically on the original mode - from what I'm aware of, this is the unchanged Japanese difficulty from the original release. The American version of the original censored certain things, as well as additional restrictions such as no auto-aim, which is probably the sole reason I hear so much complaint about the tank controls. I played both Chris and Jill's scenarios - Jill's first, as she's intended as the easy mode, but I also played on Director's Cut's own easy mode because I wasn't sold on the gameplay loop yet. Needless to say, Chris' scenario was played on Original. I'll review Director's Cut separately whenever I play the Arrange mode that it introduced.

Probably the most infamous thing about Resident Evil is the story - specifically the embarrassing voice acting and corny lines. Funnily enough, the game was to have a full Japanese dub, but the director found the performances inadequate, and figured the English ones were much better despite not understanding how they sound to native speakers. I feel like I've heard this argument before...but anyways. As silly as the lines are, it's hard to claim that they do anything but enrich the experience. I'd probably have been bored to death by the cutscenes if they were played completely straight with professional VAs, but the bad line reads give it something to remember it by. The story itself isn't necessarily bad by any means, and the way exposition is cleverly distributed via diary entries and logs found in the places you'd expect to realistically find them is a great touch. Every now and then though, a cutscene gets just a little bit too talky - moreso near the end. The live action FMVs, as few as they are, are also a treat to behold. Solid production values, particularly for a game of this era. What's lost in the cheesiness is made up for in some of the really gruesome gore.

As for the gameplay - it's fantastic. Armed with little more than a handgun, you're in a mansion full of zombies. Ammo is scarce, though not if you're good at looting and managing your inventory. You'll probably be able to find enough ammo to kill every zombie you need to, but not right away. Fortunately, zombies will tend to face the walls for a second or two while they pursue you, giving you the window you need to hold forward and dart past. The tank controls are a necessary thing here - the game uses pre-rendered backgrounds, which look fantastic, then renders the models over them almost seamlessly. Due to this, fixed camera angles are used. It can get disorientating if the angle changes at a pivotal moment, but it's rarely a game-ender. If you had traditional free movement, it would get very hard to keep control of your character as the definition of "forwards" is constantly changing.

It's also pretty damn easy to manoeuvre once you get the hang of how to "steer" with the D-pad. And because auto-aim is actually present in Director's Cut/the original Japanese version, all you need to do to shoot at an enemy is to hold ready, and blast. While you can aim your weapon up and down, I found there very little reason to do either. Supposedly aiming up at super-close range makes it easier to score an all-important headshot, but it'll typically just cause you to miss - unless your opponent is on the ceiling.

Getting grabbed by a zombie is usually cue to mash all the buttons to minimise damage, and there are plenty of healing items to find around. Some items will be important to get extra resources, or progress the plot. Of course, this is where limited inventory comes in, and it's fantastic at raising the tension. Do you bring the extra ammo, or use that slot for a healing item? Do you keep a spare slot open in case you find something important? Maybe you should leave that ammo there for now just in case...maybe you should bring this key item in case it's useful up ahead? Shit! Wrong key item! It adds this layer of strategy to the game that leaves you heading back to the item box - which mysteriously lets you access the same pool of stored items from each box, but hey I'm not complaining. If you need an item that you left in storage, you'll need to plot your path to the nearest Safe Room to grab it - and assuming you didn't take out every zombie on the way, that's another risky attempt you'll have to make at dodging them. Backtracking can still get a little tedious, but at least here it adds to a loop of tension.

I do still have some issues with the gameplay, though. Certain enemy types are just a little bit difficult to deal with, especially in larger numbers. It's one thing to have to weave among shambling undeads, but when things get faster - well, you obviously don't, so it becomes a case of "stand your ground and don't run out of ammo". This extends further to the boss encounters within the game, which I personally don't think entirely compliment the game design that it establishes. There are a fair few exceptions, but certain boss fights follow the Doom tradition of "shoot it until it dies" and while that's certainly possible, it doesn't feel especially right with the limited movement of your character. I much prefer the boss encounters that rely on you being able to utilise environmental elements to succeed, rather than just brute force, and there are a couple that are like this. Still, I'm hoping the sequel is better in that regard.

I've touched on the pre-rendered backgrounds, but the graphics in general are great. For one, I played this at the native resolution, as PS1 polygons simply don't look as good at higher resolutions. It creates a better effect when the details are more pixelated, and your brain sort of automatically fills in the detail itself. There's a surprising amount of work put into the blood and gore, such as dismemberment and the way playermodels bloody when killed. Beyond that, though, the janky animations also lend this uncanny feeling to the atmosphere already generated by the gameplay, and the sharp musical score. It's a great soundtrack, and it pains me that the Dualshock version exists as a substitute.

I didn't expect to like Resident Evil as a franchise, but just like that, the original game has immediately sold me on the series. It's goofy, it's primitive, and takes some learning to play by its rules, but the original game is still a fun and rewarding experience that I'm glad caught on the way it did.