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)