This review contains spoilers
Despite its age there's a lot to appreciate about Resident Evil. Every angle being with a fixed camera seems like a sign of the game's age at first, and it arguably still is, but the game is so well made that it's turned into a strength. Often the game will hide zombies just around the corner or the camera's vision so you can only see them when you get close enough for the camera angle to switch to show them. I say this is a good thing because it's clear that the game places the zombies in these places on purpose to increase the tension of each moment of the game. Even if you can't see the zombies, you can sometimes hear their grunts or other means to know they're there. My favorite moment of when you can see zombie is around the corner even when they're not shown directly by the camera is early on when you enter a new room with a mirror reflecting into a narrow hallway next to the room, at least when I played the game a zombie briefly walked in front of the mirror's reflection. It was so brief and unexpected that I wasn't sure if what I saw was really real, and seconds later a zombie came out of the hallway. Every camera angle is very well thought out. If something is in the foreground there's a reason. Some shots are wide like how wide shots exist in films to show the surroundings. Originally I was playing the remake's 16:9 view option, but I saw a comment online about how the game's better in the original aspect ratio so I tried it, and I have to agree. In 16:9 the camera follows the player a bit to make up for the missing space that happens from the zoom, but with the original aspect ratio the camera is completely still. It increases the lifeless feeling of the areas you explore. How everything is dead. You're alone. The difference or the effect isn't anything major, but I think it's interesting how the aspect ratio you choose changes the experience of the game.
Another common argument against the game is that the controls are bad, and I don't agree. I pretty much immediately switched to tank controls upon starting the game because I knew how much stronger the newer control scheme would be, so I can't speak on how those work, but I can defend tank controls. It takes a bit of time to get used to, but it's no problem once you do, and the controls work better for how the camera's constantly switching around the player, because your movement isn't based on the camera, it's only based on your own position. Maybe I'm better at using tank controls than the average person because of what I've done in my real life, but I never struggled too hard with the controls. I also like the tank controls because they contribute to a very intricate risk reward that goes into every enemy encounter. Because of your slow turning speed even with the ability to quickly turn 180 degrees and the inability to shoot while moving, even a simple task like shooting an enemy and running away forces you to take into consideration things such as your distance from the enemy, how fast your enemy moves, any other enemies that could be behind you, and more much harder than you would in a game that's more action based and less survival based. Thankfully most zombies move very slow, so you have a lot of time to position yourself properly. The controls being more limited, making you more vulnerable if you're not careful, increase the game's intensity during enemy encounters because instead of just making you think about where to shoot the enemy from, you also have to think about how you'll avoid taking damage after shooting.
On a similar note, I also really like the risk reward associated with enemies you decide not to shoot. When you shoot enemies you have to risk taking damage because you have to stand completely still for a small amount of time, as well as wasting unnecessary bullets, which are a valuable resource in this game. The risk is greater if you decide to try shooting the head of a zombie and kill it, forcing you to stand closer to them because you have to do that you have to aim upwards, and the angle that you can shoot their head at requires you to be closer to them a lot of the time. The reward is temporarily stunning or downing the enemy allowing you to hopefully run by without taking damage, and if you shoot them in the head, they'll be gone permanently. Another way to deal with zombies is to run by them, which has another risk and reward attached to it. A lot of the time you'll have to run by them in narrow hallways. The risk is that you'll have to get really close to them and risk taking damage, but the reward is that you won't have to use any bullets. While it is safer to just try and kill the zombies, because of how valuable bullets were I found myself trying to run around them most of the time, only killing them when I absolutely had to when I was low on health, or if it was a hallway I crossed so often that I decided using a few bullets was less wasteful than the potential life I could be losing. Any time you encounter an enemy you have go through a risk reward system of some sort, and it really kept the game engaging for me. Even when I was back tracking to certain places, I couldn't ever let my guard down just because it was somewhere I've been before, because I could always take damage. And because of the constant stress the game puts you through, every time you run past a zombie without taking damage or shoot an enemy's head off, the game's also constantly satisfying.
The game doesn't have much for a story (at least in the Chris campaign that I played through, though I doubt Jill's campaign is too different), but the game does have notes you pick up all over the place that have information about the virus. Though most be summarized as "this virus is killing people and turning them into monsters" or "the virus got me and I am losing my mind and I am sad :(" it can be pretty heartbreaking to read a few of them. They detail people writing their last words and moments as they're certain they're going to be turned into a monster. People write about their regrets, how they want to see their family, or people just losing the ability to form normal sentences because of the effects of the virus. A lot of them say basically the same thing, yes, but they all tell a different story and help give a bigger picture of the horrible things that happened as a result of the experiments. Because of that, the game can have some very dark moments.
Up until now I've been talking about things that I'm not sure how much could apply to the early Resident Evil games or specifically this game, but now I'll talk about the map design because that's something that applies specifically to this game. The mansion area is an amazing made area that's almost built like a metroidvania. You go around different rooms and unlock keys to unlock more rooms, and you'll be going around the entire mansion multiple times to get everything. You'll also use certain items you get in certain areas in completely different places in order to make progress. I saw some people complain about how much backtracking there is, and I can see that being a valid complaint, but I didn't feel annoyed by it. I could just have good patience because the door animations, possibly the most complained about part of the game, didn't bother me once. Even though I do think you spend a little too much time here throughout the game, I spent at least half of the game in the mansion alone, I still think it's an incredible area, especially as the first one in the game. As you explore the rooms you'll keep getting more and more questions about what happened to the people living in the mansion, and why there's so many zombies inside. The mansion, as well as the rest of the game, also happens to have a lot of puzzles. The puzzles throughout the game are pretty good in my opinion. No solutions feel so arbitrary that it's impossible to figure out on your own, even though I did have to look up how to progress a few times, and figuring out how to solve them is satisfying. It's nothing amazing, but it doesn't hurt the rest of the experience. I found them enjoyable overall. Even though the rest of the areas in the game aren't as good as the mansion, they're all at least decent. I especially like the dormitory area for its atmosphere and I think it has some great moments, like reading the suicide note.
Overall Resident Evil is an incredible game. I can't speak on how good it is as a remake because I haven't played the original, but it's a game that I appreciate a lot, and hopefully I've been able to express how throughout this review. Even though it's very stressful to play a lot of the time, it was still a great experience. The one thing this game is weighed down by is the fact that some areas in the game aren't amazing, but even still there's so much care put in to so many parts of the game. This game has earned its status as a classic.
Another common argument against the game is that the controls are bad, and I don't agree. I pretty much immediately switched to tank controls upon starting the game because I knew how much stronger the newer control scheme would be, so I can't speak on how those work, but I can defend tank controls. It takes a bit of time to get used to, but it's no problem once you do, and the controls work better for how the camera's constantly switching around the player, because your movement isn't based on the camera, it's only based on your own position. Maybe I'm better at using tank controls than the average person because of what I've done in my real life, but I never struggled too hard with the controls. I also like the tank controls because they contribute to a very intricate risk reward that goes into every enemy encounter. Because of your slow turning speed even with the ability to quickly turn 180 degrees and the inability to shoot while moving, even a simple task like shooting an enemy and running away forces you to take into consideration things such as your distance from the enemy, how fast your enemy moves, any other enemies that could be behind you, and more much harder than you would in a game that's more action based and less survival based. Thankfully most zombies move very slow, so you have a lot of time to position yourself properly. The controls being more limited, making you more vulnerable if you're not careful, increase the game's intensity during enemy encounters because instead of just making you think about where to shoot the enemy from, you also have to think about how you'll avoid taking damage after shooting.
On a similar note, I also really like the risk reward associated with enemies you decide not to shoot. When you shoot enemies you have to risk taking damage because you have to stand completely still for a small amount of time, as well as wasting unnecessary bullets, which are a valuable resource in this game. The risk is greater if you decide to try shooting the head of a zombie and kill it, forcing you to stand closer to them because you have to do that you have to aim upwards, and the angle that you can shoot their head at requires you to be closer to them a lot of the time. The reward is temporarily stunning or downing the enemy allowing you to hopefully run by without taking damage, and if you shoot them in the head, they'll be gone permanently. Another way to deal with zombies is to run by them, which has another risk and reward attached to it. A lot of the time you'll have to run by them in narrow hallways. The risk is that you'll have to get really close to them and risk taking damage, but the reward is that you won't have to use any bullets. While it is safer to just try and kill the zombies, because of how valuable bullets were I found myself trying to run around them most of the time, only killing them when I absolutely had to when I was low on health, or if it was a hallway I crossed so often that I decided using a few bullets was less wasteful than the potential life I could be losing. Any time you encounter an enemy you have go through a risk reward system of some sort, and it really kept the game engaging for me. Even when I was back tracking to certain places, I couldn't ever let my guard down just because it was somewhere I've been before, because I could always take damage. And because of the constant stress the game puts you through, every time you run past a zombie without taking damage or shoot an enemy's head off, the game's also constantly satisfying.
The game doesn't have much for a story (at least in the Chris campaign that I played through, though I doubt Jill's campaign is too different), but the game does have notes you pick up all over the place that have information about the virus. Though most be summarized as "this virus is killing people and turning them into monsters" or "the virus got me and I am losing my mind and I am sad :(" it can be pretty heartbreaking to read a few of them. They detail people writing their last words and moments as they're certain they're going to be turned into a monster. People write about their regrets, how they want to see their family, or people just losing the ability to form normal sentences because of the effects of the virus. A lot of them say basically the same thing, yes, but they all tell a different story and help give a bigger picture of the horrible things that happened as a result of the experiments. Because of that, the game can have some very dark moments.
Up until now I've been talking about things that I'm not sure how much could apply to the early Resident Evil games or specifically this game, but now I'll talk about the map design because that's something that applies specifically to this game. The mansion area is an amazing made area that's almost built like a metroidvania. You go around different rooms and unlock keys to unlock more rooms, and you'll be going around the entire mansion multiple times to get everything. You'll also use certain items you get in certain areas in completely different places in order to make progress. I saw some people complain about how much backtracking there is, and I can see that being a valid complaint, but I didn't feel annoyed by it. I could just have good patience because the door animations, possibly the most complained about part of the game, didn't bother me once. Even though I do think you spend a little too much time here throughout the game, I spent at least half of the game in the mansion alone, I still think it's an incredible area, especially as the first one in the game. As you explore the rooms you'll keep getting more and more questions about what happened to the people living in the mansion, and why there's so many zombies inside. The mansion, as well as the rest of the game, also happens to have a lot of puzzles. The puzzles throughout the game are pretty good in my opinion. No solutions feel so arbitrary that it's impossible to figure out on your own, even though I did have to look up how to progress a few times, and figuring out how to solve them is satisfying. It's nothing amazing, but it doesn't hurt the rest of the experience. I found them enjoyable overall. Even though the rest of the areas in the game aren't as good as the mansion, they're all at least decent. I especially like the dormitory area for its atmosphere and I think it has some great moments, like reading the suicide note.
Overall Resident Evil is an incredible game. I can't speak on how good it is as a remake because I haven't played the original, but it's a game that I appreciate a lot, and hopefully I've been able to express how throughout this review. Even though it's very stressful to play a lot of the time, it was still a great experience. The one thing this game is weighed down by is the fact that some areas in the game aren't amazing, but even still there's so much care put in to so many parts of the game. This game has earned its status as a classic.