Resident Evil (GameCube) Review

Resident Evil, the original, is for many one of the best games to grace the Playstation back in the day. When Capcom released images of the exclusive remake for the Gamecube, fans of the series were shocked at such a strange move as Nintendo is often labelled the "kiddy" console. No matter what the case, finally we lucky Gamecube owners have the chance to re-live a piece of gaming history. There has been discussion as to which title in the Resident Evil series deserves to be crowned champion, well that discussion and confusion has ended now, as everyone must agree that Resident Evil Gamecube is by far the pinnacle of the franchise.

From booting the disk you are asked how "Which best describes your opinion about games?" with the two choices "MOUNTAIN CLIMBING- beyond hardships lies accomplishment" and "HIKING- the destination can be reached quite comfortably". Confused by these options and remembering that the original Resident Evil is an extremely difficult game I decided to go with the first choice, believing that I was selecting the "I find games really hard, and enjoy the reward at the end so give it to me easy" when in actual fact I was choosing the difficult setting. I mention this choice simply because I find myself having to reset the entire game and start from scratch as I am unable to progress with no bullets, no ability to save and no life on all saves I had.

After starting the game again on the "HIKING" easy difficult its time to get this review going! The Raccoon City Police Department recently sent out a S.T.A.R.S. team (Special Tactics and Rescue Service) to investigate the Arclay Mountain area on the outskirts of the city, where a number of people (including, the S.T.A.R.S team themselves) have recently gone missing. The department decides to dispatch another S.T.A.R.S unit, the Alpha team, to find out what is going on.

Starting off with the beautifully rendered cutscene you soon learn the teams helicopter has crashed in the woods, on inspecting the helicopter a strange pack of dogs (strange, in the way there flesh Is hanging off) attack the Alpha team. With no other option, the team runs to a nearby mansion and here the story beings to unravel itself.

With the choice of playing as Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine, providing different roles in the story, different inventory sizes (Jill has 8, where Chris only has 6 slots) and a few different key items. Personally I decided to go with Jill as I remember using her on the original, the choice however wont have a large difference overall.

The game starts at a very slow pace giving you a false impression that the game is easy, this works fantastic as suddenly everything change for the worse and you will soon realize that you're out of ammo, out of health and out of luck. The game features the same gameplay that was found in the original five years ago, with a few additional improvements that have been included, such as quick turnaround (far more useful than it sounds) and the ability to shoot whilst walking backwards. Unfortunately they have not fixed many of the issues with the series as a whole, leaving the movement and animation feeling very bulky and awkward and a camera that can be extremely frustrating at times. The control scheme is a massive issue with the series as a whole and players that cannot tolerate it will instantly leave this title collecting dust.

Capcom stated that the majority of the game will be changed for the remake, and they have done a great job at that. Without changing the classic game itself, they have added new features such as defense items that will save you (if you are holding them at the time) from being attacked and puzzles have been changed so that even the most hardcore of fans will feel like they are experiencing the game all over. The majority of the actual mansion has been changed too placing enemies, items, rooms and events in different locations to once again make the game feel fresh to fans of the original as well as newcomers.

Graphically the game is fantastic; being one of the best titles graphically the Gamecube has to offer. Whilst all the beautiful backgrounds to the mansion in Resident Evil are pre-rendered the animation used makes them blend perfectly with the in-game rendered items and characters. The spooky style, amount of shadows and colours used throughout the house provide a fantastic atmosphere that, when used to the advantage of the game will scare the hell out of you; for example when you least suspect it, something will jump out at you with no warning. Resident Evil Gamecube is by far one of the scariest games that can be experienced.

The games audio is equally as fantastic as the graphics, helping create a truly horrific atmosphere that even films fail to create as well. The games sound effects are nothing less than spectacular. It's the fantastic balance of the ambience of every area in the game mixed with a slight noise that is out of place, fantastic shadows and realistic graphics that work perfectly together.

The game itself will take a long time to complete due to the puzzles and exploring needed. Within the game itself is a range of creatures, a large arsenal of weapons, several different plot directions and 10 different endings; not only this but if you complete the game in specific manners (no spoilers here) you will be rewarded with different modes and items giving more reasons to come back again and again.

This game is truly fantastic and I would recommend it to any fan of the original series, any fans of horror and any fans of great games in general. If you are able to look past the poor control scheme and withstand the fear around every corner then you will be rewarded with a fantastic deep game which will scare you, shock you and reward you like few others.