Resident Evil (2002) Throwback Review
Introduction:
There are certain pieces of media that essentially become useless to review after a certain period of time. If I wanted to review The Matrix, what could I possibly add to the conversation that hasn’t been dissected ad nauseam by now? It’s a pessimistic but almost true outlook. I say “almost” because there is one thing I could bring to such a review:
Myself. My experiences, my tastes, my expectations.
That’s all I can really bring to such a crowded table. And so, with that, I bring you my review of what is widely considered the greatest remake in video game history- Resident Evil.
Gameplay:
I always found it interesting how popular Resident Evil is. The characters are often portrayed holding guns and ready to take down their zombified foes, but in reality, that’s a very small part of the Resident Evil experience (at least for every game pre-4). The early RE games are at their core puzzle games. Their puzzles remind me very much of old point and click adventure games. They aren’t puzzles that require you to use a specific gameplay mechanics like in Zelda. Instead, RE puzzles are more “get item and bring it to this specific location”. This inherently means there will be a fair bit of backtracking, because sometimes you’ll find a location that is clearly missing something only for it to be on the complete other side of the mansion.
Which brings me to my biggest issue with the Resident Evil 1 experience- the inventory system. Look, I get it, item management is a key tenet of the RE franchise. I just find it incredibly frustrating that four of the main gameplay features take up so many inventory slots.
What are these gameplay features?
Well, shooting your gun takes two slots; one for your gun and one for your ammo. Burning zombies to prevent Crimson Heads or lighting a candle for a puzzle? You need a lighter and a fuel canteen- once again taking two slots. Opening locked doors? Each key takes an inventory slot. Saving your game? You need an ink ribbon which takes up an inventory slot. The game also has “defensive items” such as daggers and tasers which automatically activate upon an enemy grabbing you from the front. These defensive items don’t take up an inventory slot. Why? If my melee weapon doesn’t require an inventory slot, why do my firearms? And I wish there were a “key chain” of some sort that allows you store all your keys in one slot. And the ink ribbon thing is only annoying because you cant manually increase or decrease the amount you have. So if you’re in a save room and want to save once; you’ll have to grab them out of your storage box, use one, and put the rest back. It’s just tedious. Speaking of tedium- the doors! Yeah, I’m probably the millionth guy who complains about this. So much so that the PC community has modded these door opening animations out of the game. It was a cute way to mask loading times on the PS1, and I’m sure the GameCube needed them too. But the remaster on modern consoles? Eh, probably could’ve had an option to take them out.
As I mentioned before, this game will make first time players backtrack like there’s no tomorrow. This means the door animations stop being cute almost immediately. I honestly think if REmake had an inventory system like the one starting in Resident Evil 4, I would’ve liked the game much more. I think eight slots as Jill and six as Chris is just comically low.
Of course there’s the tank controls, but I’m not going to fault the game for that. The original Resident Evil launched when the PS1 controller didn’t even have joysticks. And with the fixed camera angels retained in REmake, the tank controls actually offer more precise movement.
Just two little tweaks (a slightly bigger inventory and an option to shut off the door animations) would’ve made this game so much more enjoyable for me.
Presentation:
In case you somehow don’t know this about me, I’m a big JRPG guy. And with the PS1 being one of my all time favorite consoles, I’m pretty accustomed to good ol’ pre-rendered backgrounds. Hell, I still think the original Final Fantasy VII looks pretty good (except the character models of course).
I can’t get enough of how good REmake looks. The pre-rendered backgrounds are arguably still the best we’ve ever seen in any game. The Spencer Mansion feels forgotten and hollow; like a suffocating tomb for our S.T.A.R.S members. The way the candlelight bounces off the walls and windows feels a bit too real in a pleasantly unnerving way. The sound design and music never lets you drop your guard. While the mansion itself is horrifying enough, it’s when you step outside the mansion that things feel even worse. No longer do you have walls and a ceiling protecting you. When you hear the sound of leaves whistling in the night wind, or an unidentifiable hum it feels unbelievably threatening. The soundtrack is of course fantastic. The tracks range from moody, ambient, tense, and just straight up terrifying. But we also get tons of moments where there isn’t any music which is just as powerful. There’s one moment where you enter a save room and you don’t get that wonderfully peaceful music. It made me curious. I saved my game and managed my inventory. Then I kept walking to a specific corner of the room and was greeted by a grotesque monster. I love that even all these years ago, the team at Capcom knew how to utilize sound design that well.
This game is a nothing short of a masterpiece in presentation.
Story:
This might actually be a bit of a hot take, but I don’t give too much of a crap about the overarching Resident Evil story. I’m a sucker for characters like Leon, Jill, Claire, and Ada of course. But as for the deep lore of Umbrella and the multitude of viruses? Eh. With Resident Evil 7, it seemed like Capcom was trying to softly reboot the series for newcomer fans. But even then, they couldn’t help but fold the new storylines in with the old ones. Resident Evil typically falls into the trap of trying to explain the horror. That’s why I always feel like the first 60% of these games are the best; because you have no idea what’s going on and that’s where much of the fear comes from.
Luckily, REmake benefitted from being the first in the timeline (until Zero). This means you don’t really have to worry about too many characters or plot threads. And there’s really not too much story to begin with. Unless you’re bursting through this game at expert speed, you’ll often go an hour or two without any real cutscenes. It’s all tucked away in the last third of the game. I think there’s a reason why most people talk about the Trevor family side story over the main Umbrella/S.T.A.R.S plot. The Trevor storyline stays with the player because of the independent nature of the terror the family was exposed to.
REmake also thankfully received far better voice acting than the PS1 original. It loses the B-horror movie camp, and instead tries to immerse the player.
Overall:
Resident Evil remake sets a standard for video game remakes. It keeps what strengthened the original game while cutting loose the weaknesses. There’s a reason this game is more fondly remembered than the contemporary Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes. Twin Snakes changed too much, while REmake changed just enough.
While I personally detest the inventory system and door animations, everything else was highly enjoyable.
Overall, I liked Resident Evil remake.
(In an effort to move away from traditional numerical scores, I will use the following metric: Hated, Felt Neutral, Liked, Loved, Can’t Stop Thinking About).
