Kris Wall reviews Resident Evil HD Remaster…
Full disclosure, Resident Evil 1 is my absolute favourite game of all time. The Resident Evil series has provided some of my most cherished gaming memories; you’ll also be able to find Resident Evil 2 and 4 in a list of my favourite games of all time but the first holds a special place in my digital heart so you can probably imagine just how excited I was to hear Capcom announce an HD Remaster of the classic that started the whole survival horror genre. There’s no real danger of this review ending in a low to average score (if you must skip to the end then it’s one of the few games I’ve given full marks) so to that end this will be less a review and more of a recollection of why I love it so much.
The first time I played Resident Evil, it was the very first game I had with my shiny new Playstation console back in Christmas 1996. I’d been playing video games for a long time before it but there was something about Resident Evil that stuck with me, kept me wanting to go back for more and hooked my imagination. I’ve never really been a big Nintendo user so my time with the Gamecube remake of Resident Evil in 2002 was fleeting to say the least. I remember being very impressed with how good it looked but since then I haven’t played Resident Evil 1 for over 10 years. Yet it’s still stayed with me, I can still recall all of the characters, the twists, turns and betrayals, all the codenames of the creatures and how to get all of the different endings. There’s only a handful of games I’ve played in my life that have had such a hold over me.
Resident Evil casts you as either Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine, members of Racoon City’s Special Tactics and Rescue Service, or S.T.A.R.S for short. Alpha team are called to investigate an ‘incident’ at a mysterious mansion on the outskirts of Racoon City after communication with Bravo team is lost. Naturally things go from bad to worse when the team, including Barry Burton and Albert Wesker, are set upon by seemingly rabid dogs and forced to seek solace inside the mansion. Soon thereafter they discover the cannibalized body of a member of Bravo team, along with the ‘creature’ that caused it (still to date, one of video games greatest WTF moments/reveals) and then the nightmare really begins.
Spencer Mansion is still one of the best environments devised in video games, up there with the vast expanse of Hyrule in Zelda, the urban sprawl of Los Santos in Grand Theft Auto and the salty depths of Rapture in Bioshock. The estate and its grounds oozes menace and a lingering sense of dread from the outset, a feeling which doesn’t let up for a single minute across the course of the story. Initially much of the mansion is closed off to you, hidden away behind locked doors and secret passageways. The joy that comes from solving the mansions puzzles and finding its emblem keys to unlock more of its secrets, seeing more of the hallways begin to link up with each other and the excitement that comes from gaining a new key and knowing exactly which rooms it’s going to unlock. Resident Evil was one of the first games to really use the idea of ‘backtracking’ to previous areas to unlock rooms that could only be opened with items found later in the game and when the game starts to expand beyond the mansion, into the gardens, the guardhouse, a subterranean network of caves and a secret laboratory, it becomes a real explorers paradise.
I went into the remake thinking I had it all figured out from years of playing the original so I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was only half right. The remake has added a whole host of new areas both inside and outside of the mansion and has reworked a good portion of the item locations, so just as thought I knew where I was going and what I would be there when I got there, the game pulled the rug from under my feet and suddenly I was playing it for the first time all over again. However, the puzzles did feel reworked and more simplistic overall, perhaps to keep the pace of the game going but I definitely feel like the original had a few more head scratchers that had me stumped for awhile. Also included here is a lighter and kerosene system which allows you to burn the bodies of zombies to prevent them coming back as crimson heads later on (something I obviously found out after completing it). Capcom have retroactively included links to further installments of Resident Evil, so you’ll be able to read about the Ashford family while exploring the mansion or read correspondence with the scientist William Burkin who created the G-Virus in Resident Evil 2. This is a great treat for fans of the series as it felt like discovering something new in a game where I thought I had seen everything it had to offer. It’s also good to see that approach and train of thought being taken by a developer with a remake to go back and subtly rework its place in the chronology of the series and add more depth to the experience.
Considering the game engine this remake (of a remake) is built upon is 12 years old, it still looks remarkably good. The Gamecube version was already very impressive for its time and none of that impact has been lost, especially when I remember it in its original form on the PS1, all blocky textures like some sort of undead minecraft. While the remake doesn’t push the limits of next gen technology, the HD makeover brings with it full 1080p support. The shadow and lightwork that the Gamecube version introduced look more pronounced, which really adds to the nightmarish atmosphere that the game already conveyed so well. Elsewhere there is much finer and subtler detailing on the character models while there are now the inclusion of atmospheric effects work such as lighting actually illuminating the player, such small details that were a world away from the original incarnation yet only serve to layer on more atmosphere (that word I keep using a lot to describe the game) on top of an environment that already did its job pretty well.
Resident Evil would be nowhere near as good as it is were it not for some fantastic creature design. Beginning with the standard zombies of the former residents and workers who now shuffle about the hallways and dining rooms, the game begins to get creative with its bio-weapon program and soon you’re facing down vicious hell hounds, gigantic spiders, mutated wasps, a massive shark codenamed Neptune, and what can only be described as a plant gone absolutely wild and thirsty for blood ! Later on the amphibian hunters enter into the fray and along with them one of the most piercing, blood chilling battle cries known to man. New to the remake were the Crimson Heads, resurrected super zombies that move at crazy speed and can tear a player to shreds in seconds. Of course all of this leads up to the Tyrant, still to date one of the most iconic creatures in the horror genre and 17 years later has lost none of it’s power to unsettle, the HD makeover giving it horrifying new detail. Less successful I felt was the inclusion of the Lisa Trevor character, an indestructible lumbering hunchback type that only served to annoy more than adding to the game and the story.
In today’s day and age, Resident Evil’s punishing save system would put it alongside the Dark Souls series for being tough on players but I can’t imagine Resident Evil being any other way. The sense of dread, fear tension the system imbues into the gameplay is magnificent and wouldn’t be felt should the game autosave at the start of each and every new room. Despite ink ribbons being plentiful around the game, ammunition isn’t and the fear and sense of panic you’ll feel when your gun clicks empty and you have to get from A to B with a knife that is about as much use as a piece of string is real. Multiply that feeling tenfold when the hunters and crimson heads come into play later on. A Resident Evil without ink ribbons would be like Mario without mushrooms or Sonic without gold rings – sheer unthinkable madness but a madness that would only work within the world of Resident Evil.
A horror game is nothing without a good score and effects and Resident Evil had one of the best and thanks to the HD reworking, it remains so. The haunting music that plays as you explore Spencer mansion makes the times when you’re not being attacked almost as spine tingling as the moments where you are, the almost synth score that plays throughout the guardhouse area remains some of my favourite music used in a game, at once ominous and unsettling but perfectly adding to the atmosphere. The moans of zombies or the foot tapping of giant spiders that are off screen but still in the same area as you will have the hairs on your neck standing on end while the horrifying shriek of the hunters will bring the notion of fight or flight straight to the front of your senses. Resident Evil knew how to do sound and how to do it so well that it stood the test of time, a symphony of horror that expertly played the nerves like a master conductor and their zombie band.
If there’s downsides to the HD remake, and I’m being really really fussy here, the FMV videos haven’t received the same HD makeover that the rest of the game have received, they’re muddled, murky and blurry and I often found myself having to squint to make out what was going on, which is a real shame given how good the rest of it look. Around the halfway point, the mansion starts to fill up with Crimson Heads and the much feared Hunters which can destroy a health bar and end a life in seconds, combined to the tough save system and the scarcity of ammunition, it can make the game frustratingly tough at times.
It’s also a shame to see that the fixed camera angles still confuse the control system, there’s were more than a few occasions when I found myself passing back and forth between two angles because the shift in angles caused my character to run back on themselves. One puzzle in particular which involves speed and accuracy suffered for shifting through too many camera angles far too quickly. This problem seems to affect the more modern control system (that Resident Evil 4 ushered in) than it does the classic one (which is also included)
Looking back, Resident Evil was the first game that really got under my skin, the one that kept me thinking about it after I’d switched it off and made me excited to get back to it as quick as possible to unlock more of its secrets. The HD makeover does a great job of bringing this classic horror up to date and hopefully to the attention of an entirely new audience who may not have had a chance to play the original and on the strength of this I would love to see Capcom do a HD remake of Resident Evil 2.
Having not played Resident Evil 1 for over 10 years, I loved how quickly it all came back to me, how easily I got lost in its atmosphere and how it managed to surprise me with its changes when I thought I had seen everything it had to offer. It’s remarkable how much the horror genre owes to Resident Evil and sadly makes it all the more disappointing for how far from the template that the series has begun to stray with the more recent sequels. Whether you’re already a fan or completely new to the series, you owe it to yourself to play this remake and experience the beginning of the survival horror genre and one of the defining moments in video game history.
Pros :
+ Still effortlessly conveys a palpable sense of dread, tension and unease
+ Looks fantastic given its 12 year old Gamecube roots
+ Excellent creature design
+ Spencer Mansion is one of gaming’s most atmospheric settings
+ The ominous score still plays the nerves like a violin
+ The inclusion of links to further Resident Evil’s is a great touch for fans
Cons :
– Murky FMV’s haven’t received the HD makeover treatment
– Crimson Heads AND Hunters can make the game frustratingly tough at times
– Fixed camera angles still confuse the control system
– Lisa’s inclusion detracts from the game rather than adds to it.
– Puzzles felt reworked and more simplistic
Overall Score : 10/10
Kris Wall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqtW2LRPtQY&list=PL18yMRIfoszFJHnpNzqHh6gswQ0Srpi5E&feature=player_embedded
