In the Begenning..............

"In the beginning, God created man.
In the end, Umbrella destroyed them."
Book of SaintDamion,
Verse 1
Psalm 69


Welcome to a city of mystery. Welcome to a city of deceit. Welcome to a city of death. Welcome to the birth place of survival horror. Welcome....to Raccoon City.

In this, one of my many reviews, I will take you to the beginning of the most revolutional series ever, the first Resident Evil, and the game that opened new doors to a world sick and tired of Mario, Sonic and Crash. To those who have never played it, I hope my review influences you to take a plunge into the land known as "Survival Horror". And to those who have, let this review be a reminder of where it all started.
Why is Resident Evil so special, you ask? Well, to make it short, EVERYTHING! And you have to look at it from a series standpoint. I mean, what is Star Wars without "A New Hope"? It doesn't matter how many sequels or prequels are made, it all started with the original. The original sets the standards, and in Resident Evils case, that means beautiful graphics, freaky sound, easy controls, an in-depth story line, and of course, enough scares to give a coroner a heart attack.
Before I get down to the nitty gritty, let me explain to you how I will compare the game with its many counterparts and copycats. Video games and systems have advanced so much sense the release of the first Resident Evil, so I will be comparing them by quality, originality, and fun factor. The graphics and sound will be put up against games that were released around that time frame. So lets begin. Step into the world of Survival Horror!
The game takes place in a mansion at the outskirts of a town called Raccoon City. A series of cannibalistic murders have took place, and sightings of rabid dogs and zombie like creatures have got the locals scared. When the stars Bravo Team goes in to investigate, they mysteriously disappear. So, then the Alpha team is sent in to find out what happened to there team members, and solve the mystery of Raccoon City once and for all. I wont go to much further into the storyline because I don't want to ruin it for the people who have not played it yet, but I will tell you this. The hole Resident Evil series revolves around a virus that can make biological weapons, and around the company that secretly makes it. Also, don't trust anyone, because someone in your group is a traitor! That's as far as I am going to go, but now you will know what to expect.
You play as either Chris Retfield or Jill Valentine, and the storyline and difficulty level somewhat differs depending on who you use. With Chris, your goal is to find Wesker and Jill. Aiding your search is a member from the Bravo team, a rookie named Rebecca Chambers. She has lost contact from the rest of the team, and suspects that there dead. Chris has only six item slots, and to make things worse, he starts off with only a knife as his main weapon! If you play as Jill, you must find Wesker and Chris. She too gets help, but this time from a member of her team. A gun loving, beer belly, middle aged man named Barry Berton. Jill has eight item slots, and carries a gun from the beginning. One thing is odd, though, Rebecca never shows up at all through Jill's game, and Barry is missing through out all of Chris's game. I wonder what happens to them?
At the time of its release, the graphics were unbelievable. Using a system never seen before in any game, Resident Evil used still camera angles with 2D prerendered backgrounds, and 3D polygon charactors. The background showed lots of detail, and the lighting effects made the game look very creepy. The only bad thing was that the set camera angles had an "I can hear you, but I cant see you" effect. I personally liked the idea because its creepy not knowing what's around every corner. The Characters looked great, and there movements were very fluid and lifelike. I just wish there mouths moved when they speak in the cut scenes. Its like they talked telepathically.
Even though there wasn't that many cinemas, they were great looking. Unlike most games of this nature, they were never used to bring the story along. Instead, the cinemas would introduce a new monster, or give you the results of solving a puzzle. My personal favorite was when you met the Tyrant. FREAKY!
The Background music sent chills up my spine. Just absolutely horrable(but in a good way)! It totally gave the game that "B" horror film mood. And the sound effects were just as scary. There isn't anything like the sound of a zombie moaning off screen, then as you turn the corner you hear his head explode as you blast it off with a round from your shotgun. The best sound effect had to be the Hunter screaming in pain as you shoot him down. As far as the voices for the humans go, well, if you have seen any "B" horror films, then you know the acting is terrible. The same applies here, just flat out cheesy. You get lines like Chris telling Jill that she is the "master of unlocking". But the game just wouldn't feel right without it.
Speaking of monsters, Resident Evil has its fair share. The most common are flesh eating zombies, and there are several different types. Also very common are zombie dogs, and they are a pain because of there speed. The hardest monster has to be a creature called "Hunter". They basically look like a skinless reptilian gorilla, and are also very fast. Hunters will jump at you, land, then quickly slash you with there long claws, and fighting them up close is a deathwish. The other monsters range from big poisonous spiders, a giant snake, flocks of blood thirsty crows, a man-eating plant the size of a bus, little snakes falling out of trees, sharks, and a creature call a Monitor that looks like a big purple bat with no wings. But the big daddy of them all is the Tyrant. He is the "Ultimate Biological Weapon", as Wesker puts it. Tyrant stands about eleven feet tall, transparent on some parts of his body(you can see his heart beat!), and has two long claws coming out of his right hand.
One thing you can expect from any survival/horror game is lots of scares! And to make things worse, they games tempo changes with no warning. Some parts in this game will make you jump right out of your seat! You will be calm and laid back one minute, not expecting anything to happen as you walk down a long hallway, when, SMASH! A man-eating dog jumps through a window. Then, after you kill that dog, and you think you are out of the blue, when, SMASH again! Another dog jumps through a different window. You better not have a bad heart the first time you play, and I am not joking. Capcom's goal when making Resident Evil was to either give you a heart attack, or to give you nightmares for life.
The control scheme took some time getting use to. If you have ever raced RC cars, then you will know what to expect. But once you get the hang of it, your on your way. You have a run button, and that is a plus, because if you had to walk through this game it would take about 9 hours to complete. I just wish there was an option to turn run on all of the time. You have an action button that has several functions, like open doors, go up stairs, pick up items and shoot your gun. Last but not least, is your aim button. I am not sure if there was any games before Resident Evil that had this function, but it was a good idea. Instead of just hitting your action button and having your weapon shoot automatically, you hold done the aim button so you can target the enemy you want to kill. Then you shoot by tapping the action button. Like I stated, the directional pad is set up like a RC car controller. Basically, up is always up, down is always down. right is always right, and left is always, you guest it, left. At first it is really confusing, but after you get it down you will never want it any other way. The only problems are your character feels somewhat stiff as you are turning, and I wish Capcom would have made it available to at least skip or hop while walking backwards(ala~Laura Croft). You just go to slow, its almost useless.
One thing about the first Resident Evil is the computers AI. The zombies are flat out stupid (duh!), and you can easily walk past them without ever getting touched. The dogs are brainless too. The only difficult quality that they have is there speed, but they are out ran fairly easily. The only smart creatures are Hunters and Monitors, and the Giant Snake can be tricky too. He will make you run into a section of the room, but little do you know he has his tail behind you, and as you pass the end of it has wraps it into a circle, trapping you, and leaving you no place to hide as he strikes you with his venomous fangs. Capcom did change the AI in the Resident Evil sequels, though, making all creatures smarter. Mainly the zombies, who showed a vast amount of improvement in speed, strength, and most important, brains. They will even plan out an attack, like going down a hall and following one zombie around a corner. Then, as you turn, your are ambushed by seven other zombies you didn't even no were their!
By all means, Resident Evil is not simple. On the easy setting the creatures are less challenging, but can still kill you quickly. The game has its fare share of puzzles too. Some are easy, but most take a long period of time to complete. One cool thing is this game can be played by anyone, easier to some, but it will still challenge them all.
As you have seen so far, innovation is a major ingredient to the original Resident Evil. And there is more, too. One feature that was a new concept, at least I have never seen before, is they way you save your game. You cant just go to your menu and go to the save option. No, No my friend. What kind of challenge would that be. First, you have to search the rooms and find an ink ribbon. Then, you have to search again to find a room with a typewriter. Saving is a game within its self! Also new, is the item boxes, usually located in the same room that you find a typewriter in(we call them "save rooms"). For the simple reason that you can only carry a limited amount of supplies, and you need a place to store other items you have picked up in your journey. Thus, you can put them in your item box. There are several of them located throughout the game, and all of them give you access to the same items (so you don't have to go all of the way back to one save room, and trying to remember where you put certain items would be a major pain). I think some RPG's might have had this option before, but I don't play them, and I believe this is the first action/adventure that has this feature.
One good thing about all of the Resident Evil games is there replay value. Now, out of all of them, the first on has the least amount, when it comes to special items. I wont say what you can get, but here is a hint: The FASTER you play, save your game no more then THREE times, COMPLETE your mission, and use NO first aid spray(don't even pick them up), then you have a good chance of earning one of the two secret items. I suggest that the first time you play through, though, you should take your time and learn as much about the plot as you can. But to me the replay value with this one is revisiting the story over and over again. It is so well thought out that its like reading a good book, and watching it at the same time.
As you can tell, Resident Evil is more then a shootem-up game. It has a little bit of everything. RPG, Action/Adventure, Mystery, Horror, Drama and what ever else you can think of. With its deep thought out storyline, plenty of action, enough puzzles to give you a brain fart, lots of blood, and more scares then all of the Friday the 13th put together, you now know why it is still one of the best selling titles in video game history. Plus, without it, a lot of other games would have never excisted(Parasite Eve 2, Dino Crisis, Silent Hill, Galerians). So, to the people who have not yet played this revalutional game, you HAVE to buy it! Not having it is almost like not having a bible in every hotel room across the US. And to the people who do have it, maybe its time to take a trip down memory lane, zombie style!

If you like Resident Evil, check out my reviews for these other similar games.
Silent Hill
Galerians
Parasite Eve