Information:
- Review Date: July 1, 2021
- Release Date: March 30, 1996 (!)
- Platform: PlayStation
- Publisher: Capcom
- Developer: Capcom
- Genre: Horror
Anecdotes: I hate the jerks at Capcom.
Ok, now that that’s out of my system, let’s dive in to Resident Evil. This game, released on my birthday in 1996, marks both a departure from what I’m used to and a turning point in gaming history. Playable characters were moving from sprites to polygons. They were also moving from 2D to 3D. Environments were doing the same. Full voice acting appears for the first time, at least in the games I’ve played. This game was the Final Fantasy of the horror genre. It wasn’t the first game, but it put the genre on the map.
The third dimension is starting to appear in games. This title uses faux 3D backgrounds, but real 3D movement. The backgrounds and cameras are fixed, so whenever Jill or Chris moves out of a camera’s range, the game switches to another. This was common for PS1 games in the late 90s, as developers were still figuring out how to create 3D environments.
I’m not a big fan of horror games, but I saw that this series was quite popular and up to 8 main games. However, I’m not going to cover all of them. I’m going to give three of the games a try. This is just the first game, and I’m struggling mightily because I have issues running from things or killing them.
Description: Players can choose to play as Jill or Chris as they investigate a mansion in Raccoon City.
Positives:
- Jill and Chris look far more realistic than their human predecessors in nearly all of gaming. I played as Jill, and it’s nice that she looks like a real person. Her face is detailed and her body looks like a normal woman’s. There are still issues with blockiness and disconnection, but it was still early for polygon characters. She looks MUCH better than the sprites of previous games. She’s actually clearer than the backgrounds. The mansion rooms look nice when there are open areas. It’s unfortunate that there are many narrow halls that only exist because the plot demands it.
Negatives:
- I despise tank controls. Jill keeps walking into walls, she can’t lock onto a enemy, and she falls to a zombie in seconds. There will be a lot of cheap deaths because of this, such as Jill getting eaten by crows because she missed the door trying to escape.
- And who thought the Ink Ribbon save system was a good idea? I shouldn’t have to search all over the mansion to find Ink Ribbons, then find my way to a typewriter just to save. I got to a point where saving was impossible because I couldn’t find Ink Ribbons anywhere. That would mean playing for 15 minutes, then a zombie would chew Jill up due to both bad controls and my lack of skill, and I would have to do that all over again. This should NEVER happen.
Screenshots:
Final Opinion: I’m torn. This game is important in gaming history, but the tank controls and the guesswork of where to go drops my opinion of it quite a bit. It was a rough game to play.
Progress: Just obtained the bazooka
Grade: D