(Re)-Enter the Survival Horror
The days are getting shorter, the temperature is dropping and another Halloween is in the books. I guess now is as good a time as any to finally dive into Resident Evil.
I don't think Resident Evil needs any introduction. It was an instant hit when it was released in 1996, but I can't imagine anyone at Capcom ever saw it becoming as big as it did. It has the second longest running continuous lore of any video game franchise. It has tons of sequels, spin-offs, major motion pictures, crappy Netflix shows that will soon be mercy killed, animated features, you name it. It wasn't the first horror game, not by a longshot. You had games based on horror properties as far back as the 70's. Games like the 7th Guest, Alone in the Dark and D all predate RE, as do more cinematic horror games like Phantasmagoria. But the first Resident Evil was what really put the genre on the map while also coining the term we still use for games of its ilk today: survival horror. This isn't Doom where you have plenty of bullets to blast anything that moves. You need to avoid enemies, solve puzzles and conserve your ammo as you do your best to survive a swarm of T-Virus zombies and bioweapons.
The first RE was a revelation, but it certainly had its flaws. It was very bright for a horror game. It had some of the worst dialogue and voice ever contained within a video game, so bad it's legendary to this day. Don't get me wrong, it was still scary, I don't care how well-lit it is we all jumped when the dogs busted through those windows. But it was very clear Capcom was working with something completely new and within the limitations of the 5th generation consoles. So a few years later, when they announced a remake for the GameCube, people were pumped. As I've said before, the jump between the 5th and 6th generation was huge and the initial screenshots were amazing. It was a bit shocking to see the game as an exclusive for the family-friendly GameCube, but in a way that made it even more anticipated. Of course, there were plenty of questions too. Remember, this was back before remakes were a thing. Would it capture the magic of the original? Would it honor its source material while also making improvements? Would it be different enough without being too different?
Yeah, it was an emphatic "yes" on all of these. Capcom knocked it out of the park with the remake and I honestly believe that the success of this game was the genesis of the industry's ongoing remake obsession. It did the original game justice while drastically improving on its gameplay and presentation. That starts with the graphics and in my opinion, this is the best looking game of the entire 6th generation. For all its warts, the GameCube has some great looking games and this one may be the best. Honestly, it holds up to 7th or even early 8th generation games, at least to the average gamer. The camera angles, the creepy locales, everything is just about perfect. The atmosphere is oppressive in the best possible way, you feel less like you are watching a low budget horror movie and more like you are trapped in the Spencer Mansion with little chance of escape. The sound is top notch as well. It has the typical minimalist RE style, with sound cues and rising and falling music used to facilitate scares. It's the same style as its predecessors, just turned up to 11. All of these things together make everything infinitely more impactful, from the boss battles to the set pieces. Entering the second bedroom in the guardhouse comes to mind instantly. Words don't do it justice, just look at these screenshots and keep in mind this game came out 20 years and two generations ago.
The dialogue was cleaned up and the voiceovers re-recorded, providing a major improvement over the original. The voice acting still isn't great, but the dialogue manages to be significantly improved while also paying homage to the meme-worthy lines RE was known for. We still get allusions to masters of unlocking and Jill sandwiches and the fact the Barry's gun is REALLLLY POWERFULL, but it's done in a way that feels like it belongs in a big budget title. The live action cutscenes are no more, replaced with awesome CG versions. The character models look great, the faces are a bit expressionless, but the appearance and overall movement are great. This was where the modern look of most of the RE1 characters was established, at least I think so. Details have been added everywhere and it was clear that the developers put everything they had into every ounce of this game.
But this isn't just a graphical upgrade to the original. There is plenty of new stuff to do, with new locations, enemies, puzzles and characters. The west wing of the mansion has a second floor now and there are new outlying areas like the graveyard and cabin. Most of the puzzles have been changed and the route you must take through the mansion is different as well. Remember that classic dog hallway? You can't enter it right away like you did in the first game, it's locked this time around. The remake changed things just enough to keep it fresh but not so much that those who played the first game will be completely unfamiliar. In fact, they do a great job of preying on that familiarity to raise tension. When you do finally unlock the dog hallway you will find your trip through it...quite uneventful. I remember being freaked out because I knew what was coming, only to have it not happen. At least the first time. The game sets you up thinking that area is safe on your first pass, only to have the infamous pack of undead puppers make their glass shattering entrance on the second. I remember thinking it was cool that the zombies stuck around after you killed them, I just figured that's the way they always wanted it and they just didn't have the memory to do it on the PS1. Yeah, not the case. I almost had a heart attack the first time one of them sprung back to life and lunged at me. You see, if you don't behead or burn zombies in this version of RE, they will come back as faster, stronger crimson heads. These guys are legit terrifying, can one-shot you with their claws and make killing even one zombie a frightening proposition.
All of those changes were well received, but the addition of a new subplot and enemy was a bit more divisive. Throughout your journey, you will find documents telling the story of George Trevor, the architect of the mansion. As you might expect from RE his story does not have a happy ending, as (spoiler alert) his wife and daughter are abducted and experimented on by Umbrella while he is trapped in an inescapable maze and left to die. It's a depressing story, made even worse when you realize the hulking, bulletproof monstrosity that stalks you throughout the grounds of the mansion is his daughter Lisa. A lot of gamers felt this was unnecessary and tacked on, but I disagree. In addition to adding an interesting new enemy, it really drives home just how horrible Umbrella is. It was a deeply sad and depressing moment for me when it was revealed that the hideous beast that roamed the grounds was not a BOW built to kill, but instead was, essentially, a little girl looking for her mommy. (end spoiler) I always felt this side story added a lot to gameplay, plot and overall lore. It also allowed for added content that didn't feel like it was unnecessary padding or unfitting for the game.
The controls are much tighter this time around, and improvements like the 180 turn have been added to your arsenal. It still has tank controls, but I don't think that's a problem at all and it's something I always thought was just part and parcel to survival horror games. People focus on the horror but remember, the survival part is important as well. I think tank controls add to this aspect of the game, as does the inventory management. Most of the items and weapons remain the same from the original, you have your pistol, shotgun and magnum for both characters while Jill gets the grenade launcher and Chris gets the flamethrower. Jill has eight item slots while Chris has only six, but his lighter is much more useful this time around. You can use it in conjunction with kerosene to burn zombies, preventing them from returning as crimson heads and since Chris carries a lighter with him at all times, he only needs to carry the kerosene while Jill needs to dedicate inventory slots to both. Of course, Chris still has to carry keys, since he isn't the master of unlocking, while Jill doesn't. It's the same gameplay as the original, just refined and perfected. New this time are defense items, both characters have a dagger, Jill gets a taser and Chris gets a grenade, that can be used if a zombie grabs on to you. Basically, it's like a get out of jail free card if you get grabbed. Both characters scenarios are largely the same, with Chris finding and assisting Alpha Team medic Rebecca Chambers while Jill works alongside Barry to escape the mansion. I like that they upgraded the core gameplay without completely changing it and I think that is something more remakes should strive to do.
But at the end of the day, you still feel like you are playing the original Resident Evil. All of the new stuff is great and integrates into the game seamlessly, but this is still supposed to be a remake at the end of the day. Now that it feels like every single game ever gets remade, it feels like a lot of developers make so many changes that they don't even feel like the same thing. I loved the Final Fantasy VII remake, but let's be honest, it's a major departure from the original game to the point where it's its own thing. That wasn't the case here. So many of the iconic areas from the original game where brilliantly rebuilt in the new engine, from the statue room to the guardhouse breakroom to the aqua ring. I always felt that the main hall and dining room areas felt like extremely safe areas in the original game. That isn't the case here, the bleak lighting and constant thunder and lightning make them feel far more sinister. of course, they are still safe areas as you will never get attacked there (unless you try and open the front door), but they don't FEEL safe in the remake. All of the iconic set pieces are there, but so are many of the other moments that freaked us out. Things like the zombie jumping out of the gardeners' closet were just that much more intense with the new graphics. I don't know if there is any one moment that gains more than entering the second bedroom in the guardhouse. Anyone who has played the original knows what happens in that room. But when the music stops, all you can hear is the thunder and lightning, with the strikes giving you a brief shadow of what you are about to see, it's just indescribable.
Remakes are so common nowadays that it's hard to describe just how shocking the announcement of a Resident Evil remake was at the time. Were they really re-making a game that was only five years old? How different could it really be? Honestly, I don't know if there is a genre out there that benefits more from remakes than survival horror. It's not that old games can't be scary, because they can absolutely be. But it's a lot harder to get spooked by an indistinguishable mass of pixels with herky-jerky movement than it is by realistic looking zombies. An RPG can get its story across, an adventure game can still provide tricky puzzles, a platformer can still create unique challenges and a racing game can still make you feel a sense of speed with even the most primitive graphics. But horror games can struggle a bit to have their full impact.
In a lot of ways, the GameCube remake feels like it was Resident Evil the way the developers had always intended. Like the original was a demo reel or proof of concept while the remake was the finished product. In a lot of ways, this was the last old-style Resident Evil as RE4 would completely alter the series' formula a few months later. Don't get me wrong, RE4 is one of the single best video games ever made, but I kind of want to see them re-visit the older formula. Yes, that includes tank controls. I doubt it will happen, though with all the remakes that get made nowadays you never know. Either way, Resident Evil for the GameCube is a classic and a must play. Fortunately, it's actually very easy to do that because it got an HD remaster that's readily available for download. It's still Halloween season, so turn the lights out, the sound up and run, don't walk, headlong into the nightmare that is Resident Evil.
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