Retro Review: Resident Evil (2002)

<p>It is hard to believe that Capcom perfected their survival horror franchise in the span of six years&period; The original <em>Resident Evil<&sol;em> on the PlayStation came out in 1996&comma; the GameCube remake was released in 2002 and it was at that point that Capcom showed the world how to make a gorgeous video game in the early 2000&&num;8217&semi;s&period; I remember having a hard time deciding which console of that generation to buy first&period; I weighed my options and thought about what games were out&period; Then I read somewhere that Capcom was bringing us back to the Spencer Mansion and my decision was immediately made&period; I gleefully ran to a place of business and purchased my purple cube&period; This was in an era where we didn&&num;8217&semi;t have to wait for updates after purchasing a game or title&period; So I got to pop in the first disc of <em>Resident Evil<&sol;em> and delve back into the world of survival horror&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Let us talk about the gorgeous graphics first&period; Capcom outdid themselves with the Spencer Mansion re-design&period; Every little detail is there&semi; from chains on the walls&comma; torn and dilapidated wallpaper&comma; spooky doors to unlock and plenty of zombies ready to take a chomp out of you&period; Capcom even redid the opening scene&comma; sadly this time around with no human actors and less hokey jokes&period; In 2002&comma; this game looked like one giant cut-scene&comma; it was truly amazing&comma; and I&&num;8217&semi;ve dabbled in the HD release of this title as well&comma; and wow GameCube games have aged the best from that generation&period; The character designs and animations are realistic and gorgeous&comma; the zombies are scary and slowly rot before you&comma; and all the boss designs are truly frightening&period; This is one beautiful game from start to finish and really is the definitive way to dive into the history of the series&comma; and I suggest playing it on the PS3 or the Xbox One&period; It will be easier to find and the HD touch makes the game almost look almost current gen&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;121574" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-121574" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-121574" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;03&sol;19164416&sol;2739288-2&period;png" alt&equals;"&lpar;Resident Evil - Capcom&rpar;" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"540" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-121574" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Resident Evil<&sol;em> &&num;8211&semi; Capcom&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Capcom really fleshed the story out with this remake&period; They tied the first game&&num;8217&semi;s lore into <em>Code Veronica<&sol;em> so much better&comma; and saved it from becoming one hot mess of a story&period; Something Capcom would eventually ruin in <em>Resident Evil 5<&sol;em> and <em>6<&sol;em>&period; I played as Jill through my first playthrough and I enjoyed how the Remake re-wrote some of the super cheesy lines&period; The lines fit a bit better with normal human speech&comma; but gone are the &&num;8220&semi;Master of Unlocking&&num;8221&semi; and &&num;8220&semi;Jill Sandwhich&&num;8221&semi; lines&period; You are still trapped in the Spencer Mansion trying to get out and save your life and the life of your partner&period; As you do this you unmask a traitor and find a newfound love for Barry Burton&period; For those who have bested the original version on the PlayStation you are in for a surprise&comma; many of the items are in different places and you are dropped into a far bigger mansion&period; Not only do you have to find the four keys but Capcom tacks on masks and such to continue your way through the mansion and into the lab&period; I enjoyed Capcom&&num;8217&semi;s re-writes and fixes for the story and it makes me want to play this game over and over again&period; I wish Capcom could still create games like this&period; Don&&num;8217&semi;t get me wrong&comma; I enjoyed <em>Resident Evil VII <&sol;em>but I didn&&num;8217&semi;t feel the innate urge to replay it immediately&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Capcom didn&&num;8217&semi;t fix the controls with the GameCube version&comma; but in the HD remake of it you can play with updated and more modern controls&period; That&&num;8217&semi;s another reason to find or download that version instead&period; Tank controls can be very taxing and frustrating if you are babied by the current generation of games or if you&&num;8217&semi;ve not ever played an original <em>Resident Evil<&sol;em> title&period; They worked well then but if you never played the original&comma; they don&&num;8217&semi;t feel quite right now&period; The D-pad or left thumb stick move your S&period;T&period;A&period;R&period;S&period; member around&comma; but it gets tricky when the camera shifts on you&comma; if you let go of your direction you can end up going backwards&period; Yeah&comma; like I said it gets confusing and difficult if you are trying to dodge zombies&period; Even after playing for about 8 hours I would get balled up while going up stairs when the camera would switch&period; People who play a lot of first-person shooters will have a rough go with the combat at the beginning&period; It works well once you get used to it but definitely goes against what other genres would have you do&period; To ready your weapon you push the left trigger&comma; then fire with the A button&period; Should you have any issue with the first two control mechanics Capcom was nice enough to add quick-turn to this installment&comma; just flip the C-Stick to which direction you need to go&comma; hit the left thumb stick and the B button and you&&num;8217&semi;ll be running in the opposite direction of danger&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;121599" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-121599" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-121599" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;03&sol;21005217&sol;beauty&period;jpg" alt&equals;"&lpar;Resident Evil - Capcom&rpar;" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"540" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-121599" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Resident Evil<&sol;em> &&num;8211&semi; Capcom&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>This is the entry that really changed survival horror&semi; not only are there multiple baddies that want to eat you or gut you but you also have to deal with other obstacles&period; First off is item management which can be pretty difficult&period; You have 8 slots as Jill and a space for a lock-pick you will eventually be given&period; So you have to carry a weapon&comma; ammo&comma; health and certain puzzle items&period; The Spencer Mansion is laced with puzzles that you must solve to get to safety&period; Some of the puzzles are pretty simple&comma; but some really make you scratch your head&comma; always remember to examine everything and combine items&period; Several new mechanics were introduced in this game&comma; then never revisited again is the defensive weapon slot&period; As you search the mansion you can find defensive weapons that will automatically trigger when you are grabbed by an enemy&period; Knives&comma; batteries for a tazer and certain grenades can keep you alive in a tricky situation&period; Another mechanic they introduced was the burning of bodies&period; Graphic right&quest; But if you don&&num;8217&semi;t burn them they evolve into harder zombies to kill&comma; so keep your oil canteen and lighter nearby&period; The biggest challenge I always had and still have in these games is to run and gun&comma; you learn quickly not to do that or you&&num;8217&semi;ll find yourself surrounded with only a knife&comma; which pretty much means instant death&period; Also&comma; one more caveat here&comma; there are no checkpoints&comma; when you die&comma; you go to your last save so save smart&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I love this game&comma; this is definitely in my top five <em>Resident Evil<&sol;em> games ever&comma; but there are several always fighting it out for the number one spot&period; This one was the first though&period; The first to begin the long series that still resonates today&period; The characters&comma; the weapons&comma; the viruses and the villains are some of the best ever created in a video game&period; Albert Wesker is one of my favorite villains in any game or media franchise and it was so nice to see where it all began again&period; Every survival horror fan needs to play this game&period; Yes it can be frustrating and yes no one uses pre-rendered backgrounds anymore but you&&num;8217&semi;ll be experiencing history&period; If you thought you were a badass as Leon Kennedy in <em>Resident Evil 4<&sol;em>&comma; you will be shown what it was like before Mikami re-imagined his own creation and you&&num;8217&semi;ll get your ass handed to you&period; This is as close to <em>Dark Souls<&sol;em> as we could get fifteen years ago&comma; and I enjoyed every painful minute&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;