People often say ‘The old ones are the best’ but when it comes to game remakes and remasters, the adage is frequently proven wrong.
Dated mechanics and clunky controls tend to shine through no matter how much upscaling and polishing a developer has done and despite whether the re-tinkered product runs at 1080p, 60FPS. There are some games which sadly do not hold up well under modern scrutiny whether we like to admit it or not.
Fortunately, it’s with great relief and satisfaction that I can say the Gamecube remaster of Resident Evil 1 is not among them.
This is where the survival horror genre really broke out into the mainstream. Way-back-when on the PS1, director Shinji Mikami was tasked with scaring the life out of a console gaming generation still intent on leaping platforms and collecting power-ups. Capcom wanted to publish something hard and gritty and gruesome and he had just the idea. While the PC generation had already enjoyed the Alone in the Dark trilogy and titles like Quake, DOOM, Duke 3D and the 7Th Guest, console gamers needed something more mature, dark and dreary. Resident Evil more than fit the bill.
Players use traditional Tank controls where both the rotation and movement is mapped to one analog, to guide either Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine around one seriously large haunted mansion, facing all manner of death and decay. The control scheme will take a fair while to get used to, especially if this is your first time coming into the game, and you’ll soon learn that, compared to modern titles, it’s not always the most effective when going into battle. Your character will remain fixed to a particular spot and either have to fire rounds off at range or standing on the spot with a knife, swiping like a cat at a ball of yarn.
There are numerous puzzles scattered throughout the mansion, most of them putting you up against it in a bid for survival, whether it’s finding a suitable replacement counterweight for a key you’ve just removed from the ground before you get turned into mincemeat by a knight statue with a spinning spike shield, or putting jewels into door frames. All the while you’ll be fighting against a variety of foes, from sluggish, groaning zombies, to fast-paced hell hounds that are desperate to rip your throat out.
The original Resident Evil grasps the right balance of patience and pacing that many modern horrors have still yet to master. It knows how to create a tense atmosphere and plagues you with uncertainty as you open each door and gingerly creep along every corridor. At the same time, when the pace amps up, the action gets fast and furious, requiring you to think on your feet, fight or turn around to live another day. And the fact that you can’t just save your game whenever you want, needing to find a typewriter and use a limited number of ink ribbons, certainly shreds whatever nerves you may have left, particularly if you’re in a tight spot.
Yes, we mock Resident Evil’s B-Movie dialogue and clichés now, but at the time, there were few games so immersive that had such graphic content. While the 96 version may not look the part these days, fortunately Nintendo commissioned an exclusive Gamecube remaster in 2002 that still holds up incredibly well. Yes, some textures look a bit rough and blocky now, the cinematics are grainy and other than the central characters, the models are a bit jagged and flimsy, but the house is still a real descent into madness, full of unique set-pieces and petrifying abominations.
With some fine spit and polish, Capcom have genuinely pulled together an impressive port, enabling many people to play this reimagining of a classic for the very first time, and in a way where it doesn’t look dated and behind the times.
And it still sounds good too. No muffled echoes or lame effects, the game is actually very unsettling with its creeping symphonies and menacing growls. Yes, the voice acting and accompanying dialogue is often poor and even laughable, but when you’re not trying to catch up with the story, cringing at some of its blatantly poor tonal shifts, Resident Evil will sink its tenterhooks into you and keep you glued to the screen without care for your health or sanity.
Experiencing Resident Evil all over again has been a bona-fide pleasure. In recent years, Capcom have gained a bad reputation for throwing out old ports without giving them due care and attention; this time they’ve hit a home-run.
Where 6 and Operation Racoon City have been lingering reminders of a franchise living on borrowed time, re-releasing Resident Evil has proven that, actually, this is a series that still has a lot left to give. As re-releases go, this one is essential.
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