In 1996 Capcom introduced a new survival horror for the Playstation One called Resident Evil or Biohazard in japan. The game was inspired by George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead film and directed by Shinji Mikami, who then went on to make the rest of series games and the recent title The Evil Within (2014). Ever since it has been acclaimed as one of the founders of the horror game genre. Resident Evil introduced the main characters of series, Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine. Now in 2015 it’s back and still terrifying as ever in stunning 1080p, 60 frames per second and improved game controls.
The game starts you out with a cut scene explaining that a fellow squad from S.T.A.R.S went missing during the investigation of the Spencer Mansion outside the city limits of Raccoon City. The remains of the helicopter was found with only pilot corpse inside. The team was ambushed by infected dogs and is forced to retreat into the mansion. The survivors consisting of Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Albert Wesker and Barry Burton. Depending on who you chose to play as (Chris or Jill) only your character, Wesker, and Barry enter the mansion. The other characters will not be seen until later on in the game. The game’s storyline is fairly the same for both playable characters with the exception of a few different items and cut scenes. As you walk into a large dining room, you’ll hear a noise coming from the hallway. The game keeps you on feet with classic horror movie style camera angles and door opening animations. Once you enter the hallway a cut scene shows the classic Resident Evil zombie reveal, many people to this day say terrified them. This beautifully brutal game loves to torture you with limited ink ribbons for saving your progress and minimal supplies, such as health and ammo. Throughout the game you will run into Barry, as he will give you hints on your next objective or save you from “becoming a Jill sandwich”, on the other hand if you play as Chris, Rebecca Chambers a surviving member of the S.T.A.R.S will point out your next objective and will be playable for certain sequences. As you venture further into the dark depths of the mansion, you slowly start piecing together the clues behind the creation of the blood lusting creatures and how the Umbrella Corporation but let’s be honest we already knew what they were up to from the beginning. After piecing together all the clues and rescuing the other character, you will be able to escape the horrors of the mansion. Resident Evil is roughly about 20 hours of gameplay in order to complete the campaign, as well as challenges to up the ante such as invisible enemies mode, real survivor mode (item boxes aren’t linked), and one dangerous zombie mode (Have fun playing Resident Evil while a zombie with bombs strapped to him but can’t be killed), also returning is the speed challenges where completing the game under three or five hours will grant you special weapons for new game plus.
Resident Evil still retains most of its classic puzzles and areas, but adds new areas, game mechanics and enemies. The game runs very smooth with the added support of movement with the analog stick on a console controller, since the classic version of Resident Evil only allowed movement with the directional pad. I’ve gone through the entire campaign twice and currently a third, and from what I’ve seen so far the game has little to none graphical bugs. There are a few concerns I have with the game for example in the PC version I ran into a problem with the frame rate dropping and the audio wasn’t synced with the video but that can be easily fixed after a few technical fixes. As well as the movement controls get a little awkward, when the camera angles switch so be prepared to accident turn around into a creature that is chasing you. Other than a few technical problems, Resident Evil HD Remastered is a must have for horror junkies and fans of the series. Resident Evil HD Remastered will be available on January 20, 2015 for Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Windows PC for $19.99.
