Resident Evil

I remember fondly I was at a friend's house looking at a rental copy of Resident Evil one hot summer day in 1996. I wasn't familiar with Playstation, as I was ignorant of the next-generation consoles (partly because I couldn't afford $300+ price tag). Resident Evil, along with Initial D and Battle Arena Toshinden, were the first PSX games I played. Actually, I observed a friend or two play these games since I was new to the world of Playstation, and I was still a loyal Super Nintendo fan at the time.

After playing Initial D, which I wasn't impressed with despite its cool computer-generated cinematic moments, I watched a friend pop in a copy and play Resident Evil. I thought that game looked strange as I've never seen it before - a 3-D environment with a playable character facing the first zombie using only a knife and there were bursts of blood. I was very impressed and wanted to play it after a friend's character dies from zombie bite attack.

The first time I started, I watched a very entertaining yet cheesy introduction sequence in live FMV. I figured this looks like a seriously fun game. After the chatter with Albert Wesker in the beginning, I encountered a zombie eating Kenneth. When the first zombie walks towards the character to grab him to bite I was seriously scared. I've never been this scared playing a video game before, and it was an incredible accomplishment - the groundbreaking gaming moment of 1996. I knew Resident Evil was this great.

Resident Evil is an incredible game in polygon 3-D environment and convincing pre-rendered backgrounds. In fact the bright, illuminated hallways and rooms gave it a very tense atmosphere reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. That made me nervous playing the game looking around the corner to avoid zombies popping out of the corners.

The story is very well-plotted with memorable characters, monsters and twists, albeit with awful dialogues. But that's what made it feel like a campy horror movie as a video game.

Quite frankly, Resident Evil is one of the best video game moments I've ever had in my life because of the wonderful feelings I had the first time I played. I finally bought a PlayStation console and a pre-owned copy of Resident Evil on my 18th birthday later that year. Resident Evil completely changed the way I perceive how video games can accomplish - immerse yourself into the video game world - something that The Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy series achieved to a certain extent but not yet whole.

I'm now one of the devoted Resident Evil fans and I look back to the introduction of the first game with a nostalgic sense of wonder.

Contrary to what some revisionists might have you believe, Biohazard was not the first video game to feature content excluding the demographic of the small child. Nor was it particularly innovative in that sense. What it did have over its competition in the mid-1990s was a daring concept that stretched the boundaries of action-adventure. So much so, in fact, that it coined a whole new genre of its own, of which it has since emerged as one of the best. Sure, there have been other entries in the genre such as Dino Crisis or the instructively titled Run Like Hell, but Biohazard, or Resident Evil as it is known outside of Japan, is the one against which all others are judged. No other adventure game features so much tense or combative excitement, and no other adventure game features such craptastic voice acting. Those who have wondered whether any of the so-called live action footage in a video game is "shot" before the voices are dubbed will be enlightened by Biohazard and the series built around it.

The makers of Biohazard and its many sequels freely admit that they were inspired by an obscure little horror film called Night Of The Living Dead. In the affectionately-known Dead series, the zombies could be most easily taken as a representation of the lowest common denominator. Like its inspiration, Biohazard gets the player feeling comfortable by bringing one or two zombies out of the woodpile. The player figures that ammunition is not a concern if these creatures are all they have to worry about. Then they enter rooms with one or two zombies shambling about. Then suddenly, they find themselves facing half a dozen zombies, with only half a clip of ammunition. This is to say nothing of all the other terrible things that lurk in the halls, waiting to feast on your character. As one of the tag-lines put it, if the suspense does not kill you, something else will. As it turned out, the Spencer Mansion where most of the game is set was never short of those somethings.

Yes, the graphics are crude, the voice acting hilarious, and the control system sluggish. The entire series has become notorious for featuring human characters that move like an M1A1 Abrams with a sackful of sugar in its fuel tank. And yet, in spite of these obvious flaws, the games attracted enough of a loyal audience that they were adapted into films years after the initial release. Try to name one video game you played six years after it was released, and you soon see just how much of an impact Biohazard made on the market. Yet, for all of its grandeur, the plot that drives the game is rather simple. A group of specialist police officers, similar in concept to the S.W.A.T., are investigating a series of disappearances and animal attacks in the mountains. When their helicopters are downed and they are set upon by wild animals, they retreat to a mansion. Barricading themselves inside, they start looking around and find that they have stumbled upon something so terrible the monsters they encounter become the least of their problems.

Every video game from Wonderboy In Monsterland to DOOM has featured a convoluted item search system to extend game time. Some of these virtual scavenger hunts have proved to be as annoying as hell, mostly because the game has no good reason to rely on them. Resident Evil features what is quite possibly the most convoluted Find Item X To Insert In Slot Y plots in the history of video games, but with a difference. Whether it is the slowly-revealed, thoroughly creepy plot or the desire to get to the bottom of the story, there is something thoroughly compelling about Resident Evil. There would have to be - a game cannot survive in spite of crap controls and terrible voice acting without some form of strength. Resident Evil has enough atmosphere for thirty survival horror games, with more to spare. Indeed, Resident Evil gives us such insight into what it is like to be the star of a B-grade Japanese zombie horror film that this alone makes the game worth the asking price. Sure, the concept was not as developed as was the case in the first of many sequels, but it was there to greet us like a tired old friend in the original.

Out of ten, the original Resident Evil is an eight. It is worth tracking down in any second-hand video game store. If you can find the director's cut or dual-shock editions of the game, so much the better.

This game is a classic, a gem, one in which is very hard to find. The Storyline isn't a rip-off,the Mansion is so creepy you want to memorize every inch of it, and the Suprises scare you each time you play. There are very few other modern Horror games that are worth playing. Some great oldies are Snatcher, Alone In The Dark, Rise of the Dragon, and Night Trap. Snatcher is,in my opinion, the best ever, of the Videogame horror genre, but it is hard to find, because it is solely a Sega CD/PC videogame. In Terms of Resident Evil, the first is the best, the 3rd is 2nd best, and Code Veronica is 3rd best. Resident Evil 2 is interesting,yes, but I have never cared for it's characters much. This series is one of the very few reasons I still play Playstation.

This is still the best game ever. No game is so scary, has so beautiful graphics and is so original as this one. I bought the game three years ago and I still play it sometimes. This game is the number one for the horror-fan. And I have also Resident Evil 2 but Resident Evil 1 is better. But Resident Evil 2 is also a great horror-game.

The best ever franchise debut and perhaps the best ever selling game on the playstation. Resident Evil is plot driven - but the special forces you command (Chris or Jill) still hold character: the story holds up extremely well and the subsequent movie producers and directors should be shot or at least eaten alive by bio-infected gimp zombies for their crappy introduction to the world of raccoon city. The opening FMV's create the tension between the unexplained body count and the S.T.A.R.S team sent in to investigate: BOOM! the chopper goes down- you find a hand; a severed hand still clutching the gun in a field; something ripped it off, the magazine is still in, whatever it was it is fast...extremely fast "WAHHH!!!!!!!!" the roar of infected HOUNDS pierces the night air and you pitch a running- gun battle to an isolated mansion. Closing the double large oak doors in just enough time; your team is safe. OR ARE THEY. CHRIS/JILL/BARRY/WESKER you are unwelcome guests at the mansion of RESIDENT EVIL. The definitive SURVIVAL HORROR video game that defines the console world like the Exorcist for movies. (but this is better) Triumphant escape from the labyrinth of corridors and puzzles or a slow agonising death to befall you and your comrades: Gameotography is excellent: the realist pre rendered scenery is beautiful to behold and the bloodletting is superb. One word: please delete the movies from our minds and start the TRILOGY off with the proper introduction for it is the best.