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"The Jet Gamer" Game Review: Resident Evil: REmake "GC"
10 years ago
Played this mainly to prove a point to myself after watching a video the other week that made me want to show myself that the game isn't as hard as they made it out to be. I did just that when both times of mine were under 5 hours on both difficulties =P
Resident Evil
A remake of a game from the mid nineties that was remade from the PS1 era to the Gamecube era. This was one of those few games for the Nintendo consoles that were rated M and for good reason, yet the few that were let through onto Nintendo consoles usually do so for good reason. Due to everyone knowing Nintendo's lacking of M rated games on their systems for the last few gens, you would expect there to be something different or special about the games that were allowed on the system. I know there was just a recent release of this game digitally, but since I don't play digital that often, I just played the original remake, which doesn't have the more advanced graphics or that new control scheme. But still, playing the original REmake, let's see how this one holds up shall we?
Gameplay
Resident Evil is a survival horror game that stays true to its original survival horror roots that was one of the first games that created the genre. You play as either Chris or Jill as they try and survive a zombie outbreak in a large mansion complex while trying to find your missing comrades of the STARS team from Racoon City. You run around this large mansion and surrounding areas collecting items and keys to unlock doors and solve puzzles to continue to explore the mansion to try and find your friends and to find your way home. You also have to be very conservative with your ammo as you only have a set amount you start with and can find along the way as you play the game. You have to pick and choose what you kill and don't kill or you could end up in very bad situations where you are out of ammo and you have several zombies right in your path. This makes the player have to think more about what they are going to kill and what they are going to kill them with. Plus, a new fact about the remake being that zombies need to be burned or head shot when killed or else they will revive after a set amount of time or a special event takes place and turn into more powerful crimson head zombies. These zombies now can run at you instead of walk, and they also have claws to swipe at you with and are much more powerful than normal zombies. If you are smart you will burn all zombies you kill with the kerosine and lighter in the game, but be warned, the oil is in limited supply, so you can't do this to all zombies. This makes another new gameplay mechanic in picking what zombies you kill and burn as some zombies are in areas you will never return to and thus not need to burn, but in high traffic areas, it is usually smart to burn the zombies just in case. Plus, you never know if later in the game, certain enemies may despawn to spawn new enemies, so you end up saving ammo by not having to kill the previous enemies. There are some little nitpicks about the gameplay of resident evil as the game can become a bit predictable at times in what you will encounter after awhile, but for the most part, the game does try and keep you on your toes about what you will encounter and does keep you thinking about how you have to progress the game without being too cryptic. First playthroughs of the game will be the hardest as you won't know where to go at first, but using the map's features should help all new players know where they are things still to do, which is another helpful mechanic. Either way, the game does what it can to help you while also keeping the difficulty and trickiness up to keep the player guessing. A good player should not have any trouble figuring this game out while having a fun time killing the zombies.
Story
The story is simple but effective for the situation of the game. I already partially told it above, but once again, you play as either Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine that are on a mission with the STARS Alpha Team of the Racoon City Police Department, who are out looking for their missing companion of the STARS Bravo Team. Shortly after heading out, you find the downed helicopter of your team and then are attacked by zombies dogs that chase what is left of the Alpha team into the mansion complex where not only are you trying to find any signs of your missing team, you are trying to find a way to escape the complex. The story plays out slightly differently depending on if you play as Chris or Jill as you have different partner characters helping you out and different events taking place as well. With Chris you run into Rebecca From Bravo team rather quickly and she helps you out most of the game, while Jill has Barry from Alpha team helping her out through most of the game. The big twist is that these characters can die if you make the wrong choices in the game, so do be careful with them if you want them to survive. The game, while still a bit cheesy at time with the story and some of the lines the characters spit out, does still do a good job of expanding the story of what happened in the mansion complex and who or what is responsible for the outbreak happening. You likely aren't going to see the ending coming, but for those familiar with it, you can see the signs early on, but only if you know what to look for. Overall, while the story is pretty straightforward and a bit cheesy, it does a decent job of making a believable struggle to survive a zombie outbreak scenario.
Graphics
The graphics from the Gamecube are shown off very well here as the mansion and surrounding areas are quite nice to look at and do show off just what the Gamecube is capable of pulling off. If you look closely you can tell the game is a bit blurry after playing the more modern games of today, but even then, if you aren't looking for this, you likely aren't going to notice it, since the game is pretty dark and the darkness hides a lot of this and makes the areas around the mansion look pretty realistic for this art style. The mansion really does have a much more creepy atmosphere with this new art style compared to the PS1 graphics, which you would expect. However, with how well it does, it really does help you now to immerse you more into the game's environments. With all the little details now available all over the place, you can really tell now how spooky the mansion is at night and that it has been used for quite a few things over the many years of its existence. There is very little to no slowdowns in the game, and load times are very acceptable as well. I'm sure the door scenes may not have been needed to be as long as they were, since that was the original purpose of the door scenes, to hide the loading screens. Still, they continue to add to the creepy atmosphere that the game's graphics bring about.
Sound
Music in this game is a bit limited, but in Resident Evil, the music isn't something you are looking for at all. The big thing with this game literally is the sound of the environment you are in at the moment. You need to use the audio cues to tell what enemies may be in a room that you may not be able to see yet. You have crashes of enemies coming from windows, or the taps, thumps and other bumps that come from the mansion as you are moving around it. The jump scares are in several places where zombies or other creatures will jump out from doors, come from windows and the sounds and sudden thumps that can come along with them really are part of what scares you, besides the sudden appearance of the enemy. What music there is the game is very suttle and usually are more just background sounds to make the environment more realistic, like the sounds of the forest when you are outside the mansion. Either way, the minimalistic style of the music and more emphasis on sound really is what makes this game work.
Control
This is the part of the game where you have to be a bit patient and learn it to get very good at the game. The controls are also what make many people dislike the game while others enjoy it. You control your character like a tank as people often use to describe the controls of this game. You can move in any direction you want, but often times, when you are standing still, you slowly pivot your character to face another direction like a tank, but when moving you can change direction a bit more easily, just like a tank. However, turning around can be tricky, unless you use the 180 degree turn command, which thankfully is much easier to pull off in this game and something you should take advantage of when possibly to gain some distance from enemies when needed. Also, the fact that auto aim is still a viable option does help a lot as well. You can turn it off for a greater challenge, but most people will likely be thankful that the controls auto aim for the character. Still, the control of the game take some time to get use to as not everyone will like the control style. Some people expect a more free movement, but at the same time, the control scheme to me adds to the gameplay as your character isn't super fast either and does need to take their time to get around. Still, getting use to the controls takes time and everyone will not like them, but I sure do.
Replay Value
The replay value of this game doesn't come from the fact that the differences between playthroughs is massively different, it mainly comes from the fact that you play through the game over and over to try and get faster at the game and better at it by being either more careful, or smarter about what thing you use and when you use them. It is very easy to cut out a lot of time in this game by not making so many wasted trips to save rooms or unnecessary item drops. By knowing when and where you need to get things, you can make this game more fun by challenging yourself to better runs every now and then. While there is a lack of different things happening from each run, there is some variation to keep this setting from getting low. Since some characters can die, there are different endings, and there are a few variations of some scenes in the games that each play through may be different depending on the order of some things you did during the game. You may find characters in different rooms, and you may fight a boss normally, weaker, or even not at all in one case. Still, those things are minor, so the base game is usually still the same each playthrough, which can be boring for some, but it does make a good game for speedrunners as well.
Overall, I would say REmake holds up quite well over time. The fact that they recently deemed it worthy of an HD rerelease pretty much shows that people like this game and the way it was made in the past and not as much as to how the game progressed over time. Still, the graphics hold up nice, and the survival horror gameplay still shows why it was the pioneer of the series and why it is what people expect when they are going to play a survival horror game today. It is also why some people get upset at others when they don't follow this format, as this format works, and still does work, quite effectively as well compared to some others, which can work, and others that don't work at all.
Overall, in my opinion at least, I give Resident Evil "GC" an eight out of ten.
Gameplay: 9
Story: 8
Graphics: 9
Sound: 9
Control: 7
Replay Value: 8
Overall: 8
Resident Evil
A remake of a game from the mid nineties that was remade from the PS1 era to the Gamecube era. This was one of those few games for the Nintendo consoles that were rated M and for good reason, yet the few that were let through onto Nintendo consoles usually do so for good reason. Due to everyone knowing Nintendo's lacking of M rated games on their systems for the last few gens, you would expect there to be something different or special about the games that were allowed on the system. I know there was just a recent release of this game digitally, but since I don't play digital that often, I just played the original remake, which doesn't have the more advanced graphics or that new control scheme. But still, playing the original REmake, let's see how this one holds up shall we?
Gameplay
Resident Evil is a survival horror game that stays true to its original survival horror roots that was one of the first games that created the genre. You play as either Chris or Jill as they try and survive a zombie outbreak in a large mansion complex while trying to find your missing comrades of the STARS team from Racoon City. You run around this large mansion and surrounding areas collecting items and keys to unlock doors and solve puzzles to continue to explore the mansion to try and find your friends and to find your way home. You also have to be very conservative with your ammo as you only have a set amount you start with and can find along the way as you play the game. You have to pick and choose what you kill and don't kill or you could end up in very bad situations where you are out of ammo and you have several zombies right in your path. This makes the player have to think more about what they are going to kill and what they are going to kill them with. Plus, a new fact about the remake being that zombies need to be burned or head shot when killed or else they will revive after a set amount of time or a special event takes place and turn into more powerful crimson head zombies. These zombies now can run at you instead of walk, and they also have claws to swipe at you with and are much more powerful than normal zombies. If you are smart you will burn all zombies you kill with the kerosine and lighter in the game, but be warned, the oil is in limited supply, so you can't do this to all zombies. This makes another new gameplay mechanic in picking what zombies you kill and burn as some zombies are in areas you will never return to and thus not need to burn, but in high traffic areas, it is usually smart to burn the zombies just in case. Plus, you never know if later in the game, certain enemies may despawn to spawn new enemies, so you end up saving ammo by not having to kill the previous enemies. There are some little nitpicks about the gameplay of resident evil as the game can become a bit predictable at times in what you will encounter after awhile, but for the most part, the game does try and keep you on your toes about what you will encounter and does keep you thinking about how you have to progress the game without being too cryptic. First playthroughs of the game will be the hardest as you won't know where to go at first, but using the map's features should help all new players know where they are things still to do, which is another helpful mechanic. Either way, the game does what it can to help you while also keeping the difficulty and trickiness up to keep the player guessing. A good player should not have any trouble figuring this game out while having a fun time killing the zombies.
Story
The story is simple but effective for the situation of the game. I already partially told it above, but once again, you play as either Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine that are on a mission with the STARS Alpha Team of the Racoon City Police Department, who are out looking for their missing companion of the STARS Bravo Team. Shortly after heading out, you find the downed helicopter of your team and then are attacked by zombies dogs that chase what is left of the Alpha team into the mansion complex where not only are you trying to find any signs of your missing team, you are trying to find a way to escape the complex. The story plays out slightly differently depending on if you play as Chris or Jill as you have different partner characters helping you out and different events taking place as well. With Chris you run into Rebecca From Bravo team rather quickly and she helps you out most of the game, while Jill has Barry from Alpha team helping her out through most of the game. The big twist is that these characters can die if you make the wrong choices in the game, so do be careful with them if you want them to survive. The game, while still a bit cheesy at time with the story and some of the lines the characters spit out, does still do a good job of expanding the story of what happened in the mansion complex and who or what is responsible for the outbreak happening. You likely aren't going to see the ending coming, but for those familiar with it, you can see the signs early on, but only if you know what to look for. Overall, while the story is pretty straightforward and a bit cheesy, it does a decent job of making a believable struggle to survive a zombie outbreak scenario.
Graphics
The graphics from the Gamecube are shown off very well here as the mansion and surrounding areas are quite nice to look at and do show off just what the Gamecube is capable of pulling off. If you look closely you can tell the game is a bit blurry after playing the more modern games of today, but even then, if you aren't looking for this, you likely aren't going to notice it, since the game is pretty dark and the darkness hides a lot of this and makes the areas around the mansion look pretty realistic for this art style. The mansion really does have a much more creepy atmosphere with this new art style compared to the PS1 graphics, which you would expect. However, with how well it does, it really does help you now to immerse you more into the game's environments. With all the little details now available all over the place, you can really tell now how spooky the mansion is at night and that it has been used for quite a few things over the many years of its existence. There is very little to no slowdowns in the game, and load times are very acceptable as well. I'm sure the door scenes may not have been needed to be as long as they were, since that was the original purpose of the door scenes, to hide the loading screens. Still, they continue to add to the creepy atmosphere that the game's graphics bring about.
Sound
Music in this game is a bit limited, but in Resident Evil, the music isn't something you are looking for at all. The big thing with this game literally is the sound of the environment you are in at the moment. You need to use the audio cues to tell what enemies may be in a room that you may not be able to see yet. You have crashes of enemies coming from windows, or the taps, thumps and other bumps that come from the mansion as you are moving around it. The jump scares are in several places where zombies or other creatures will jump out from doors, come from windows and the sounds and sudden thumps that can come along with them really are part of what scares you, besides the sudden appearance of the enemy. What music there is the game is very suttle and usually are more just background sounds to make the environment more realistic, like the sounds of the forest when you are outside the mansion. Either way, the minimalistic style of the music and more emphasis on sound really is what makes this game work.
Control
This is the part of the game where you have to be a bit patient and learn it to get very good at the game. The controls are also what make many people dislike the game while others enjoy it. You control your character like a tank as people often use to describe the controls of this game. You can move in any direction you want, but often times, when you are standing still, you slowly pivot your character to face another direction like a tank, but when moving you can change direction a bit more easily, just like a tank. However, turning around can be tricky, unless you use the 180 degree turn command, which thankfully is much easier to pull off in this game and something you should take advantage of when possibly to gain some distance from enemies when needed. Also, the fact that auto aim is still a viable option does help a lot as well. You can turn it off for a greater challenge, but most people will likely be thankful that the controls auto aim for the character. Still, the control of the game take some time to get use to as not everyone will like the control style. Some people expect a more free movement, but at the same time, the control scheme to me adds to the gameplay as your character isn't super fast either and does need to take their time to get around. Still, getting use to the controls takes time and everyone will not like them, but I sure do.
Replay Value
The replay value of this game doesn't come from the fact that the differences between playthroughs is massively different, it mainly comes from the fact that you play through the game over and over to try and get faster at the game and better at it by being either more careful, or smarter about what thing you use and when you use them. It is very easy to cut out a lot of time in this game by not making so many wasted trips to save rooms or unnecessary item drops. By knowing when and where you need to get things, you can make this game more fun by challenging yourself to better runs every now and then. While there is a lack of different things happening from each run, there is some variation to keep this setting from getting low. Since some characters can die, there are different endings, and there are a few variations of some scenes in the games that each play through may be different depending on the order of some things you did during the game. You may find characters in different rooms, and you may fight a boss normally, weaker, or even not at all in one case. Still, those things are minor, so the base game is usually still the same each playthrough, which can be boring for some, but it does make a good game for speedrunners as well.
Overall, I would say REmake holds up quite well over time. The fact that they recently deemed it worthy of an HD rerelease pretty much shows that people like this game and the way it was made in the past and not as much as to how the game progressed over time. Still, the graphics hold up nice, and the survival horror gameplay still shows why it was the pioneer of the series and why it is what people expect when they are going to play a survival horror game today. It is also why some people get upset at others when they don't follow this format, as this format works, and still does work, quite effectively as well compared to some others, which can work, and others that don't work at all.
Overall, in my opinion at least, I give Resident Evil "GC" an eight out of ten.
Gameplay: 9
Story: 8
Graphics: 9
Sound: 9
Control: 7
Replay Value: 8
Overall: 8
