Resident Evil (PlayStation) Review
~by tankMage (September 2023)
Score: 9/10
Itchy. Tasty. Fun.
After playing the original PlayStation release of Resident Evil from start to finish, I have developed a new respect for this game. For me, Resident Evil was the janky prequel to better games in the series and I failed to appreciate it despite having beat the Director’s Cut years ago. My most recent playthrough changed my opinion.
It’s hard to think of another game that did so much to establish both a series and a genre. The balance between combat, story telling, exploration, and puzzle solving is nearly perfect. Players are also treated to multiple endings, two characters to play, unlockable rewards, and a story that changes based on their decisions.
Of course nothing is perfect and Resident Evil has a few…issues. The biggest problem is the controls, which take some getting used to and annoy many players. Then there’s the awful voice acting and shoddy translation. The voice acting isn’t just bad, it may very well be the worst I have ever heard. I’ll also add that the bosses (and enemies in general) were a bit too easy to defeat. That said, this is still a great game that is worth playing today if you can set aside its flaws.
Story
Players control Chris or Jill, two police officers in a special unit called STARS. The unit’s Alpha team flies out to an old mansion in the wilderness to find Bravo team, which disappeared while investigating the mansion. Alpha team finds out pretty quickly that something is terribly wrong with this mansion when they are attacked by a pack of mutated dogs. Luckily, Chris, Jill, Barry, and Wesker manage to find shelter in the mansion. And so begins our classic tale of survival horror.
If the opening sequence isn’t enough to hook you into the plot, I don’t know what will. Sure it’s cheesey and the voice acting is comically bad, but it works. Resident Evil is styled after campy zombie flicks from the 70s and 80s after all. Things heat up after you assume control of Jill or Chris (depending on who you picked on the start screen) and find the first zombie munching on a member of Bravo team.
Overall, the story is told masterfully, with hints to what happened in the mansion revealed in notes scattered around the building and short cut scenes. There are a few points where characters hamhandedly explain the plot, but these are few and fit in with the game’s corny horror movie style.
One of the most impressive aspects of the story is that there are three endings for each hero that change based on choices the player makes or how much time it takes them to explore certain areas. In fact, your choices not only affect the ending, but also how events play out in the game. For example, a friend told me a certain character helps Chris during a boss fight, but this didn’t happen for me since I made different choices.
Great as it is, the story is no masterpiece. I’m not going to nitpick at logical fallacies and plot holes, but I will say the limits of believability get pushed hard at times. There’s also the translation, which is atrocious, though we would not have hilarious lines like “Master of unlocking” if not for the Engrishy dialogue.
Graphics
Resident Evil’s graphics were likely one of the reasons I didn’t bother with the game much when I was young, which is odd for me since I have played NES games my entire life. Maybe it was the chunky character models or the low res FMV sequences, but I didn’t like the way the game looked. In retrospect, this game was using new tech and blazing a trail with its visuals. I’ve also developed an appreciation for PS1 style character models over the years, so now I have to say the graphics are cool in their own way.
While I’ll never become completely used to the blocky character models, I really love the environments. Every screen has a good bit of detail and the mansion itself has its own personality. One of the things I remembered most about this title before replaying after over 20 years was the famous entrance hall and the dining room. That said, some of the areas look like crap, especially the caves, but these are few and far between.
The zombies and other creatures that inhabit the mansion are also nice looking. For whatever reason, the low poly models make enemies like the dogs and hunters (watch out for these guys!) extra creepy. A lot of the bosses are uninspired, so don’t be disappointed when you have to fight a giant snake and spider. Can’t have a video game without snakes and spiders can we?
The cutscenes are ok looking, but nothing that stands out in the PlayStation library. In Resident Evil’s defense, it was probably developed over the course of 1994 and 1995, which was really early in the PS1’s life span. On top of that, a few months meant a lot as far as technological progress went in the 90s, so it’s no surprise this game doesn’t look as nice as titles made just a few years later.
Gameplay
At the end of the day, it’s the quality of its gameplay that made Resident Evil a classic. It took ideas that (as far as I know) were first explored in a Famicom (or NES for us gaijin) game called Sweet Home and really expanded on them. There’s something truly spooky about exploring a zombie infested mansion and the grounds around it while solving bizarre puzzles. If you are not using a guide, your going to have to search every nook and cranny of the mansion and investigate everything you find. I also felt that the puzzles were neither too cryptic nor too easy aside from one near the end of the game, which took me a while to figure out.
Combat is rather average. Jill and Chris get a variety of weapons that range from a Beretta to grenade launchers, but players are mostly shooting enemies in narrow hallways or point blank. Consequently, combat would have really sucked if not for the fact that healing items and ammo are finite. In a game where every shot counts, you become grateful that most baddies just walk into the muzzle of your gun and say “Shoot me bro!”. However, boss fights are also anticlimactic. The bosses are just too slow and dumb to be a challenge, which is a shame in a game that does just about everything else right.
As for the weapons themselves, well they get the job done and there’s enough variety to keep things lively. One thing I appreciate about the weapons is the fact that they are all serviceable if you are skilled enough to use them. Want to kill everything with the combat knife? It won’t be easy, but you can do it. You can also just run away from most enemies if you master the tank controls.
I should probably address the scarcity of resources before I wrap this section up. To be honest, I’m not sure how I feel about the fact that there’s a limited supply of ammo, healing items, and even ink ribbons used to save. On one hand, I feel like it adds and extra edge to the gameplay and defines survival horror as a genre. On the other hand I never encountered a situation where I was out of everything in any survival horror game. If I ran out of ammo, I at least had a knife and some herbs or if I ran out of herbs I usually had plenty of ammo, so I’m not sure this mechanic really matters. That said, this is probably a matter of personal experience and I’m sure other have either struggled to manage resources or found everything far too plentiful.
Music and Sound
Well, the music is superb, but I also have to stress that it’s superb in the original and Director’s Cut versions of RE1. The Dual Shock version and remake use different sound tracks as far as I know. At any rate, the score is perfect for a horror game and is one of the best of its era.
I also really love the sound effects. Zombies have this squishy, crunchy walking sound effect, while you can hear the claws of monsters like Hunters tapping on the floor. The doors creak and the sound of the player’s footsteps also change depending on the surface they are walking over. The guns also (mostly) sound like real guns compared to other games.
Then there’s the voice acting, which is comically bad. It sounds like they got office workers in the US branch of Capcom to do the lines in one take, though I could be wrong. I would say the voice overs are so bad they break immersion, but they kind of make the game special. I’m not sure Resident Evil would have gotten quite the reaction it received if it had more competent acting. By now it’s part of gaming history and only adds to the mystique of the game.
User Interface
Alright, this is the part we all hate about Resident Evil. In fact, I remember someone told me the controls are the scariest thing about this game . Jill and Chris both turn and move like tanks. This means you have to rotate the characters by holding left or right on the D-Pad, then move forward by pressing up. It’s awkward and uncomfortable for most people. I also find it annoying, but it can be mastered with some practice. If tank controls really bother you, I suggest playing the remake (even though I hate remakes) or the Dual Shock version.
Tank control aside, the rest of the UI is very OK. I would complain about Jill and Chris’s tiny inventory space, but managing inventory is a component of the game that forces players to make decisions. It’s not great, but I just don’t see this game working out if players could lug around a shotgun, colt python, 30 herbs, and a bunch of puzzle items, so we are kind of stuck with having to swap item in a limited inventory. I’ve seen far worse inventory systems, trust me.
Final Thoughts
Resident Evil is something special. It’s one of those games where even its bad aspects contribute to its unique nature. I’m writing this review many years after its release and the game is a snapshot into another time and a world that never existed, but seems like it could have if crazed scientists invented a zombie virus in the mid 1990s. Is it perfect? Far from it. Is it fun? Yes!
Recommendations
Having played the remake, Director’s Cut, and Dual Shock version, I’d say this is one of the better choices if you want to play Resident Evil as it was originally intended. The Director’s Cut (not the Dual Shock version) is probably a slightly better choice, because it brings back a few features from the Japanese version and adds a few bonuses while preserving the spirit of the game. If you need to play something more modern, the the remake is your best bet, but that’s its own thing as far as I’m concerned.
Thanks for reading my Resident Evil review!
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