Resident Evil

by noodles on Thursday, November 19th, 2009 at 14:52 - Comments: 0

Audio; it's more important than you think.

The Resident Evil franchise, know by the more story-based-appropriate title in Japan: "Biohazard", has gone on for over 10 years. The high sales-numbers are not from the launch-weekend, but from different versions that are slowly seeping off the shelves across all the years. While the latest numeral iteration came out this year for the current-gen consoles, I took a trip down video-game-history-lane and in an attempt to explore my recently discovered discomfort with horror-games experienced the Nintendo GameCube-remake of the Sony PlayStation title Resident Evil; on my Wii.

Being one of the original titles from the "survival-horror" genre, I'm guessing that anticipation played a big part of my comfortless relation to the game. I do, however believe that the updated visuals and audio of the remake may have helped my (way too easy) immersion.

You get to play one of two characters, Jill Valentine or Chris Redfield. What character you pick only affects the game slightly, or so I've heard, so I went with the guy for no other reason than him being a guy. Don't get me wrong, I'm not unfamiliar with playing female characters. You are part of an elite squad of rescue-personnel, that find it necessary to wield firearms for some reason. It's a good thing you do though. right of the bat, before you even get to control anything, the intro-cinematic show how you and your group are attacked by monstrous canines and forced to take shelter in an old, apparently abandoned, mansion after finding out that a mere bullet to the torso is far from enough to but these puppies down. Your team spreads out in an attempt to explore the mansion quicker and you soon discover that all is not right in the state of HOLY SHIT! THAT'S A ZOMBIE CHEWING ON ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS!
While exploring the mansion to find any survivors, and defending yourself as best as you can against the resident monsters, you learn a great deal about how the now notorious Umbrella corporation started their operations and what it is they do exactly. This lore has grown today to go beyond what I believe even the originators of the series imagined, so I guess the things you find out in this game can only be described as "The Umbrella Corporations plot to do evil things for no apparent reason besides monetary gain by trying to experiment with stuff at the expense of life, both human, animal and plant. Volume: 1"

The game plays with some frustrating mechanics and controls that take some getting used to. Every area is viewed from a preset number of camera-angles that change depending on where you are .While this makes for some very awkward combat at time, meaning that you can't see what you're doing because the camera just shows you occupying the entire width of a hallway, it's somewhat helped by the controls. I don't know what the name for the layout is, but you control the character in a static manner. Up is always forward, down is always backwards, no matter what angle you're viewing from, so you never have to re-orientate like you do on some titles. It takes some getting used to, but once you get the hang of it it's easy.

My biggest frustration with the game is the inventory-system. While going for the realism of not being able to carry everything plus the kitchen sink, they over-did it and only allowed six items on your person at any time. This includes you weapons and ammunition. So say you want to carry your knife, a handgun and an extra clip? That's half your inventory right there. Luckily, you can carry how much ammunition of one kind as you like in one slot, so you don't have to occupy a slot for each clip. You do, however, need to occupy a slot for each TYPE of ammunition you wish to carry with you.
So how do you complete this game, since you basically can't carry any items and it's an exploration-game, which means keys, clues and assorted items? There's a item-hub system in place that throws that sought-after realism out the window. In selected areas there are chests that can hold plenty of items, and accessing any of these chests gives you access to all the items that you placed in any of the chests. Sounds somewhat like a Discworld-storage-trick or something, but at least it allows you to fetch the item you need by going to the nearest chest, and not the one you left that particular item in.

Combat in the game is pretty straight forward: Zombies attack you, you shoot until they drop.
But here's the kicker: They get back up. Some more than once. The only way to eliminate them is by wasting enough bullets to keep them down permanently, blow their head clean off, or burn them with kerosene while they're down. Want another kicker? Well, you're in luck, because here it is: Your supplies are very limited. Bullets, shells, grenades, defensive knives and even napalm is at your disposal; in extremely limited amounts. Either you have to bypass the enemies by avoiding them, so you have enough ammunition for the bosses, or you have to be VERY effective with your kills.
The bosses, however, I never really felt threatened by. Just standing in one place and blasting away with the shotgun was almost enough, but to some extend, puzzle solving was involved at times.

Speaking of puzzles, you'll have to solve plenty of them here. You know how in a normal game, when you pick something up you automatically assume that the character you're playing has taken a quick look at whatever he just laid his hands on? Not here, you have to examine each item yourself in your inventory. "Why?", you ask. In today's games any item is usually rotated to display it from all angles, giving the designers a chance to show off their modeling- and texture-skills. In this game the item just sits there and you actively have to select to first examine the item, and then examine it closer. Now, if you rotate it around and play with it a little you may find something hidden, like a key taped to the underside or that the face of said key is a press-able button. While being quite a genius mechanic, it gets VERY annoying.

So by know we've all realized that I'm a pussy when it comes to survival-horror games, at least some of them. And I'm still trying to figure out what that thing that makes me uncomfortable is. A good candidate has got to be "atmosphere". The combination of visuals, audio and hints of impending horror really works on me. And this game doesn't fool around, you can be exploring an area that you've already cleared and backtracked through several times and then BAM!, zombie-dogs pouncing for your throat. After that, you're always freaking out that you're going to get jumped again.
But nothing really sets you off like the almost inaudible hint that something is coming for you. You know that something bad is going to happen, you just don't know when. And throwing surprises your way at perfect intervals help that effect superbly.

If you're a fan of survival-horror and haven't played this game yet, you need to. Even with its frustrating mechanics it's a good game with a story that's twisted but solid. And if you've already played, are playing, or planning to play, any of the other or newer Resident Evil-games, it nice to know what started it all. If nothing else it's one of the first games of its kind and any horror-fan should have it under his or her belt.

Here's the thing that separates me from my counter-part: We both get the same anxiety from horror-games. We're supposed to, the games are designed to give you that sensation. The difference is that while he enjoys it, I don't. We've discussed this on several occasions and both find it fascinating; especially since it's not the same across the entire horror-genre, or even the horror-genre of the interactive-entertainment medium. Since we both agree that games are supposed to be fun and enjoyable - at least in some manner - we agreed that I would be allowed to remove some titles from my list, namely the Resident Evil-titles between 1 and 4, and made a little bet.
The stakes were as follows:
If I win, I get to eliminate the horror-titles entirely and we both play something that I'm itching for.
If he wins, I would have to suffer through, not only, Resident Evil 4 and 5, but what has arguably been described as the scariest game ever made, Silent Hill 2.
The bet:
Best 5 out of 9 matches, Ryu vs. Ryu, on Street Fighter IV on the Sony Playstation 3.

Suffice to say that after the contest I could swear that I saw Pyramid Head walking in the hallway, taunting me.

tags: wii resident evil horror playstation gamecube jill valentine chris redfield survival