Resident Evil HD Remaster review by Tyson
Overall
Buy
Resident Evil has landed on the Xbox One but this is not a new version of the game but a graphical update of the GameCube version. While nothing new has been added from the GameCube version it does have some new features that the game didn’t have when it was launched on the original PlayStation console. Thankfully the game is set at a budget price of 20 dollars and is worth every penny of that asking price.
Gameplay
In Resident Evil you play as either Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine. They are part of a Special Tactic and Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S) team. Their team is out investigating some gruesome murders in the area and while out on a mission they are attacked by some mutant dogs and forced to retreat into a nearby mansion. Sadly unknown to them the mansion is full of zombies and other monsters. It is now up to Jill or Chris to not only escape from the mansion but find out what is causing all these monsters and murders.
Resident Evil’s gameplay is part exploration and part action. You spend most of your time exploring around the mansion and solving various puzzles to further your exploring progress. I had a lot of fun searching around the mansion looking for items, herbs, or ammo to help me along the way. Most of the games puzzles are pretty simple and they generally require you to bring an item from one place to use it at another place. I liked the puzzle that had you searching the mansions for masks which would open up this giant hanging coffin which led into a boss fight. The only real issue with the exploration part of the game is how the inventory system is handled. You have 6 or 8 inventory slots depending on which character you play as and each item you pick up will take up its own inventory slot. This means that a key will take up the same amount of inventory space as a shotgun. You also don’t have the ability to drop items and that can lead to some frustrating when you need to pick up a puzzle item and have no inventory space. Thankfully the game does allow you to combine some items such as healing herbs and it does give you an inventory box throughout the game to store items in.
The action part of the game is a bit dated but works. Your character can use several different weapons to take down the various monsters you meet. Weapons like a shotgun, a handgun, and a magnum are used to take out many of your opponents. Sadly you are still stuck in place when trying to attack just as you were in the PlayStation version. This was something that I would hope that they would of changed since it feels so dated to not be able to move and shoot. This version of the game does introduce a few new items but they are used as self-defense items. Items like a stun gun can be picked up and used to keep monsters from grabbing on and attacking you. I really liked these items since it helps you take a lot less damage throughout the game. I also liked how this verison also introduced a few new enemies compared to the PlayStation versions. You now have Crimson Head zombies that are created from the corpses of dead zombies. These Crimson Head zombies are fast and
powerful but you can stop them from being created by burning the corpses of slain zombies or getting lucky and blowing a zombies head off while attacking them. There is also a new monster called Lisa that will attack you at different points during the game and she is a very dangerous lady to fight.
In the end I had a lot of fun with the game despite its flaws. Its also one of the few Xbox One games that I have replayed several times now. I can’t really say much more other then this game is worth a spot in your Xbox One library.
Control
The control aspect is the only area of the game that has had something added to it. You can choose between the classic control setup or a much more newer 3D movement style setup. I chose to play with the classic style since it felt much better to me but I can see a lot of people prefering the newer control setup.
Graphics
This is one area where I wasn’t as blown away as I was with the PlayStation or GameCube versions of the game. The graphics do run smooth, have a higher resolution, and have better textures but it just doesn’t have that “oh wow” appeal that the other versions of the game gave me.
Sound
I enjoyed the audio and sound effects a lot in the game. Hearing your characters footsteps of the footsteps of a squishy zombie sound great and add to the atmosphere. The various voice actors sound good even though the dialog is still badly written. Still the bad dialog does give the game some charm much like the PlayStation game had but sadly the famous Jill sandwich line has been replaced and that made me a little sad.