Resident Evil (GameCube) Reader Review

Resident Evil is remade on the gamecube from the playstation version released years ago. It's a singleplayer game that involves solving puzzles and surviving against zombies.

To start the game, you can either choose to be Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine, both members of the Raccoon City STARS alpha team. You then see a cutscene which explains the story quite clearly. Brave team was sent to investigate a series of murders in the Spencer Mansion in the Arklay Mountains. They never came back.

Alpha team is sent in to determine the fate of Bravo team as well as figure out what's going on in there...

After landing, your group is attacked by vicious zombie dogs. The helicopter lifts off, leaving you to... RUN for the mansion! And that's where I'll leave off.

In the mansion, you'll find all sorts of surprises and tricks. Initially, many doors will be locked or worse, broken. You'll have to find keys to access more areas. To get many of these keys, you'll have to solve puzzles.

These puzzles range from mixing chemicals to rotating weathervanes. It's not as hard as it sounds; there are always clues such as pictures, poems or hints to guide you along the way.

Combat and movement are probably what you'll notice first in RE. You move like a tank as in you push your stick forward and backward to move respectively. Left and right however only turn yourself. Holding R will ready your weapon and pressing A will fire it. Your aim is automatic, although using the control stick will allow you to aim either high or low.

These are arguable the most detailed graphics on the gamecube. So detailed that the backgrounds had to be prerendered. In fact, even doing that won't cut it as the game loads each level in the cutscenes of the doors. The graphics are so good that the cutscenes use them.

The camera angles and different controls aren't just the only factors that make RE a survival horror game. Conservation plays a big role as well. Ammo won't just come out of dead bodies. You'll have to find it on tables, behind boxes, in other words, it is limited. Another thing to note is that every time you save the game, you use an item called an ink ribbon. If you run out, you can not save.

If I had to say one word about this game, it would have to be atmosphere. The controls, camera, music, graphics and story combine to create a truly immersive experience. This game is not one that you play on Saturday mornings while you are eating cereal. It requires you to think about what you are going to do, how you are going to do it and if you are going to make it alive or not.

RE is a game that grips you and never lets go.