Resident Evil (REmake) Review

 (Originally published to Glitchwave on 9/7/2021)

[Image from igdb.com]

Resident Evil (REmake)

Developer: Capcom

Publisher: Capcom

Genre(s): Survival Horror

Platforms: GCN

Release Date: March 22, 2022

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: it is astonishing what a great leap in progress the sixth generation of gaming was from the previous generation in terms of graphical capabilities. The low rendered polygons that made up the aesthetic of the fifth generation were so vastly improved that the primitive look of 3D graphics is almost endemic to that generation. The sixth-generation overall showed that the industry was comfortable with 3D graphics, something that was only radically innovative only a few years prior. Because of this, the sixth generation unlocked a certain potential, ascending 3D graphics to a point of effectiveness we hadn’t seen before. This was the generation when 3D graphics became ideal instead of an experiment. The franchises that survived the 3D boom and the new franchises from the fifth generation evolved thusly with new games that trounced their previous outputs in terms of graphical output. Most franchises moved forward with these new advances, but what about the prospect of a remake? I usually don’t support remakes due to the industry getting too overzealous with rereleasing games to make an easy profit. However, remaking a game from the first 3D generation with a graphical rehaul has the potential to be effective. I can’t think of any better-reimagined upgrade from this era than the remake of the first Resident Evil. The series made a huge name for itself during the fifth generation of gaming, pioneering the survival horror genre. By the beginning of the sixth generation, there were three main installments in the series. The series was defined by establishing a spooky atmosphere, putting the player in claustrophobic spaces with legions of zombies and other creatures that inspire fright. The subsequent titles left the first entry of the series in the dust in terms of refining the base of the series. The first game seemed incredibly dated and corny by comparison. It wasn’t the groundbreaking title it used to be comparatively. The 2002 remake of the first Resident Evil on the Nintendo Gamecube was exactly what the first game needed. The enhanced graphics and the added hindsight of progress made the first Resident Evil effective again.

As one could probably tell, the remake of the first Resident Evil had to make some substantial changes to make the first game efficiently creepy. One aspect that remained faithful to the original was the story, as per the course for most remakes. A series of strange murders have occurred around the metro area of Raccoon City, and the members of the elite task force S.T.A.R.S. are sent to investigate. The members of S.T.A.R.S. become separated from one another and are forced to take refuge in a gargantuan gothic mansion with its own dangers and threats. The player gets a choice to play as two different members of S.T.A.R.S., Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine. The member of your choice will scrounge around the spooky, decrepit estate and the grounds surrounding it, discovering its horrific secrets while trying to survive.

The most basic expectation of a remake is that its graphics will greatly surpass the originals. This is the most fundamental aspect of any video game remake and the simplest testament to a remake's general worth. Fortunately, the first Resident Evil on the PS1 didn’t set the bar too high for 3D graphics. In fact, the graphics in the first Resident Evil were some of the blockiest on the console. The first Resident Evil also implemented live-action cutscenes that were played before the main menu and during the opening and ending cutscenes of the game. It’s a painful reminder that full-motion video flops like the Sega CD were still in recent memory, and the industry hadn’t quite learned its lesson yet. The presentation of the first Resident Evil is the epitome of being dated. It’s laughable to think that the original game was intended to be scary with this cheesy, B-movie presentation with terrible voice acting to boot. It was hard to take this game seriously.

On the other hand, the remake of the first Resident Evil demands that the player takes it seriously. No longer would the first Resident Evil be remembered for “Jill sandwiches” and be memed to the high heavens. To complement this more serious tone, the graphics have been improved upon to the point where they invoke an entirely different atmosphere. It’s appropriate that the front cover of the HD port of the remake is the foyer of the mansion. It’s the crux of the foundation of the setting that both begin the game and lead to the final area of the game, a full circle after unlocking all the mansion has to offer. Looking at how ominous the cover is also indicative of the total improvement in atmosphere and tone the remake has over the original. Because of graphical limitations, the setting of the original Resident Evil was mostly well-lit to avoid having the intended darkness of the setting blend in too well and literally leave the player in the dark. The most effective lighting scheme the original could invoke was in some dimly lit corridors. In the remake, the spooky atmosphere is recreated masterfully. For example, the mansion's foyer is lit well enough so the player can see with candles and a hanging chandelier, but the room is still eerily dim. Most of the lighting in the game is either exactly like this or illuminated by moonlight and the spontaneous cracks of lightning from a distant storm. The updated visuals turn the Spencer Mansion and its grounds into what is arguably the most effective haunted house setting in gaming. The ghostly atmosphere presented here is palpable, aided greatly by tonal consistency and gorgeous pre-rendered backgrounds.

Just to clarify, the impetus for remaking the first Resident Evil game is not due to transforming a bad game into a good one with the help of technological advancements. The first Resident Evil was an exemplary title and a true pioneer of the survival horror genre. The game’s overall reputation is marred by its incredibly dated presentation, almost to the point where it’s embarrassing. The survival horror foundation of the gameplay in the original was quite tense and required a bit of survival strategy. The original game's presentation felt more appropriate for an action game with some horror elements. The mansion is also designed superbly from a gameplay perspective. I’m a sucker for Metroidvania-like level design in gaming, and I’m always especially impressed when game developers execute this in a 3D space. I wouldn’t categorize Resident Evil or the entire survival horror genre as 3D Metroidvania games. Still, the 3D graphics, along with the space and progression of a Metroidvania, makes the first Resident Evil feel like one. Progress in this game is defined by unlocking a series of keys that open up around the mansion.

Some of these keys are traditionally used to unlock common doors around the mansion, but some of these keys are differently shaped from other doors with more significance to the mansion. The keys are mostly unlocked with a series of puzzles that involve interacting with objects in a room. These puzzles are all fairly easy to solve, and even the ones that require extra steps have plenty of clues lying around for the player. Some involve color coordination, matching pictures, room arrangement, etc. Some new puzzles in the remake are anxiety-inducing, brief races against the clock like the armored figure with the spinning blade and the engine room meltdown with Neptune banging against the glass. These hectic new puzzles are a fantastic addition to the better-emphasized scare factor of the remake. I personally find them to be much scarier than walking around in the dark. Unlocking each room of the mansion one by one as you progress brings the same sense of satisfaction one gets from uncovering new ground in a Metroidvania game. It also makes the mansion setting feel more expansive, fitting for the setting of a giant gothic estate.

Not only are the updated graphics a stellar improvement on how the game looks, but they also complement the tension that became synonymous with the survival horror genre. Scarcity is the name of the game when it comes to survival horror, and the resources in the first Resident Evil must be expertly preserved. I can’t think of another game in the genre that has such a militant emphasis on being conservative with one’s materials. It’s so strict that the player can only save a finite amount of time using an ink ribbon for the typewriter. Ammo isn’t very plentiful, and the player usually has to scrounge around the narrow crevices of bookshelves, chests, and dark corners of the mansion to retrieve it. Of course, the game will force the player to use ammo occasionally, either for a boss or for tense moments in narrow corridors with more than a couple of zombies. Because of this, it’s good to strategize when to appropriately take down a zombie or how to navigate around them without being attacked. Most experienced players recommend darting past them after a single lunge to conserve ammo because there will be enemies that refuse to be ignored, and they have to be dealt with. Health items, on the other hand, feel much more plentiful. To nurse the wounds from the gnashes of the undead, three different plants are scattered around to use as health. Green heals the player, blue cures poison, and red has no properties other than to be mixed with green to make for a more effective healing item. Healing sprays are also commonly found and can be used to fully heal the player, and they are often found in first aid kits. I’m not sure why health items are more commonly found than ammo. It’s not a case of health items being strewn less inconspicuously either. Rooms and corridors will have multiple health items lying around. I suppose the developers expected the players to get hit more while conserving ammo? Either or, being frugal with all items is essential to survival.

Conserving your items in the game can be an unnerving affair when the player meets with horrifying creatures in narrow spaces. What’s even more unnerving in a totally different context is the inventory system, and by unnerving, I mean that it gets on my nerves. Jill can carry eight different items, and Chris can carry six. Both characters can store any of the items they pick up in spacious item boxes that are usually found in saferooms. The main complication with this system is that every single item, whether a key, weapon, ammo, health, etc., is counted in the same cramped inventory. The only items that stack on each other in this inventory system are ammo and ink ribbons, while everything else takes up an individual slot. As one could probably imagine, this results in having to backtrack to a room with an item box repeatedly throughout the game. This is also in tandem with how often the player will encounter multiple key items for a single puzzle and most likely won’t be able to carry all of the items simultaneously, which is confusing when the puzzle finally comes about. The player doesn’t have all of the pieces. Most of my time playing this game felt like backtracking between the few item boxes to reorganize the inventory. This process isn’t what I’d consider a highlight moment of the game. I understand that the minimal inventory is intended to coincide with the scarcity of the items, but the feeling of tedium hardly invokes fear and dread. It makes me groan and roll my eyes back into my head. The fact that’s even harder to believe is that the inventory system here is an improvement from the original PS1 game. There were fewer item boxes, so trekking back to one was even more slog. Preserving items depending on the situation is a part of the challenge, but nothing is challenging about backtracking.

The challenge of the game also depends on which character the player chooses. Story events progress the same way, but there are some specific circumstances between Jill and Chris. Playing as Jill is essentially playing this game on an easier difficulty. I’d say that Jill is the character for your little sister, but that statement would come off as sexist. In my defense, Capcom did make the game significantly easier for Jill, making them the sexists, no? As previously mentioned, Jill can carry two more items than Chris can which doesn’t sound like it makes a difference, but the added slots come greatly appreciated after being Chris. Jill is automatically granted a lockpick to open the first few doors of the mansion while Chris is left to his own devices. Jill can also skip some puzzles that are mandatory for Chris. Bosses are also much different for the two characters. During the Plant 42 encounter, Jill can make a chemical concoction to defeat the plant while Chris has to unload several rounds of ammo into it. The same brutish strategy with Chris applies to the final fight against Tyrant, where Jill will get a bazooka to finish him off while Chris has to stock up on every weapon and its ammo to defeat him. On the other side of the coin, Chris can take much more damage than Jill, plus he can dart past zombies much more swiftly. Both characters have a supporting member of S.T.A.R.S. aiding them to make up for their shortcomings. Barry provides Jill with firepower, and Rebecca provides Chris with healing items. The advantages between the two are supposed to balance each other out, but I found myself having an easier time with Jill than with Chris, even with playing as Jill on my first playthrough.

Even if the player is an experienced Resident Evil veteran, the developers of this made sure to signify that an old dog can learn new tricks with this remake (either referring to the old players or the game itself). Besides the graphical enhancements, this remake makes several additions to the gameplay and the story to make it more challenging or deviate further from the dated presentation of the original game. Some of these changes are practically referential to the original as some jump-scare parts are omitted, like the zombie dogs jumping through the window. After all, jump scares aren’t exactly scary if the player is aware of when they are coming. However, a new fear the developers added is something that plays right into the scarcity factor of survival horror. At an early point in the game, the player will find a crypt underneath the yard with four faces with masks that coincide with them. When the right mask is put on, a chain from the coffin suspended from the ceiling breaks loose, and the coffin spurts blood. The player gets the impression that whatever’s in that coffin will not be a relief to see once the puzzle is solved. Once every mask is in place, the coffin falls, and the new Crimson Head enemy appears and attacks the player. It’s a zombie with red skin and a much more vicious and hostile demeanor. Unlike the normal zombies that can just be passed by, Crimson Heads need to be dealt with, forcing the player to use their limited resources. Once the player returns to the mansion, they will suddenly find tons of Crimson Heads running around. I didn’t realize this initially, but Crimson Heads are reanimated zombies that I initially killed but did not destroy. To prevent a zombie from transforming into a Crimson Head, the player must blow their head off with a bullet. However, attempting to execute a headshot will result in many wasted bullets. The proper way to dispose of zombies is to light their remains on fire with kerosene stored in a canteen. Like anything else, the kerosene is also in limited supply, making the player think before killing the zombies. The addition of the Crimson Heads adds a new level of depth to the survival horror gameplay that wasn’t presented in the original game.

The improved presentation also leads to much better characterization. The voice acting in this game is no longer hilariously wretch-worthy as each character delivers their lines with stark seriousness fitting for the darker environment. Jill no longer exasperates with every sentence, and Wesker is the cold, stoic monster he’s supposed to be instead of coming off as a meddlesome oaf. The biggest characterization difference in the remake is definitely Barry, the S.T.A.R.S. member who assists Jill through her campaign. Rebecca may have the same little sister dynamic as Chris, but Barry adopts something more than being an uncle figure to Jill, or this turns out to be the case. In the original, Barry dies inexplicably, but the remake gives the player a choice as to whether he lives or dies. Barry is so over the top in the original that he’s very hard to take seriously. His lines are delivered so emphatically that he’s almost the comic relief character. Barry in the remake is much more subtle, almost to the point where he feels uncomfortable like he’s got something to hide. As it turns out, he is indeed hiding something from his peers. It is revealed that he’s been working as a double agent for Wesker because Wesker threatened to do something to Barry’s family if he didn’t comply. This leads Barry to lead Jill into traps, trying to dispose of her. Once Jill catches onto this, Jill confronts Barry by taking away his gun. If she keeps his gun, Barry dies, and the true ending can’t be unlocked. I did this without knowing that Barry is a canon character in the franchise, and I wouldn’t have done this if I knew this decision wasn’t going to keep me from experiencing the true ending. The remake does a great job at leading veteran players astray with this reveal and leaving them uneasy in trusting Barry.

Besides survival, the biggest theme of Resident Evil’s horror is facing one’s fears. An adage relating to this pops up when starting the game. Most of the enemies revel around a common fear that most people have. Zombies represent people’s fear of death, the decay of the flesh, and the uncertainty of one’s afterlife. Bosses like Yawn the snake, Neptune the shark, and Black Tiger are gigantic versions of common animals that people fear. One could even argue that most games play with people’s fear of darkness. While facing these creatures in dim crevices is fairly alarming, they pale in comparison to the scary creatures from Resident Evil’s survival horror successor series, namely Silent Hill. Everyone knows there would be no Silent Hill without Resident Evil to guide the way. However, the horror of Silent Hill proved to be much more discomforting. It showed that horror was more effective when it was more ambiguous, disturbing, and had a certain level of hidden depth. For the Resident Evil remake, Capcom seemed to have taken a page from the creature journal of Silent Hill and created Lisa Trevor as a result.

Once the player makes it outside the mansion to an abandoned cabin, they will be blindsided by Lisa and knocked out. Once they awaken, they encounter Lisa and will probably waste their valuable ammo trying to destroy her as I did. Scrounging around the dormitory, the player will uncover the hidden secrets behind Lisa. It’s revealed that Lisa and her mother, Jessica, were abducted by the Umbrella corporation and used in their experiments regarding the T-Virus. Jessica died during the experiments, but Lisa was greatly affected. She gained superhuman strength and invulnerability while her human form slowly deteriorated into a monstrous, indescribable force. During the last encounter with her, the player does not defeat Lisa with firepower but rather by opening the casket where her mother was buried. She cries “mother” with an inhumane shriek, takes her mother’s skull, and plummets down to the abyss with it in her final moments. The returning bosses from the original may show the great physical effects of the T-Virus, but the story of Lisa Trevor shows its emotional effects. Her physical form is terrifying, even more so once the player learns of her disturbing, heartbreaking backstory. She looks like a creature from Silent Hill, and the emotional weight of symbolism she carries is apt for Silent Hill as well. Putting a character like this in a Resident Evil game puts a shocking perspective on the Umbrella Corporation and its atrocities. It provides a great level of depth and insight that isn’t present in the original.

The notion of remaking any artistic property always makes me skeptical. If something is to be remade, it has to outdo the original in every way, or else it does not prove any merit of existing. The remake of the first Resident Evil for the PS1 is a remarkable example of this. The enhanced, next-generation graphics reignite the effective horror factor, but this remake is more than just a graphical upgrade. It enhances every facet of the presentation, like the voice acting and characterization, while improving upon the survival horror gameplay with new elements that weren’t featured in the original. It’s a remake that eclipses the original, offering something substantial for new players and those who experienced it. The first Resident Evil was in desperate need of some fine-tuning, especially compared to its successors in both its own series and other survival horror games. The remake doesn’t just compete with them comparably. It’s arguably the best Resident Evil game, the best survival horror game, and the best video game remake of all time.