FEATURE: A Look Back At Resident Evil [1996]

Gaming Till Dawn looks back at the original Resident Evil but does it still stand strong 17 years later?

Developer: Capcom

Publisher: Capcom

Released: March, 1996

Genre: Survival-Horror

History/Storyline

First, a bit of history on how the game originated - back in the mid 90s, a group of novice developers were assigned to create Resident Evil, this new IP would stem influences from the earlier Capcom game; Sweet Home on the Famicom, which when played today, will present very clear similarities - roaming a gigantic Mansion in the middle of a forest, fighting numerous monsters, and so on. It's also worth a play if you haven't already. FEATURE1

The story behind the game is that through various reportings of strange murders surrounding the infamous Raccoon City, a specialist rescue service known as the Special Tactics And Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.) are sent to investigate - the first group known as Bravo Team lose contact, so it becomes Alpha Team's mission to both look into their disappearance as well as the grizzly murders that have taken place.

The first ever Zombie to be seen in
 the series - an extremely iconic moment and
 very intimidating to newcomers.

Upon investigation, Alpha Team soon discover a series of disturbing events - a severed hand laid in the grass, followed by a herd of Zombie Dogs that are all too keen to sink their teeth into some tasty flesh - dead or alive. Fortunately, this isn't the case as the team escape into a beautiful Mansion where they thought safety would be guaranteed - of course, the house is full to the brim with Zombies, Dogs, Hunters, but more about the game's enemies later on.

See the full intro movie below, which at the time was very impressive despite the awful acting, this was actual real-time footage...in a video game.

The original opening sequence - complete with an introduction to the game's main character's.

The Characters

One of the most unique things about Resident Evil was the option it gave players to choose between two different characters, each of which held different traits as well as the rearrangement of particular items - this often lead to multiple playthroughs.

Jill Valentine
Everyone's favourite "master of unlocking", Jill Valentine would provide players with an easier approach to the game's core mechanics - whilst she couldn't endure much damage, she came equipped with a total of eight item spaces and ammo/health would become commonplace. Jill sports an all-blue uniform, which would become an iconic look in the franchise but don't let her innocence fool you, as proved throughout the game, Jill can take care of herself and isn't scared of getting her hands dirty in Zombie guts.



Chris Redfield
Before injecting mass amounts of steroids, Chris was once a humble member of the Alpha Team within S.T.A.R.S. and posed players a more challenging gameplay experience - he would have only six item spaces, less ammo/health to find, and often crucial items were placed somewhere different in order to heighten the game's difficulty. Interestingly enough, Chris would encounter the only surviving Bravo Team member; Rebecca Chambers - Rebecca would often heal Chris' wounds at certain parts to ease the game's often challenging obstacles.

Other non-playable characters included Albert Wesker - an undercover agent for the Umbrella Corporation who purposely lead the remaining S.T.A.R.S. members to the mansion. Wesker would also hold a manipulative trait which can be seen throughout the game. But who can forget Barry Burton? The middle-aged family man who would famously save a certain character from becoming a "Jill Sandwich" - Barry makes his own way through the mansion, often encountering Jill along the way.

Graphics

Like most retro games, graphics aren't their strong point in today's gaming environment, but at the time they were definitely nothing short of incredible - 1996 was introducing more and more 3D games, Resident Evil being a shining example of just that.

The game used pre-rendered backgrounds, which showed incredible detail of the environments - combining this with the character's animations proved to be spectacular, a lot of games used pre-rendering back then but Resident Evil definitely stands out as one of the most memorable.

Wesker, Barry and Jill as they enter the first mansion, 

showcasing a pre-rendered envrionment.

Each enemy had a distinguishable look, whether it be the the ripped blood-soaked clothes of a Zombie, the Zombie Dogs that looked as if they a horrible rash had taken over their entire body, or the huge Tyrant at the end of the game - everything had its own look which made the graphics unique and made it a great experience to simply absorb what the game had to offer.

Something that always stands out are those blood particles that spray off of enemies when you blast them - every time you put a bullet in an enemy, you'd feel like your really doing some damage because of the amount of blood shown on the screen, as well as making you feel like a true Zombie killer.

Music/Audio

It wasn't so much the music that made Resident Evil that much creepier, although it was brilliant at setting the atmosphere at certain parts of the games - it was a few simple sounds that could cause a situation to become more intense.

An example of this would be when you first enter a room and you can't actually see any enemies, but you can hear those all too familiar footsteps coming towards you, yet you don't want to get closer as the camera angle has put you in a blind spot, which would often give the enemy the upper-hand. More of the camera in the next section though.

Another example are the growlings of the Zombie Dogs as they rapidly run towards you, its still a scary experience if you play the game today, especially if you're low on health - that combined with the fact they're extremely fast can create a bad situation in mere seconds, and its because of the added audio that makes it that more intense.

Aside from the scary music, there were times you'd be instantly relieved and this was due to the track; Safe Haven (see below) - a piece of music that would give you this overwhelming sense of relief as it indicated you were safe for the time being with no threat of anything wanting to eat your brains.

The only criticism has to be the ending theme; Still Dawn (see below) - it doesn't fit the game's themes what so ever, sure its much more calming which is fine as you had just finished the game, but there's something about it that seems to distant itself from the rest of the soundtrack.

Still Dawn

Safe Haven

Gameplay

Resident Evil is perhaps the most important game when it comes to the survival-horror genre, it practically created the genre - its influences can be seen in Silent Hill, Fatal Frame, and even Alan Wake. Its safe to say the series has gone further down the action route as opposed to survival horror recently, but that's a completely different feature.

When it was released, gamers were greeted with a style of gameplay they were not used to, and this was something extremely positive for the industry as the genre would promote a new way of thinking in video games.

Right from the start, its up to you where you go in this vast mansion - if only it were as simple as that, whilst exploring you'll encounter an array of enemies and are faced with various puzzles that may seem quite simple now, but back then would pose a genuine bit of intelligent thinking to overcome.

Initially, you'd run into Zombies, which would instantly become a staple in the series - whilst these particular enemies didn't cause much of a threat, there were plenty of them and you'd have to be careful to not waste all of your ammo as it wasn't for the later enemies that would cause any considerable damage.

These include the likes of the Hunter - an intimidating monster that looked as if it came straight from a toxic swamp, if your health was low and one of these were near, they'd happily rip off your head in a heartbeat, and if you didn't save your progress recently, that could cause quite a tantrum.

The Hunter getting ready to rip off Jill's head - definitely an enemy to fear.

Unlike contemporary games, you'd find yourself actually being scared for your life (in the game of course), and this was because of the saving system - in order to update your progress, you'd have to use ink ribbons at typewriters dotted around the game, the option to save where ever you please went straight down the sink.

And it was gameplay mechanics like this that would make the concept of survival really mean what it meant, you'd have to cleverly use your ammo and health-regenerating items in a way that would enable you to advance further into the game without being killed in a gruesome and horrible way.

Camera angles played a pivotal role in the game's gameplay, Capcom did an incredible job at keeping players in suspense because of the way certain angles were set - you would often enter a room with hardly anything to see except yourself, yet you'd know there were monsters lurking ready to tear you apart, but the camera wouldn't allow you to see those pesky monsters, which could lead to some entertaining and frightening moments.

Players might complain that the controls seem a little awkward - that it's difficult to turn around, but its because of this that made the game that much scarier, there's nothing worse when your health is low and you're having trouble escaping an oncoming Zombie Dog for example, its this kind of gameplay that adds a level of depth to the horror genre which makes Resident Evil so unique and at times, terrifying. Terrifying in the best possible kind of way.