The Story: The
whole story of Resident Evil is a bit long to tell in one review so I'll just tell you what you need to know. After some cannibalistic murders in the Arklay Mountains, the STARS (Special Tactics and Rescue Service) Bravo team is sent to investigate. When they go missing Alpha team is sent after them. Upon landing in the mountains, Joseph discovers one of Bravo team's corpse and is then killed by rabid dogs. The rest of Alpha team escapes into a nearby mansion when their cowardly helicopter pilot, Brad, flees. Inside they uncover the mystery behind the murders which is much deeper than they had thought...
Game Summary: Resident Evil is a horror/action game in which the player must survive in a mansion estate infested with zombies and other terrors and solve various puzzles while finding an escape route.
Presentation: The game is presented in classic Resi style; drenched in eeriness and with acting straight out of a B movie. Use of the top screen is simple but functional: a map and a flashing background representing your health. It works well and is as good a use as I can think of. Touch screen use is kept entirely to menus, puzzles, knife fights and various interactions like turning a valve. Touching is very responsive and accurate and microphone use is also included now and again with a couple of very clever actions. Menus are plain but well-suited to the game and save points remain the way we love 'em, typewriters with lovely clicking sound effects. Very cool. Cutscenes are the same as the original PS version, B movie cheesiness left intact. Whether or not they're good is entirely down to your opinion of their style.
Resident_Evil_DS_Doble_03pe.jpg Graphics: The game is nicely 3D rendered which is something uncommon on DS. Textures are detailed and movement is smooth. Not the best the DS has to offer but great all the same. Human characters are very nice looking and enemies even more so. In particular, the Webspinners (giant spiders) look fantastic and can really make you jump out of your seat if you're not expecting them! Cutscenes use the in-game graphics so they're not really gorgeous or anything. There are 3 FMV cutscenes in total: the intro, ending and a "first encounter" scene but all others are nothing to shout about. Particle effects are decent enough but they can look a bit 2D.
REDS2.jpg Sound: The game features brilliant sounds and music! The music during normal gameplay is eerie and can even make you jump, for instance when in the mansion basement. In typewriter rooms, just like in the original game, there's that familiar calming music to give you a break from all the horror. Sounds are crisp, clear and really well done. The high-pitched shreeks from the infamous hunters can really freak you out and the zombies' moans are as good as ever even if they're not particularly terrifying. The voice acting is absolutely horrendous but that is how it's meant to be. It's the main contributor to that B movie style in the cutscenes and whether or not it suits you, it's good.
Gameplay: And now the important part, the gameplay. As usual there is a choice of 2 characters: Jill and Chris. Chris is definitely hard mode as he has less inventory space and is generally landed in worse situations than Jill. In this version of the game, there's also a choice of 2 modes: Classic and Rebirth. They're basically the same except Classic hasn't got any of the DS exclusives like touch puzzles, etc and Rebirth has an increased ammount of ammo and enemies for a more action-packed game. Generally Rebirth is harder and more fun but Classic is good for some replay value. Resident Evil has always had the most debatable controls ever so take my words as an opinion rather than a fact. It's true the game has slow controls and inprecise aiming but if you ask me, that only contributes to the gameplay. Half the strategy is in ammo preservation and the aiming and controls mean that you need to have those spare shotgun shells left over to kill the Hunter before it gets to you rather than strafing around it and blasting the back of its head. It's hard, yeah but it just takes getting used to. The insignia puzzles are just as good as ever but the new touch puzzles are just too easy. Other touch interactions however are brilliant! One example is when you have turn a valve to drain some poisoned water and although it's not a puzzle and not at all challenging it's great for atmosphere and really makes for an intense moment! There are much better examples but I'd rather not ruin them for you. The microphone also gets a couple of interactions which are really cleverly done. Knife fights easily make the best use of the touch screen with direction-sensitive slashes at countless angles rather than just horizontal and vertical. To master them you must perfect your timing and combos. The only complaint I have to make is that stabs are often misinterpreted as slashes but you wouldn't use them all that often anyway. Master of Knifing is an unlockable mini game in which knife fights become really fun! Enemies are countless and relentless and the adrenaline really gets pumping during the game. The multiplayer is also a welcome addition, featuring both versus and co-op mini missions with a choice of 9 characters and up to 4 players. There are unfortunately only 3 levels which removes some depth from the experience. The actual gameplay is well done. While you can't actually see each other there are stars representing other characters on your screens which helps to stop you from getting in each others' way. In co-op all characters share health as do the enemies so even if the zombie's in 2 different locations on the 2 DSes you can help each other kill them. In versus you don't share enemies like in co-op and there are bonus enemies which you can kill to hinder an opponent's progress. Alas, even with the solid multiplayer mode structure, it lacks wi-fi but with only 3 levels that isn't too sorely missed anyway. As a remake rather than a brand new game the game does just fine. The new additions are fairly numerous and well done. Multiplayer is also a pretty big bonus. If you have the game already on PS don't bother buying it on DS unless you are desperate for some multiplayer. If you want a remake that more changes the game layout itself, get the GC one, game layout on the DS is almost entirely unchanged.
knife fight.bmp Replay Value: My first time ever playing this as Jill, I got stuck at the Hunters, started again as Chris and completed it in 10 hours on my second attempt. I'd say that's a pretty good estimate for a first timer. If you know the game like the back of your hand like I do now, my estimate for you is 3 to 5 hours. 2 characters and 2 modes make for some good replay value and after that you have Master of Knifing and multiplayer. And of course you have 7 unlockable characters in multiplayer. To get them all you have to do everything there is to do in the game: complete Classic mode as Jill and Chris, complete Rebirth mode as Jill and Chris, complete Master of Knifing with a B rank, finish all 3 co-op levels in multiplayer and finish all 3 versus levels in multiplayer.
Conclusion: All round this is a very nice remake. Although it lacks in revamping of game layout, there are plenty of DS exclusive extras all of which are very nicely done bar the simplicity of the touch puzzles. Graphics are very nice, sound is perfect and gameplay is in classic Resi style. The controls are the same as ever and suit the game very well (in my opinion). Multiplayer is great and unlocking characters massively boosts replay value. My all round score for this game would be... 9/10 only losing a mark for its "love it or hate it" controls and cutscene acting.
This is my first review so comments and criticism would be appreciated. Don't be afriad to just tell me it's useless if it is. Thanks.
Linear Mode
