Resident Evil (video game)

Resident Evil (known as Biohazard in Japan) is a survival horror video game developed and published by Capcom originally for the PlayStation in 1996, and is the first game in the Resident Evil series. A remake of the game was originally released for the Nintendo GameCube in 2002. Unlike the original, the remake has a prequel, titled Resident Evil Zero.

Plot
The game's plot follows Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine, members of an elite task force known as S.T.A.R.S., as they investigate the outskirts of Raccoon City following the disappearance of their team members. They soon become trapped in a mansion infested with zombies and other monsters.

Overall

 * 1) The game takes advantage of the tank controls of the time and uses pre-determined camera angles for a view of the action instead of a real-time camera like most games, that way you won't know what's around the corner adding to the horror aspect without having to use jumpscares.
 * 2) The player can choose to control either Chris or Jill. The differences between both characters are more than superficial, with differences in abilities, items and even supporting characters, resulting in a slightly different scenario for both protagonists.
 * 3) * Chris Redfield - He is much stronger and faster than Jill, making him more resistant to enemy attacks and have more possibilities to avoid them. But to compensate for this strength, his scenario is made more problematic. He faces more enemies compared to Jill and the enemies in his scenario also have more health than Jill's. He can only carry six items and starts with only a knife. To make things worse he needs small keys to unlock places where Jill can simply use her lockpick. Chris' supporting character is Rebecca. She will not rescue him as much as Barry would for Jill, but she can heal all of Chris' wounds at certain stages of the game depending on Chris' actions. Chris also has lighter as his character item and finds the flamethrower, a weapon exclusive to his scenario.
 * 4) * Jill Valentine - Jill's scenario is the simpler of the two, as she has a higher carrying capacity (eight items) and has a lockpick that serves as a substitute for the small keys in Chris' scenario. Jill's supporting character is Barry. He wields a powerful .357 Magnum Colt Python and is more helpful than Chris' Rebecca, as he eliminates the need for the broken shotgun and assists in fighting several of the bosses. Jill also gets to use a grenade launcher, a weapon exclusive to her scenario and capable of firing several types of rounds. However, these advantages are offset by the fact that she is more vulnerable to enemy attacks than Chris due to her lower health, and is less likely to escape from them since she is slower.
 * 5) Awesome graphics for its time that put the polygonal 3D characters over pre-rendered 2D backgrounds.
 * 6) The game puts a strong emphasis on the survival aspect and forces players to strategize as there are limited items for everything including an item (ink ribbons) you need to save the game and the fact that the player has limited inventory space, which was done to make the game more intense.
 * 7) While that may sound very difficult, the game makes up for by introducing save rooms, which gives the player a moment to breathe and even has relaxing music to accompany it. In these rooms are typewriters which are used to save the game that require ink ribbons to do so. There is also the Item box that allows the player to deposit unwanted items such as key items that are not yet needed or weapons that are out of ammunition. All the item boxes are also interconnected meaning they carry the same items you put in no matter which one is accessed.
 * 8) Great soundtrack with some notable tracks being "Narrow and Close" (it consists of a continuous, ominous synth string under a reversed orchestra hit before giving way to sudden loud orchestra hits, and makes you feel like something really bad is waiting for you just around the next corner) and "Save Room" (the most soothing and reassuring tracks ever made for the medium, instantly letting you know that no matter what horrors are right outside, everything's going to be okay so long as you're in the room where it's playing).
 * 9) The story offers a pretty interesting horror mystery as it involves an elite task force trying to figure who is responsible for a zombie outbreak and for killing one of their teams.
 * 10) The cheesy dialogue and voice acting despite it's problems is actually pretty funny to endure and has a number of iconic lines including the "Jill Sandwich" line.
 * 11) The game features a wide variety of enemies including zombies, Cerberus (zombified dogs), crows, wasps, Hunters (humanoid reptiles), spiders, and more.
 * 12) The first zombie encounter is regarded as one of the most iconic videogame moments ever.
 * 13) There are seven different endings, albeit all of them end with the players escaping via helicopter:
 * 14) * In the best two endings, the player-character (Chris or Jill) saves both their partner (Barry for Jill, Rebecca for Chris) and the other protagonist (the one who was not chosen spends most of the game in a prison cell), and the mansion is destroyed.
 * 15) * In the second endings, the player character saves only their partner, and the mansion is destroyed.
 * 16) * In the third ending (the only one that's the same for either scenario), only Chris and Jill survive, and the mansion remains intact.
 * 17) * In the worst endings, only the chosen player-character survives, and the mansion remains intact.

Original

 * 1) In Sega Saturn version, you can play the battle game mode with both characters plus it contains new enemies like zombified Wesker and golden Tyrant.
 * 2) The Nintendo DS version has even more content and has some improvements over main game.
 * 3) *"Knife Battle" sequences (seen from a first-person perspective) in which the player must stab enemies in the face by swinging the knife via the stylus. The player can also shake off enemies by using touch screen and stab a zombie (instead of merely pushing away the enemy).
 * 4) *This version also include updated play mechanics from the later games; the 180-degree turn first introduced in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, along with the quick reload and knife button from Resident Evil 4.
 * 5) *You can skip dialogue and door animations.
 * 6) *Rebirth Mode: Contains a greater enemy ratio and new puzzles that make use of the hardware's unique features and characteristics. This mode contains new puzzles which make use of the system's touch-screen and microphone to solve puzzles. Most notable is the CPR mini-game, where the player as Jill or Chris must blow into the microphone in order to perform CPR on the injured Richard.
 * 7) *There is LAN multiplayer for up to four players with two different multiplayer game modes.
 * 8) **The first is a cooperative mode in which each player must help each other come together.
 * 9) **The other is a competitive mode in which the objective is to get the highest score out of all the players by destroying the most monsters (with the tougher monsters being worth more points). There are three playable multiplayer stages (the Mansion, Guest House and Laboratory) and nine playable characters (Chris, Jill, Barry, Rebecca, Wesker, Forest, Kenneth, Richard and Enrico).
 * 10) The Director's Cut version enhanced many things from the original.
 * 11) *There are now two extra difficulties for newbies and hardcores called beginner and arrange mode.
 * 12) *It introduced the idea of beating the game under a certain time limit which would become a staple of the franchise. In this case, you unlock infinite rocket launcher and the infinite magnum for beating the main game under or in three hours.
 * 13) *This version has auto-aim meaning you press a button and the characters will lock onto an enemy which is really helpful for shooting enemies that are off screen.
 * 14) The uncut live-action scenes is a lot better and isn't as haphazardly edited like the censored version as it shows things that weren't originally seen like that the hand Joseph found was severed and shows off the great practical effects for the shot Cerberus.

Remake

 * 1) This version adds many quality of life improvements as well as brand new things that weren't in the original.
 * 2) *The HD remasters adds analog control moveset that allows some players to move in a faster fashion than tank controls as well as extra Resident Evil 5 Lost In Nightmares costumes for Chris and Jill.
 * 3) *Defense items have been added which are items the player can use to escape from the grab of a Zombie meaning the player won't take damage. If a dagger is used on a monster, it's possible to get it back by decapitating it.
 * 4) *The voice acting while still cheesy by today standards is much better than the original as all the voice actors give a lot more believable performances.
 * 5) *The story has been improved and foreshadows the idea that something is off about Barry and even adds a file written by William Birkin that mentions Alexia Ashford and the G-Virus.
 * 6) *There are brand new areas that were never in the original as well as new puzzles and key items.
 * 7) *There are also brand new enemies.
 * 8) **The Crimson Heads, which are considered some of the scariest monsters from the series! Crimson Heads are zombies that were recently killed but revived from the special T-Virus strain leaked to the mansion once more, making them faster, stronger, and more aggressive, similar to the fast zombies in the remake of Dawn of the Dead. It's possible to prevent a zombie from becoming a Crimson Head by completely destroying the head, or burning the body using lighter and kerosene.
 * 9) **Lisa Trevor. She is portrayed as a large person with a bunch of faces that have been sewn together to create a mask. The story behind her is also tragic as she was once a little girl whose father designed the mansion and unfortunately knew its secrets. She and her mother were kidnapped when Umbrella murdered her father. The two were experimented upon with what would become the T-virus until her mother died. Lisa wasn't as fortunate; she mutated into a grotesque form and her mental faculties degenerated. Lonely, and obsessed with her mother, Lisa went insane.
 * 10) **The Bomb Zombie (See below).
 * 11) This remake now has brand new modes to add to the replay value.
 * 12) *Real Survival: Is hard mode, but the item boxes are not linked meaning what item you put in one box will only be in that box. Fortunately, you can use the map to choose which item box you want and lets you see what's in it.
 * 13) *One Dangerous Zombie: The game plays the same as before, with the sole exception of "Bomb Zombie" appearing during the first sections of the game. Bomb Zombie is Forest, but wears a vest with multiple grenades strapped to his bandoleer. He only spawns in a handful of rooms and will immediately charge at the player as soon as they enter the room, and can be heard from afar by the rattling of his grenades. He runs faster than other Zombies, and replaces all that should be in the room. Worse part is that he cannot be killed by the player, as this will set off the grenade and kill them, even if shot from a distance. Defense Items like the Dagger, Flash Grenade, and Stun Gun also cannot be used, so players being grappled must allow themselves to be bitten. Fortunately, when the player returns from the Plant 42 fight with the Helmet Key, Bomb Zombie will disappear for good.
 * 14) *Invisible Enemy: Makes all enemies invisible. Beating Invisible Enemy mode in less than 5 hours will unlock a secret photo, a special message from Shinji Mikami and a gallery of unused costume designs.
 * 15) Chris' Resident Evil Code Veronica outfit and Jill's Resident Evil 3 outfit can be unlocked by beating the game twice with both characters (these outfits would also be later used in the Chronicles games).

Overall

 * 1) While the game has multiple endings, only six of them are remotely different with two of them being the same with added dialogue and four of them being the same, but with a different method of acquiring them.

Original

 * 1) While it was ground-breaking for its time, there are many things that didn't age well in the original.
 * 2) *Addressing the elephant in the room, the voice acting is terrible as a lot of it sounds phoned in and the wonky dialogue doesn't help. According to Pablo Kuntz (the voice of Wesker), the reason the dialogue was so hilariously unnatural was because by the time the cast were hired to voice the characters, they had all been living in Japan for some time. As a result, they got used to oddly phrased English by non-native speakers and thus didn't notice or think to correct the writers about whether their dialogue sounded natural. Despite the criticism, the voice acting has been regarded as "so bad it's good" due to the way the voice actors perform and say their lines.
 * 3) *The CGI cutscenes haven't aged that well either, especially compared to Resident Evil 2 and 3. They look like animations you would see in bowling alleys.
 * 4) * This is the only game in the series where there are no automatic weapons  or weapon upgrades, although given the setting, it wouldn't make much sense. This game also lacks the "near-death" animations (i.e limping) that appears in some form in every other game, had very limited ammo, and oddly enough, it probably has the most enemies that can inflict poison on you.
 * 5) * Hunters are at their worst in the original version for one major reason: they are completely invincible when leaping at you for the entirety of their attack animation. Take note that the Japanese demo does allow you to shoot Hunters out of the air in mid-leap, meaning the ability was deliberately taken out of the final version just to make things harder.
 * 6) * The game lacks a proper physics system for pushing zombies off you when they bite you. You shove them away, but they slightly stagger back and can potentially latch onto you yet again. It wasn't until Resident Evil 2 that pushing zombies can knock them back quite far, onto the floor, or even get shoved into other zombies and make them stagger at the same time.
 * 7) * The environments in the original game are extremely bright and colorful, which heavily clashes against the idea of the mansion being abandoned and overrun with monsters. Later games would have a more proper setting and the remake has the mansion grounds look very grim as it was originally intended. It is likely that the reason the original design popped out so much was due to the developers wanting to make another game like Sweet Home, which also shared similar designs.
 * 8) * The monsters themselves were fairly mundane compared to later games, possibly as a result of them being based on monsters or creatures from horror movies. Later games would have more bizarre and original creatures.
 * 9) * Health dropping to yellow would still be labeled "Fine". Later installments would use "Caution" for both yellow and orange health, though Resident Evil 2 (Remake) would go back to using "Fine" for yellow health.
 * 10) * Being poisoned wasn't obvious unless you checked your health directly and even then, the color did not change. Later games would change your health to purple when poisoned and your character would always limp.
 * 11) * Most games in the series give you a graded rank at the end of a completed game, which also determines what you can unlock. The first game did not have such a system and the method used to unlock the rocket launcher with infinite ammo was based on how long you took to beat the game.
 * 12) *Some things are more cryptic than later entries.
 * 13) ** When you encounter a fountain with hollows on its east and west sides that contain carvings of an eagle and wolf, respectively. By now, you've already obtained the Last Book Vol.1 and Vol.2 but have no clue what to do with them. It turns out that you have to examine them in the inventory screen and rotate it at the right angle to open them (something that no other puzzle in the game requires you to do), revealing the needed medals. The remake makes it a little easier to guess the solution, given that, way earlier, you had to check the back of a book to get the Sword Key.
 * 14) ** The Multiple Endings. Depending on your actions and where you explore, you could have your support character killed off as early as mid-game. For example, answering no to both of Barry's questions in the caves will get him killed by a Hunter shortly after you run into Enrico. There's another scene in the game where Jill gets trapped in a hole and Barry runs off telling you to wait until he comes back, which is exactly what you need to do in order to save him and get the good ending. There's one problem: the game lets you control Jill the very moment he leaves and the next thing you find is a secret passage to an unexplored area, and considering it takes a good while for him to show up again, there is no indication that you should wait for him to come back.
 * 15) Takashi Niigaki's soundtrack in the Director's Cut Dual Shock version is garbage, particularly the basement soundtrack which has been described as "the sound of clowns farting".
 * 16) The live action cutscenes are bad with costumes looking cheap and the acting being just as poor as the voice acting. This is because the developers had very little money.
 * 17) *They were also censored, for example Chris Redfield smoking tobacco and the guy who was killed by zombie dogs.

Trivia

 * The famous "Jill Sandwich" line became a meme.
 * This game's DS version was the first ever DS game rated Mature.
 * The game was originally conceived to be played from a first person perspective, but shifted it to fixed camera angles like in Alone in the Dark. While spinoff games such as the Resident Evil: Gun Survivor series and the Chronicles Duology were in first person (or a mix thereof with Dead Aim), the main series didn't go proper first person until Resident Evil 7: Biohazard.
 * There was originally going to be an African American character named Dewey, who was going to be comic relief. There also was going to be a Cyborg character named Gelzer. He would have saved the protagonist by holding the ceiling trap. In fact, in early drafts, the entire cast were planned to be cyborgs, and the setting was supposed to be more futuristic. Gelzer was cut when the setting was brought more down to earth, though some aspects of the character were transplanted into Barry; and Dewey was probably cut because they quickly realized his whole character was a horrendous idea.
 * Chris and Jill were going to be together throughout the game, and Jill could be controlled by a second player or an AI partner who could be given instructions, but this idea was removed because the AI was deemed unfit for a final product.
 * The original version was going to feature Japanese voice acting. This was scrapped because Shinji Mikami felt that the performances were subpar. He also thought it was unrealistic that the characters would speak in another language even though they're supposed to be American.
 * The infamous hallway where the zombie dogs burst through the windows had a giant spider crawling along the ceiling instead in the beta. This would have changed the tempo of the horror considerably at this point of the game. The spiders do appear in the hallway in the final version of the game, but only after you snag the Helmet Key from the guardhouse.
 * The remake's Real Survival mode removes the auto-aim features and makes it so that item boxes are not interconnected, which was the way things were originally going to be in the original game until play testers complained that it made the game too hard.
 * Rebecca was nearly cut from the game due to Mikami greatly disliking the character because of her submissive personality. However, she was saved due to the rest of the staff insisting on her inclusion.
 * Early screenshots for the remake showed that Chris and Jill were at one point going to be able to fight barehanded, with Chris using punches and Jill using kicks, but for whatever reason the ability was left out of the released version. There's also gameplay footage of Chris using some kind of laser-beam weapon that didn't make the final cut, either.

Original
Resident Evil was critically acclaimed, receiving an aggregated rating of 91 out of 100 at Metacritic based on eight reviews.

GameSpot, described it as "one of those rare games that's almost as entertaining to watch as it is to play". They would go on to describe the storyline and cinematics as "mostly laughable", but felt the gameplay's "gripping pace" and the heavy challenge of both the combat and the puzzles make the game effectively terrifying.

Famitsu gave it ratings of 9, 10, 10 and 9 out of 10, adding up to 38 out of 40. This made it one of their three highest-rated games of 1996, along with Super Mario 64 (which scored 39/40) and Tekken 2 (which scored 38/40). Resident Evil was also one of only ten games to have received a Famitsu score of 38/40 or above up until 1996.

The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly also commented on the realistic graphics and sounds, and additionally praised the selection of two playable characters. Sushi-X remarked that it, "at first glance, may appear to be a clone of Alone in the Dark, but in reality, it is a totally new experience". Mark Lefebvre particularly remarked, "The element that really grabs a player here is fear. After trading blows with the first zombie, you'll quickly become hesitant to turn down any uncharted corridors in the mansion."

A reviewer for Next Generation said it "manages to be as genuinely scary as a good horror film - no small achievement. There are a lot of things that work around games being this frightening...In this case, however, the fine character work, creepy and well-executed sound effects, and just the right music in just the right places all have a subtle, cumulative effect..." While criticizing the "laughable" dialogue and voice acting, he felt they were overridden by the game's positive aspects. He pointed out that the lack of genuinely confounding puzzles allows the game to move at a good pace, and the use of prerendered backgrounds allowed the PlayStation to handle much more detailed characters.

Yasuhiro Hunter of Maximum stated that "The game has the greatest atmosphere of any other game in existence - naming a game that makes you jump as much as when encountering your first pair of Cereberos in this title would be very difficult." He also praised the heavy difficulty of the puzzles, the great care required in combat, the 3D graphics, and the exceptionally high replay value.

Computer Gaming World gave a more mixed review for the Windows version, explaining that they "tried to hate it with its graphic violence, rampant sexism, poor voice acting and use of every horror cliché, however...it's actually fun."

The Director's Cut was positively received as well, with most critics regarding the advanced mode and the bundled Resident Evil 2 demo as the highlights. However, all four reviewers for Electronic Gaming Monthly decried it, arguing that a handful of changes and a demo disc were not enough to justify the price.

Sales
Resident Evil was a best-seller in Japan, North America, and Europe, including the United Kingdom. Shortly after release, it became the best-selling PlayStation game ever at the time. In Japan, the game sold 1.016 million units in 1996. Overseas, it topped the US charts and entered at number-two on the UK charts. In the United States, the game sold over 1 million copies by early September 1996, becoming a system-seller for the PlayStation and increasing its install base at the time. In Europe, the game shipped 230,000 units on its first day of release, with 21,500 sold on its first weekend in the United Kingdom where it was one of the fastest-selling CD releases up until then. The game went on to sell at least more than 300,000 units in Europe by December 1996.

By December 1997, the game had sold about 4 million units worldwide and grossed more than $200,000,000 (equivalent to $330,000,000 in 2020). According to Capcom's Investor Relations website, the original version of Resident Evil has sold over 2.75 million copies, while the Director's Cut version (including the Dual Shock edition) sold an additional 2.33 million copies. All PlayStation versions of the game have sold a combined 5.08 million units worldwide.

Accolades
Resident Evil was the first game to be dubbed a "survival horror", a term that it coined for the genre. It was ranked as the 91st top game of all time by Next Generation in 1996, stating that it "successfully redefine[d] the genre which started with Infogrames' Alone in the Dark." Game Informer referred to the original Resident Evil as "one of the most important games of all-time" in 2007. In 2012, Time named it one of the 100 greatest video games of all time. That same year, the game ranked as one of G4tv's top video games of all time for how it has "launched one of the most successful series in gaming history and provided one of its most memorable scares."

In 2004, readers of Retro Gamer voted Resident Evil as the 37th top retro game, with the staff calling it "one of the finest horror-themed games ever" and adding that "full of shocks, surprises and perfectly poor B-movie dialogue, Resident Evil is the gaming equivalent of Night of the Living Dead." It entered the Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition 2008 for the "Worst Game Dialogue Ever." Stuff ranked it as the 3rd best PlayStation game of all time

Remake
Resident Evil received critical acclaim and is often regarded as one of the greatest games in the series along with Resident Evil 4.

Digital Spy writer Liam Martin remarked that the game is "the definitive version of a true classic" and that it still looked "fantastic" nearly 13 years after it was first released.

IGN reviewer Matt Casamassina felt that the game is "a triumph as a stand-alone adventure and a major accomplishment as a remake", calling it "the prettiest, most atmospheric and all-around scariest game we've ever played." IGN highlighted the complex geometry of the character models, stating that "close shots of Chris or Jill look almost photo-realistic."

GameSpot reviewer Shane Satterfield described the remake as "one amazing game that clearly stands as the best the series has to offer", crediting the attention to detail, realistic gore, volumetric fog, and integration of real-time lighting and shadows with pre-rendered backgrounds, commenting that Capcom had "finally perfected the art of mixing prerendered scenery with ambient animations and polygonal objects, and the result is the most visually impressive video game ever released." Shane would then highlight the quality and variety of sound effects, noting that "there seem to be dozens of sound effects for footsteps alone." However, some publications considered the voice acting to be weak due to its exaggerated delivery.

Edge magazine remarked that the game's unforgiving gameplay and technical artistry improve the tension and anxiety that the original offered.

Writing for NGC Magazine, Jes Bickham remarked that, unlike in the original Resident Evil, the contrast between character models and backgrounds is seamless. He also noted that the game is "so visually rich that simply seeing the next area is an experience to be treasured."

GameSpot editors named Resident Evil the best video game of April 2002. At the GameSpot 's Best and Worst of 2002 awards, Resident Evil was nominated for Best Story on GameCube, Best Graphics (Technical) on GameCube, and Best Action Adventure Game on GameCube. As of January 2004, 445,176 copies of the game had been sold in the United States. In May 2008, Capcom revealed that a total of 1.35 million copies of the game were sold.

Although the game received critical acclaim, it sold worse than expected. As a result, Mikami and Capcom decided that subsequent games in the Resident Evil series would shift away from the survival horror genre and incorporate more action-based elements, starting with Resident Evil 4 in 2005. Before that happened, Capcom developed Resident Evil Zero, a direct prequel using the same graphics engine and released in late 2002.

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