What is the basic idea of the game?
A series of strange occurrences have been
taking place in area around Racoon City, a small industrial
city in the American Midwest. After bizarre reports of shocking
incidents, including cannibalism, the Racoon City Police
Department decides to send in members of its special taskforce,
S.T.A.R.S. (Special Tactics and Rescue Service), to quell
the disturbances and investigate the cause of these strange
happenings. But during the course of its investigation in
the forest, Bravo Team's helicopter malfunctions and crashes.
When members of Alpha Team are sent in to investigate further,
they come under attack from a pack of zombie hounds. Stranded
in the middle of the forest, the survivors take shelter
in an apparently abandoned mansion, deep inside the woods.
From here, players take the role of Chris
Redfield or Jill Valentine, both members of Alpha Team,
exploring the claustrophobic confines of the mansion in
a bid to uncover its secrets. A rich cast of secondary characters
includes fellow S.T.A.R.S. members, such as the mysterious
Albert Wesker, Barry Burton, Bravo Team medic, Rebecca Chambers,
chopper pilot Brad Vicars and the unfortunate Richard Eiken.
Over the course of their travails, players will experience
a startling variety of hellish fiends, including zombies,
giant snakes, giant spiders, the legendary Plant 42, and
several other freaks of nature. Needless to say, all is
not what it seems
What sort of game is Resident Evil?
The original Resident Evil laid down the
rules of the 'Survival Horror' genre, and the latest remake
dusts them off and updates them for a new technology platform,
and a new generation of gamers. As with the original, the
game offers a heady blend of nervous exploration, brain-aching
puzzle-solving, and sudden bursts of frantic action, and
the claustrophobic B-movie philosophy is preserved and updated.
Significantly, the breathtaking technical achievement of
the remake allows for an exhilarating accentuation of the
sense of dread and fear that remain at the heart of the
Biohazard experience.
Players of any other Resident Evil will
be familiar with the game's intuitive control system, which
benefits immensely from the GameCube's innovative controller.
Beautifully animated characters explore the confined surroundings
of the mansion, before uncovering other, equally ominous,
environments such as an underground laboratory complex.
Throughout the game, environments are depicted by the use
of stunningly detailed and menacingly elegant prerendered
backdrops. Dynamic lighting effects and the careful use
of shadows by Mikami-san and his team create a foreboding
air that heightens the player's sense of immersion.
In order to progress through the game,
players will have to solve a variety of well-worked conundrums
using a variety of objects that can be found scattered about,
all the while defending themselves from the ravages of the
mansion's terrible residents using an increasingly potent
arsenal. Though characters start off lightly armed, continued
exploration will uncover shotguns, grenade launchers, and
even a rocket launcher. However, the relative scarcity of
ammunition will keep players on edge, and Mikami-san cleverly
toys with expectations of security. Though there are some
areas in the game that are safe from the onslaught of zombies,
at key moments within the game, even these become overrun.
As players progress, examining documents scattered around
the mansion and its environs will reveal the horrifying
cause - and extent - of the mansion's secrets, and players
will be introduced to the bedraggled survivors of Bravo
Team.
As with Capcom's other 'Survival Horror'
titles, repeated play will unlock a host of extras, such
as alternative costumes, extra weaponry and different game
endings, that all enhance the game's replay value. What's
more, though both Chris and Jill follow broadly similar
paths, each character has unique strengths and weaknesses,
and follows a slightly different path through the game.
How do the two playable characters differ
from each other?
Although the overall structure of the
game is the same for both Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine,
each character has particular strengths and weaknesses that
shape the course of their progress, and each character interacts
with different members of the S.T.A.R.S. team. Jill, for
example, has the capacity to store a greater number of items
in her inventory, and can pick locks, making it easier for
her to negotiate the dark recesses of the abandoned mansion,
and during key moments she receives assistance from Barry
Burton. Chris, on the other hand, has to find keys to enter
most rooms, but he's marginally tougher than Jill, and a
better marksman. Throughout the game, he enlists the help
of Rebecca Chambers to assist his investigation. Thus playing
the game with each character offers a substantially different
playing experience.
But I've already played the original Resident
Evil, and this all sounds familiar. What distinguishes Resident
Evil on GameCube from Resident Evil on PSone?
Though the two games are broadly similar
in terms of structure, there are a number of major differences
between them. Certain areas are expanded, providing wholly
new play sequences, and particular set-pieces are enhanced
and their dramatic scope enlarged. But above all, the signature
sense of unremitting tension and anxiety is heightened;
first, by the inspired technical artistry of Mikami and
his team.
Improved graphics aren't just a cosmetic
enhancement; they add a crucial new dimension to the game's
horror atmosphere. They allow a more dynamic range of dramatic
camera angles, which combine with the subtly nuanced lighting
and shadows and murky, peripheral, reflections to torment
the player and instil a permanent sense of unease.
The new areas that have been added to
the GameCube version of Resident Evil enhance the overall
experience, and shed new light on the back-story that has
developed over the course of the series. In addition to
these new areas, the mix of puzzles featured in the game
has also been reworked. Though some puzzles will be familiar
to those who have completed the original, the majority have
either been dramatically reworked from those featured in
the original, and a number of wholly new puzzles has been
introduced.
The game also features new items, with which to deal with
the improved powers of the mansion's inhabitants. Defensive
items such as knives and tasers give players a crucial few
seconds with which to escape from the embrace of an undead
opponent, while a can of petrol is useful for disposing
of dead zombies, in a bid to keep them from resurrecting
in a more powerful form.
On top of this, gamers who have played
through the original Resident Evil will be delighted to
note that the quality of voice acting has improved considerably.
What are the game's strongest features?
The game's strongest feature is undoubtedly
the skilful evocation of a sense of dread and panic, by
skilful design and threat placement, but also through sophisticated
use of lighting and sound. The game also features some gloriously
terrifying set-pieces, with which the player's expectations
of security are toyed with, to enhance the overall atmosphere.
The game also opens up the definitive
chapter in the original and best 'Survival Horror' title
to a new audience. Newcomers are granted the opportunity
to witness firsthand, the reasons for Resident Evil's paradigmatic
influence on subsequent videogame design and development.
And for old hands, the game offers the chance to return
and relive some truly terrifying but extraordinarily edifying
gaming memories.
This classic game has been completely remade for the GameCube
and is set to take the world by storm, all over again.
As part of a €2m PR campaign,
a brand new website has been launched this week...
www.adultsgetscaredtoo.com
