Resident Evil HD Remaster (PS4)

When Resident Evil originally released in 1996, it helped define the Survival Horror genre as we know it. It even reportedly had an influence on zombie storytellers like Alex Garland, who wrote 28 Days Later, and Robert Kirkman, who created The Walking Dead. Although the game was popular and released to critical acclaim, director Shinji Mikami, as part of Capcom’s GameCube exclusivity deal, decided to produce a remake, as he thought the original hadn’t aged well and wanted to bring it closer to his original vision. This version released in 2002 and despite its general status as one of the best video game remakes of all time, it sold poorly, which led to the action-oriented direction of later games starting from Resident Evil 4. The 2015 HD Remaster rerelease, on the other hand, would sell far better, with 2.8 million copies sold by June 2020.

As for my own experience with Resident Evil, I formally started the series with Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, so I’m more familiar with the tone and style of the first-person entries. After a major lore reference made at the end of Resident Evil Village, however, I decided to do my due diligence and play through all of the mainline entries, much like I did with the Silent Hill series. Not only did I want a better understanding of the series’ lore, but also a greater appreciation of the developments that eventually led to the Ethan Winters storyline. Naturally, I started at the very beginning with the remake of the original Resident Evil and, after two playthroughs, I can see why it was so acclaimed, even if certain aspects didn’t age as well.

Before I continue, I want to firmly establish that this review is based on the HD Remaster version of Resident Evil as presented in Resident Evil Origins Collection. As such, I will not be discussing any of the differences between the original 1996 Resident Evil or the original 2002 GameCube release of the Resident Evil remake, as I hadn’t experienced them myself.

In 1998, a string of bizarre murders occurs within Raccoon City, with reports of people being eaten by groups of ten or more. Raccoon City’s Special Tactics And Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.) is assigned to investigate, but when contact with Bravo Team is lost, Alpha Team goes to investigate their disappearance. Unfortunately, most of Alpha team is killed by monstrous dogs, forcing the surviving members of S.T.A.R.S. to take refuge in the nearby abandoned Spencer Mansion, where they split up to investigate further. During their investigation, the team learns more about not just the mansion, but its connection to everything going on within Raccoon City.

The story of Resident Evil is told from the perspective of two characters, Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield, each with their own campaigns. While the story plays out largely the same between the two of them, there are some differences. In Jill’s campaign, the only other known survivor apart from Albert Wesker is Barry Burton, who will occasionally provide assistance. In Chris’ campaign, the only other known survivor apart from Albert Wesker is Rebecca Chambers, who will occasionally provide assistance. Both campaigns also have multiple endings depending on whether or not two particular characters are saved or rescued during the story.

Rebecca (right) will occasionally help Chris (left).

As for how that story is told, there’s a lot of efficiency. If the player only focuses on what they will inevitably see or read, there is a complete arc that’s well-written without taking up too much of the player’s time. In a vacuum, Resident Evil can come off like a B-movie, but it’s a very solid B-movie in that case, with memorable characters and scenes that have stuck with players for years and will continue to do so into the future. Within the context of the rest of the series, this game introduced the idea that no matter what horrors the characters come across, there is always a scientific explanation, which helps Resident Evil stand out from a lot of other zombie media. There’s also an intriguing subplot involving the family of George Trevor, the architect of the mansion that later became his grave, that not only provides an explanation for the numerous traps that S.T.A.R.S. comes across, but also shows the cruelty of those involved in the creation of the zombies that are fought. Players who want a fuller picture can also learn numerous collectible files and certain environmental interactions that are worth the effort to find.

I’d also recommend playing through both Jill and Chris’ campaigns. Though they’re mostly similar, there are certain details regarding a connection with Umbrella Corporation that I only noticed while playing Chris’ side of the story. This also means that the game provides a good incentive for playing more than once on top of the replay value the gameplay already provides. You can even continue off from the previous campaigns Clear Data through the “Once again…” menu option.

Speaking of gameplay, the presence of the original 1996 design philosophy means that while the game will explain some of its systems, it will not explain any of the controls. Fortunately, there’s an option to read the manual from the main menu, which is great to read before jumping headfirst into the world of survival horror. First time players will be asked a question that determines the difficulty depending on your answer, otherwise they can pick whether they’ll play as Chris or Jill, as well as what costume they’ll wear during their playthrough.

Your answer determines your difficulty the first time.

While the core gameplay between Chris and Jill is mostly the same, both of them have their differences that will affect the player’s approach. The gist of it is that Chris is faster and can take more damage before dying, but he only has six inventory slots and must find Old Keys before he can open certain doors in the mansion. Jill, meanwhile, has eight inventory slots and a larger variety of weapons available throughout her scenario. Each of them also starts with a unique item, a lighter for Chris and a lockpick for Jill.

Since the core gameplay is mostly the same between Chris and Jill and Resident Evil establishes the core mechanics present for several games in the series, I’ll be describing the mechanics in more detail here.

When starting the game, players have the option to use the original 1996 control scheme or an updated alternate control scheme. I went with the alternate controls, as they were on by default, and found them very smooth and easy to use. For a majority of the game, I also used 3D movement, which I personally prefer over tank controls when given the option. Though the game does use a fixed camera system, 3D movement is pretty easy to get used to in this setup, as your movement persists between shots as you still hold the same direction with the analog stick. That said, there was one endgame section that absolutely required walking, so I temporarily switched to the tank controls with the d-pad.

Compared to later games, Resident Evil uses a straightforward inventory system where players can only carry so many items depending on the character, six for Chris and eight for Jill. Characters can have one weapon equipped at a time, but they also still take up one slot, as does spare ammunition. Items like Old Keys and ammunition stack within the same slot, but other keys and items like Herbs and First Aid Sprays do not. The only items that don’t take up a slot are Defensive Items and either Chris’ Lighter or Jill’s Lockpick.

Jill has eight slots...

...while Chris has only six.

Of course, there’s more to the inventory than simply carrying items. Examining them can reveal new information, like identifying a Mansion Key as the Sword Key, or even yield new ones, like retrieving a fake key from a Dog Collar. Combining items also opens up a lot of possibilities. For example, combining a jewel with a certain jewelry box begins a puzzle that reveals a key item and combining ammo with the appropriate gun reloads it without going through the animation. Throughout the game, the inventory screen doubles as a hub where players can read important files or view the map (also accessible by itself with a single button press), as well as view their current health status on a heart monitor. If health is low, Herbs and First Aid Spray will quickly restore it.

Speaking of Herbs, they’re practically made for combining, as each of the three types, Green, Red and Blue, have different effects. A Green herb on its own restores 25% health and Blue cures the Poison status, but Red doesn’t do anything on its own. Combining them, however, will improve the effects of the Green herb. For example, Green + Red creates a mixture that restores 100% of the player’s health.

As good as the inventory system is, it can feel a little rough now. While it does incentivize good item management, players may find themselves frequently backtracking to item boxes (more on that later) if they’re still learning what is and isn’t essential for completing the game. It doesn’t help that you can’t manually dump items you don’t need unless you go back to an item box, which can make some exploration tedious. You also have to open the inventory to use certain items, which sometimes ask that you stand in a precise location before it will register. I understand that this is done for the purpose of solving this game’s puzzles, but in situations like placing masks in a tomb, constantly opening and closing the inventory quickly gets tedious. The one major quality of life aspect that I like is that the game will let you discard items like keys from your inventory once they’re no longer useful, freeing up precious space. Also, if you try unlocking a door, the game will automatically use the key as long as it’s in your inventory.

The game will you let you discard items when they're no longer of use.

As players will quickly learn, zombies have infested the Spencer Mansion. They come in many forms, from human to animal, and can easily overwhelm an unprepared player on higher difficulties. If you’re not careful, they can even waste precious ammo, especially when access is more restricted. Although killing zombies isn’t required outside of certain circumstances, you can fight them off with either a gun or the Survival Knife. Combat is also rather simple, with one button (L1 on PS4) to aim, then another (R1 on PS4) to attack, with the angle determined by the direction you aim the analog stick. When readying a weapon, the player character will also automatically aim at the target, which can really help with tracking faster enemies.

Unless you want an additional challenge, however, it’s generally not a good idea to blindly kill every zombie that gets in your way. If you do kill one, it’s best to burn the body as quickly as you can or else it will come back later as a faster and more powerful Crimson Head that eats through even more ammo. Burning requires having a lighter and a canteen of kerosene in your inventory, though the canteen can only hold so much and while you can refill it in certain rooms, there’s a finite supply, with not enough for every zombie in the game. Otherwise, unless you can consistently get headshots or decapitate zombies, it’s best to pick your battles and avoid as many encounters as you can, which may require dodging lunges in tight corridors.

Dodging zombies is an important skill.

While zombie encounters can get tense under the right circumstances, especially since they persist between rooms once they’ve spawned, they also follow two important rules. The first is that apart from some scripted instances, they can’t follow you between rooms. As such, you can make a clean getaway most of the time if you trigger a door animation. The second, and the most important one, is that enemies can’t follow you into Safe Rooms.

As the name would imply, Safe Rooms offer a reprieve from the horrors of the mansion. As you listen to soothing music, you can swap out items between your inventory and an Item Box. Although Item Boxes also have limited storage, there’s more than enough to get you through the game and on most difficulties, the Item Boxes are linked, so you never have to worry about leaving something behind. Although not exclusive to Safe Rooms, you can also save your game at a Typewriter, but doing so requires an Ink Ribbon. Though there are usually more than enough Ink Ribbons to last you an entire playthrough, their limited nature encourages using them conservatively, which can make players more cautious while exploring the mansion. In a neat touch, Rebecca can potentially heal Chris herself at certain points in his story, but she can only do so a couple times due to limited supplies.

Safe Rooms can also contain useful items.

As I’ve mentioned earlier, the mansion has plenty of puzzles, many of which require placing items in the right spot. Though they vary in difficulty, they’re relatively easy in this game compared to many Silent Hill puzzles, at least most of the time. There is one that requires a bit of notetaking on the player’s part, as a combination to a certain door requires memorizing symbols seen under candlelight in a previous room, as well as matching those symbols with the numbers seen on nearby billiard balls. There’s also an optional one that requires doing a math equation with liquids, but there are more than enough hints in the environment to help solve it easily. What also helps future replays is that most combinations and puzzle solutions remain the same every time.

It’s worth noting that, for better or worse, Resident Evil still follows the design philosophy from the original 1996 release, meaning that there’s absolutely no handholding. Unless you have a guide, it’s more than likely that you will get stuck and you will end up fumbling around and making costly mistakes. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as it puts a lot of faith in the player to figure out where they’re supposed to go next, plus it makes success feel rewarding. However, it is something to keep in mind for those who are only in it for the story or are short on time. Plus, there are certain things that those going in blind may not be aware of, like how you can actually skip a few of the boss fights (and that the ones you can’t have very simple strategies). One minor disappointment with this release as well is that pressing the Share button brings up the Pause menu, which made taking screenshots for this review a little tricky.

After all these years, the graphics have held up surprisingly well thanks to the high quality of the highly-detailed pre-rendered backgrounds and the stylized look of the characters. Everyone looks distinct from one another to the point that they stand out in photographs and the enemies have very iconic designs. Some small touches of realism help the game stand out, like how a character’s Danger health status changes how they walk and that Jill’s breasts have a slight jiggle while moving. Although more advanced technology has let gaming get past fixed cameras, Resident Evil uses them to full effect here by hiding enemies just off-camera, which can more easily catch someone off-guard the first time. As an added bonus, players can choose whether they want the original 4:3 aspect ratio or a newer 16:9.

The pre-rendered backgrounds are highly detailed.

There are some minor annoyances, however. While most items have a glow to help them stand out, some don’t and can easily blend into the environment, making them easier to miss. Certain combinations of camera angles and pre-rendered backgrounds can also make judging distance a little more difficult than they should, like how far away you are from reading a screen in the middle of a walkway. I also picked up on some minor subtitling errors, like squishing two words together, but they weren’t enough to negatively impact the experience.

Resident Evil also uses its minimal score and plenty of ambient noise to help set the atmosphere and does it quite well. Since this version is an HD remaster of the original GameCube remake, that means it also includes the updated voice acting. While English dubbing has certainly improved greatly since 2002, the performances are still enjoyable and you can tell the voice actors did the best they could with the material they were given.

While perhaps not a perfect game, Resident Evil still holds up nicely in HD and I would recommend playing it at least once, if only due to the impact it left on the gaming industry and zombie fiction at large.