Resident Evil (GameCube Survival Horror)

Survival horror.  Yeah.  One of Capcom's big selling points on the PSX finds
its way to the GameCube and here's what I thought...

Once upon a time, there was this little town in the middle of nowhere named
Racoon City.  This little town had a special police force called STARS.  If
you know anything about video games in the last generation, you know both
STARS and Racoon City are eternally damned and you're about to learn how!
When STARS' Bravo Team disappears in the local of a strange mansion out in
the middle of the forest, the Alpha Team is sent in only to meet quite a
similar end.  As either Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine, you have to try and
survive the "horrors" of the old' Spencer place.  Pray you have enough
ammo...

Gameplay

Well, despite the fact you can shoot at monsters and health meters to watch,
just like any other game in the RE series, it's really nothing more than a
glorified Graphical Adventure only a step or two removed say King's Quest or
Sam and Max Hit the Road.  And despite being a revision of the PSX original,
RE doesn't really bring much that's new to the table.  The only thing it in
even mildly innovative and helpful is its Map feature which actually TELLS
you when there's stuff still left to get in a room, though this isn't much,
it was actually quite helpful during my game.  Of course, it's difficult to
speak of the gameplay and NOT mention the controls...  And...  Ew.  If
anything sinks my score for this game, it's THIS.  Though its possible to get
used RE's controls and play along just fine, when you first lay your hands on
it, you won't know wether you're coming or going.  Literally.  Your first
fights versus the Zombies will be bloody affairs as the Zombies, despite
being dead and rotting, have BETTER control of their limbs than you do yours.
Prepare to die early because of this.  :\  Oh, and yes...  Be prepared to
kill Zombies permanently by either shooting them in the head (like you'll be
doing THAT thanks to the controls...) or burning them 'cause if you don't...
They'll be REALLY ticked off the next time you see them.  Becoming faster,
stronger, and deadlier, you'll have quite a time defending yourself if you
let them live.  But...  Moving on...  >_<


Graphics

Abso-freakin'-lutely beautiful.  You can't even tell the FMV from the
computer generated scenes.  That's all there is to really say about this.

Music

Nothing much to say about the music...  It's nice and ambiotic but obviously
not the usual upbeat catchy music we're used to from Capcom.

Conclusion

In the end, I've realized that video games simply can't scare me.  Resident
Evil is a nice game and a good rental but...  I've come to realize that I can
only truely enjoy this kind of game as a Graphical Adventure and nothing
more.  On that level, I can appreciate it since I grew up on this specific
kind of mainly PC genre, however, others may not be quite as keen on it so
it may seem even less fruitful to others.  In anycase, this is a definite
case of rent before you buy.

Score:  7/10