GSY Review PC PS4 Xbox One Xbox 360 PS3

1996... It was the year when the PlayStation was revolutionizing the gaming industry and shifting its sights towards a more mature audience thirsty for new experiences. Inspired by Frederick Raynal’s Alone in the Dark (something Mikami himself finally admitted very recently in Le Monde blaming an agreement between Capcom and Infogrames), the first installment in the Resident Evil/Biohazard series left its mark on a generation of players in more ways than one. Beyond its initial release, the game re-emerged a couple times on PlayStation as a Director’s Cut and Dual Compatible version, but it’s the legendary remake designed from the ground up for GameCube in 2002 that stands as the best iteration of the original title. It’s only natural that this version of the game is the one selected for remastering treatment in 2015, nearly 20 years after the release of the original game. Is it worth re-visiting the mansion so many years later?

Verdict


The answer is a firm “yes, but...” in the sense that, while this version of the game retains much of the fun and atmosphere of the GameCube release, its visuals are uneven due to the nature of its pre-rendered backgrounds which did not necessarily receive the same treatment across the board. There are issues with some of the games basic design that make it more difficult to enjoy these days but, despite this, it’s still an excellent experience from start to finish. We just wished it were priced more accordingly considering that its “high definition” labeling doesn’t really add much to the original 2002 experience.

The Good

  • We reviewed Resident Evil  - The Good
  • We reviewed Resident Evil  - The Good
  • We reviewed Resident Evil  - The Good
  • We reviewed Resident Evil  - The Good
  • We reviewed Resident Evil  - The Good
  • We reviewed Resident Evil  - The Good
  • We reviewed Resident Evil  - The Good
  • We reviewed Resident Evil  - The Good
  • We reviewed Resident Evil  - The Good

The bad and the Ugly

  • We reviewed Resident Evil  - The bad and the Ugly
  • We reviewed Resident Evil  - The bad and the Ugly
  • We reviewed Resident Evil  - The bad and the Ugly
  • We reviewed Resident Evil  - The bad and the Ugly
  • We reviewed Resident Evil  - The bad and the Ugly
  • We reviewed Resident Evil  - The bad and the Ugly
  • We reviewed Resident Evil  - The bad and the Ugly
  • We reviewed Resident Evil  - The bad and the Ugly
  • We reviewed Resident Evil  - The bad and the Ugly
Raggsvettma
Raggsvettma
Commented on 2015-01-19 17:18:49
I will wait then.
In reply to
andrewsqual
andrewsqual
Commented on 2015-01-19 17:36:45
You were almost a, worth it to pick up, SANDWICH!!! Actually I may still pick it up anyway :D
In reply to
moroboshi
moroboshi
Commented on 2015-01-19 18:13:19
Some of those upscaled backgrounds look absolutely brutal. Capcom should have bit the bullet and just re-made everything in realtime 3D.
In reply to
7Force
7Force
Commented on 2015-01-19 20:27:54
30 fps on consoles? Mother of God Capcom, mother of God...
In reply to
crookedmind
crookedmind
Commented on 2015-01-19 23:31:23
The 96 RE voice over was hilarious...
In reply to
avda
avda
Commented on 2015-01-19 23:44:24
This game is so boring
In reply to
MrWhite
MrWhite
Commented on 2015-01-20 00:52:02 In reply to moroboshi
Posted by avda
This game is so boring
Said no one who ever experienced the game for the first time back in 1996. This was a benchmark title back then, and to some extent it still is. Boring is not a word that springs to mind whenever you think of the original RE.
Posted by moroboshi
Some of those upscaled backgrounds look absolutely brutal. Capcom should have bit the bullet and just re-made everything in realtime 3D.
Indeed they are. It's shoddy and very unprofessional from Capcom no matter what way you look at it. They could have saved a shit load of effort by just re-rendering the original scene files in 1080 instead of going over the original renders with a shitty Photoshop filter. Why they didn't do that is beyond me, unless they either lost the files or discarded them? Building brand new assets to be used for a real time game like Code Veronica is obviously too much effort for them.
In reply to
Loakum
Loakum
Commented on 2015-01-20 01:10:47
I'm gonna fix a large turkey sandwich, smothered in miracle whip, when I play this tonight at midnight! I'm gonna have globs of miracle whip dripping on my controller! I can't wait....to eat that turkey sandwich...and play this game. Oh praise the Lawd! Jeah.
In reply to
CloudXIV
CloudXIV
Commented on 2015-01-20 02:57:20 In reply to MrWhite
They did recreate some of the backgrounds to run in real-time (the ones with lots of lighting that were previously looped videos), but most of them are just upscaled low-res images from the original release. Too bad, if they remade all the backgrounds and rendered them in real-time they would be able to add some subtle camera movement, like in Code Veronica or Outbreak.
In reply to
Xoar
Xoar
Commented on 2015-01-20 03:10:24
Think im going to pass on this.
In reply to
crookedmind
crookedmind
Commented on 2015-01-20 03:50:10 In reply to avda
Posted by avda
This game is so boring
The only thing that made this game boring when it was released, or thereafter, was knowing exactly what to do, where to go, and how to beat the game blindfolded after awhile.
In reply to
Seth
Seth
Commented on 2015-01-20 09:20:58 In reply to 7Force
Posted by 7Force
30 fps on consoles? Mother of God Capcom, mother of God...
PC is the way to go, there is also already a way to skip the door opening animations - http://steamcommunity.com/app/304240/discussions/0...

Aww yeah! Downloading the game now.
In reply to
Janman
Janman
Commented on 2015-01-20 13:27:48 In reply to crookedmind
Posted by crookedmind
The only thing that made this game boring when it was released, or thereafter, was knowing exactly what to do, where to go, and how to beat the game blindfolded after awhile.
Did someone tell you how to beat the game or how can you know what happens in the game? It is not a straightforward game. Maybe you are talking about replay value? Also Hunters for example are hard enemies and I would assume that they are near impossible when blindfolded.
In reply to
MrWhite
MrWhite
Commented on 2015-01-20 14:25:54 In reply to CloudXIV
It's a pity. It was 6 years between the original and the GC remake. It's crazy to think that it's been 12 years or so since that remake until this one, and this is what we get. Imagine if they'd made it 3d and even added physics to objects in the environment and the characters. A massively missed opportunity there.
In reply to
7Force
7Force
Commented on 2015-01-20 19:36:37 In reply to Seth
Agreed.

And thx for that mod!!! ^^
In reply to
Xiong_Warriorzz
Xiong_Warriorzz
Commented on 2015-01-20 20:28:55
ooohhh man those upscaled CG backgrounds... Game devs really need to learn to archive their source more, surely they weren't working with low res textures when making the game right? I dont know... Doesn't Dolphin run this game looking better then this re-release? Maybe a better dithering technique..

I might pick this up.. but i think i'll wait for a price drop. I was super excited for an HD version but this is kinda poor. Its a shame, its a great game though.
In reply to
CloudXIV
CloudXIV
Commented on 2015-01-20 22:29:15 In reply to MrWhite
Agreed. I don't know why they didn't go that way. They remade some of the locations already for Umbrella Chronicles. All they had to do is retouch them like they did with character models. It would probably cost a bit more, but the game isn't all that huge.
In reply to
gonzax
gonzax
Commented on 2015-01-20 23:14:08
This game is an absolute masterpiece. It was when it first came out and it is still now.
And that mod to skip doors animations looks great, thanks a lot. I wonder why that option is not included with the game by default.
In reply to
bubble2020
bubble2020
Commented on 2015-01-21 04:46:27
What an absolute P.O.S.

They effed this remake up so bad. If time or money were issues, they shouldn't have even started it. Might as well just be playing the original with these graphics. I would have bought 3 copies if they really had brought the graphics up to date.
In reply to
MrWhite
MrWhite
Commented on 2015-01-22 02:37:48 In reply to Xiong_Warriorzz
Posted by Xiong_Warriorzz
ooohhh man those upscaled CG backgrounds... Game devs really need to learn to archive their source more, surely they weren't working with low res textures when making the game right? I dont know... Doesn't Dolphin run this game looking better then this re-release? Maybe a better dithering technique..

I might pick this up.. but i think i'll wait for a price drop. I was super excited for an HD version but this is kinda poor. Its a shame, its a great game though.
I can say that running this on Dolphin definitely does not look better than this. The issue with it is that it doesn't upscale the backgrounds, whilst the 3d models scale perfectly well up through the resolutions as expected. The higher the res you go, the more disjointed from the backgrounds the models become, and it looks very bad because of that. They've upscaled the backgrounds here, however, they haven't done anything to improve the detail. It looks sharper, yes, but the detail is awful.

I'm just wondering: if there's already mods for this, maybe in time modders will have the tools to extract the backgrounds and models for improvement. The game could use it.
In reply to
Xiong_Warriorzz
Xiong_Warriorzz
Commented on 2015-01-22 21:52:55 In reply to MrWhite
Posted by MrWhite
I can say that running this on Dolphin definitely does not look better than this. The issue with it is that it doesn't upscale the backgrounds, whilst the 3d models scale perfectly well up through the resolutions as expected. The higher the res you go, the more disjointed from the backgrounds the models become, and it looks very bad because of that. They've upscaled the backgrounds here, however, they haven't done anything to improve the detail. It looks sharper, yes, but the detail is awful.

I'm just wondering: if there's already mods for this, maybe in time modders will have the tools to extract the backgrounds and models for improvement. The game could use it.
yeah, maybe in time, the mod community will do a great job redoing the backgrounds.
In reply to
spacemanjupiter
spacemanjupiter
Commented on 2015-01-26 23:59:00
This looks really poor. I had higher expectations.
In reply to
About the game
Platform
PC X360 PS3 PS4 XBOXONE
Published by
Capcom
Developed by
Capcom
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