Resident Evil: Director’s Cut, Creepy Survival Horror Game

The Resident Evil series has been taken in some odd directions in recent years. I remember being a little confused by the inclusion of other monsters, because I remember it as being a game about avoiding zombies and solving puzzles. This is what happens when you only play a few games in the series and haven’t touched it in about 20 years.

Resident Evil has always had strange mutant creatures in it. Most of them were reserved for boss fights, but there have been quite a few bio weapons in all the games. After watching a few people playing the newer games, I wanted to check out the original.

Another reason I wanted to play this has to do with the movies. I went back to watch all of them, and they wanted me to play the games again. I know that might be a little weird, but that was where my mind went. The first game has been on my list of games to play for a while, and I’m hoping to get through it this time.

TLDR: A great start to a fun series of survival horror games.

Narrative

I think most people know the story in Resident Evil at this point. The game takes place in Racoon City, and the police are investigating a series of violent attacks and disappearances in the forests on the outskirts of the city. First Bravo team goes in, and when things go sideways, Alpha team tries to find them. This leads to four characters ending up in a mansion.

From here, things split between the Jill and Chris stories, depending on which character you want to play as. I’ll be playing as Jill for this review, so the story will reflect that. Most of this will be a general overview.

When the game really starts, after the cutscene, which I think holds up quite well, you have to explore the mansion. This turns into a haunted house or a creepy mansion movie that is filled with jump scares. Eventually, you find your way to an underground facility where Umbrella is conducting biological experiments.

This leads to a fight with several of the experiments, and we learn about the team being double-crossed. There are several plot points that I’m going to skip over. It is a pretty good story, and I like how it is told. This isn’t a scary game now that I’ve played it a few times, but in 1996, it was something different. If you played this late at night with a group of friends, then it gets a little creepy.  

Gameplay

Resident Evil is a survival horror game. This means you’ll have to do a few things, such as manage an inventory, solve puzzles, and decide if you want to fight or avoid the enemies. There are also a lot of jump scares and quirks to the gameplay that would become staples of the genre for a period of time.

Resident Evil uses “tank controls,” which can be a little rough when going back to play a game like this. I’m not sure if this was the first game to use them, but it is the first one I can remember using this scheme. With the Director’s Cut, which is the version I’m playing, there is an auto-aim feature that makes the game a little easier.

Managing the inventory is one of the more challenging parts of this game. You have to manage your ammo, healing items, and key items. It adds a level of realism to the game that I like.

This is a puzzle heavy game, which is common for the survival horror genre. These can be a little cryptic at times, but they aren’t too hard to figure out if you pay attention to the clues. You can also find guides for the game online. Here is a link to the one I used when I got a little lost (Link).

There were a few instances where I got a little lost. There is an in-game map, which did help out quite a bit, but I still got turned around. Even looking at one of the maps online got a tad confusing.

I like the gameplay in Resident Evil. While the controls take a little time to get used to, especially if you haven’t played a game like this in a while, I did find them to be good in this game. Having to manage a small inventory adds to the challenge of the game. I also like how the game changes depending on which character you’re using. There are a few minor changes to the story and the gameplay that make the game a lot of fun to replay.

Visuals

This is a very dark game on a modern TV and PC. I finally figured out how to adjust my settings so I can see what is happening. There is something I like about the graphics in this game, and many of the PS1 games from this era. Resident Evil, in particular, looks like it has a layer of grime over it that makes the game feel like an old horror film.

The way the camera is set up helps to make this game scarier than it would normally be. The fixed camera angles feel like you’re watching security footage at times. It creates some situations where enemies appear with little time for you to react, or where you hear enemies before you see them. You don’t see this all that often anymore, and I wish something like this were used more in horror games.

I like the way the enemies and characters look in this game. This game is an example of good PS1 graphics from the mid-1990s. While they aren’t as good as other games, they work well for a game like this.

The atmosphere is creepy. I like how the mansion doesn’t feel abandoned, but it is eerie that there isn’t anyone here. The fact that it is a maze helps create a more claustrophobic experience, giving me the idea that “you’re not supposed to be here.”

Overall, I like the way Resident Evil looks. Even today, I think this game has something that other games are missing. It is a creepy game where the graphics, camera angles, and sound work together to make something unsettling, which is what I want from my horror games.

Reviews at the Time

The reviews for this game differ slightly from those of the other ones I’ve reviewed. Two versions of this game were released around the same time, and they received very different scores. The standard version received scores between an 8 and a perfect 10. The Director’s Cut was given scores between 6 and 8. I’ll be looking at three publications for this: GameSpot, IGN, and Entertainment Weekly.

Entertainment Weekly gave the game an A. It is only a short paragraph that is mostly a summary of the game. They say that it has “innovative puzzles,” which is something I would need to look into more. This review was on the original version.

GameSpot gave the original version of the game an 8.2/10. They listed two flaws, one of which is dumb, and the other makes more sense. The review didn’t like the limited inventory and management system, and they really didn’t like the voice acting. When they reviewed the Director’s Cut, they gave it a 6.9/10, mostly focusing on if it would cause people to upgrade from the original version. Even though it got a lower score, the reviewer thought it was an upgrade over the original version of the game.

IGN’s review of the original version of the game is fairly short, leading me to think the full version wasn’t archived. They gave it an 8.7/10.  The review of the Director’s Cut didn’t add much to the conversation. This review is also short, and IGN gave it an 8.9/10.

There isn’t too much variation in the scores over the years. Critics really liked this game, and it still has high scores on the aggregator sites. The Director’s Cut has a much lower score on those sites, and I think that has to do with it being released shortly after the first. It is the same game, so there isn’t too much to say about it from a reviewer’s standpoint.  

8.5/10.

Pros

• Good Graphics for the time
• Can be Scary when it needs to be
• Fun story

Cons

• Voice acting, I guess
• Tank Controls are a little clunky in this game

Conclusion

A friend of mine, Phillip Reed, wrote a book about this game a few years ago. It is a wonderful book, and it has a good mix of his memories of the game as well as historical information about it. If you want to get a copy of it, you can find it on Amazon or from Boss Fight Books (Link).

The reviews were a little surprising. I had forgotten about the original and Director’s Cut, and seeing that they received different scores was interesting. I understand reviewing both versions, but the differences in scores were not what I expected. Some reviewers pointed out the improvements, but still gave it lower scores.

Going back to play this was a lot of fun. It isn’t my favorite game in the series, and I don’t have as many memories of playing Resident Evil, but it is fun to see where the series began. It will be fun to see how the series evolves as I go over the other games in the series.

If you liked this post, please check out my other reviews of PS1 games, such as Vanguard Bandits or Thousand Arms.