That series goes back quite a ways. It's right around 16, 17 years old, right? Long time.
Being a die-hard fan of the series pre-Resident Evil 4- Not that I don't like Resident Evil 4, it's just that it isn't really a Resident Evil game, totally different- I've analyzed these games until my eyes bled. I've played them all until my fingers were worn to the bone.
Resident Evil 1 was a cheesy game, but it was cheesy to the point where there was a certain allure to it. Despite the hilariously over-acted intro video, and the half-broken dialogue in the opening scene, I have to say that I loved this game.I remember the first time I fired this game up, it was after I had dabbled in Resident Evil 3 for a while, so I was completely caught off guard by the game's mechanics. Out of all of the early games, Resident Evil 1 is often underrated in terms of difficulty by those who have long ago mastered it.
Truth is, when I first tried to play that game, I couldn't get anywhere. I was a hopeless wreck. Most of this was because I wasn't familiar with its rather strict conservation gameplay. You have to hold on tight to everything. Ammunition, healing items, and ink ribbons to save your game are all hidden away and are even nonexistent in some parts of the mansion.
Figuring out which zombies I had to kill and which ones could be safely bypassed was an art that I was not at the time familiar with.
Adding to my inability to play, there was the uncertainty surrounding my first attempt. At first I thought the mansion I was about to explore was gigantic, which made me even more hesitant to use any of the supplies I held at the outset of my adventure. In my mind, the mansion was about four times bigger than it turned out to be. I was a little bit disappointed when I found out that this wasn't the case, but nevertheless, it was probably for the better.
After getting the map in the blue door room and nervously wandering around, trying every door and hoping I wouldn't run into any zombies with so little ammunition to spare, I saved my game, effectively wasting an ink ribbon, and quit.
Some four or five months later, on a chilly winter day, I decided to give the game another go, this time after having beaten both Resident Evil 2 and 3. Resident Evil 2 ended up having similar conservation mechanics to Resident Evil 1, though with a shallower learning curve, and so when I went back to re-attempt Resident Evil 1, I was somewhat prepared.
Even back when I played through Resident Evil for the first time, the game was many years old, but that didn't stop it from giving me more than a few chills. Strangely, most of the scares weren't from the expected zombie-pops-out-of-a-closet type moments, but rather, from the shock of failing to see a zombie and running right into him. This was due to the strange camera system featured in the game, combined with me being in a rush to get from place to place.
I was pleasantly surprised by the length of the game. After having escaped the mansion, I thought the game was nearly over. This proved not to be the case at all. I was far from done, and in hindsight, that's another thing that I truly appreciate about that game.
The part that I feel goes most unappreciated about this game is its puzzle element. I got great satisfaction out of mini quests like gathering all of the crests to unlock the rear gate, and finding the two medallions to open the entrance to the lab. For some reason, a lot of action and horror games nowadays don't bother trying to mix puzzles in. It seems that there's no middle ground; you get a puzzle game or you get a cover-based shooter. There are very few games being turned out anymore that successfully incorporate both elements the way Resident Evil did in the mid '90s.
That aside, I can't really complain about too much with this game. I had a ton of fun the first time I played it, as well as in all of the subsequent playthroughs I've conducted since then. If that isn't the hallmark of a great game, I really don't know what is.
TO BE CONTINUED IN PART TWO
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