Posts tagged PSOne

Though not the original survival horror game, Resident Evil definitely did its part to popularize the genre. Many different games that have a strong following now, owe a lot to this series and the precedent it set.

I can remember back on the PSOne (back when they still had long boxes) the first time i saw a preview for RE1. Granted it hasn’t aged well graphically, but back in the day, this game looked amazing.  The static backdrops for each scene looked as life like as you could get on the system at the time. The cut scenes done in full CG of  zombies eating a dudes face gave me chills. Every item seemed to be created with a level of detail no one had seen before.

The story for the most part was forgettable, though lovable. What with all the absolutely horrid dialogue (“Master of unlocking”) ! being read by people that obviously couldn’t be paid enough to generate any REAL emotion. Also the opening sequence was kinda shocking. The first time the FMV loaded up i nearly fell out of my seat with laughter. I thought for sure i had been duped into buying some cheesy “Night Trap” knock off. Luckily that would be pretty much all you would see of it through the game.

Then there was the play mechanics, or as most people call it, the “tank controls”. Probably the  worst character controls ever. Feet that acted as though they were tank treads? Its’ a wonder that the game did as well as it did. And even more amazing that they kept the same controls through most of the series. Attacking an enemy was nerve racking because you had to hope that where you were aiming was close enough to the target to actually hit them. If you missed, your only hope was to run away, regroup and try again, dodging was not a option, literally.

All the negative things aside, this was a great game. It was a hell of a lot of fun to play. Resident Evil is probably the first game that actually made me jump on many different occasions, and i don’t generally jump during ANY horror movies. Also like i said the story was pretty forgettable, however it starts to grow on you as you progress through the mansion (and the entire series). Once you start to peel away the secrets that Umbrella Corp has covered up you kinda want to find out more and more.

With Resident Evil 5 hitting store shelves soon i wouldn’t be surprised to see either a compilation set come out or at the very least a release to the PSN of the original. Its not the grand-daddy of survival horror, but they’re related, and they had fun scaring the crap out of kids in their day.