Resident Evil Review (Switch eShop)

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Resident Evil Review - Screen Capture 1 of 7

L & # 39; original resident Evil is a strange creature. Although tinkered at different times and enjoying a substantial facelift, the basic game seems abnormally insensitive to change and remains resolutely of his time. It's a bit normal that the fundamental mechanisms refuse to be manipulated, and each raise relaunches the same admiring and bickering corpse for another round. resident Evil, affectionately nicknamed REmake & # 39; in its GameCube form, is essentially the same wonderful "paint-over" that we've seen seventeen (count them) several years ago, and even if it's still the most attractive and accessible interpretation of the original game, there will still be some players for whom it will remain an archaic and impenetrable beast.

In 1996, the first Resident Evil had impressed (and terrified) players with incredibly detailed environments and fearsome enemies and trackers who came back without having to play smart. The fixed camera angles of the game have made you a voyeur, but you are an agent of the agency facing the horrors that take place in the Spencer mansion.

In just six years, a remake of GameCube has given the aging title a remarkable look, adding a layer of dramatic, high-quality production to the shameless sound of movie B, matching it to the tone of the series as and as it evolves. in the suites. The basic experience is more or less the same and follows the exploits of Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine (depending on which one you select) as they search for the remains of S.T.A.R.S. Congratulations to the team in the mountains of Arklay. The Alpha team discovers a mysterious mansion linked to the Umbrella Corporation and ends up fighting for his life against all kinds of zombies and other infected critters that are hiding in the house and his land.

Compared to the original, the director of Capcom, Shinji Mikami, increased the production value to 11%. The FMV segments have become a bargain, exchanged for well-read synthetic films. The sets were totally recreated with a new moody lighting and the script was also reviewed, replacing the most annoying lines and performance with something a little more chic. It was still a B movie, but with a budget.

Weighing in at 14.4 GB – the biggest of the Resident Evil trio hitting eShop this week – this game is a direct port of the HD version released in 2015, including hits, online leaderboards and a movie gallery. As we saw with Resident Evil 4However, Capcom still seems destined to face historical technical constraints to modernize the series.

The REmake GameCube was produced for a 4: 3 aspect ratio, and all these beautiful pre-rendered backgrounds were drawn according to these specifications. When Capcom updated the game for widescreen and high definition, Capcom responded by slicing the top and bottom of the 4: 3 image and programming vertical scrolling.

This is not an ideal solution, but it does not allow you to rebuild the entire game from scratch. again and changing the composition of shots is a pretty elegant compromise. Players have the option to play in the original 4: 3 mode if they wish, but this is just an example of an aged design that is built into the fundamentals of the game.

Similarly, here we have "tank" controls. Although veterans have long acclimatized, the classic controls of the series have always been a barrier to entry for many players in a post-analog stick world. Rotating Chris or Jill left and right and pushing up to run, no matter which direction you are heading, seems clumsy after the intuitive joy of movement in Super Mario 64. This version adds "normal" analog controls (so you'll shoot the character to the camera) and you can switch between the two styles by simply moving your thumb from the D buttons to the button. Initially, it is a valuable aid, but the introduction out of tank poses new problems.

Suppose the camera is positioned at the beginning of a corridor. you push and look at Chris back when he walks away. Cut to the end of the hall with Chris walking now towards the camera, but you keep pushing. It will continue in the same direction until you release the stick. At that point, he comes back to the new perspective, which means you have to shoot return on the stick to continue in the same direction.

That's fine in the long corridors, but when the manor's geography becomes more complicated and your vision changes more often, it's easy to find yourself going back and forth between views, with zombies fall on it. Frustration and panic are comical, and analog controls let you avoid incoming threats more easily than the original tank entries, but it's a perfect example of how the game stubbornly refuses modernization. This does not mean that there is no room for reinterpretation – just look at the recent Resident Evil 2 remake – but you might feel like you're fighting "the game" as much as you fight the undead.

The tension created by the controls is probably part of the experience, because it gives the permanent feeling that you will no longer be able to face the next threatening threat. that you act at the limit of your abilities. The riddles of slot machines that might otherwise be elemental become epic as you walk through the mansion with limited inventory slots and limited confidence in your skills, looking for a crest or clue that you have forgotten . If you are a demon of horror, you will love every terrible minute, but those who are easily surprised or who are investigating the series for the first time would probably benefit from the fourth entry.

The expectations of the veterans of the series are cleverly diverted at times. As you prepare for a scary jump that you remember from the original (or maybe the Nintendo DS version), you may find that nothing happens, and just as you relax, Capcom throw a curved ball to keep you on the tip. The game still looks pretty phenomenal on Switch, the portable mode helping to soften and blend all the elements of the picture. The character animation is obviously simpler than we would expect these days, but given the comical incongruities introduced by the controls, these quirks must be accepted as an integral part of the game. ;experience. Overall, Resident Evil remains an extremely effective horror survival exercise.

It has its weaknesses, however, and they form the very structure of the game. Its mechanisms have aged terribly in many respects, but the aged and obtuse elements can not be extracted without doing a completely different thing. These systems are integral – like the menu of verbs of a classic adventure game – and can not be simply deleted or simplified. The way games deal with inventory management, movement, and goals has evolved dramatically over the years, and although the old methods are not necessarily "bad," they are certainly out of fashion at the moment. Give it a decade, though, and they may be back in vogue.

Resident Evil is always a classic of its kind – just embrace tank controls, adopt the archaic inventory system, embrace 4: 3 as optimal shape ratio. The screen looks great on a small screen, and although using touchscreens may have simplified inventory management, we probably should not have expected it based on the developer's track record. The portability of the Switch version offers the game the best possible opportunity to conquer you in a modern context, but in the end, Resident Evil is simply what it is. As long as you do not approach it wishing it to be something different, it will bother you in a way that few of the survival horror games that followed his example have succeeded.

Conclusion

In many ways, the first Resident Evil is – and can never be – a product of its time. Even adjusted, perfected and polished to perfection, he has his own personality and his own manners; change them and you change the game. At once heavy and horrible, he refuses to let you bang and eat it. Thus, if the veterans of the series know what to expect, new players must prepare for a training in mechanics of the game, which has largely fallen into disuse. The context is essentialSo, the Switch port gives the best of this classic and there is probably no better way to taste the original formula of Resident Evil in 2019, provided you have the courage to use it.

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