Well it has been 6 months in the waiting for this masterpiece to arrive and finally we have it in our possession. Trying to convince ourselves that Smash Bros. had one more fight in it to keep our Gamecubes warm for what was sure to come we prepared for this day and now it has arrived. We all know that on May 2nd when you trotted down to your local EB and snatched your copy it was going to be a long night, so you prepared with stashes of food and lots of beverages, now that the double disc jewel was in your hands it was time to power on, so let’s get started.
First of let me start by saying that this game is so much more than a punk ass port, or even a crappy remake. This game is like a whole new experience wrapped in a fine bow and delivered to your doorstep. Not only does it feel like Resident Evil, it feels like an entirely new experience. The game remains the same as far as structure goes, but the rest is completely new and fresh! For starters the puzzles are much more intelligent, the graphics are jaw dropping, and the game play has been tweaked to work nicely with the Cube controller. All of the elements that made RE great are intact, but now with the technology to make them look so real that it scares you even more than before, seriously this is THE best looking game I have ever laid eyes on.
Since I have made such a bold statement can I back it up? Well for graphics I can give you some examples. We all know that the Cube is powerful, well until you see this game you can not begin to fathom how powerful. Real time reflactions flood this game, your character is reflected off of every surface that is reflective such as tiled floors and even small puddles of water. Capcom took their time in making sure they used every single resource of the Cube. You can hardly tell the difference between the real time graphics and the pre-rendered backgrounds it looks that good. Each blade of grass is polygonal and sways in the wind, and the blood can even platter onto the pre-rendered backdrops how impressive is that???
The next point is the sound, we all know the Cube lacks the best system for pushing audio like the Xbox. Resident Evil takes that into account and adds some massive flavor to the audio, along side a new soundtrack that is professionally scored this game boasts some of the best sound effects ever produced. You can tell which direction the zombies are coming from just by the ambience of the sound. You can hear different footsteps on every surface from water to carpet. The only complaint is that some of the sounds are resampled a bit too much, but this DOES NOT take away from the audio at all!
Next how does the awkward Cube controller handle the questionable RE style? Well to me this game plays better with the Cube pad. After ten straight hours the first night I couldn’t go back to the PS controller for this game. For some reason the Cube controller can be molded to play any game perfectly now that is design baby!
So enough rambling I wanna get back to playing, I wrap this up by saying that if you own a Cube buy this game. If you do not own a Cube buy one now and get this game. This is one of those titles that will go down in history as one of the best of all time. Considering this is a remake I cannot wait to see how Resident Evil 0 pans out. If it is even half as good as this the Cube can keep the franchise cuz baby I wanna play more! This is ZT sayin’ “Jill Sandwich!”
