But I still take pleasure in running and gunning through the mansion's halls, and I still savor the fright I still feel in the presence of the clawed Hunters, who can behead you with one leaping swipe, and Yawn, the giant cobra boss.Īnother part of the appeal is “Resident Evil's” hilariously abysmal dialogue, which hits face-palming high points in “Here, take this lock pick. The puzzles don't age well after I've solved them half a dozen times. When players choose to simply run past an enemy, which is not only possible but inevitable, their attacks feel more sudden and the terror of suffering their teeth in Jill or Chris' neck spikes accordingly.įor all the fear “Resident Evil” inspires, it still somehow retains an inviting quality that has led me to replay it several times over. The protagonists' limited health and the absolute finality of the bloody “YOU'RE DEAD” end screen reinforce the lethal consequences of being snared by zombies or mauled by Cerberuses. Complicating that dynamic is the game's oft-bemoaned “human tank” controls, wherein pressing the analog stick upward moves Jill or Chris forward (left turns them left, and so on) no matter which on-screen direction that means.Īll these design choices in “Resident Evil” make combat aversive to the point of producing dread. The static cameras I earlier claimed to define the visual presentation of “Resident Evil” almost discourage aiming weapons due to the disorientation caused by each cut to a new angle. Bullets are in short supply, and the limited storage slots in the player's inventory forces ammunition to compete with keys, puzzle artifacts and health supplies for space. What heightens the fear of dealing with zombies is the resources - or lack thereof - at the player's disposal. They slowly stagger, without resistance, as players fire round after round into their undead bodies. After all, “Resident Evil's” zombies can be overcome with no less difficulty than most video game opponents. And the cannibalistic threat they pose to the player, on its own, may not spark tremors in the hands holding the controller.
It isn't long before the player first encounters the zombies that have become synonymous with the “Resident Evil” series - both in games and in films. The alienating mood inside the abandoned abode is set masterfully through the static, pre-rendered backgrounds of its many sumptuous rooms and the eerie ambient music that accompanies the player's exploration of them. As either Jill Valentine or Chris Redfield, two agents of a special police unit known as S.T.A.R.S., players flee to a mansion following an attack in the woods at the paws and fangs of Cerberuses. The dread “Resident Evil” inspires in players has far more diverse sources than mutated dogs and the sound of shattering glass. But I never felt fear while clutching a controller until I played “Resident Evil.” My fundamental concept of the video game medium changed with this singular moment in “Resident Evil.” Through games, I had until then experienced a limited gamut of emotions: enjoyment when I tackled challenges, satisfaction when I succeeded and frustration when I failed. Just as players approach a turn in the hallway and anticipate a cut to a new angle, a feral zombie Doberman - Cerberus - crashes through a window in the foreground to send players reaching for their gun or scrambling in fright.
Reinforcing the calm of the activity is the static camera angle that characterized early “Resident Evil” games. Early in the game, as players explore the ornate mansion that houses the terror, they walk through a quiet hallway with patterned beige wallpaper and dark oak dressers lining its walls. Many game enthusiasts point to “Resident Evil's” 1996 release on the Sony PlayStation as the popular breakthrough of survival horror, a genre that loosely encompasses titles as varied as the psychologically labyrinthine “Silent Hill” and the 2008 sci-fi thriller “Dead Space.”īut there was one specific scene in “Resident Evil” when survival horror broke through my own psyche. In anticipation of “Resident Evil 5's” March 13 release, I'll be looking back at the seminal survivor horror series' main installments in a retrospective similar to the ones featuring the “Metroid” and “Metal Gear Solid” franchises here in Citizen Player.