I've recently played through both the GameCube games Resident Evil remake and Resident Evil: Zero with a friend on his Wii. I borrowed the games from another friend and we used a GameCube controller connected to the Wii.
Here's a look at both these titles I missed back when they were released!
Review
Played on: WiiReleased: 2002 (GameCube)
Nothing quite represents mid-90's gaming like the Resident Evil series. The original trilogy rose to fame on Sony's 32-bit, success story, the PlayStation 1. The original RE, released all the way back in 1996, set the bar for cinematics and horror for all other games to follow. It was a landmark release, simply because of its impact on the industry. It had tremendous atmosphere and an unusual non-linear layout, which for me, has never been topped since.
The series has spawned many sequels, spanned many consoles and even ended up as both CGI and Hollywood movies. With so many releases, quality of the games has ranged from excellent to rock bottom. It's a franchise with a lot of weight in the industry. But less so back in 2002, and a remake was something almost unheard of.
Even as early as the Nintendo 64, Nintendo got their first RE game, namily Resident Evil 2. However, on the horizon of a new generation of consoles, Nintendo wanted to aim at a more mature audience with their up and coming GameCube. Thus wanting to acquire popular games for a more mature audience. They looked no further than Capcom's PlayStation success with the RE series.
A franchise, which incidentally, already had been bought out by another console brand previously. With Sega receiving RE Code Veronica on their critically acclaimed, but ultimately failure, the Dreamcast.
One could argue that the original Resident Evil story has been exaggerated, over the years, for having a great story. I'm here to tell you that it isn't really the storytelling itself that's very good. The voices are indeed far better in this remake, and the script less cheesy, but it's not really the dialogue that made RE's story in the first place.
PS: Read my "Looking back" feature of the original, 1996, Resident Evil here!
I must admit, I never got to play the GameCube remake when it was released back in 2002. Only a brief encounter, at a friends house, leaving us both on a low note. It looked too grey and gritty, and didn't quite convince me. Years later, with that same friend, we give it a proper chance. Our scepticism was swept aside, as it turned out to be an excellent reunion with a classic!
Some background info here, I've played both the original and Dir. Cut versions of RE1, many times. I’m no newbie to the series.
To my surprise, there were quite a few nice additions to this remake, that are clearly aimed at the veterans of original release. Putting them out of their comfort zone. For instance, there's a wonky doorknob, that's situated near a central save room, that forces you to take an alternate route through the mansion when backtracking. There are new rooms, different items, and placements of them entirely, and new cutscenes. The remake excellently puts veterans out of their old RE routine, a fantastic way of making the game feel new, even for old players.
Some background info here, I've played both the original and Dir. Cut versions of RE1, many times. I’m no newbie to the series.
To my surprise, there were quite a few nice additions to this remake, that are clearly aimed at the veterans of original release. Putting them out of their comfort zone. For instance, there's a wonky doorknob, that's situated near a central save room, that forces you to take an alternate route through the mansion when backtracking. There are new rooms, different items, and placements of them entirely, and new cutscenes. The remake excellently puts veterans out of their old RE routine, a fantastic way of making the game feel new, even for old players.
One could argue that the original Resident Evil story has been exaggerated, over the years, for having a great story. I'm here to tell you that it isn't really the storytelling itself that's very good. The voices are indeed far better in this remake, and the script less cheesy, but it's not really the dialogue that made RE's story in the first place.
No, it was the untold story that built the atmosphere. What you witnessed, the small tid-bits of information from diaries and notes. What you saw in each room, what you imagined happened prior to the mansion incident. That atmosphere, that loneliness, built RE1 into a great story in your own head.
To aid this untold story, RE1 greatly benefited from a believable, well-designed environment and setting. REmake is no different, only emphasising a bit too strongly on darkness and a muted colour scheme for my liking. It should have had the colourful and distinct variation of each rooms like the original. That said, the mansion is still such a fantastic setting for a horror title, and REmake uses some incredibly pre-rendered graphics, for it's time, to illustrate this wonderfully.
This remake hits the right spot. It changes more things than what appera at first, other than just visuals. Making sure veterans and newbies of the series get their share of the experience.
To aid this untold story, RE1 greatly benefited from a believable, well-designed environment and setting. REmake is no different, only emphasising a bit too strongly on darkness and a muted colour scheme for my liking. It should have had the colourful and distinct variation of each rooms like the original. That said, the mansion is still such a fantastic setting for a horror title, and REmake uses some incredibly pre-rendered graphics, for it's time, to illustrate this wonderfully.
This remake hits the right spot. It changes more things than what appera at first, other than just visuals. Making sure veterans and newbies of the series get their share of the experience.
It's about scaring you and building a great horror loneliness. Furthermore, it goes to illustrate how far the current RE games have moved away from the classic formula, resulting in action and cheesiness ,with ridiculous characters and no atmosphere resembling anything creepy.
If you've never played the RE games, start with the original RE or this one!
Released: 2003 (GameCube)
Zero was originally intended for the Nintendo 64, it was to become an exclusive RE game to compete with releases on PS1. It got delayed, moved and remade for the GameCube. It's the last in the classic RE series, when you think of pre-rendered backdrops and camera angles. A sort of last supper for a style that Capcom since left behind.
It begins on a train, prior to the mansion incident in RE1, and revolves around the character Rebecca Chambers, the medic from RE1m and a runaway convict, called Billy Coen. You quickly realise something is wrong on the train, as it gets infested with zombies and leeches. Sigh, yes, leeches. From here, you end up at sort of research mansion, clearly showing the developers had a wide range of imagination of locations. Sigh, again.
I must stress that I adore the mansion setting in RE1, however, in Zero it feels a little tacked on. Like they had to do it again, since RE1 worked out so well. Sadly, its design is forgetful and follows the overly dark and gritty style from REmake. I like how it connects into RE2 later, though, and the train level at the beginning looks fantastic, I must say.
The game allows you control two characters at the time, instead of the traditional swap of characters for entire playthroughs, like Resident Evil 2, RE:0 let's you swap characters on the fly. But, herein lies RE:0's main problem. The co-op feature of controlling two characters adds no fundamental improvement or entertainment value at all. It's cooperative mode, without the coop.
Sounds confusing? Well, it doesn't have any option to play with a friend and begs to ask the question, why was it even added in the first place? At worst, it actually makes the game less tense and more annoying. I get the idea: one character has the healing and herb mixing ability, yet is more invulnerable, and the other is strong and takes more damage. However, what we ended up with, is playing only with Billy. Simply because the fighting will always be necessity to progress, and he didn't have any apparent weaknesses other than not being able to mix herbs.
If you've never played the RE games, start with the original RE or this one!
Review
Played on: WiiReleased: 2003 (GameCube)
Zero was originally intended for the Nintendo 64, it was to become an exclusive RE game to compete with releases on PS1. It got delayed, moved and remade for the GameCube. It's the last in the classic RE series, when you think of pre-rendered backdrops and camera angles. A sort of last supper for a style that Capcom since left behind.
It begins on a train, prior to the mansion incident in RE1, and revolves around the character Rebecca Chambers, the medic from RE1m and a runaway convict, called Billy Coen. You quickly realise something is wrong on the train, as it gets infested with zombies and leeches. Sigh, yes, leeches. From here, you end up at sort of research mansion, clearly showing the developers had a wide range of imagination of locations. Sigh, again.
I must stress that I adore the mansion setting in RE1, however, in Zero it feels a little tacked on. Like they had to do it again, since RE1 worked out so well. Sadly, its design is forgetful and follows the overly dark and gritty style from REmake. I like how it connects into RE2 later, though, and the train level at the beginning looks fantastic, I must say.
The game allows you control two characters at the time, instead of the traditional swap of characters for entire playthroughs, like Resident Evil 2, RE:0 let's you swap characters on the fly. But, herein lies RE:0's main problem. The co-op feature of controlling two characters adds no fundamental improvement or entertainment value at all. It's cooperative mode, without the coop.
Sounds confusing? Well, it doesn't have any option to play with a friend and begs to ask the question, why was it even added in the first place? At worst, it actually makes the game less tense and more annoying. I get the idea: one character has the healing and herb mixing ability, yet is more invulnerable, and the other is strong and takes more damage. However, what we ended up with, is playing only with Billy. Simply because the fighting will always be necessity to progress, and he didn't have any apparent weaknesses other than not being able to mix herbs.
Constantly switching characters just seemed like a burden to me, and thus I avoided it. It ruins the pace and consistency when forced upon you: a lot of the time is spent simply moving the stale character from room to room, keeping up with the other. The lack of loneliness, destroys the scary element, an element much needed for a slow-paced horror title like this. RE2 also had two main characters, and did so in an excellent way, showing two sides to one incident. Leaving the characters mostly by themselves.
The story in RE:0 is terrible. It starts off really badly at the beginning. Introducing, one of the worst characters in gaming I've ever witnessed. I know Japanese games tend to have way-out characters, but this tops the chart. The main bad guy, is a man that controls leeches, by singing opera. Yes, you read that correctly. A man. Whom controls leeches. By singing opera to them.
Combine this with the appearance of a cocky Albert Wesker, this is prior to RE1, so why is he such a big-shot anyway. The story really pulls the mood of RE:0 to a low. The cutscenes are so bad, in fact, with their overly, cheesy, evil performances by the bad guys. Worst, by a land slide is opera singing, leech man, whom consistently tries to pull you down with comments that a spoilt, 5 year old brat, would say. It completely destroys any hope for the game picking up an interesting story. Ever.
The story in RE:0 is terrible. It starts off really badly at the beginning. Introducing, one of the worst characters in gaming I've ever witnessed. I know Japanese games tend to have way-out characters, but this tops the chart. The main bad guy, is a man that controls leeches, by singing opera. Yes, you read that correctly. A man. Whom controls leeches. By singing opera to them.
Combine this with the appearance of a cocky Albert Wesker, this is prior to RE1, so why is he such a big-shot anyway. The story really pulls the mood of RE:0 to a low. The cutscenes are so bad, in fact, with their overly, cheesy, evil performances by the bad guys. Worst, by a land slide is opera singing, leech man, whom consistently tries to pull you down with comments that a spoilt, 5 year old brat, would say. It completely destroys any hope for the game picking up an interesting story. Ever.
The only actual good side to the story is Billy's past, and the relationship between him and Rebecca building through the game. But these are far between and can never save the train wreck RE:0's story is.
Playing through it, I realised what I should have realised back in the day, when Capcom changed everything in Resident Evil 4, much to my annoyance: the series needed a fresh and different start. I don't believe they got it with RE4, in my opinion as I've always thought that game was bad, marking the downwards spiral towards the shit that is RE6.
That said, something had to change, and RE:0 proves that point in retrospect.
It's a forgettable game, a terrible story and prequel we never really needed. It was the last in its heritage for the series, ending on a low, proving change was much needed.
