RESIDENT EVIL (PS1)

BEATEN AGAIN 2025

I was first introduced to Resident Evil when I went over to a friend's house one day and stepped into his room. I must have been about six or seven years old. I remember seeing Kenneth, the downed S.T.A.R.S. teammate, being munched on by a horrendous zombie. It was terrifying, utterly frightening and unexpected. 

Some years ago, I played through the original as Jill Valentine with my best friend Velo. My other best friend, DragonSage, finally played this entry title into the series as Jill.  He's a lover of Capcom so I was excited to see what he'd think. This year he played Chris's campaign for the first time, so my friend Velo and I did as well. 

Chris is definitely the harder campaign in my opinion. While he can take more hits than Jill, he can carry less items at a time. 

I had never gotten the good ending to my recollection either, so I made sure to collect all the MO Discs to be sure I could. 

I also experimented more with battling the enemies and made some key realizations. The zombies tend to turn to the side away from you if you have enough space between you and them; then the player can skirt around them and get past before they can turn all the way around. This was a key component of my strategy to save as much ammo as I could.  

The dogs that leap out the windows in the beginning on the way to the courtyard? I enjoyed honing my knife only attempts against them the best, and found them the easiest for the simple fact that they take a moment to jump and then land. As soon as they'd land, I would work at hitting them with a downstroke, move a bit forward, do another downstrike--repeat until it's dead.

I experimented with the hunters and only using the Beretta, or handgun. The hunters could be dealt with if far away--the balcony where the statue with the red jewel is pushed to the ground below with the Grandfather clock is a great example. Firing at the zombie that's coming closer to you from the distance as Chris stepped in, I was able to shoot it in two-burst cycles with the Beretta. What the hunter will do is jump to the side quickly after 2 shots and then start running towards the player once more. One, two, a break, and then one, two, and another break. Soon enough, a dead hunter. 

The spiders were easy to deal with in the lounge room with the pool tables. On the other side they'd tend to peek their four legs over the side, rendering them vulnerable. 

I feel like despite its flaws, which they are certainly enough, this is such a classic title that even after all these years is still amazing. The hit detection in the game blows, the map is woefully inadequate but better than nothing. 

It was especially different this time playing after having studied Unit 731, Japan's top secret Bio-Death Camp program during WWII. Called Biohazard in Japan, the game is partially inspired by Unit 731. The notion that a virus like this being developed isn't just some nebulous science fiction concept ruminated in the background darkness of this menacing and unsettling game. 

It's a simple but extremely effective story, immersive and perturbing music, an incredibly memorable and haunting set piece, and to me serves as a lesson to the grave concerns we should have as We, the People in America about biological warfare in the possible future. 

For the uninitiated, the story concerns a Special Tactics and Rescue Squad, or S.T.A.R.S., that has been dispatched to the Arklay mountains and to the Spencer mansion residing there on reports of grizzly, cannibalistic murders happening in the mountains. What ensues is a dark plot by a pharmaceutical company to profit off of the biological warfare industry. Set in the fictional American city of Raccoon City, you the player must play as either Jill Valentine or Chris Redfield--each a member of S.T.A.R.S..

I feel like I have a better sense of the layout of the mansion now, this being my 3rd playthrough all the way to the end. I figured that once Chris were to get into a tank, then the tank he'd pilot would move like a human. 

8/10