(Review archived from January 20, 2016)
Can you believe that I had never played a Resident Evil game to completion!? I was always more of a Silent Hill guy, and the trappings of Resident Evil had always seemed a bit campy for my tastes. And you know what? Resident Evil is totally campy. But in a good way. This game is such a great homage to b-movie spook house flicks, and it’s so self-aware of its influences that you can’t help but have a good time with it. In fact this is probably one of the most cinematic gaming experiences I’ve ever had. Much has been made of the fixed camera angles in Resident Evil, but ultimately it was an incredibly effective choice in that it allows for the conveyance of cinematography vis-a-vis the gaming experience itself, and beyond the simple scope of the cut scenes. The fixed camera angles are supposed to be disorienting and unsettling. They are supposed to make you feel uncomfortable and clumsy. I don’t think I really understood that part until I actually spent some time with the game, but it contributes immensely to the incredible atmosphere of the game. The voice acting … well the less said about it the better, except that, once again it lends itself very well to the whole b-movie aesthetic of the game. I suspect that the choice of substandard voice acting wasn’t necessarily a planned decision, but even if by serendipity it’s yet another element which builds on atmosphere. In some ways I enjoyed the “spooky mansion” section of the game a lot more than the “bio-tech lab disaster” section, but what can you do? This is Biohazard after all. I’m really looking forward to digging into future games in the RE series now, but I generally like to cool down a bit between games, lest I start judging games as a series rather than each one on their individual merits (also series fatigue, yo). At any rate, I shouldn’t have waited so long to play this masterpiece.
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