Today I get to blog about the PS1 Resident Evil: Director's Cut,
which will be available for download tomorrow on PSN for $9.99.
I don't think I'll ever get to make a statement like this in a blog ever again.
The original Resident Evil is a game that defined my personality as
a gamer for years to come. (I've got two others on my list of
influential games, FF7 and Tekken, each for their respective genre -
but I'll keep this RE centered.)
The early experiences that you have in gaming set you up for what to
expect in the future. If you have a positive enough experience, you
attempt to find it time and time again - but I don't think a game will
ever affect me in the same way that this one did.
Going back and tinkering around with this game after so many years
off got me thinking about how different gaming was 10 years ago in
comparison to today. Games back then were hard. I remember dying at
the first zombie while trying to figure out a weird control scheme, yet
being mesmerized with the fact that I could control the outcome in a 3D
environment. It took me a while to get the grasp of everything, and I
died a lot, but I was so entertained by the experience that I refused
to go to bed. I stayed up all night at a friend's house, figuring out
this weird mansion filled with zombies.
To read the rest of the blog... click More.
Controls then were not nearly as important
as they are now. People were so mesmerized with the fact that they
were experiencing something new, it didn't matter that the graphics
weren't perfectly realistic and the acting was bad. It was a
completely new experience, and better yet it could scare you. (ex. Dog
+ Window = Jump)
But what made this game cool is the fact that deep underneath the
struggles you had to go through to progress, there was this gigantic
intricate puzzle to figure out. How do you get to the next area with
only 15 bullets? Which path is going to punish you, and which is going
to let you survive? A lot of the time, if you chose the wrong path,
you were just screwed, and you started over. If you didn't have an ink
ribbon on hand, or didn't save recently, this could mean you have to
re-do the last hour of gameplay. But it didn't matter as much, because
you learned from your mistakes and you could do things better the
second time.
In addition, the environments were just sweet. I don't think any
game has re-created something as creepy as that first mansion. To me
it is the ultimate classic scenario. So many questions to be had, and
you fill them in piece by piece as you progress. Not everything may
have made perfect sense, but either way, it was completely intriguing.
Playing as Chris Redfield and getting your shotgun is a great
example. At this point, you have been playing for a while now, trying
to survive with just a handgun. You go into a room, and see a shotgun
on the wall. Sweet! Then you pick it up, and the ceiling comes down
on you and makes a Chris pancake. (owned) Better hope you saved
recently.
Getting that shotgun was a big time struggle. You had to find the
broken shotgun, manage your inventory so you can actually hold it,
figure out how to dodge or kill a ton of zombies through a long stretch
of the mansion, so you can replace it on the wall and not die when
trying to get a new weapon.
But when you get it... that shotgun is a score! You can now blow
off zombie heads in a single shot, you just need to aim up. That
weapon completely changes the gameplay experience from then on out.
What makes that cool is once you finally figure out how to get the
shotgun, there is such a strong sense of accomplishment. You earned
your reward, it wasn't just handed to you.
Nowadays if a key drops and someone has to spend 5 mins trying to
find out where it goes, they just get pissed and stop playing.
(Obviously over-exaggerated, but you can see the point I was making)
And the camera angles - sometimes you can't even see down a
hallway. That's like putting you at a bigger disadvantage than being
there in real life. Haha. I kept remembering that I wanted to kick a
zombie in the chest because they were so slow. (If you played
Outbreak, there's one guy that could kick zombies in the chest. I
always picked that guy. Heh) Not only was it difficult to see, even
when I knew where the zombies were, they would get me ALL the time. It
was difficult to move precisely. Very different experience than seeing
a single enemy, lining up a headshot - done, progress. You were
watching that zombie, trying to predict how he would move, how you
could lure him to the side so you could sneak by. And you would still
get caught.
But, if you played the original game, you have to admit that the
control elements and camera angles helped heighten the experience.
Resident Evil is all about putting you in situations that are hard to
predict the outcome. It is a game that keeps you on your toes.
Granted you may be frustrated that you can't see the zombie, or even
worse one of the "chop your head off in one swipe" hunters that is 5
feet in front you because the camera won't let you, but those moments
are pretty intense experiences because you don't know what is going on.
(OMG - if you can aim up, shoot blind and hit a jumping hunter based on his sound alone, talk about satisfying. Haha)
Many people now would probably find this annoying. Games are so
real, that if you can't do anything you want, there's something else
out there that will let you. But for me playing this game as a kid, it
defined me as a gamer. I wanted a challenge, because I felt I could do
it, and other people couldn't. Maybe that's a bit arrogant, but isn't
that what getting ridiculous amounts of trophies or high scores is all
about anyways? If anything didn't give me that challenge - I was
disappointed.
I think that sums up what Resident Evil is
all about: Reward through harsh struggles. There's a great sense of
accomplishment when you can make it through the worst. I think
Resident Evil does this to a "T", and has continued to do so over the
years.
(I also think they re-created a "this is completely new to me"
experience when they did RE4, part of the reason I respect the
franchise so much.)
I think there are a lot of gamers out there like me - many of them
probably who hated on RE4/RE5 because it was different than the "old
school" games. I disagree that the survival/horror element from
Resident Evil is gone - it's definitely still in there, it's just
evolved. And that doesn't mean that the traditional survival horror of
the early games is gone, it just means that the franchise has branched
out to provide new experiences.
So, if you haven't played this game, or want to go back and re-live
a classic game you played as a kid like me, I highly recommend this
game. If you are a current fan of Resident Evil, you can see many of
the gameplay traits that evolved from this game. (You may not like the
fact you can't move and shoot simultaneously in RE5, but those controls
are there for a reason, and help the game stay true to some of the
classic elements of the franchise which are very evident in the early
games.)
Also, if you were introduced to the series through Resident Evil 4
or 5, this game is a great opportunity to go back and experience the
roots of the franchise. Both Chris and Jill, who appear in RE5, make
their franchise debut in this game.
For those who don't know what the Director's Cut version is, this is
the updated version of the original game which was released 18 months
after the original. It features an "Arranged Mode" which essentially
mixes up the item placement, camera angles, and enemy placement, to
give people a different path through the game than found in the
original 1996 version.
I think that is about enough for my "tribute" post. I can't
recommend this game highly enough - and that's the gamer in me, not the
marketing dude. Hope you enjoy.
Also, to respond to a few of the questions that were raised in the last blog.
As for the game being available for download in Europe, sadly this
is still TBD. Like the price, each region is handled separately. This
definately isn't meant to exclude our European fans, it's just that the
North American version ended up getting through the process first.
Sorry I don't have more, stay tuned...
And for the questions raised about additional content being
included, this is a direct port of the game disc, so there won't be any
additions from the PS1 version.
What is up!
This is my first blog post, so I'll start out by making a quick
introduction. My name is Matt Dahlgren, and I am one of the marketing
dudes that work here at Capcom. I am the lucky one that gets assigned
all things Resident Evil, so will be posting here more often trying to
give you some tidbits of information about what is going on with the
franchise.
(I don't mean lucky sarcastically, I've been following this series
longbefore I even dreamt of working for the company. Working on RE gives
my gamer soul a bit of validation - at least the part I haven't sold to
the marketing gods. Heh)
First up for information - Capcom recently announced that it was
going to be making some of our original PlayStation 1 titles available
for download on PSN. First on that list happens to be the original
Resident Evil: Director's Cut, which is going to be available on May 28
for the price of $9.99. This is pretty awesome news, because it is an
easy way to experience the introduction of the franchise if you missed
out when it came out originally. This is the game that hooked me on
this franchise; I still have very fond memories playing this all night
with a friend after renting, and dying repeatedly on the first zombie
encounter while trying to figure out why playing as Chris Redfield was
so effing hard. Scenes come across as super cheesy by today's
standards, but for the hardcore, these are things that make the game
pretty endearing. It's definitely a classic to say the least.
A quick search on YouTube, I found a pretty entertaining video about
Director's Cut, with some interesting British commentary. What YouTube
doesn't have, I dunno... Enjoy.
em: http://www.capcom-unity.com/mattd/blog/2009/05/22/resident_evil_directors_cut_ps1__coming_to_psn_may_28
por FILIP_FB Qua Dez 05, 2012 11:20 am
