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14 of 15 found the following review helpful:
 One of the Playstation's Finest Games Dec 28, 1999
"Resident Evil: Director's Cut" is great! Not another DOOM-like game where you blow everything to bits, this game is all about survival in an old mansion filled with zombies, mutant dogs, giant snakes, and other horrible mutations. The suspense and atmosphere will have you shaking in your boots, then you'll be scared to death when something goes crashing through a window just when you've calmed down. A must-have title. I even played "Resident Evil 2" first, and it's still a must-have! That's my two cents.
16 of 18 found the following review helpful:
 3.5 Stars - This is where it all began Jul 21, 2004
By M. B. Link
"wildfirelink"
Resident Evil: Director's Cut (1997). The PSX re-release of the 1996 survival horror game.
Back when the PSX was first released, the system didn't have much in the way of standout games. Of course, there were a few noteworthy PSX launch games like Twisted Metal, Doom, and Tekken, but for the most part, the PSX didn't have anything outstanding yet. Thus, Resident Evil was made. Taking influences from the earlier survival horror series Alone In The Dark, Resident evil took all of its aspects to the next level and eventually became one of Capcom's most successful franchises to date, ranking just behind the Mega Man and Street Fighter games. In fact, the original RE game was probably the first PSX game to make the system worthwhile before other important games were released in the following years.
Most everyone who's played the games already knows the story, but for those who haven't, here's a brief synopsis: A strange murder occurrence just outside of Raccoon City has caused Police officials to be suspicious, so they sent two Special Tactics and Rescue Squad (STARS) teams to go investigate. You play as either Jill Valentine or Chris Redfield, both of them surviving STARS members. The teams end up getting stuck in the mountains, so they eventually find themselves inside a huge mansion, where the STARS members discover numerous creatures such as zombies, mutilated dogs, giant spiders, and other monsters. These were all created due to Umbrella Corporation's disastrous T-Virus. As the game goes along, more important discoveries are made.
Now let's talk about the game itself.
Of the three PSX RE games, this one easily has the worst graphics. We're talking first-generation PSX graphics here, if that's any indication. The character models are all blocky and easily stick out from the otherwise highly detailed still-screen environments. These environments are navigatably 3D, but the camera angles sit at fixed 2D points, which can be both good and bad, depending on the situation. By bad, I mean that some angles hinder the view of the action. The monsters (especially the zombies) have very limited animation and models compared to the later games, and its limited engine prevents the game from having more than 3 monsters on the screen at one time (not including the crows). So the only real decent graphical aspects are the rendered environments. But even they don't quite compare to the detail in the following games.
The sound effects are good for the most part. However, the zombies come off sounding more like moaning old men than actual monsters, and the voice acting... dear god? don't get me started. It's so hilariously bad that it's just fun to listen to. The dialogue doesn't help things at all along with the horrible acting which is bad even by B-movie standards. One of my friends almost died of laughter the last time I went through the game. The music on the other hand, is decent and suits the mood of each area appropriately. It's nothing special, but it does add to the overall suspense.
The controls are something that most people either love or hate. It took me some time to get used to them, but now I have no troubles whatsoever. Most people that hate them don't seem to realize that RE isn't just an all-out action game, but rather an exploration puzzle type game with action segments. The controls were a bit rough here, though they have been more refined in later releases. I do admit though, that it does get very tedious backtracking to the item box again and again because you can't hold all the items you want to. Between the two playable characters Jill and Chris, I personally found Jill to be the better one to control because she has more inventory slots and weapons than Chris, although Chris's voice acting isn't quite as nerve-grating as hers is. Both characters each have their own sub-character that helps them along game, such as Barry who helps Jill, and Rebecca who aids Chris.
Most people have said that this game was the scariest of all the RE games. I'm not sure I agree with that, but the atmosphere can be quite chilling at certain points. I suppose that the dogs breaking through the glass windows could've scared newbees to the series, but since I was introduced through RE2 and the fact that I've already played the MUCH freakier Silent Hill games, the original didn't scare me nearly as much as it should have. To the game's credit though, it does present the most puzzles, and a majority of them are real brain-benders. It's something that the series started to get away from as time went on. Plus, I thought that the game itself felt larger than all the others in the series, so it will take a while for new players to beat it. The challenge is also very high since there is very limited ammo to take out the creatures with. Even veteran RE fanatics still find the first game to be thoroughly challenging enough to come back for more.
This version of the game is a director?s cut edition, but it?s really nothing special. All we get is an extra mode that is more challenging and features different outfits for the main characters, but if you already own the original, there?s no need to get this version. Apparently the Japanese version also had extra cut-scenes, so we were cheated! So much for it being a ?director?s cut?, huh?
Although this game is extremely dated by today's standards, it's still worth checking out if you're a big fan of the series and want to see how the series got started in the first place. However, it's not really necessary now that a MUCH better remake is available on the Gamecube, so I suggest looking into that game instead. RECOMMENDED SPECIFICALLY TO FANS OF THE SERIES. NEW FANS SHOULD START WITH RE 2 OR THE GAMECUBE REMAKE OF THE ORIGINAL FIRST.
13 of 15 found the following review helpful:
Amazing Dec 28, 1999
This game is only for mature players,yet...I can't get enough of it.It combines a horror flick with cheez-E dye-o-log wit a action packed 3D game with great graphics and puzzels almost impossible to solve without a guide (or plenty of ammo)! I've played RE2 and RE nemesis,But this game still remains the beast in my heart.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
A pretty good game for Playstation 1 Mar 17, 2002
This was one of my favorite games for playstation. I won't bother telling you the storyline or the highlights because they have already been said over and over.The good:
1) Good scare factor, and the creepiest setting of all of the Res Evil games
2) Ammunition that must be conserved, forcing you to use it wisely, but never quite leaving you short either
3) A fun storyline, and not as far fetched as some of the other expansions that this series goes into (Simple and scary is best)
4) You find things such as Ammo and Weapons were you would expect to find them, not just lying around The bad:
1) Puzzles suck, and there are a lot of them
2) Controls make running in a straight line nearly impossible
3) The underlying Myths and Good vs. Evil themes that pop up from time to time
4) Slow animations for opening doors The mildly annoying:
1) Small arsenal of weapons (you are a special stars member, but you aren't carrying any weapons...go figure)
2) Sometimes a perfectly aimed shot will miss completely (especially if the Zombie is on the ground)
3) Sometimes the storyline will twist off into a difficult to follow tangent
4) Graphics are poor, but not as stupid looking as Res Evil 2 Summary
The game is good, and I liked it better than the others because it was scarier, and the graphics were poor, but looked real. The storyline was also better than the follow ups in my opinion. If it wasn't for all the puzzles I may have given it 5 stars.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Resident Evil: Director's Cut review Nov 11, 2000
By WulfmanJax
****1/2
Resident Evil is one of those games that needs to be rated, not on the game itself, but what it did for the video gaming world. RE was the first video game to actually put the gamer into a real life horror movie and then say, "survive this!" So, RE, along with other games, became known as the "survival horror" games. While RE, on terms of gameplay, might not be the greatest game ever made, it's still fun. Of course though, that's not what the game focuses on anyway. This game focuses on trying to scare the dickens out of every gamer who picks it up, at least, the first time they play it. Scenes like where you head out of the dining room and into the long corridor. You look right; nothing but doors. You look left; a corner that you can't see around, so you head to the left and turn the corner and your first taste of a true horror game/movie starts. The cut scene reveals the back head of your first encounter with a zombie, one that happens to be munching on one of your comrades. As he turns around to look at you, you see that pale, ugly face of the undead that you'll see all throughout the game. After you dispose of the creature you finally realize just what you're in for. The second scene that had everyone talking is your first trip down the carpeted, "L" shaped hallway with all the windows. As you enter there aren't any zombies so you think, "Oh, good, no creatures to kill me..." or so you think. As you're making your way down the hall, your first encounter with a Cerberos (zombie dog) occurs. The glass breaks and you jump out of your seat as the dog heads toward you. Everyone out there might as well admit that the first time you ran into that dog you were frozen with fright just long enough for him to take a bite out of you. Then you snapped back into action and squeezed off 3-5 shots and killed that doggy dead. Things like this is what made this game so great. Although the gameplay of: raise gun, and then shoot monster until he dies isn't exactly cutting edge, it serves its purpose. The game is split between killing monsters and solving puzzles that are anywhere from easy to very difficult. The puzzle part gives you the "game" feeling and everything else; the killing monsters, cheesy plot, horrible dialogue, and creepy music gives you the scary movie feeling. The plot is mainly about a group of scientists that were working on a virus that turns living things into mad, blood thirsty creatures of the undead. Several murders start occuring in the small town of Raccoon City with the victums being eaten. The STARS (Special Tactics And Rescue Squad) are sent to investigate. They disappear and another STARS group is sent to find them. What they find is their downed helicopter and strange, growling creatures lurking in the woods. The creatures start chasing them and the STARS members start running. What they run into is the mansion where the experiments started in the first place. Half of their group, by now, is either missing or dead. Here, in the main hallway of the mansion, is where you start your adventure. Later in the adventure you uncover Umbrella's (the evil corperation) secret and the conspiracy within your own group. One thing that made RE was the creepy music. While very simple, it still gave you the feeling of a classic horror movie. The greatest part of the game was the brilliant camera angles that were given to you in each area. From the first moment you walk into the dining room you know that Capcom knew what they were doing. The view shows your character at the end of the room and the camera angle is at the end of the long dining table. The graphics in the game are very good as well. What stands out though is Capcom's attention to every detail when it came to the mansion's design. If you stop and really look at the place, you'll notice that it really is a beautiful place. (if it wasn't crawling with zombies that is). In the game your ammo and weopons are extremely limited. Throughout the entire game all you get is a knife, 9mm handgun, shotgun, and a flamethrower or bazooka (depending on which character you pick). Also, the ammo through the game is extremely limited, I mean to the point where you almost have to try and avoid every fight you possibly can. This becomes very mind numbing and repetitive. So, the bad parts in the game: dialogue, lack of weopons and ammo, simple gameplay, very hard puzzles, and running around the mansion all the time. The good parts: graphics, mansion's detail, creepy music, outstanding camera angles, and the best translation of a horror movie into a game of it's time. RE has spawned several sequels, and several RE clones such as Silent Hill and House of the Dead. However, there will never be another game that will give you the feeling the first RE did. Resident Evil is a classic in the way that it created a whole new genre of games, and how many games can claim they did that!
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based on 116 reviews
