RE for the Gamecube is a fantastic game that should be played by all.
From the outset the player has a choice of 2 characters, Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine, both characters have minor differences, and the story of the game plays out slightly different for each character.
Once you've chosen your character the game begins and wastes no time in introducing the player to the main theme of the game, survival horror. The player is a member of S.T.A.R.S (special tactics and rescue service) who are sent to the outskirts of Racoon city to track down their fellow comrades of Bravo squad, and to investigate strange murders in the area where the victims were eaten. Of course things quickly go awry and you find yourself taking refuge in a nearby mansion which you quickly discover is crawling with all sorts of nasties, zombies being the main enemy the player will encounter.
The mansion and it's surrounding wooded area are quite large, and it's down to the player to find out what exactly has been going on by searching the mansion room by room, surviving the monsters and solving the occasional puzzle. The puzzles are generally easy with one or two providing a slight challenge. There are also a few new areas and enemies that are new such as the Crimson head zombie which is essentially a zombie on roller skates with claws. also new are the defence items which can be used when you are seized by the undead. The defence items are useful and will likely be used often by players new to the game. The defence items come in several forms such as daggers, stun packs and grenades depending on which character you chose you play as.
The games graphics are wonderful, featuring prerendered backgrounds with the shadows and character renders overlayed, the result of this is a fantastic and sometimes almost photo realistic looking game.
The ingame sound and music are perfect, and fit the overall theme of the game. I feel it important to point out how many sound effects there are for just simple footsteps, there is literally a sound for every type of surface which adds to the immersiveness to the game, the only bad point I can think of regarding the sound is that the zombies seem to make the same couple of groans throughout the whole game and more variety in these would have been welcome.
Ingame controls probably wont sit well with everyone, but are easy to get used to if you stick with it. Besides, in my opinion the clunky controls add to the feeling of being stuck in a nightmare, and therefore add to the immersiveness again.
The ingame camera may also annoy some people as it is a fixed camera and doesn't always give a clear view of what is ahead: however, anyone who is a fan of horror movies will know that these kind of camera angles fit well as it gives the feeling of anticipation since you can't always see what is waiting around the next corner, besides, thanks to the games fantastic sound (which supports dolby surround) you can usually tell where an enemy is in a room just by the sound.
Resident evil is a game that should be played with the lights out and the volume up (and the surround sound on, if you have it). Anyone who is a fan of horror games or movies will love this game and I would highly recommend it.