The little survival-horror game that could.
Now keep in mind that we didn’t play the game non-stop. I was about 17 when the game first came out. So if you subtract the time I spent working, going to school, keeping a social life with friends, and doing chores……I didn’t have hours upon hours to waste playing a video game rental.
Normally when I would rent a game, I would play it just for the fun of the gameplay itselfm, and usually I would just return the game on time without even getting halfway through the game. However, this game was definitely an exception. I will admit that some chores and a day at school were compromised for this game.
Instantly I realized that this game had just embraced me with it’s smart chemistry, eerie surroundings, and it’s overall entertainment. This game is not just a Resident evil clone, it’s more involving and more clever than that.
The first noticeable aspect is that there are no pre-rendered backgrounds in this game. The game is fully 3-D, but of course there are still just a couple of minor glitches with the camera, but that’s something that can easily be looked past. There is decent attention to detail, but with such a huge environment to play in, you will notice that a lot of textures and patterns were reused frequently.
Audio in the game is near perfect. Of course some of the dialogue (as usual) is a little corny, but it still serves up the right tone and setting for the situation at hand. The sound effects and background music are just about perfect, making you quite uneasy in your seat (which is the whole idea).
The story starts off pretty decent, and then gets kinda lame for a minute, but then builds right back up and you find yourself trying to figure out what’s going on. Eventually you’ll have most of the story put together right before the end. The framerate is somewhat slow, making the game a little rough at times, but it really doesn’t take much away from the fun once you get used to it.
Eventually the game adds some decent weapons and bosses to the adventure. This is where the real fun begins. The bosses aren’t necessarily that difficult, but just about each one of them requires a certain technique of battling them.
Also, to add more hours on the game, you might want check out some of the game's alternate endings. You'll have to learn how to trigger them, but it's pretty easy to find walkthroughs for just about any game these days.
If you’re looking for the game that started the entire series, or if you’re just looking for a good classic, this is a great place to start. Creepiness will ensue.