Resident Evil Archives:Resident Evil Review

Well, it has been a short while since I've written something thanks to an unexpected strong flu, but now it's back to business. Today I'll be reviewing the first entry in the Resident Evil Archives series which is a port of a remake of the original game that started it all! A video review might be coming as well and after reading through my review please tell me what you guys think of the game.



Ah yes, more Resident Evil goodness gracing my Nintendo Wii and this time It's a re imagining of the original classic that let us experience the "mansion incident". This title marks the third Resident Evil game to hit the Wii here in the states. But it's hard to be oblivious to the fact that people are hesitant of purchasing this game...again, seeing as how it's basically a port of the Gamecube REmake. Looking at the bright side, this "Wiimake" offers new control options, some minimal graphical enhancements, and the obvious (and probably very convenient for some) having the full game on one disc as opposed to the Gamecube's dual discs. 

There's no need to delve to deep into the storyline of this title seeing as how it's pretty much embedded in all hardcore Resi fan's minds. But for readers who may be more acquainted with the newer titles in the series, heres the simple rundown:

you can choose to play as either Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine. You start off in an Arklay mountain region that's infested with zombie dogs, you then take shelter (or so they thought) in a nearby mansion, built by George Trevor who was involved with Umbrella seeing as how his daughter was a live guinea pig for them. You find that this mansion is crawling with the undead, you fight huge monstrosites along the way as well, all culminating in revelations that are critical to this franchise. Seeing how a certain someone is REborn. That's pretty much the story in a nutshell now on to the gameplay, and here's where things get spiced up.

There are a total of 4 control options in this first entry of the Archives series. You can play: solely with the Wii-mote (holding it NES style),  with the wiimote/nunchuk combo, classic controller, or a gamecube controller if you have one lying around. Personally I've only played with the Wiimote NES style and it works quite well. D pad controls your movement, the plus and minus buttons bring up the start menu and the map screen, the 1 button when held in conjunction with a directional button grants you the ability to sprint, the 2 button is the action button, the A button brings up the menu screen and lastly, the B trigger brings up your weapon. The controls are very tight for the most part the only things that took some getting used to was holding the trigger button in the back of the Wii mote to aim, but other than that controlling the game was a breeze. Now on to the presentation, where I had one significant problem.

The game isn't actually presented in true widescreen but it does offer progressive scan. And the audio seems to have been enhanced a bit along with the visuals. But my problem with the presentation came when I first fired up the disc. After starting a new game and choosing my favorite Resi chacter Jill Valentine I was watching the intro and noticed that....the aspect ratio was ridiculous! It only took up a small part in the middle of my hdtv with huge black bars on the side. So how did I fix this problem? After playing through a chunk of the game with the absurd aspect ratio I then went to the Wii menu and switched the settings from wide screen to the standard 4:3 setting. Booted the game up again and problem solved. Point is, this game just isn't meant for hd panels, but it still looks beautiful even when compared to todays standards.

There is a ton of REplay value (see what I did there?) to be found upon completion of this game. Newer fans of the series that started off with 4 and 5 may be dissappointed to not find a mercenaries mode but classic fans will be thrilled to replay through all the extras of the Gamecube Remake once again. There are also extra costums including Chris' Code Veronica attire and Jill's RE3 outfit. And there are also 10 endings for you to obtain that depends on several choices you are faced with in the adventure.

This re-release , regardless of what some say, is a great purchase for the Wii, especially for those newer fans who may be experiencing this classic for the first time. And while you're playing through this game don't foget fear won't kill you, but....

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