Review: Resident Evil Origins Collection

If you read my Game of the Year 2015 list, you know roughly how I feel about the Resident Evil franchise. One of the first survival horror titles in gaming and a formative title in the Fifth Generation of consoles, the series has gone on to produce several games of wildly varying quality. The Gamecube titles, which this HD remaster compiles, are the final games in the series to use the fixed camera angle style of gameplay. While the much better game, Resident Evil REmake, has been available on all last- and current-gen consoles as well as PC since last year, this will mark the first release of Resident Evil 0 on a non-Nintendo console, a significant title as it is the most contentious game in the series outside of Resident Evil 5. Be warned, this review comes from a fairly biased self-described fanboy of the series.

The Premise

Take one of the most influential games of all time, completely recreate it with stunning hand-painted backgrounds, add a ton of new locations and puzzles, and flip many conventions of the series. For Resident Evil 0, create a backstory that didn't exist (or need to) and fill it with one of the last and most forgettable traditional survival horror games that still manages to be somewhat striking. Years pass and Capcom decides these highly-reviewed Nintendo exclusives need to see a wider release because who cares about Shinji Mikami's wishes? A quick HD fix-up and these gorgeous titles look even better...with some caveats.

Resident Evil (REmake)

It's truly impressive that Capcom could take a game oozing with personality like the first Resident Evil and develop an entirely new game around it, one which is so good it makes the original entirely obsolete. This isn't merely a case of "some purists prefer the original," there is absolutely nothing outside of some funny voice acting that the original Resident Evil does better than its Gamecube (and now modern console and PC) counterpart. REmake, as it's been dubbed by fans, adds several new areas, new monsters, and a tragic subplot that paints the experiments of the Umbrella Corporation in a horrifying new light.

But you know that already. REmake released on the Gamecube in 2002 and later on the Nintendo Wii in 2009, although that version had no real changes aside from a control scheme on the Wii Remote that matched Resident Evil 4 in many ways. This game, along with the original and Resident Evil 4, mark the only titles in which Shinji Mikami was lead director--and it shows. While Resident Evil 2, directed by Hideki Kamiya, is my favorite of the franchise, there's something utterly fascinating about REmake that allows it to hold up to this day, thanks in no small part to the incredible vision of its director.

Very few games still leave me terrified of zombies, but REmake's Crimson Head enemies lead to some of the most tense, unscripted moments of terror that has yet to be replicated in a survival horror title. For the uninitiated: in previous Resident Evil games the zombies would disappear completely after you left a room. In REmake, not only do the bodies persist but they will only stay down on a limited timer. After killing a zombie normally and allowing its body to sit, the body will leap up and attack with much more strength and speed than most other enemies in the game. The only way to kill them permanently before this happens is to use a fire grenade, getting a lucky shot and blowing the head apart, or by using a limited fuel canister to burn the body before it can turn. This gives the game a unique take on fleeing from enemies or killing one in your way: if you kill a zombie, there's a very real possibility you won't get a headshot and it will come back later, leaving you with much less ammo you may need for more difficult situations and the very real threat of a difficult monster waiting for you in an important hallway. Even coming back with the fuel canister might not be a guarantee, as they might just wait for you to come near before surprising you.

Aside from unique monsters, REmake introduces Lisa Trevor, a test subject for Umbrella's experiments and one of the franchise's few recurring enemies, alongside others such as Mister X and Nemesis. Her story offers a cryptic look at the foundations of the Umbrella corporation while shedding light on the creation of the mansion. Everything about Lisa is terrifying, from her appearance to how the characters handle her in-game. She doesn't exactly roam around, but she does appear in some locations that require patience and planning to get around her. Like much of the new additions to REmake, one can make a strong argument that her inclusion elevates the remake to one of the better, possibly one of the best, titles in the Resident Evil series.

To take a simple concept like the first Resident Evil and add such in-depth changes is a testament to the quality of the remake. Puzzle items are typically in different places and with different functions, most of which are cleaner than the original counterpart while adding additional content for returning players. Different difficulty modes test your skill at the game, and the two characters have different gameplay properties in subtle ways which change your approach to how you play. While there is no series staple Mercenaries challenge, beating the game unlocks a large amount of new modes such as a mode where all monsters in the game are invisible, a mode where none of the item boxes are linked, or a mode where a special surprise zombie will explode and give you an instant game over if you attack it.

Even if you have no intentions of picking up the Origins Collection, go get this game immediately. It's available on Playstation 3 and 4, Xbox One and Xbox 360, and PC.

Resident Evil 0

In the original Resident Evil, Bravo Team of the Raccoon City STARS unit is sent to the Arklay Mountains to investigate a rash of murders wherein "victims were apparently eaten." Bravo's helicopter crashes in the forest and sends a distress call back to the police department; Alpha Team (your player characters in the first game) steps in to investigate, which causes them to flee into the game's mansion. In the Gamecube remake of Resident Evil, STARS waits for a day after the distress call before their investigation. In that time, Rebecca Chambers--a character from Chris Redfield's campaign in the original--goes on a long train ride to find a prisoner nobody has ever heard of before and somehow, despite traveling most of the entire night, ends up outside the mansion in time for the first Resident Evil. Sound convoluted? It is!

Resident Evil 0 is not an easy game to recommend, mostly because very little of the talent behind the series up to the fourth game had nothing to do with it. You may not be aware of this fact, but Resident Evil 0 was not in fact intended to launch on the Gamecube--in actuality, it was first designed as a Nintendo 64 title.

Source: Unseen64

The magazine Nintendo Power even had a very small screenshot of the game and had advertised it as releasing in 2000, a year after the Nintendo 64 port of Resident Evil 2 (as well as the Playstation original Resident Evil 3) and the same year Resident Evil: Code Veronica released on the Sega Dreamcast. In the screenshots we can clearly see the zombies even closely resembled some of the ones found in Resident Evil 2, suggesting it would have shared assets with it. I was excited to play the game, but after hearing nothing about it I assumed it was quietly canceled.

The Gamecube version of Resident Evil 0 released in the same year as the remake of the first and was also a Nintendo exclusive, leading many to skip both as the Gamecube was infamously unpopular at the time. While I don't dislike 0 in the same way I do Code Veronica, I also don't have the same take-it-or-leave-it feelings as I do toward Resident Evil 3: Nemesis.

Basically, you are controlling Rebecca and Billy at the same time--a system which worked very well in Resident Evil 2, and one that I'm not very sure why they would trash for the zapping system seen in 0. Rather than playing through a scenario and coming together at the end, you press a button to switch between the two, which also means you control the inventory space of two people. This wouldn't be so bad if the game had kept item boxes, but instead you are forced to leave items on the ground like some kind of punk to pick up later. This wouldn't be so frustrating if the game wasn't so linear, especially given that you are forced into new areas with points-of-no-return all over the place, meaning you may have to leave behind ammo permanently. One can argue that this demands more attention and strategy out of the player, but given that the game is a survival horror it already demands plenty of attention. Don't fix what isn't broken, and this game did that in spades. I can only hope the Resident Evil 2 remake doesn't take cues from Resident Evil 0, if only because it can be very frustrating.

This is also the title where Resident Evil went from some cops surviving a biohazard (as its Japanese title states) outbreak to corporate conspiracies with super-humans. Code Veronica began the trend with a certain important character ninja-teleporting around and having telekinetic fireball comic book fights with a mutant demon bug lady in Antarctica, but there's just so much wrong with that game that it can be written off as a failed experiment without much of a fuss. It's wholly different to have a game that looks, plays, and feels like a classic Resident Evil that devolves into pretty dudes in dresses turning into leech monsters while corporate espionage occurs off-screen. It's jarring, but at this point in the series history it's all par-for-the-course. It's just a shame that in the same year we got a harrowing character like Lisa Trevor in the same series we have to go back to overbearing anime tropes. If you told me that this game belonged to a series inspired by horror B-movies, I'd probably not believe you.

That said, it's still a traditional Resident Evil in gameplay. Narrow corridors, different types of monsters, and puzzles litter the game. It's much more polished than the complete waste of time Code Veronica was, so if you have to choose one at least you won't be getting a bad experience. If you can get past the terrible story and the gameplay problems that should never have existed in the first place, you'll find a fairly enjoyable traditional survival horror title. Aside from that, Resident Evil 0 has an alternate mode very similar to Mercenaries as well as the normal difficulty options you've come to expect. While not as fully-featured as REmake, 0 has more than enough to set itself apart.

So what's new?

Aside from upscaling to higher resolutions, Capcom put in a lot of work to create better textures for the two games. Some moving effects have been touched up and in general, despite the age and resolution of the older backgrounds they hold up shockingly well today. The HD remasters allow players to play in the original 4:3 as well as a new, cropped 16:9 display. To account for the resolution of the backgrounds Capcom has instead decided to crop the image and pan around the room, having the camera follow your character. It's a pretty smart decision that doesn't hurt the presentation at all, though it leaves a bit to be desired. Aside from that, the new releases heavily alleviate cutscene load times that plagued the Gamecube releases. Moving to a new camera angle during a cutscene could take up to three seconds, heavily breaking the flow of many scenes. This new version eradicates every instance of load times in cutscenes, leading to a much more refined experience. Despite this, both games have longer overall saving and loading times than the Gamecube originals, but the experience isn't entirely dampened by them.

If you were around during the "orange brick" DVD releases of Dragon Ball Z, you might have come across the argument that in presenting the series in widescreen, FUNimation inadvertently ended up cropping some of the screen and causing some scenes to come off as too narrow--for example, full shots of character faces might just be half of the eyes and a nose (before you point out that I just criticized Resident Evil 0 for being too anime while now using anime as an example, I just want you to know that shut up).While Capcom did their best to make sure every individual camera angle covered the most important character movement, some characters or objects in focus might be cropped unnaturally or shoved off the screen entirely.

It's very weird and I find it hard to recommend the 16:9 display because of that, but if the side-bars distract you enough in 4:3 then it's not the worst thing in the world. Just be prepared for some of the image to be cropped if you do choose that option. The in-engine cutscenes from the Gamecube releases were already in widescreen, so only a very small part of the top and bottom of the screen is cropped to accommodate the presentation. As mentioned it's not always a problem, but if some scenes appear unfocused to you that's the reason why.

In terms of content, nothing new was added to REmake, although Resident Evil 0 adds a clever new mode in which you play as a certain super-powered character who can ninja teleport and blast all enemies onscreen. It's tongue-in-cheek and honestly very funny, and if you've seen everything in the game there's no reason not to try it out as it's mostly a palette swap.

Something to take note of, if you're planning on picking any of these games on consoles: The PC versions have a framerate capped at 60 frames per second, whereas all the console versions are capped at 30. This means the PC will have a smoother presentation and higher response time in comparison, but given that every version of these games prior to the HD remaster played at 30 FPS and considering the generally slow speed of the game, it's not as much of an issue than it would be if it were more action-oriented. Still, it's a bummer that Capcom couldn't get the console versions at full parity with PC.

Tank controls.

As a long-time survival horror fan I want to address the elephant in the room: tank controls. To be clear, I do not understand the complaints and I feel like most of the detractors tried it out for all of a few seconds, noticed that the controls weren't ubiquitous with other 3D games, and immediately hated it. 3D graphics were relatively new when the first Resident Evil was released so to have a new control scheme on top of that might be a bit frustrating, but the game was designed around them for a good reason.

Unlike earlier 3D games that have graphically aged horribly, much of the initial Resident Evil titles still look fairly striking given their meticulously-drawn 2D backgrounds. Unlike Final Fantasy VII where you had distinct loading times between many of the 2D screens, Resident Evil instead placed several camera angles in a room and loaded a new area whenever you entered a new room. Camera angles shift at set moments to give the player a distinct view of the room, which helps in maneuvering around monsters and solving puzzles. Capcom could not have released a better game than they did at the time, and to dismiss the work put into these historical video games (which is not an oxymoron) because of a control scheme is ignorant. Sadly, many reviews for the HD remasters of these games have lauded the new controls as "more accessible" and "much better" and "I'm a stupid neanderthal." It's a bit disheartening to see that people who trust these reviews might agree with these ideas and even champion the new controls as the "true way" to play the games.

As an example of the benefits to tank controls, I've prepared crudely-drawn MS Paint comics to demonstrate the benefits of tank controls with a changing camera angle. In the first image, the character, Jill, is being moved "up" into a new room. The screen and the player's cardinal directions are the same, as are the new movement options and tank controls. Please observe:

As the camera angle transitions, however, the cardinal direction (let's just say 'north') is rotated, giving a better view of the room being entered. However, because of this sudden change the player using the new movement options is suddenly pressing the button moving him in the cardinal direction 'east' because of the shifted perspective. The player using tank controls is moving in the same, fixed direction: forward. Up and forward are ubiquitous with tank controls, after all:

Even with the extra power of his zombie skateboard, the monster is unable to keep up with the player using the old control scheme. Zombies are slow and stupid, but not nearly as stupid as the lunch that ran right into his open embrace using the "new and accessible" control options.

Idiot.

That's not to say tank controls are perfect for every occasion. Some games, like Resident Evil 4 and God Hand, also directed by Shinji Mikami, utilize tank controls very well, but those are very special (and very perfect) cases. You don't want all of your shooters and brawlers to have tank controls, and you don't want all of your static camera games to have them either--take my Final Fantasy VII example from earlier. However, when playing a tense survival horror with a slow pace and multiple angles in a single location, tank controls should be accepted as the norm rather than ostracized as they've become over the years.

That's not to say the new control scheme is bad: in fact, I'm using them myself. There's a very big disclaimer here: the new controls assign the left stick to 2D--or "normal"--movement while the directional buttons stay assigned to 3D--or tank--controls. What this means is that a player can navigate through the tight hallways of the games using the intended control scheme and immediately swap over to the left stick when confronted by an enemy. The new controls allow players to run around in any direction they want; with 3D controls, you'd need to re-position yourself or use the game's very slow quick-turn mechanic, which is back on the D-pad while holding the run button.

Even this comes with its own problem: while it's easier to run around enemies with this control scheme, it also means certain confrontations are rendered completely trivial. You can bait zombies into grabbing and then just run past them while they're reaching out into nothing by just changing directions. The games were clearly designed in a way that free movement would hurt the challenge, and the new movement options being praised as the way to go only send the message that players want an easier experience; with the Resident Evil 2 remake looming over the horizon I for one am terrified this is the biggest message Capcom will take away from reviews of these remasters. If the game is built around utilizing the alternate control method in its favor that might be one thing, but the idea of a fully-3D shooter like some people seem to prefer rather than the perfection that is the Playstation original is even more terrifying than anything seen in these horror masterpieces.

The Verdict

Resident Evil REmake has always been a good game. It was a good game on the Gamecube and it's a good game today. I honestly have never understood the arguments that some elements are "archaic," because video games should always have their own unique design. That said, this version of Resident Evil is the way to go. No annoying loading in cutscenes, being able to reload your weapon in real time outside of a menu, touched up visuals, and new costumes for those interested give it a distinct advantage over the Gamecube and Wii releases. Resident Evil 0 was not a very good game, one that was mostly hype that led to a disappointing prequel many have forgotten about. It's certainly not the worst Resident Evil, not even the worst "classic" title, but it leaves much to be desired. If you can look past its flaws there's a neat little game in there, and there's even a new game mode for returning players.

Neither of these games have been released outside of a Nintendo console, which also means many of the series faithful have not played them until now. The Origins Collection is a great physical bundle, and though I would have preferred individual boxes for these games, it's well worth double-dipping if you've played them before and if you haven't, these are the best versions of some of the best survival horror games ever made.

If you'd like to see me slapping around the PS4 versions of these games, head on over to my Youtube channel where I will be uploading a full playthrough of the entire collection. You can find the first part here:

Review: The Hateful Eight

The first Quentin Tarantino movie I was exposed to was his first major film, Reservoir Dogs. A friend had written a toned-down version of the script for our theater class with all swearing removed and cigarettes turned into lollipops. I was cast as Tarantino himself. When I "obtained" a copy of the movie for "research," I was completely blown away with the film's style and tense atmosphere, and it definitely shaped part of my taste in film. Needless to say the project failed almost immediately, but I'm forever grateful for that experience. So maybe I'm a bit biased when I say that The Hateful Eight is now among my favorite Tarantino films, not in the least due to the fact that the film is quite literally Reservoir Dogs in a cabin with an even more reprehensible cast of characters.

The Premise

Major Marquis Warren, a former US Marshal-turned-bounty-hunter, comes across a fellow bounty hunter John Ruth as he transports high-bounty target Daisy Domergue to Red Rock, Wyoming to hang; he convinces Ruth and the coach driver, O.B., to help him carry his bounty with them. Barely a step ahead of a massive blizzard, the group reluctantly allows Chris Mannix, son of a Lost Cause Confederate gang leader, to join them after he threatens them with the revelation that he is the new sheriff of Red Rock and will have them hanged if he is left behind. Warren's group takes shelter from the storm in a small cabin called Minnie's Haberdashery, which is being taken care of by strangers while the owner is away. Tensions grow and the lodgers become suspicious of one another, unsure of each other's motives as they reveal their questionable morals.

H8FUL

In true Tarantino style, The Hateful Eight is at its best when characters interact. As in most of his movies, Tarantino has created a cast so morbidly repugnant it's hard to really root for anyone, but that's not entirely a negative point and this film gleefully plays with the notion of anti-heroism. Some of the finest parts of the movie come from the conflict between Warren and Mannix, two men with vastly different ideals--Warren's hatred of the white race who tried to kill him and Mannix's Confederate roots drilled into him his entire life--as they're forced to share the small cabin which most of the film takes place. Ruth seems to have a deep-seated hate for Daisy and finds joy in swearing at her and beating her senseless, but at the same time there's a strange, almost paternal attitude he gives her at some points. He helps feed her, cleans her face, and goes out of his way to make sure she stays alive until he can see her ultimate punishment at the hands of the hangman.

As its name implies, the most defining characteristic of the lodgers is that they are, shockingly, hateful people. After arriving at Minnie's Haberdashery Ruth grows suspicious of the lodgers already there, deducing that at least one of them might in fact be attempting to free Daisy. Warren backs up with his own suspicions about Minnie's mysterious absence. The viewer has no reason to side with the lodgers, but at the same time it's very difficult to cheer for Warren's group given Ruth's habit of beating Daisy senseless and the constant back-and-forth between Warren and Mannix, who have no problem one-upping each other in their complete disregard for people. The only person in the entire movie who isn't a complete psychopath is the buggy driver O.B., who serves a role between audience surrogate and quiet narrator, a tired Ishmael who would really rather be somewhere else.

If you've kept in mind my earlier comparisons to Reservoir Dogs then it might seem easy to picture this as a lazy nostalgia trip, but this is Quentin Tarantino we're talking about. Nothing can be taken for granted, and I'd say The Hateful Eight is bolstered by its tonal similarities with his first film. The biggest difference with the presentation is that in Reservoir Dogs, the bulk of the film has already happened. Characters reference the heist gone awry and much of the film is spent with the regrouped gang piecing together who exactly sold them out. The conflict of that movie is mostly the characters being on the lam and they could be caught by the cops at any time, whereas with The Hateful Eight the conflict is less "whodunit" and more "who's going to do it?" The film offers plenty of evidence to make it abundantly clear that something wrong is happening and the entire cabin could go up in a hail of gunfire at any moment. That powderkeg of tension gives The Hateful Eight a very unique atmosphere while taking clear nods to other Tarantino's previous films, and by the time the answer is revealed the suspense is at a breaking point.

Style Over Subtlety

The biggest complaint I can aim at The Hateful Eight is that it feels like Tarantino has an insatiable urge to shower his films with gore and viscera. Don't get me wrong here, I like gore as much as the next person--you couldn't find a less elated person to tell people to go watch last year's grotesque exploitation horror The Green Inferno than yours truly--but The Hateful Eight feels like a much more subtle experience for the majority of its runtime. And just saying "there's a lot of gore and that's it" would really be throwing this film under the bus--Tarantino has had some pretty breathtaking sweeping shots since Inglorious Basterds and this movie is no exception. Gorgeous wildlife shots are peppered throughout and the intimate nature of the cabin is captured in almost its full view in most shots, serving as a reminder of the cramped location by showing much of the entire building at once. And that doesn't even begin to describe how much I loved the lighting of The Hateful Eight: some may be annoyed by the brightly-lit cabin, but the blinding lights pooring into the cabin from seemingly nowhere as well as the omnipresent blue hovering over the cabin in some outdoor shots gives the movie an oppressive atmosphere, as if the cabin itself is being watched from without. It's a monument to Tarantino's distinct visual style as a director that really has to be seen to be appreciated.

If you've seen your share of Tarantino films you probably know that his over-the-top violence didn't really begin until the masterpiece duology Kill Bill, a Samurai-themed spaghetti Western with some anime sprinkled in--literally, I should add. I don't know why I'm speaking to you as if you haven't seen those films, because you, my beloved and well-read reader, have surely seen such a master work of fiction. Right? Anyway, violence has always been part of Tarantino's style, just take a look at the usage of katanas in Pulp Fiction and the bloody aftermath of ears in Reservoir Dogs. Jackie Brown, Tarantino's most subdued (and most contentious) film, was very subdued in its violence--yes, people are murdered with relative nonchalance, but there are no bits and pieces flying across the screen at any moment. It wasn't until Kill Bill when we really got to see Tarantino go all-out with gory dismemberments, executions, and more shots of viscera than you know what to do with. Kill Bill was a turning point in Tarantino's career because it was the moment he firmly committed to being over-the-top.

Like I said, I enjoy gory action and Tarantino's films are always some of the most enjoyable experiences in the years they're released. And with his seeming embrace of historical settings, it's pretty gratifying to be a fan of his films knowing that he can completely nail multiple genres of movies as well as time periods. For a director as established as he is, it's weird to say that I anticipate to see where he plans to go from here but really, there's nowhere to go but up.


I'm going to get into some mild spoilers, so skip ahead if you want to go in blind.


All that aside, when people's heads start exploding I can't help but think the gore could have been toned down just a bit. There brutal face-punches and bloody shoot-outs work well within the tone of the movie, but as soon as chunks begin to fly all I can think is "this is the point when Tarantino realized pieces of human weren't being flung across the room enough." Tone is an important factor in all of fiction, and most of his movies manage to establish tone early on. Django begins with the violent beating of slave runners, Pulp Fiction begins with a weird dialogue about feet and cheeseburgers leading to a violent shooting rampage, Reservoir Dogs opens with its characters arguing followed by the gang's panicked flight from the scene--see where I'm going with this? The Hateful Eight begins with talk of bounty hunting and civil unrest, some fairly pointed racial conflict, and an uncomfortable amount of intimate beating. If you went in expecting hyper-violent insanity, it's because you saw the name attached to the film and just decided that was what was in store. I know Tarantino loves this kind of stuff, but with just a bit of the over-the-top gore toned down this movie would have been elevated higher than without it.

The Verdict

The Hateful Eight is one of Tarantino's best, blending the tense atmosphere of his previous works while overflowing with the style and writing we've come to expect from him. While it does feel at times like a retreat of the themes and claustrophobic nature of his first film, Reservoir Dogs, it feels more like a celebration of his maturation of a director taking on a familiar concept with childlike glee. Some parts feel a bit too over-the-top, which might seem like a very weird complaint from someone like myself, but it's a bit out of place for the type of movie it's going for. Nevertheless, if you don't mind that this is one of the best films I've seen in a while and a great indication of the quality we should expect from 2016 in film.

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