Resident Evil was one of the best selling titles for the Playstation. It was released and became and instant classic. A milestone in gaming that made everyone sit up in their futons from start to finish, and dump empty soda cans all over the place with every scare. It was an engaging game with a cinematic feel, and attractive graphics. It was the beginning of a new wave in gaming: the Survival Horror genre. Resident Evil sparked a golden age in horror gaming and was ripped of by nearly every production company at one time or another.

Some time in spring of 1997, Capcom made the decision to pull their hit game Resident Evil off the shelves to make room for the sequel, Resident Evil 2. The problem was, the sequel was more than a year away from finished. Some people wondered just what the hell they were thinking, but Capcom had a plan. They were going to release a game to bridge the gap between the original and the follow-up. That bridge would be Resident Evil: Director’s Cut. It’s a mix of the U.S. version, the Japanese version, and a new Arrange mode of play. All packaged with a demo of Resident Evil 2 as incentive to people that had already purchased a copy of the first game. The plan was obviously successful, since Director’s Cut is the game a lot of horror gamers cut their teeth on.

This game was an improvement on an instant classic, and so replaced the classic itself. The problem is, how can you be critical of a classic? It’s easy to look back now and point out all the flaws. Hindsight is 20/20, after all. In order to give the game it’s due credit; you have to think back to when it was first released. Except for Alone in the Dark and a few others, the only thing resembling a good horror game was still in the age of “choose your own path” style text adventures, or side scrolling Ghosts N’ Goblins type games. What made this stand out far beyond those that game before it? Well, I’m sure the realistic graphics and zombie-shredding violence helped.

Resident Evil takes place in a mansion, of course. After a group of S.T.A.R.S. (Special Tactics and Rescue Squad) goes missing, another bunch is sent in to find them. It’s this second group that the main characters belong to, and they are immediately driven into the mansion by a pack of strange creatures. From there the story takes off, and the discovery of zombies comes fast and hard. The game leads you all through the mansion and beyond, as an evil plot by the Umbrella Corporation begins to unfold. Namely the mysterious T-Virus and it’s impact on less-than-living people.

If you need and introduction to horror gaming, this is it. I don’t mean that it’s a simple game to start out on. I mean, once you play through this you’ll be hooked on the genre. It’s got it’s problems, like any game (like the horrible voice-acting and unrealistic save and storage functions). But they can easily be forgotten when you’re jumping out of your seat. It looks like a horror movie, it plays like a horror movie, and it’s as classic as a horror movie.