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Resident Evil (GBC prototype) Review
Overall - 8.6
Resident Evil, a survival-horror game spread across the PlayStation 1, Sega Saturn, and Nintendo DS. Now, I'll let you know right now, I've never played those games, although I do own Resident Evil 3... I've just never played it. However, Capcom was originally going to port this to another console, the Game Boy Color. Now, I know what you're thinking: Wait a second, hold the phone, a 3D game being ported to the Game Boy? The 8-BIT Game Boy? Heh, it's probably just an over overhead, or some crappy platformer like Cheetahmen 2, right? Well... you have two errors already. One, no platformer is worse than Cheetahmen II, and two, this is a 3D game. How? Let's find out.
Graphics - 8
Well, the Game Boy Color has had its fair share of NES, SNES, and Game Boy ports, but a PS1 game? How would that look? It looks... decent. As you can expect, the graphics block up as you get farther and closer, but cutscenes, such as when the first zombie appears. As Chris (since Jill doesn't want to be part of this) moves around the area, his sprite seems to change in more than his leg position, but as he gets closer he looks more detailed, almost like draw distance, but, of course, Game Boy Color doesn't have that.
Sound - 7
I don't know if I should compare this to the original Resident Evil music, but either way I can't, because, again, I haven't played it. The sound, as far as I played, is just one song, looping infinitely. That's what it feels like right now, going around the same area, over and over again. I can't say much else, but it's not the kind of music I'd expect from a port of such a great game. I mean, it's good enough to be made into a novel.
Addictiveness - 9
The game is quite addicting. You're always worried you're going to walk into a corner, and an un-dead bear-raccoon/balloon/robot is going to come out, like a screamer in a YouTube video. Finding everything in this 8-bit maze is confusing, but confusing enough to keep you going. However, it is HIGHLY suggested you play on the RGR Plugin, as saving does not work on this game, and... well, this is a long game.
Story - 9
The story, from what I understand out of research I did on the PS1/Saturn version, and the intro to this, it's 1998, and Chris, Jill, and Wesker are trapped inside an abandoned mansion because of guard dogs. Jill and Wesker go missing, and it is your job to find them, and the Bravo team, and somehow escape. You must find notes, items, and secrets to find your way out.
Depth - 9
As a prototype, I can't say for sure, but this game appears to be 90% complete. It was never finished, but it was presented to Capcom around this time, they refused to let it be released because of odd controls, and the difficulty of development, it was cancelled. From mansion exploration, to Tomb Raider-like tunnels, this game seems to be a long one, especially for Game Boy Color. I know it seems like I've been downtalking the GBC, but I actually really like the system.
Difficulty - 8
The game is difficult, mainly because of the camera, and controls. I mean, the controls, I heard, were extremely confusing, and this is probably even worse, because it's a D-pad. The camera does not move, and as such, it is difficult to tell where you're walking with the confusing controls. The walls seem to go farther then their visuals show, and controls, killing enemies, and bad camera brings the difficulty higher than it should be.
Conclusion
This game is ambitious to say the least. With huge depth, decent graphics, and huge difficulty, this would be one of the best prototypes I've ever played, but bad controls, and looping music brings it down a little. If you're a fan of Resident Evil, or like playing games that developers never wanted you to play, this game is for you.
Graphics 8 Sound 7 Addictive 9 Depth 9 Story 9 Difficulty 8
Resident Evil (prototype) Description: Resident Evil for GameBoy Color was cancelled at 90% of development. It was designed by HotGen to be a direct conversion of the Playstation original. Capcom refused the final build in 2000 saying that they 'were not confident that the product would have made both consumers and Capcom happy'.The ROM was later released to the public. Due to it’s incomplete nature, the game had a lot of glitches requiring hacks to continue at certain areas.
There are 2 builds of this prototype. In this build there is no 'Load Game' function available, so you will have to use savestates.. If you select 'Load Game' you are advanced straight to character selection (As though you selected 'New Game'). Jill is not available as a playable character! Her ID is present but if you select her the game automatically starts as Chris. Chris' inventory at the start of the game is different - there are still only 6 item spaces but you instantly have access to the combat knife, beretta and shotgun (all of which are selectable and working). The Map is also present and working. This ROM is patched with PacoChan's bug-fix which fixes some bugs in the build that would prevent playing the game after a certain point. However, there aren’t any programmed endings, so you’ll be stuck at the final room and there’s nothing that can be done about it.
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