Resident Evil HD (Switch)

Welcome inside!

So I finally played through the first game in the series and it was for the Switch. I also have it for the Wii when they released the Resident Evil Archives. I bought that version on a whim after playing through RE4, but never finished it... or played more than maybe 10 minutes of it. It's one of the first survival horror games and was originally released on the PS1 back in the 90's. Then they remade it for the Gamecube back in the early 2000's. I saw it advertised a lot and had the intro cutscene on a DVD from Super Play, a Swedish gaming magazine. It begins with S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team searching for Bravo Team that was lost after searching for unknown assilants that had eaten some people around Raccoon City. Discovering the wreck of their helicopter Alpha Team heads out. Jill Valentine, Barry Burton, Chris Redfield, Joseph Frost and captain Albert Wesker. Joseph gets attacked and killed by zombie dogs and the others escape into an old mansion belonging to the Spencer family. And then you gotta chose if you play as Jill or Chris. Only experienced Jill playthroughs and seen her start of the game I went with that. She also had two more slots for items than Chris and a lock-pick. The drawback having less health. 

So Jill, Barry and Wesker enters the mansion and Chris have gotten lost. Barry and Jill goes and check the dining hall, but instead finds a zombie eating on Bravo Teams Kenneth. From here Jill is left alone trying to find out what went down, find any survivors and get out of the mansion. The plot is that the Spencer mansion is on top of a secret laboratory built by the Umbrella Corporation where a viral outbreak have taken place and caused the people being infected and turned to zombies. Also Albert Wesker was planted by Umbrella to keep S.T.A.R.S. away from the truth as they have been dealing in a virus to create illegal bioweapons. Barry was forced to work for Wesker with a threat against his family, but couldn't betray Jill so they ended taking down Wesker that woke a Tyrant in a tube. And I still don't get what you really are gonna get for using B.O.W.s since they have never been able to control them enough for regular battles so it basically the drawback chemical warfare had back in the first world war when it could affect your own troops as much as the enemies. Still, Weskers supposedly dead and the tyrant lies dead on the floor. As you leave the self-destruct is activated so you make a break for it to get Chris out of prison. All three escape to the helipad where you set off a charge to get Brad to land. Before that the Tyrant appears again, knock out Chris leaving Barry and Jill to deal with it. After firing some grenades at him Brad drops a rocket luncher which Jill uses to blow the tyrant to bits, Brad picks everyone up and as they fly away as the mansion explodes.

I liked it. Playing through for the first time, even on very easy, felt tense with the music, the claustrophobic inducing corridors and the constant shaking up of rooms and corridors with enemies that can walk between areas. Just that you can walk into a boss room and if you are unlucky not being fully prepared to deal with it. I was of the impression that it was unknown what caused the zombies, but very early it's established it's a viral outbreak. They hint at cult members as explanation to the killings that causes S.T.A.R.S. to intervene. It's more of a puzzle game and inventory/resource management than action. Find keys, or items to open doors and either avoid fighting or kill the monsters you encounter. At least in the easier levels, I gather the resources aren't enough to coast through to the end if you blast everything, but on the other hand, I probably could have finished with only handgun and shotgun, but the final confrontation was at least easy with bringing the magnum and grenade launcher. Still, there is another story to be told as well, from Chris's side...