Resident Evil was one of the best titles the Playstation had. At the time of it's release it was beautiful,campy, and had plenty of scares and thrills. It's also the game that started the whole survival horror genre. Although, there have been many sequels released the original still holds a special spot in the memories of the fans. Apparently Capcom knows this as they have decided to remake the original game to kick off their new plan for having Resident Evil become a Gamecube exclusive property. Of course Capcom has gone the extra mile to redo the game by taking advantage of the new hardwares graphic capabilities and fixing some of the problems that the original had (like the horrible translation and voice acting) all of this add up to quite a game but some things that should have been fixed haven't been which I'll talk about further on in the review. For those new to the world of Resident Evil (and how was your stay inside a cave?) the game starts out in a small town called Raccoon City where a bizarre rash of murders has started occuring in the forest outside of the city. So the police send out their Special Tactics And Rescue Squad better known as S.T.A.R.S to investigate. They send in half the unit, the S.T.A.R.S. Bravo team to begin the investigation but on the way there their helicopter crashes in the middle of the forest and all contact with them is lost. The Alpha team consisting of Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Albert Wesker, Joseph Frost ,Barry Burton, and Brad Vickers (Alpha Teams helicopter pilot) are sent in next to find out what is going on and to rescue their compatriots. As soon as they land they find the other teams helicopter a derelict with the Bravo team missing except for the the pilot of the chopper who's dead inside. Moments later, Joseph Frost is attacked and killed by strange dogs covered in maggots with their innards showing the dogs then set after the rest of the Alpha Team as they run towards a mysterious mansion in the forest which they think is a safe haven but is actually the beginning of a horrible nightmare. You will play the game as one of two of the Alpha team members Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine with Jill being the easier game of the two and try to uncover the mystery behind this mansion and to survive the horrible monsters lurking around every corner. The opening intro is set up much better then the originals as it is all pre-rendered instead of using live actors like the original which is something i'm extremely glad they changed as the originals was extremely cheesy to the brink of laughter which with the creepy tone the game tries to set is not the best thing to do. The next major thing you will notice of course is the graphics. Capcom pulled out quite a few tricks with the graphics this time from bump-mapping on the characters to lighting and even reflective surfaces like the original it does have pre-rendered backgrounds but they have added special effects to all of them and bumped up the resolution. The backgrounds are so much better it's unbelievable the original games mansion looks cheery and very well lit compared to the new one (trust me I've compared the two) each of the backgrounds has been given enhancements like lightning coming in through the windows, candles blowing in the wind,and seeing the reflection of your characters in water and on windows. Add in the beautiful new character models which look better then even the prerendered characters in cinemas of previous Resident Evils and you have a very beautiful game and the characters looks just as good in and out of cinematics in this one. The best part is that the new models and the background go together seamlessly and unlike the original games it doesn't look like a blocky little model out of place in a 2-1/2D world. All of the character models have gotten upgrades from the main characters to the horrible beings that fill the mansion. Which while the main characters will drop your draw to the floor the new zombies might make you drop your lunch no longer are they blocky albino bald men with brown dirty suits on the new zombies look eerily real with bite marks on their body that looked ripped out, tattered bump mapped clothing, and moving eyes and jaws these guys will creep you out to the max just wait till one jumps out a door at you. The graphics in this game are a showpiece for your Gamecube and I'm betting a lot of people will buy the game for the graphics alone Resident Evil Code Veronica has been dethroned as the best looking in the series. While the games graphics are the first thing you'll notice the second thing you'll notice is the gameplay and if your a veteran of the series then the controls are old hat for you everything here is just like the originals controls except for the addition of two things one of which is the 180 degree turn we've come to know since RE Nemesis hit the market. The other is quite new to the series and a very good idea special items known as defense items which when equipped if you are grabbed by a monster your character can then use the item to escape and not take damage the items are quite useful and each character has two types of weapons Chris has a Knife and a Grenade the more fun of the two is the grenade which when grabbed Chris will pull the pin shove it in the monsters mouth and then either wait for his head to explode or shoot the grenade and detonate it himself. Jill gets the Knife and a Stun Gun the stun gun is rather cool too as when a zombie grabs Jill she will electrocute them. (Note : These are held in a different manner then inventory and don't take up space like weapons but they do have to be selected in their own screen if you wanna use a defense weapon other then the knife). There are also a select few new creatures in the game along with the creatures of the original one is the new Crimson Head Zombie and you'll find them to be the bane of your existence while playing as they are zombies that you have already killed the bodies will remain and if you do not do 1 of 2 things to completely kill a zombie before it arises as a Crimson you'll be sorry as they are like zombies on steroids they can kill you in just a few hits and are extremely fast. The first thing is to decapitate them (shotgun works best for this) or burn them the second of which is the harder to do as you have to have a lighter & a can of gasoline (which takes up an item slot, holds only enough for two zombie burnings, and has to be refueled at a gas can) or to use Jill's Flame grenade which has the effect to kill and burn on contact. The next creature is a hulking beast that has a backstory to it and is completely new to the series and is one of the only new additions to the original RE story. All the former weapons are here sadly with nothing new but the old standbys still work rather well. The makers of the game claim that most of the puzzles have been changed or completely redone while some have been I made it through the game quite easily as a lot of the puzzles are exactly the same (like using the fertilizer on the plant in the courtyard or the piano room puzzle) but all the new puzzles fit in rather well with the old ones and there are some wonderful new areas to explore that weren't in the original like a cabin in the forest and the incredibly cool redone shark room that contains one of the new puzzles. The biggest problem in the game lies in the gameplay part though and it is what they still need to fix in these games and haven't one is the control which although I have played the RE games long enough I'm use to it, I started playing the series with Resident Evil 2 and the controls were such a pill when I first started I nearly blew off the game completely due to the fact it was so hard to get accustom to(thank goodness I didn't) and that is where the problem lies with me I think a lot of people will continue to be put off by the series controls having a incredibly steep learning curve I'm still not quite sure how they could change it (Devil May Cry worked well but you have unlimited ammo and shooting blindly didn't cost you anything) but there has to be a way to make it more newbie friendly maybe a merger between the RE and Devil May Cry's styles. The other problem I have I've heard is supposed to be remedied in RE 0 but until then we're still stuck with it the problem I speak of any fan of the originals already knows is the inventory system of having to use boxes that are scattered about to simply unload useless items you have with you there are points in this game it's glaringly obvious the change is needed as there will be a specific item that you'll need but you have all your spots filled with something a little less needed like an herb problem is the deposit box is about 5 rooms back and you just dodged 6 hunters on the way here to conserve ammo (with the hard to maneuver controls I might add) so your forced to run all the way back and either waste ammo or take your chances getting attacked again to simply get back drop off an herb then get the item you needed which then gets placed on a stand or something and is no longer needed then after all that you need the herb again because the hunters have ripped you a new one. This could all be remedied by simply letting us drop the herb right next to the character, grabbing the item needed place it wherever it needs to go and picking your herb back up and it's a nuisance in this one that should have not been the remake but it doesn't ruin the game hopefully, RE 0's inventory system will be as promised. Last but not least the sound plays a important role in all the RE's and this one is no different every thing is done to perfection to set just the right mood. The music is somber at one point then goes into a frantic sounding music when a monster is on the attack, zombies moans of hunger and confusion are creepy(and annoying enough you'll wanna help them end the pain), and even the hunters have a little almost chirping growl that you'll hear before you even see them making you leery to turn that next corner without your biggest gun handy. It all sets the tone for the game and will keep you on the edge of you seat coupled with the fact the game has been made to have things jump out at you the combination of loud bursting door, a growl of a hunter, and then the creature itself running towards your character will literally make you want to have heart medicine handy. The voice acting is also a heck of a lot better then the originals which is not surprising considering it's steadily gotten better with each game and fixing this alone could've constituted making a remake all the characters sound like you'd expect them to and the translation is quite a bit better then original versions laughable lines there are still a few left but that's to keep with the campy B-style movie theme that the game was intended to have. Resident Evil has a pretty good length to it although veterans of the original version will defeat the game a little quicker but due to a higher difficulty level your first time through (if you play as Chris, albeit Jill's game is still rough as I spent most of it in caution due to her being more easily injured then Chris) will take you between 10-16 hours or slighlty longer to beat as long as you don't use a guide whichever character you play second will take less time though as the puzzles aren't much different from one another. The game also has pretty good replay value as well unlimited ammo weapons, different endings depending on your actions, new costumes, and even a mode where a zombie will stalk you through the entire game but if you shoot it it's instant game over. The Resident Evil series has been around awhile and while it's not the evolution we're hoping for just yet it's still a great game and a wonderful remake for RE veterans or those new to the series. If your a fan of Resident Evil and have a Gamecube even if you have the Playstation original or simply curious about the world of Resident Evil I definitely recommend it as a purchase for your little purple box as it's definitely one of the best games the system has to offer.


















Oh Halo how do I love thee let me count the ways.......

Halo's is another tough game to review without bias at this point you either love Halo or hate first person shooters in general and wouldn't play a game like it no matter what.
I've owned Halo since the day the XBOX was released I started the system put in my Halo disc from the opening theme and the revolving Halo on the menu screen your given an idea of what type of ride your about to be going  on for next few days and if you give Halo a chance you'll be spending more then a few days playing this game.The games story is almost classic scifi mankind has made it into space they've set up outposts and colonies in space we're living the high life and other then a few human rogue factions in space nothing could possibly go wrong....yeah right not long after everything seems to be going smoothly the colonies suddenly start being attacked and completely decimated some have even been blasted with something that has turned the whole colonies into glass.Meanwhile, before anything is truly known about this new enemy a special type of super-soldier program had been put into the works called the Spartan program which was mainly intended to go after the rogue factions of humans in space, now the spartans have a more important mission taking on the invaders that are taking out colonies and planets enemies known as the Covenant.The Spartans are fitted with special Green Armor suits that have been enhanced with a special form of shield made after covenant technology. Sadly, the war didn't go well during a battle known as the Fall of Reach  against the Covenant all the Spartans except the Master Chief who was on the Pillar of Autumn in orbit over the planet Reach were killed when the planet was glassed by the Covenant killing all the other Spartans. The Pillar of Autumn was forced to retreat but after decoding information from the Covenant they headed for a place in space that the covenant were looking for only to arrive to find a planet sized ring suspended in the middle of space right in front of them.....


I had read preview after preview for a few years now even back when it was going to start out on PC and Mac Platforms the graphics were good when it was first shown but they were nothing compared to what it became Halo is a graphical powerhouse that truly shows the potential for the XBOX platform. High resolution textures, Bump Mapped Surfaces, and excellent lighting effects put Halo in a class of it's own.One look around on the second level of Halo and you'll be in awe of the draw distance with no fog it makes you wonder how we could have enjoyed Turok at all a few years back.From the Master Chief to the Grunts to the Heavy Hitting Hunters of the Covenant each character is well thought out and well designed and is very memorable.   Now speaking of the covenant there are 4 different classes of  warriors on the Alien side each with varying abilities, Grunts are the first alien you will meet in the game they are small, buglike looking creatures with breathing mask apparatus on them they normally carry weak blasters, aren't very bright and normally stay with more powerful enemies they become easily spooked if you kill the stronger alien that is with them. Next are the Elites which are tall salamander looking creatures that range in colors during the game Blue is normal elite, Red is medium, Silver has a cloaking device and the Gold one usually have a beam saber that will kill you in one hit most of the time they are the ones with a group of grunts. The third race are the jackals which carry large shields that can't be destroyed with normal human guns bullets you'll have to use one of the aliens weapons or a quick blow to the head with these guys. Finally there is the Hunter a Huge Hulking Beast that's slow but has a huge shield heavy blue armor and a blaster cannon he only has one major weak spot a recessed region of his back side where his alien skin shows through. There are also other creatures native to HALO you'll run into but I won't mention them as it would spoil the surprise in the game. Each of these classes has tremendously good A.I., battles can change in a instant because of this you'll think  your winning a fight then suddenly be flanked by a Elite that snuck off while you were fighting three grunts or you might throw a grenade into a group of them only to have all of them jump out of the way. This A.I.makes every battle slightly different as they are so smart so even replaying the same level can be like a whole new fight which highly increases the replay value.



Gameplay is constantly a surprise in this game due to the games A.I. but also due to some ideas that sounded strange on paper but came out to be a true asset to the game. First of which is HALO's take on Health unlike in other games you don't have just a plain health bar that decreases after being hit and doesn't increase again until you find another health pack although there is a bar like that HALO changes the way you look at that life bar by adding in the shields that I mentioned earlier, these shields are a star trek style shield like you'd see on a spaceship except they are on your character the shields protect from taking damage but once they are shot off you will lose normal health the shields do recharge if you can find a spot to hide and stop being shot for a moment but this make you have to leave midfight which can add a lot of strategy as to how much damage you can take to your shields before losing your life. Elites also have these shields and they are smart enough if you shoot down their shield they will run and hide somewhere too which makes it even more likely that you might feel invulnerable for a moment with the shields but you really aren't. The Second major change compared to most first person shooters which range from Doom to Half Life is the master chief doesn't have a "magic backpack" as it were like characters from other games where they can carry thirty guns and a bazooka  instead the Master Chief can only carry two guns and has to make up his mind on what type of gun he needs most in combat and which gun he can throw down that will be of no use to him. This adds a lot of combat to the players discretion where you could pick up an alien gun that has 70 rounds but once they are used up won't work anymore or keep your trusty Auto Rifle that won't splatter the aliens as fast but carries more ammo and is easier to find more ammo for. Both of these things haven't been done in most mainstream shooters before but i'm betting a few years from now you'll have seen a few more copycats of HALO's ideas in some form or another. Also the Master's chief weapons all have a secondary attack that makes him whack enemies with the butt of the gun instead of using ammo this can help you take out some enemies before they even see you by sneaking up on them and whacking them over the head and don't forget the grenades which you can carry four of the human and four of the alien variety you can use them at anytime as they are assigned to an alternate fire button other then your gun so you can throw a grenade and fire your gun at the same time this  is  another new thing for the genre.




One Last thing that is probably the best new thing HALO has added to the FPS genre is the vehicle combat, the vehicles range from human to alien craft like most things in the game. One vehicle stands out most though as the most the unwieldy but incredibly fun to drive the Warthog Jeep a army jeep with a big machine gun on the back. The controls do take some time to get use to for driving this one (more so  for the warthog then the others but all of them take time to learn well) but the warthogs advantages are it's speed, indestructibility (if it gets knocked over the chief can flip it right back over), and also the fact that since your driving some one has to fire that gun for you which helps the friendly A.I. shine . Over the course of the game you will run into NPC's that for once will back you up talk smack and then back it up. These guys have been given the same treatment as the aliens and  they each have different voices and accents these characters are so much fun to be around you almost feel bad when and if one gets killed on your watch.Of course since they have such good intelligence on both the human tank and the Warthog jeep they will hop on and take out enemies for you the most valuable of which is the snipers. I can tell you with full certainty these NPC's could kick Half Life's soldiers asses. Also, worth mentioning is the games high quality sound from the opening theme to thwack you hear when you hit a gun with the bottom of your gun the sound in HALO is top Notch. The music can be somber at one moment and when a battle begins HALO's main theme will begin roaring through your speakers it'll have you pumped during the fight as well as making you hum it later in the shower without even thinking about it. Also each character is given a specific personality with great voice talent that shines through the game the Master Chief  has a strong yet calm voice that conveys a true veteran in battle, while his Computer A.I./Partner of the Master Chief,  Cortana gives valuable info during gameplay has kind of quirky personality and is kind of a big mouth, and finally the grunts which are the smallest of the Aliens known as the Covenant have hilarious tiny voices almost like cartoon martians which some reviews I have read disliked this but it shows they are the scared little aliens of the bunch who would much rather not be fighting the guy in the big green armor.




Last, but not least is the games Multiplayer modes the best of which is the cooperative mode where you and a friend can play through the whole game simultaneosly. Taking on the covenant this adds a whole new dimension to the game like the fact that now you have someone you can actually tell  to flank one corner while you take the another against a group of Covenant and also having a human that can man that gun on your warthog and since you both wear the Spartan issue Green Armor your both tougher then the NPC soldiers. Co-op also makes the incredibly tough Legendary difficulty slightly more bearable. If you can find anyone to play the Co-op mode with you after you beat the game the first time through it's like playing a whole new game. Now, there is also a Deathmatch, CTF, and Domination style modes unfortunately there are no Bots that can be added to the match like other console games leaving you with only Four People unless you link more XBOX's and have other tv's all set up together which honestly the margin of people that can afford this are very few. Due to this it makes the deathmatch mode the weakest part of the game as the levels are built like online PC maps but other then a special way that requires other special equipment you can't play it online but if you play on some of the smaller maps with four people it's still very worthwhile since a few of the maps let you use the games vehicles in combat.

At this point you can tell that I think very highly of HALO but there are some issues that keep it from being perfect one of the main ones other then the Deathmatch mode is the fact later in the game you'll do a lot of backtracking through levels you previously played through with only some minor changes to them I.E. it'll be battle torn and you can't reach certain areas you could have before and a few new areas thrown in for good measure. There's also a specific type of enemy that is large in amount in the later levels but is not quite as intelligent or as fun to fight as the covenant they have a very DOOM like intelligence where they just rush at you and try to take you out. Even with those three problems I couldn't recommend  HALO more to XBOX owners and without a doubt HALO is a reason enough for any prospective owner of a next generation console to think more in the direction of owning Microsoft's behemoth of a console.






                                                      9.9 OUT OF 10
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                                               Review by Preston Kilday
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