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Amazon.com Resident Evil, the game that is often credited with starting the survival-horror genre, is being reinvented for the GameCube. For those unfamiliar with the series, a mysterious corporation has secretly been performing ungodly biotech experiments in the sleepy little town of Raccoon City. When reports of gory attacks come in from nearby areas, two crack military squads are sent to investigate. Players take the role of either sharpshooter Chris Redfield or demolitions expert Jill Valentine to track down the source of the town's problems--specifically, something in a decaying mansion that's mutating animals into grotesque killers and turning humans into bloodthirsty zombies. Supplies and ammunition are scarce, so players have to know when to fight, when to run, and how to keep their wits about them. Players can't afford to waste their shots and expect their characters to survive. The story is being retrofitted with motion-captured animation, next-generation graphics, real-time lighting and shadow effects, new areas, and newly rendered in-game video segments to create an even more cinematic experience. Also, a redesigned combat system lets players attack and defend themselves with a variety of items found in the environment. Product Description In Resident Evil, you are part of an elite military unit battling an out-of-control supercomputer. Sent to investigate a remote location, you discover an eerie old mansion transformed by a laboratory accident. Soon, you're fighting for survival against hundreds of mutated scientists and other ghoulish creatures. Ages 17 and up. Imported. Review Ask people to name the scariest game they've ever played and they'll invariably mention Resident Evil (unless they're trying to be a smart aleck, in which case they'll choose Rise of the Robots or something similar). Although films and music are forever being remade, remixed, and generally reheated, games never seem to get the same treatment. Resident Evil is bucking that trend. Although it's 70 percent all-new material, this GameCube version is still familiar enough to tug on a few nostalgic gamers' heartstrings. For anyone who wasn't around video games in 1996, Resident Evil is an arcade adventure that has you trapped in a B-movie mansion filled with zombies and various other nasties. Considering the controls in the original were horrible, the puzzles incongruous, and the script diabolical in all the wrong ways, it's fair to say the game was far more than the sum of its parts. It's annoying to see that none of these glaring faults have been addressed in the remake, but presumably they're all assumed to be part of the nostalgic fun. What really made Resident Evil enjoyable was its genuinely unsettling atmosphere, specifically as created through the various weird camera angles and the fact that you never seemed to have enough ammo or health. All of this is retained in the GameCube version, along with what must surely be some of the best graphics ever seen in a video game--we're talking near photorealistic characters and as subtle a use of light and shadow as we've ever seen before. If you're a Resident Evil fan, this new title is like manna from heaven; if you've yet to experience its dubious delights, you'd better break out the brown trousers right away. --David Jenkins -- Amazon.co.uk