Well, sadly, RE:DC is cut.  Joseph still doesn't
quite pull the hand all the way up into the camera.
You don't see Kenneth's half eaten head after he
is killed by the first zombie.  Chris doesn't
light up and smoke during the cast scenes. We
don't get to see the dog tear up Joseph.

And on the back of the box, the second highlighted
feature:

-The complete UNCUT and UNCENSORED Resident
Evil Cinemas.

Complete and uncut my behind!


Well, to be honest, it doesn't totally ruin the
game.  It IS disapointing that they hyped that
and then didn't go through with it.  Oh well, on
with the review.

The first thing I played was the RE2 demo. Can
you blame me? :)  It is AWESOME.  RE2 is now my
3rd most anticipated game of 98, behind Metal
Gear and Final Fantasy Tactics.  It is just
aweinspiring.  Incredible. Spoilers ahead, you
have been warned (aw what they heck, read it,
its still cool even if you know about it)



It starts off with Leon, the young rookie cop,
on a street that looks like it rose up right
out of hell. The dead walk clumsily towards
you, flames crackle around you, burnt out
wreckage strewn everywhere. Hell on earth.
As you make your way down the street you
really feel like you are surrounded, zombies
everywhere, stumbling after you.  You can
now shoot them when they are getting up (thank
god) and falling over, so no more wasted ammo.
Of course, your trusty combat knife is handy,
in RE if it was 1 on 1 I could take em with
the knife, but there are just too many. Eventually
you make it to a store and rush inside.

In an encounter similar to the Chris/Rebecca
meeting in RE1, you meet another human, the
owner of the gun store.  Cheezy dialog ensues:
"No don't shoot, I'm a HUman!"  Yeah! B-movie
heaven.  The manager comes over and locks the
door, "we'll be safe in here". You can walk
around and gather ammo, but this place has 
been looted, only a few boxes of 9mm ammo
for your pistol remain.  "Hey dumbass get the
hell away from that window!"  ok you can't
really shout that, but you should be able to :)
Zombies crash through the window and snack
on yer short term buddy there.  You can run
(there are 4 of them) or take em out and 
get your buddy's shotgun.  Either choice
is ok for the demo. So you scoot out a back
alley. This part was really cool. Zombies
behind a fence start banging against it as
you run by. Just ignore them.  You come to
another street where it looks like a massive
battle was fought. Police cars and dead cops
are lying around, zombies are everywhere munching
on bacon (oink) you make your way inside the
police HQ gate.  Watch the street when you get
inside! Its cool, the police get up and become
zombies. Well, you make your way into the
precinct.

So you're trotting around, hangin' out, gathering
supplies.  You fight a biohunter from the first 
game (won't tell you where).  You find Chris 
Redfield's desk (is he dead? Guess we'll find 
out in January) Not many clues as to what happened
or how the entire town got overrun in less than
a few hours (I bet Wesker lived in RE1 and he's
doing this).  At the end of the demo, you meet
Claire (nice outfit, btw).  And the rest is history,
or rather, WILL be history in 16 weeks. :)
Can't wait. Its 2 CDs!!!!! YES!

Onto RE:DC. Well, its cut. Did I mention that?
I chose 'ADVANCED' which I assumed was'ARRANGE'.
I assumed correctly.

Game starts. Poor Joseph.  They kid had guts, 
now the dog has them.  Aw heck, he had the only 
shotgun too! Brad still flies away like a pansy
to go get the Rocket Launcher he 'forgot' back
at STARS hq.  I still get a kick how they run
like hell back to the chopper, then just stop
and stand there like dummies and look up at the 
helicopter in despair, then bust out running 
from the dogs.

Ok fast forward to the changes.

You get the armor key first thing!  Not
only that but you get the Python as your
second weapon!  They increase the zombie
count considerably. In the room with the
shotgun there are 3 zombies to fight! (and
there's not much room in there either)

Chris now has 'autolock-on' like Leon does
in RE2.  What this means is that when you
hit the aim button (R1) Chris automatically
orients himself to face the nearest Zombie.
I actually like the feature.  Makes aiming
and bad camera angles more bearable. Have not
played Jill yet but I'm sure she's got it too.

Chris also has a new skill which I fondly call
the new 'head busting system'(cause the
japanese call every new inovation in a game
a 'system') :)  I can't quite figure it out 
yet but I think if Chris gets a _perfect_
lined up  shot off on his target, the head 
explodes. EVEN with the barreta.  Sometimes 
I can get it on the first shot, sometimes on t
he 8th. It all dempends.  It does happen a lot, 
usually on the 4th or 5th shot.  I also really 
often get it when my target isn't moving.  Very 
nice. Even dogs are suceptible to the HBS, but 
instead of causing them to explode they just die 
on the 2nd or 3rd shot. It does save ammo...

Forest becomes a zombie, I guess everyone in
the US who picked up a gaming mag in the
past 3 months knew that.  Richard and Kenneth
do not (at least not in Chris's game)

Rebecca has a new outfit. I think Capcom was
going for 'less is better'. She's wearing short
shorts and a sports bra over a brown Tshirt. Not
something a professional law enforcement/medic 
would wear on the field.

About the other new uniforms. Chris wears his
white t-shirt and a shoulder harness w/holster.
Jill wears basically the same.  The costume room
is now open from the very beginning, so you can
swap as often as you like between the original
uniform, the civilian clothes, and the arranged
uniform.

New camera angles are everywhere.  I'd say they 
redid about 60% of the first house. Some better 
and a few of them worse.  It balances out.

You find the items in weird places.  Like the
moon crest is now in the statue on the dining
room balcony, the python is where the broken
shotgun is, the broken shotgun is where the
herbacide is, I have no clue where the 
herbacide is, etc.  Its making the game more
challenging, because you have to rethink your
entire floorplan.

Final verdict on the Arrange version. Its cool.
If you are a diehard RE fan you will love it.
But the missing cut scenes are annoying.

Haven't played the Japanese version yet, but
I'm going to after I fininsh the Arrange with
both characters.

Overall, for a diehard RE fan, GET IT.  Trade
in your old and get the new, cause its everything
the old was and then some.  Its only $19.99 with
trade in, and it has 3 versions of RE plus a
20 min or so demo of RE2 to play around with.

I would really like to know what's the deal
with the cut scenes.  Capcom, you out there
listening?

Dang, three awesome Capcom games in one week.
Didn't they realize this will cut into sales?
At least the prices were great! (RE:DC = 19.99,
MMX4 = 34.99, MSH = 44.99 in my area).

pax,

-- 
Allen Dickerson
exarch at ix.netcom.com