Maybe not the best RE game, but by far the creepiest.
First of, storywise, everyone knows the gist, bizarre murders have been occuring in Raccoon City and the S.T.A.R.S. team is sent in to investigate. Their helicopter is shot down near the large mansion on the edge of town, where the second team comes to look for survivors but end up being attacked by a rabid looking pack of dogs, the surviving members including Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Barry Burton, and Wesker head to the masion. As the story unfolds, it turns out more is going on at the mansion, owned by Umberlla Head, Ozwell Spencer, then was apparent at first. The Remake adds an entire part of the story that was originally planned and then removed revolving around the Trevor Family, of whom the patriarch was the original designer of the mansion. I dont want to spoil anything so I wont say anymore.
Difficulty is ramped up in this version, with the introduction of two new bosses, and the addition of the Crimson Heads. Basically, when you kill a zombie in this version, if you do not either behead it or burn it, after a period of time depending on your choice of difficulty it comes back to life. In this form the zombie is faster, stronger, deadlier; it can basically match you for speed, if not being a little bit faster. Basically, you can no longer run circle around some feeble shambling corpse. One of the bosses that has been added is the Crimson Head Elder; an even stronger version of the Crimson Heads; I wont reveal anything about the other boss though, its a secret :).
Like I said visually the game is beautiful, the graphics have been completely remade and the graphics are nearly as stunning as those of RE4. Looking at screen shots of the original and this one side by side, and its almost like a different game.
Overall though, the area where this game shines the most is the atmosphere it creates. This is by far the creepiest game in the series, with the best setting, and best selection of enemies and story to keep you paranoid as you sit alone in the dark. The mansion is probably the main reason, it creates this feeling of confinment and lonliness that the others just cant. And this game has by far the scariest boss in any of the games, let me just say stay on your toes at all points in the game. And of course the crimson heads add to the creep factor, its all fun and games when zombies are slow as hell and you can pretty much ignore them, but when they can out run you thats when you start getting on edge, plus you will never no when that corpse is gonna arise for the second time.
Replayability wise there is also a lot, you can for one play with both characters through the game. There are several difficulty settings and various unlockables. Theres even an option to play the game with invisible enemies. If you do everything you get a special message from the creator fo the game praising you.
Overall: 9.5/10
Story + Setting: 10
Graphics: 9.5
Sound: 8
Controls: 7 (classic RE controls, Movie shot view)
Replayability: 8
Collectability: 6 (the black label version is becoming some what scarce in stores, and overall the game retains a decent part of its value)