Extremely archaic gameplay ruins a potentially awesome game.
The visuals are amazing. The lighting is incredible, probably the best you'll see on the Gamecube, and the character models are top notch. The backgrouns are pre-rendered, so while they may look great you can't really interact with them at all. The zombies and oher various monsters you encounter are all very well rendered. I enver noticed any issues with frame-rate or pop-in. Definitely one of the best looking games available on the Gamecube.
The soundwork is alright. The music/soundtrack is pretty average. The voicework is very much improved from the original Playstaion version although I kind of miss the horrible dialogue. The sound of the zombies groaning is pretty well done and definitely accomplishes the goal of creepiness.
The game-play is where Resident Evil truly falls short. Sure they've added some stuff since the original like the new zombies that can't be killed and just come back stronger and deadlier than before, but new features can only go so far. They took the same exact control scheme from the orignal Playstation version and threw it into the remake. It may have been passable back on the old Playstation, but when they remade this for the generation after that they should have remade the controls as well. They're incredibly bad, even the original Silent Hill controls better. On top of this, the combat is extremely sluggish and the game uses pre-set camera angles for a cinematic effects that seem to fight against you. It's like the camera is another enemy trying to eat your brains. The combination of all these major problems made the game completely unplayable for me at times and filled me with frustration.
The game can in fact be scary at times when you're not distracted by the ridiculous controls. Hardcore survival horror fans and Resident Evil fans in general will probably enjoy this, everyone else might as well leave it be. A true technical marvel with lots of potential but not much else.