Aside from obvious visual upgrades, added control tweaks help make this the best version of original Resident Evil.
In 1998, a group of of people known as Alpha Team (Jill Valentine, Chris Redfield, Albert Wesker, and Barry Burton) from Raccoon City's Special Tactics and Rescue Services (S.T.A.R.S.) is sent to investigate the disappearance of their fellow teammates from Bravo team. They begin to investigate in the woods when all of a sudden they are attacked by vicious-looking dogs that were eating one of Alpha Team's members. They escape the dogs by going into a nearby mansion. As soon as they enter the mansion they realize that it is filled with zombies wanting blood, so they will have to do everything they can to survive and see what is happening.
The core gameplay from the original Resident Evil remains the same here. You have a choice of two characters to choose from, Chris and Jill, each with their own story arcs. The game has you controlling your character like a tank, meaning you don't have full 360 movement and that you will need to stop and turn around in order to change directions as you move forward. You go through various areas of the mansion with a fixed camera (which changes each time you enter a new section) fending off zombies, collecting items, and solving puzzles. One of the issues of the original RE was that the controls felt clunky and stiff, and it can still take a bit of time to get used to this control, especially if you are more used to games like RE 4 and RE 5, but thankfully the added analog control and the 360 degree turnaround maneuver make things a little easier to move your character. There are a variety of weapons to use to fend off zombies, including the addition of defense items which work great when in a tight pinch. When it comes to being a survival-horror game, it definitely nails the look and the feel. To keep with the survival-horror aspect the game has you conserving your ammunition and health items since you are going to be in areas where you are not going to find much of those, so there are some tense moments. Not only that but the only way you can save your progress is via ink ribbons, which you can only use three times each and they are scattered rather far apart, so you will need to be mindful on when and where you will save.
Resident Evil is most definitely focused on a lot of item collecting and puzzle solving. You have a limited number of spaces in your inventory, which means you will be making some sacrifices in order to carry more important items, whether it being key progression items like keys, or healing items and weapons, and once you are done with that item you will need to backtrack all the way back to the other item you will really need, which feels rather tedious and it takes some memorization to know where everything is. Each item is basically needed to make most of the puzzles work, but there are other times where you will be pushing things and pressing switches.
Probably the most noticeable change from the original game is it's audio and visual presentation. The graphics are simply some of the most gorgeous you will see on the GameCube. Like the original RE it uses pre-rendered backgrounds with 3-D models. The backgrounds are richly detailed featuring superb lighting effects, and even small touches like blowing grass, and the character models are beautifully smooth and animate rather nicely. The music is incredibly atmospheric and the various sound effects sound great as well. The voice acting and dialog is thankfully improved from the laughable mess of the first game, though it still rather stilted in delivery.
To sum things up:
PROS:
-Slightly improved controls
-Amazing visuals
-Atmospheric music
-Great survival-horror look and feel
-Much improved dialog and voice acting
CONS:
-Still has stilted voice acting
-Tedious backtracking
-Controls take some getting used to
With the gripes aside, this remake of the original Resident Evil shows to be the definitive version of the game. Fans of the original should look into this game as well as fans of the series in general.