Resident Evil: Director's Cut is the definitive version of this survival horror classic!
The game has you playing as either Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine (both of them have different storylines), and you're essentially trying to escape a house that is filled with zombies and other unpleasant creatures. You come across lots of evidence throughout the game that eventually reveals more about a scheme that is the cause for all of the mayhem. The story isn't anything special and the voice acting is downright atrocious, but it's somewhat charming and adds to the game's campy atmosphere.
In order to escape the house, you essentially need to 'survive the horror' and solve plenty of puzzles along the way. Although they start out pretty easy, the game quickly becomes very challenging, and online walkthroughs will be a must for many gamers. A few of the puzzles are actually very tedious and annoying, but many of them do add a nice sense of accomplishment to the player when they figure out something difficult. The combat isn't a walk in the park either, though, as ammo and 'ink ribbons' (which are used to save your progress) are scarce and also necessary to making progress in the game. The pacing is rather slow and combat is not the focus here, but frantic encounters do happen just enough to really scare (and challenge) the player. Resident Evil requires a lot of strategy and patience from the player, and if you aren't willing to give all of your attention to the game, you may want to play it on the 'beginner' mode, or maybe not even play it at all. The limited ammo, saves, and storage slots make the game just as frustrating as it is strategic.
That is ultimately Resident Evil's biggest downfall - although later entries in the series eliminated this tedium, the game's core mechanics can become really annoying, and often feel a bit unnecessary. The fact that Chris can only hold 6 objects at a time will mean that you'll constantly be backtracking to find a crate to get that one key you forgot, the limited saves means that you may occasionally lose an hour of progress after dying once, and the limited ammo means that your accuracy must always be spot-on. Unfortunately, the controls are also notoriously stiff, so getting pinpoint accuracy will not be easy. I got used to the controls after an hour or so with the game, but they still never felt perfect. You control like a tank, and while walking isn't too problematic, aiming can be quite challenging. Resident Evil 4 was when this series really found a control scheme that worked perfectly.
These flaws aside, however, Resident Evil: Director's Cut is an essential purchase for any Playstation owner who enjoys survival horror games. This really is a landmark game in the genre, and although future entries would smooth out the gameplay, this is a fun, challenging, and terrifying video game. If you're willing to accept some inevitable frustration and confusion, Resident Evil is an absolute blast. It could probably be completed in roughly ten hours by most gamers, and considering the multiple ways to play through this game, there's a solid amount of replay value as well. This game comes highly recommended from this reviewer.