Evil lurks in GameCube's newest title

Not much has changed since the last time you passed through Raccoon City.

The undead still walk the streets, dining on citizens. And you thought real estate values were down where you live.

Once again, trained police experts from STARS (Special Tactics and Rescue Service) are on the scene to try to solve the problem.

Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine are hard at work again in "Resident Evil," a remake from Capcom of the original PlayStation title for Nintendo's GameCube.

If you played the original, you will certainly recognize this latest version. But Capcom has redone almost everything, adding areas and cutting others. There are new gruesome monsters to give you the shivers, and puzzles have been revised.

You can play as either character; each gets a unique scenario to follow. You gather weapons, clues and items as you wander through a crumbling mansion abandoned by the living and occupied now only by the dead.

There's good and bad to be found. The map feature is excellent; other games which require exploring should take a look. Color coding shows you where you've been and where you still need to go, with doors you can open in blue, and doors you can't in red.

I hate the "save" feature, which requires you to find typewriters and a typewriter ribbon to store your progress. We need a federal law; all games should be savable from wherever you are. Why should you lose an hour's progress when it's dinnertime because you're not near a typewriter? Who even uses a typewriter anymore?

OK, time to calm down.

"Save" aside, this is an excellent game in almost every way. Lighting is amazing. The incredibly lifelike movement of your character will amaze you. Gouts of blood are too much for the tots to deal with; ditto the gross and gory monsters inhabiting the house.

You spend a lot of time trudging around the house, looking for items. It's important to remember you can tote just a limited number of items with you. Capcom's solution is scattering boxes around where you can stash things. Of course, if you need that ammo now, trying to find the box and reload with a monster hanging on your throat could pose a problem.

Graphics get an A. The eerie, shadowed halls of the manor, the flashing of lightning outside, the delightful details, shading and lighting effects make this a magnificent effort visually. See it to believe it.

Sound gets another A. Excellent acting, spooky sound effects and creepy music combine for a seriously scary experience. It goes very well with the visuals.

Control gets a B. I found that making your character do what you want takes a lot of frustrating practice and a lot of walking into walls. There are no alternative controller layouts, and you can't design your own. Did I mention I'm not crazy about how the game is saved? A nice touch is the 180-degree spin, controlled by the yellow stick.

"Resident Evil" gets a B+. It's an excellent game, a nice change from the usual offerings for the kiddie-oriented GameCube. The game carries an M rating for ages 17 and over, and it is well deserved. Some of the creepy-crawlies will give children nightmares they may never get rid of.