Games had that pull on us back in the day. I followed Resident Evil through Gamefan magazine religiously. It looked exactly like what I wanted - an updated version of Alone in the Dark. I don't remember if I got it on day one or not now but I got it eventually, in the cardboard longbox too.
I remember staying up really late to play it, I didn't stay up all night but did make it to around 2 or so before I gave out and had to go to bed. Such an awesome game.
I recall having a lot of fun at the really terrible voice acting especially the bearded guy who I think was named Barry.
The voice acting was what caught my attention in a local EB store. They had it available for play and there was some kind of demo playing, or maybe they had the kiosk set to reset at a certain point.
It was definitely 80's cheese voice acting and I loved it.