Games of Horror: Resident Evil Series

So It Begins...with Resident Evil 2? Check out Jon's thoughts

Post Written by Chad W.

To see the entire game you have to play through both of their  scenarios. This,to my knowledge, is the first game to have two characters with branching paths where one directly affects the other. For example if you leave a gun in a particular part of Leon’s game A, that gun will be there when you boot up Claire’s game B using Leon’s end game save.

When you arrive the entire city has been taken by the undead and it is up to you to survive the horrors. I still remember the first time in the police station when you first encounter a licker creature. The terror that engulfs you when you hit the hall and a cut scene plays and you are introduced to a creature that is walking on the ceiling and has a 5 foot deadly tongue.



It is at that moment when you realize you have very little ammo to put up a fight. The game was much more about picking your battles than shooting up the place. You never had enough ammo for that. The game was also about item management, you could only carry a limited amount of items.  What was left you had to dump into magical item boxes peppered throughout the game.

As you progress through the game you start to unravel the story involving  the pharmaceutical company Umbrella. Their goal was to create super soldiers, but they inadvertantly end up creating Zombies. They should have read and learned from Captain America.   

The main story revolves around William Birkin, a researcher at the underground Umbrella lab.   In Resident Evil 2 a recently mutated William Birkin shows up as a boss creature that gets bigger and more epic at each encounter as the antagonist in the game.   Resident Evil 2 can be played on virtually every platform since the PlayStation, now you can pick it up for 6 bucks off the PSN.
  
Resident Evil

The first Resident Evil was originally released on the Sega Saturn early in 1996, later that year it was released on the new Playstation system, and  that’s when the game took off.  The first game puts you into the shoes of either Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine again both members of STARS investigating deaths in the Arklay Mountains outside of Raccoon City.

This brings you to the Mansion of the Ashford’s where zombies run amok. The games opening sequence is all real time video with live actors following in the wake of Wing Commander, it’s hokie but oh so awesome.  

Resident Evil 3

In 1998 Capcom released Resident Evil 3, which for the first time in the series follows a single character, Jill Valentine. It follows her events in the first game, and deals with her escape from Raccoon city after the main zombie outbreak. Like the two previous games RE is using the same tank controls and static camera angles as you play.

Resident Evil 3 featured one consistent boss that follows you throughout the game, the huge overpowering Nemesis creature. In each encounter you have the option to fight or run. Fighting gives you key items, but you could easily die in the process.. The game ends with the destruction of Raccoon city by nuclear explosion.  This was also the end of the Umbrella storyline within the city.

Reinventing The Franchise: Code Veronica, Online, 1st Person, and Handhelds

The fourth game flowed to a new system entirely; it found its way to the Dreamcast in the form of Resident Evil: Code Veronica. The game was a true sequel to Resident Evil 2 and probably my second favorite game in the series. The game was the first to feature true 3D backgrounds as opposed to the previous three which had pre-rendered ones.  The camera was still fixed, it still used tank controls, but there were two weapons that used a first person layout. I recommend the game to anyone if you can find a copy.  It’s available on the Dreamcast, the PS2,or the GameCube.

   
The Resident Evil series has also featured varying side stories that experiment with various gameplay mechanics. There were 1st person shooters in Resident Evil Dead Aim and the Gun Survivor series. There have been two tries at online specific Resident Evil series in the  Outbreak games. Resident Evil has also reared its head on handhelds in Resident Evil Gaiden and Deadly Silence, which had varying degrees of success.
  
Resident Evil 4: The New Story

In 2005, Capcom reinvented the series yet again with Resident Evil 4.  The game follows Leon Kennedy, and in a break from previous games, has no direct story elements dealing with Umbrella. The game features over the shoulder 3rd person shooter style gameplay. Many fans did not like the separation from the main story of Zombies and Umbrella, myself included.

The game was fun but it did not have the same feel of a Resident Evil game. The game play style continued into Resident Evil 5. In this game you play as Chris Redfield who is now an agent with the BSAA. The game features co-op and has story underpinnings that hearken back to the first 3 games in the series.

With all this talk of Resident Evil greatness I’m going to go play some. So I leave you with this quote “you have entered the world of survival horror” so have fun and aim for the head.