Most kids spent their early teenage years watching horror films like Candyman, Scream and Chucky, playing with fake blood and plastic knives and telling ghost stories to one another—not me—I was a little more sheltered than that. I spent a lot of my teenage years going to church with my mum and dad, shielded from anything remotely scary and not really immersing myself in the genre. It sucked—all my friends were going to watch The Blair Witch Project or dressing up on Halloween, leaving me behind while I played alone. It wasn’t the be all and end all of my youth—far from it. However, I missed out on some of the best stories ever and it wasn’t until I left the nest that I drowned in the wonder and accoutrements of the horror world. The films, the comics, the games and the books. I hold every medium close to my heart and as a 31-year old video game nut, survival horror games were the pinnacle of my obsession. I patiently wait the next entry into the genus. For me, survival horror is paramount and I can honestly say that no game excites me as much as one that bares this mark in its synopsis. Later in the year, we will be able to play a brand new IP called Until Dawn; a game that gives the genre a breath of fresh air. I’ll be writing a whole preview piece on the game shortly; so more on this later. Whilst watching the trailer for the game, I started to get really excited at the prospect of a new survival horror title and it made me think back to a time when these kind of games dominated the gaming market. It also made me realize there have been few great titles that fall under the category of survival horror in recent years. Other than The Last of Us (for me at least), nothing has come close to the genius of Shinji Mikami and Resident Evil.
However, when Resident Evil 6 was released all the way back in 2012, it marked the first ever time I was truly let down by a computer game. The series had been very well received up until this point and I had been patiently waiting for it to drop. As previously mentioned, I had to wait a little longer to play the original on the PSone because of the whole church thing. I remember going to get the game in secret; finding it in a run-down electrical shop just around the corner from where I lived. I managed to get it because the owner couldn’t care less about age restrictions, just the money. I took advantage of his greed and stupidity; I got a copy of the game, took it home and waited for my parents to go to bed so I could visit the famous Spencer Mansion in the Arklay Mountains. This was the first time I had ever been terrified while playing a video game; the horror that awaited me was exhilarating and the feeling was unlike anything I’d ever felt before—I was addicted. Walking down that corridor and jumping out my skin when those zombie dogs jumped through the windows was the exact moment I fell in love with the series. Resident Evil 6 ripped my heart out; even to this day I haven’t played through Chris Redfield’s story—Leon’s and Jakes were bad enough. My fury at the plot and mechanics of Resident Evil—or what I had learned to expect from the series—was completely ignored. I felt cheated and with a franchise so revered, it broke my heart.
Those damn dogs!
The Resident Evil series has prided itself just as much on the story as it has on its gameplay. I remember playing Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3 and being enamoured by the characters and the story. Sherry Birkin and her father, Claire Redfield and her brother Chris, Jill, Barry Burton, Wesker…so, so many plot points and story arcs. There was clearly a lot of time and effort put in to making the games believable and engrossing just as much as the gameplay and visuals-if not more. The visuals were unlike anything else on the PSone. There was a lot of detail put into the surroundings; Spencer Mansion in Resident Evil was eerie and unnerving because of its emptiness and atmosphere. The gothic paraphernalia that lined the walls and the hallways kept me on edge because it told a story; a story that you were falling further into. The fixed camera angles didn’t help the fear either; when you could hear the groan of a zombie or the growl of a rabid dog and couldn’t see it-that was terrifying! Everything you saw left you feeling completely alone and vulnerable. In Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3, Raccoon City felt very open and you felt very exposed, but at the same time restricted. Zombies were everywhere and at times you were overwhelmed by the undead threat. Sometimes it was better to run and hide as opposed to fight. Survival was insanely appropriate, hence ‘survival’ horror. You were always limited in your ammo and weapon availability and the various herbs you could use to heal you were few and far between. I had to restart Resident Evil because I simply didn’t have enough ammunition to kill that massive killer snake. As much as it pained me, restarting was the only way I would have been able to beat the game. It taught me a valuable lesson though: be smart, don’t be a hero. If you tried to kill every zombie, tyrant, crow or dog then you’d never survive. If you got into a fight every five seconds you’d lose your chance of surviving. It taught you to use your brain rather than your trigger finger.
Too quiet!
Resident Evil 4 revolutionised the series and set the benchmark for every game after its release. It had gotten rid of its fixed camera viewpoint in favour of an over the shoulder one, giving the player more control with the main protagonist: series hero, Leon S. Kennedy. There was true freedom with gun control, allowing you to use a laser sight on your weapon that could demobilize or kill your enemy. Aim for the head to kill or aim for their legs to stop them from chasing you; it was entirely up to you. Even with these new mechanics, you still had to play it safe at times—when aiming with the sight, you couldn’t move so you had to be smart with every shot you took. The hordes of infected villagers could overpower you and if you even tried to fire at them, you’d be dead in seconds. They were fast and they were extremely powerful. The villagers in the Eastern European town were faster than the traditional zombies and more threatening. Other than Nemesis, I hadn’t faced anything this dangerous before. Capcom made a remarkable adventure. It still felt like a Resident Evil game; however, it threw you into a completely different environment with a new threat: Las Plagas. The game felt very much like The Wicker Man meets Texas Chainsaw Massacre with survival still being at the forefront of the adventure. We were able to admire the original three games and move forward with the new vision of the series.
Where am I?
Resident Evil 5 saw the series tail off a little, favouring a more action-based game and shying away from the survival horror elements that the series had stayed so closely to, but it wasn’t terrible. It was just different. There were times in Resident Evil 4 that inflicted these moments of action upon you, yet it didn’t flood you with them. In Resident Evil 5, it was clear that the series was changing towards a faster paced, action-orientated adventure and at many times throughout, you were running and gunning hundreds of infected. You were given much more ammo and explosives to deal with the enemy and when playing, you never had too little bullets or bombs. One thing that I did like about Resident Evil 5 was the way it included the lore of the first three games. It referenced Umbrella heavily and as a huge fan of the fictional corporation, their involvement was greatly appreciated. Not only are we reminded of the horrific work of Umbrella, we get to fight the main villain of the series, Albert Wesker. For a fanboy of the games, it was so cool to see him back, even if he’s an absolute a$$. It was incredibly satisfying to put a bullet in the psychopath’s head at the end though. Unfortunately, the story was nothing compared to the previous four games, but it was still engaging and I still played it again.
Bring it on!
Along with the main five Resident Evil games, we got two other great games that continued the story and added to the canon. Resident Evil Zero on the GameCube acted as a kind of prequel to the series and followed Rebecca Chambers and Billy Coen as they investigated the zombie outbreak within its inception. The other, Resident Evil: Code Veronica followed series’ favourites Claire and Chris Redfield as they faced the Ashfords on a remote island infected with the T-Virus. Both followed the games survival horror roots and although not the best, they were still fun to play and had exciting, dramatic moments that helped to flesh out the main story.
Bullets, bullets everywhere!
After building up a respected franchise with a healthy catalogue of entries into the series, we were given the worst. My first impressions of Resident Evil 6 were bad; right from the very start, it felt like something was missing. It was packed with big blockbuster, Hollywood clichés and nods to empty and vapid action sequences. Leon was a shell of his former self—a man that now lacked the heart and soul of previous incarnations. It favoured hours of shooting and shooting and shooting and shooting countless, generic enemies—never feeling as though you were getting anywhere or achieving anything. This wasn’t Resident Evil—this was a poorly made mess that may be appealing to a select few, but not me. The fear had gone. The nerves and the terror vanished. Everything I loved about the series had been flushed down the toilet and I had been betrayed by Capcom. Another reason why the sixth installment was so poor was in how the ‘story’ felt rushed, bland and incredibly vague. I didn’t understand why the zombie outbreak went global. It was unnecessary and ridiculous. The ending (of Leon’s story at least) wasn’t explained or given any real legs and everything that Resident Evil had prided itself on had gone. Jake Muller was a generic goon and his story was weak. Chris Redfield; hell, I couldn’t even play his campaign for fear of completely falling out of love with the series altogether.
I don’t think I could cope with another Resident Evil game like that. With E3 fast approaching and almost four years passing since its release, we are due a new entry into the saga. I hope and pray that Capcom took note of the weak game mechanics and poor story to return to the games roots. The roots that made the game so enjoyable to play in the first place, but at the same time creating something fresh and intuitive. Personally, I think that a great way to recover from the failure of Resident Evil 6 is to completely reboot the franchise by featuring the threat of the zombie outbreak from the eyes of completely different characters elsewhere in Raccoon City that we have never met; maybe even feature the outbreak in another country. I want the Resident Evil legacy to exist in the new game.; at least the legacy of Shinji Mikami. He was heavily involved in the first four, directing and producing the first Resident Evil and building on this to create the next three that followed. In an ideal world, it would be great to see Shinji return to the series but that is never going to happen as long as Capcom own the rights. We have to hope that Resident Evil 7 will work within the game’s world and we have to have faith that Capcom can make it work. I was burned greatly by Capcom and Resident Evil 6—everyone deserves a second chance and everyone can learn from their mistakes. I hear myself talk about how awful it was and sometimes, I think I may be being too hard on it. Then I watch footage on YouTube or Twitch and realize I am completely justified in my opinion.
I’m getting too old for this!
Let us hope that the future of the series does what Resident Evil 4 did and completely change it, all whilst giving us a story we deserve. I want to see Leon S. Kennedy, Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine again, but I want to see new, well developed characters that bring a new lease of life to the series. I think Resident Evil needs to look to the past to save its future and until Capcom realizes this, I shan’t be revisiting the series anytime soon. It would be interesting to here what you think, just comment below. My next article will be about the cancellation of Silent Hills and how I think the game can still see the light of day. Hopefully, we’ll see it get made one day in the future, but for now, there’s nothing wrong with dreaming.
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