What you are about to read will sound something like an old man saying “Back in my day” so with that in mind, expect a salty attitude from a resident evil fan since day one.
What happened to resident evil? Or as it used to be called in the U.S and Japan “biohazard” but was changed to Resident evil for purely marketing reasons. If I’m not mistaken, I recall the resident evil series to be a survival horror genre, so why now can I drop kick my way through hoards of zombies with ease? Where did the survival aspect go? In the bin?! (Looking at you Resident Evil 6)
For me and many others the resident evil franchise has turned into a zombie shoot’em up rather than being a survival horror game. The survival aspect has disappeared, for me there has not been a “oh crap I’ve only one bullet left” moment since the resident evil outbreak file games. The resident evil franchise is Capcom’s best selling series with resident evil 5 right at the top with over 7 million sales and resident evil: directors cut at around 1:13 million sales, and all this is thanks to the over-the-shoulder view introduced by Resident evil 4.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved Resident Evil 4, I remember playing that game on PS2 with my limited edition chainsaw controller over and over again unlocking all challenges, items, weapons and awesome costumes (That fedora and Tommy gun was great). It was revolutionary for the franchise and gave the series a completely new way to play with more freedom of movement and precise aiming. But I can’t help but think back to the old days of PS1 with Resident Evils play style.
If you ever played the originals “back in the day” then you know what I’m talking about, the dodgy camera angles were iconic and because of those camera angles you got a shear sense of dread when you heard a zombie shuffling somewhere on screen but you couldn’t see where unless you moved past the fixed camera placement, or that time in resident evil 1 where you met the zombie dogs for the first time….. Soiled myself. Without these camera styles and the actual survivability in terms of limited ammo, green herbs and ink ribbons, the new Resident Evil games are a mere shadow of their former self in my opinion.
Resident Evil outbreak file 1 was and still is my favourite Resident evil game. The Outbreak series harboured the very essence of the survival horror genre with its bare bones story and unique play style. It reminds of the Dark Souls series in a small way, you start the game with a choice of characters, all with unique skills that can unlock different parts of a level, you select a scenario and you simply must survive and reach the extraction point before you become infected yourself. There was no dramatic, cheesy or cliché story that we all love from Capcom, just an everyday man or woman trying to survive.
Resident Evil online. Now, for me, when you apply Cooperative play in a “horror” game then you lose all aspect of fear. I was a huge fan of Dead space when that came out on PS3 and still play it, but then Dead Space 2 came out and I instantly saw the difference, it was fast paced action all the way to the end with almost no time to build up any sense of dread or fear. Then Dead Space 3 came out with Coop play and lost it’s way again.
The same happened to the Resident Evil series, but not at first believe it or not.
Resident evil outbreak file 2 came out and utilized the PlayStation 2’s online features. If you could get the damn thing set up for online play then you were in for treat, the last real survival horror coop experience (in my opinion). You could go online with other players and try to survive the deadly and puzzling scenarios of File 2 without sacrificing the horror and survival element. With the traditional controls and camera styles of the original Resi games this was by far the ultimate online experience for the franchise. I wish they would bring this series back.
As a fan of what Resident evil used to be I feel Capcom have turned their heads towards the mainstream of video gaming without much imagination and inspiration going into the new Resi games. Instead of remastering the originals I would love to see Capcom bring back Resident evil to its former glory, none of this high-octane thrill ride that looks like it was directed by Michael Bay.
I still want the cliché and cheesy storyline but with the original style gameplay and puzzles, I mean….. What happened to the puzzles!
It’s been a fun ride full of action but now I think it’s time we turned around and head back to it’s roots.
Lets us know what your favourite Resident Evil game is and tell us, do you think the Resident Evil franchise is heading in the right direction or should it go back to it’s roots?
Thank you for reading.
Author: Paul ‘Captain’ Austin
Dedicated Gamers shack 