Resident Evil: A Look Back

It's indisputable that Resident Evil has become a very well-known series. Games, books and even Hollywood movies, the series seems to be growing and growing like no one thought possible. But has the series strayed from its roots too much? I'm going to take you back through the years, and at the end, you be the judge.

Top: Resident Evil 1 remake
Bottom: Resident Evil 4

Now, I love the series, been playing it since it originally released on the PSone back in 1997, while the graphics are terrible compared to today's standards, I enjoyed it (although I didn't get far, as I was only 7 at the time ;p). When Resident Evil 2 came out, I was 8 and able to focus on it a bit more than I could with Resident Evil 1 (plus the game looked much nicer). This game set the standards for the series, characters were thought out (as thought out as they could be back then), the story was excellent and the game was just all around enjoyable. I spent hours playing RE2, first Leon, then Claire, then Claire and Leon, I played the hell out of this game.

When Resident Evil 3: Nemesis came out in 1999, the series got even better. The already well thought out characters received an overhaul and looked and acted much better than their previous counterparts. I got attached to Jill, Carlos and even lesser character such as Mikhail and Nicholai. The threat of the Nemesis, a giant BOW (Bio-Organic Weapon) that pursued you throughout the game, always making you check your corners and look over your shoulder (as if we needed more of it in this game). Even better was the fact that after beating the game, you unlocked Operation: Mad Jackal, where you were able to play as Mikhail, Carlos or Nicholai and earn awesome items for the main game.

Resident Evil: Code Veronica was much more challenging for me, I had a helluva time beating it, whether that was due to actual difficulty or a poorly made game is up for debate, none the less, this was a good game.

"Wait, you just said it was poorly made.... da fuck?"

Don't get me wrong, it was, but it also did things that made up for that, the story was something from M.Shyamalan, full of twists, there were quite a few enemies that made you go, "Holy shit!" Some being Hulk Steve and the giant Dragonfly Alexia and other bizarre shit.

Now, this is where the series started taking a dive for me, a hardcore fan. Resident Evil 4. Don't get me wrong, the game itself was good, but I believe it was no where near deserving the title of "Resident Evil". Resident Evil is about zombies and surviving a zombie outbreak, not playing as a Government Agent and saving the world. The game itself is good, as I said before, the mechanics work well and the overall gameplay is fun. But throwing on the Resident Evil name was a crappy move.

Resident Evil 5 suffered the same issues as its predecessor, using the Resident Evil name, but having no zombies at all. Again, the game works well, but not as a Resident Evil entry.

Now, trailers of Resident Evil 6 show zombies, which I applaud, give the fans what they like, after all, we made the series what it is. What I don't like is that in the same trailer, Chris is shown as doing these superhero moves, taking out what look like parasite infested people from Resident Evil 4 and 5, killing people with guns leaping over shit and so much more.... I don't like "One man can save the world" type games, if this happened, we'd all be dead. Keep the series as it was, the struggle for survival.