A History of Resident Evil
Richard charts the roots of evil
As the Resident Evil series has continued, the emphasis upon conserving your bullets has been pushed further and further out of the picture and the focus has gradually shifted into more action-oriented pastures. Resident Evil 2 introduced a huge array of weaponry to exploit including arguably the series' finest weapon; the Ulysses-blessed customised Magnum that could decapitate five zombies lined up in one shot. This was really the moment when it was clear that explosive gunplay would win out over slow burn puzzling in any subsequent Resident Evil games. Being able to unlock a minigun able to plough through slavering zombie hordes and a shotgun so powerful it sent player character Leon skidding backwards with each shot was indicative of Resident Evil's gradual shift in tone. At one point you could use the modified shotgun to blow holes out into the TV screen it had such a kick (a really cool example of Resi 2 momentarily breaking the fourth wall). For our money Resident Evil 2 represented not only the pinnacle of action and horror gaming, but also what gaming could offer in terms of value for money with its hugely generous replayability. In featuring four different scenarios for two different characters - Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield - Resi 2 set a precedent for subsequent RE games, in bonus modes such as Mercenaries or the 'Separate Ways' missions playing as Ada in Resi 4 on PlayStation 2.
While Resident Evil 3: Nemesis closed the book on the first PlayStation's trilogy of proper Resi games (the less said about lightgun instalment Survivor, the better) in 1999, it still stuck steadfastly to the tried and tested template with the same static bitmap backdrops and polygonal player models. It took six years, a semi-sequel for the Dreamcast in Code Veronica and two failed attempts to bring Resident Evil online with the much-maligned Outbreak games, before Resident Evil 4 made its triumphant debut on Nintendo's GameCube. Answering every fan's prayers, Resident Evil 4 saw Shinji Mikami return as director after the initial build of the game eventually became Devil May Cry. Doing away with the fixed camera and static backgrounds of old, Resident Evil 4 reinvigorated the series and represented a bold step towards an even purer shooting experience. With a new third-person, over-the-shoulder viewpoint that allowed players to easily scan their surroundings and aim far easier than ever before, Resident Evil became less about disembodied sounds and unseen terrors, more about head-on confrontation. Less about scraping around for ammunition and health pick-ups, more about amassing gold to buy it from the merchant ("not enough cash, stranger"). Best of all though, there was no more searching for tiny keys for doors you could easily kick down; now you could just jump in through the window or boot them into splinters.
Resident Evil 4 is for some the highest point in the series yet, as it took a once revolutionary franchise fast growing stale and breathed new life into the essential formula, rendering it fresh and relevant once again. It married all of the best elements from the previous games, making for the purest, most playable Resident Evil experience yet. The Las Plagas infected villagers (Los Ganados) move in numbers, throwing their scythes and pitchforks at you, the underlying threat of being cornered and overwhelmed intensified by the rusty rasp of Dr. Salvador's chainsaw. Get too close to his hessian-sacked visage and you'd be subjected to a grisly animation of Leon's head being sawn off in a showering plume of blood. The themes of body horror still persist with the parasitic Las Plagas virus manifesting itself through the neck stumps of your enemies, emerging to swallow Leon's head in one fatal bite or as a scuttling insectoid creature able to pounce at you with its spindly legs (exactly like John Carpenter's The Thing). As horrible as that may seem, Resident Evil always maintains an air of pantomime theatrics in the telling of its story with cackling, dastardly villains like Salazar, Hammer Horror-like Osmund Sadler and stalwart sneering antagonist Albert Wesker, who always seems to crop up in the nefarious machinations of the shady Umbrella Corporation. In fact you may have seen Wesker in the most recent trailers for Resident Evil 5 boasting almost supernatural powers, able to move at lightning speeds while looking incredibly smug. You'll have to find out for yourself how he fits into the labyrinthine narrative of the latest Resident Evil game though.
Comments
I'm so tired of the Wii not getting any good games. It's always either 360 or PS3 that get the great games
Advice for new buyer:Get 360
You've got MadWorld out tomorrow. Check out our review coming soon.
hi
Its not that game developers are biased towards systems like the 360 or PS3, its just that most 3rd party wii games have awful controls and so Nintendo is the only company able to make playable games for it (There are some exceptions Madworld,RE4, etc.) so if you get a Wii be prepared to be playing Mario and Zelda Games with the odd unique title thrown in every once in a while. No system is better then the other they each have equal potential its just that the Wii is a much greater challange that many developers cannot handle