Friday, 31 July 2009

• The Past, Present and Future of Resident Evil

  Resident Evil producer Jun Takeuchi's thinks... well, he doesn't really have any thoughts as to where the series should go now. It appears no one at Capcom knows what to do now after Resident Evil 5 bowed out to a lukewarm reception and backlash as vicious as any zombie attack.
  
  Which prompts me to ponder about the past, present and future of the series. The series just can't stop with Resident Evil 5, considering what a mixed bag it is. Capcom should take a long, hard look at what worked - and what didn't - in the past in order to step forward into the future.
  
  What follows is my (lengthy) blow-by-blow of the main installments of the Resident Evil franchise. Feel free to relax, play the music above and give it a glance if you're unfamiliar with the series or if you need a refresher.
  
  Otherwise, let's rap about the best and worst of Resident Evil in the comments. Which one's your favorite? Your least favorite? Was Resident Evil 5 all that bad? What do you think Resident Evil 6 should be like?

  

  The first Resident Evil established an atmosphere of dread unseen in video games until then. By limiting ammo and health items players had to think twice before shooting that creature or healing wounds. You didn't know when you'd see your next ammo box or healing herb, which added a psychological aspect unseen in games at the time. Perhaps Capcom should bring the series back to its survival horror roots, where thinking ahead is just as important as crowning that crawling cadaver.
  
  The setting -- the maze-like mansion -- added so much menace as well, something that some later games sorely lacked or simply mimicked. When Capcom remade the first game on GameCube the mansion became a living, terrifying monster, something that didn't even need zombies or killer dogs to inhabit it to be frightening. Hopefully later games will emphasize a claustrophobic setting once more.
  
  It also introduced a conspiracy tale that really was intriguing. The whole time playing you wondered what could have possibly caused this zombie outbreak. Who knew it would turn out to be an evil medicine company?

  

  Resident Evil 2 expanded the mythos, and the overall gameplay, into action movie territory. If Resident Evil 1 is the Alien of the franchise, Res Evil 2 is Aliens - you're less helpless and armed to the teeth against twice the amount of creatures than before. Heck, there's even a nightmarish abomination going around impregnating people with chest bursters, and new hero Claire Redfield forms a motherly attachment to a girl who survives the horror by crawling around in air ducts.
  
  James Cameron's influence doesn't end there either. Mr. X, a Terminator-like behemoth, follows the player around in an alternate "B scenario", a mode that unlocks after you beat the game for the first time with either Claire or the other new character, Leon S. Kennedy. By loading your "A scenario" save data using the other character you could play the B scenario.
  
  The A/B Scenario mechanic greatly extended the game's value, giving players incentive to see the story unfold differently, and to toy with new weapons, costumes and new enemies, like the aforementioned Monsieur X, who broke down walls and doors to smash your face in. If Capcom could do something like the A/B Scenario thing again, that would be great.
  
  Heck, considering how beloved Resident Evil 2 is -- it's like the Final Fantasy VII of the series -- it'd be great if they just remade it. It worked for Res Evil 1!

  
  

  Resident Evil 3: Nemesis had a lot of cool ideas (Goosebumps-style branching paths in the narrative, the Nemesis battles... um...) but it was a step back in many ways. The story was stalled completely, the characters had none of the charm of Leon or Claire, and spending all that time in Raccoon City again made it a less interesting retread of Res Evil 2. Let's face it, it was a cash-in. A perfectly adequate cash-in, but one nonetheless. It didn't help it had only two difficulties, too -- baby easy and balls to the wall hard. Talk about your extremes.
  

  But hey, it introduced the quick turn, which allowed for easy retreats.
  
  Oh, but wait! When you beat Resident Evil 3, you get some quick summaries of what all the other characters in the mythology are up to. Barry Burton, Carlos Olivera, the mercenary Hunk, Sherry Birkin... How about the next game gives us another update of our beloved, forgotten characters?

  

  The next game in the series showed up first on the Sega Dreamcast. Resident Evil CODE: Veronica was the big step forward fans wanted, with graphics rendered in gorgeous full 3D instead of the static pre-rendered backgrounds the series used until then. The game's scope was much larger than anything previous. Claire Redfield toughened up and brought the fight against the evil Umbrella Company to a vast creepy prison island and then to a vast creepy Antarctic research base. It felt like a huge adventure, like things were really escalating in the Resident Evil universe.
  
  The third dimension also introduced more precise aiming, allowing a first-person perspective with some weapons, which made for some tense, creative boss battles.
  
  Then Resident Evil 4 came along-- oh wait. No, that's not right. First we had to suffer through Resident Evil Zero.

  

  After the amazing Resident Evil 1 remake, Zero disappointed greatly. It tried a lot of risky things and missed the mark with all of them. Like most shoddy prequels, it was pointless. Who cares about Rebecca Chambers or that Billy guy? The story didn't do anything for the overall plot, and it trivialized the antagonist of Resident Evil 2, William Birkin -- a high crime, indeed.
  
  The item-dropping and partner-switching system, that you would think would make things easier, ended up clunky and infuriating. Weak monster design (everything's an animal with boils and sores?) and poor level design (wide open room, long hallway, wide open room, long hallway, snore) made the game out to be a complete bore.
  
  At this point, the franchise needed a shot in the arm. Badly.
  
  Which is exactly what Resident Evil 4 did. What more can be said about it? It's a fantastic game, a classic only a few years after release. It gives you a GREAT main character, Leon from Resident Evil 2, this time with a goofy sense of humor and vulnerability. I mean, the guy could die so many different ways. The variety of enemies (the Regenerators!) and some of the greatest boss battles in the history of the medium helped make it a landmark game. On the Video Game Timeline, there's Before Resident Evil 4 and After Resident Evil 4.

  

  Shame Capcom threw out that giant plot they built up for... what, exactly? A Spanish midget and the president's daughter (THE PRESIDENT'S DAUGHTER!!)? If a lesser game pulled that kind of stunt I would've been pissed me to no end, but Resident Evil 4 was awesome enough to overlook its goofy plot.
  
  Although it did kind of set up Resident Evil 5. Which brings us to the present.
  
  Resident Evil 5... yeah, I dunno. I liked it better than most. Co-op is fun, the setpieces are definitely a blast, Sheva Alomar is a decent addition to the cast, and the graphics are phenomenal. Plundering treasure and selling it at the end of every chapter got boring very quickly though, and Chris Redfield is someone the designers love way too much. The guy's a superman, someone who inspires fear in main villain Wesker for... some reason. He's too stuffy and serious, nowhere near as fun as Leon. And his big moment is punching a boulder.
  
  That's another thing. The QTEs worked way better in Res Evil 4 than 5. When you have entire (climactic!) scenes played out in that Simon Says fashion it just gets tiresome. And stupid.

  

  Speaking of stupid, Wesker makes NO sense... the plot basically amounts to the same thing as House of the Dead 2. Wesker wants to be a god? So, being god means having control over a bunch of festering mutants? The hell? This is what we waited five years since Resident Evil 4 for? Over a decade since the beginning of the series?! Ugh.
  
  And the boss fights were pathetic, too. Sitting in a turret? Zero Suit Jill? Sitting in a turret again?! They were drawn out and hardly a challenge at all.
  
  Otherwise... Res Evil 5 was okay. What's better than okay is the multiplayer Mercenaries game that unlocks after you beat it. That's awesome. Maybe the next game should just be a version of that where you can play as every character from the series?
  
  Or how about, as I've alluded to this entire time, a new game that combines the best of the Before RE4 games -- primarily the RE1 GameCube remake, Resident Evil 2 and CODE: Veronica -- into a shiny HD new-gen package?

  

  Really, anything besides another Umbrella Chronicles. Darkside Chronicles looks like it could be okay (only because it's obviously pandering to RE2 fans), but I'd hate for this series to devolve into a House of the Dead wannabe.
  
  Phew. Thoughts?
  
  I'll ask again: Which game in the series resonates with you most? Was Resident Evil 5 all that bad? What do you think Resident Evil 6 should be like?

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