Yep, you read the headline right. Chris Redfield is back in the game. Players can once again shoot the zombies on their knees and rush in for a backhand or a haymaker right in the face! Resident Evil 7, the top selling game of last January, will be having its new downloadable content entitled, ‘Not a Hero’. Oh, and heads up! There will be spoilers here. So, if you have not finished the main storyline of the video game yet, please finish it first. Remember, you have been warned. Enjoy!
Meet the new Chris Redfield
After all the released downloadable contents from Capcom that gave us a glimpse of the life of the Bakers, Capcom twitted the following in their official twitter account:
Chris Redfield returns in the free “Not A Hero” DLC for #RE7 this Spring. Who or what is he chasing? Find out soon in this separate story. pic.twitter.com/vYQhSkfyVT
…and they finally answered the question that people has been asking after finishing the main storyline, “Was that really Chris Redfield in the ending of the main game (Resident Evil 7)?”
Still, many of us are still begging for an answer for this one question, how did Chris transform from this:
Chris Redfield before the magical transformation or illness that we are unaware of
…to this:
Chris Redfield after refusing to continue going to the gym
Did he refuse to eat and sleep or did he eat mama Marguerite’s special meal?
“Do you seriously think I’ll eat Marguerite’s soup of God-knows-what? Dude…”
Chris Redfield will be starring in Resident Evil 7’s latest downloadable content entitled, ‘Not a Hero’. Yep, he will probably have that Solid Snake vibe saying, “I’m no hero, never was”; saying that he’s only hired to do some job. This downloadable content will be out this coming Spring. So, watch out for it, mark your calendars and prepare for more Chris Redfield.
“I’m no hero…never was.”
What will the new DLC be about?
Yeah, this was a bummer…tell me you were like, “Wait…what?”, just like I was.
There are a lot of speculations as to what the whole downloadable content will be about. Especially now that Capcom hinted in their tweet that Chris will be chasing someone or something. One of the speculations is that, the DLC will feature Chris and his hunt for our beloved Lucas Baker. Yep, the one and only trap-and-party-loving-psychopath-that-blew-a-freaking-cake-for-fun Lucas. A lot of people speculated this because he is the only survivor of the Baker family and Umbrella might want something from him. Which brings us to one more speculation, the DLC will answer the question on how our beloved Chris Redfield become an Umbrella agent. Yes, Umbrella, that pharmaceutical and medical company-slash-organization that started the whole virus thing? I am sure you have heard of them.
The last speculation is the former two combined. Some say that the latest DLC will start from how Chris Redfield became an agent of Umbrella Corporation, to him ending up saving Ethan – and Mia, depending on the player’s choices – from the Bakers, and end with Chris confronting Lucas Baker. If so, we may be subject to another ‘game’ by that crazy, yet brilliant, psychopath.
“Get me out of here, Lucas! I swear if I get to you…You piece of – “
Are you excited for “Not a Hero” DLC?
These are just speculations and we can not wait for the release of the downloadable content. Is Chris Redfield now an Umbrella operative? Will Lucas Baker make a grand comeback? What do you think is the significance of the label “Not a Hero”? Tell us what you think in the comments down below and let’s talk.
It is that time again. Sony and Microsoft have released their offerings for Games with Gold and PlayStation Plus for the month of October. For the first time in a little while, I can say get hyped if you’re on the Sony side of things. And even if you are not, you can always become a Sony fanboy, nobody would mind now, right?
Here are the free games for PlayStation users on all platforms, make sure you check out our list below and download them all:
Resident Evil – PS4
Transformers: Devastation – PS4
Mad Riders – PS3
From Dust – PS3
Code: Realize ~Guardian Of Rebirth~, PS Vita
Actual Sunlight – PS Vita
Wow. Sony wanted to make a statement this month with a ridiculously solid headliner. One of the most influential games in the history of video games and a surprisingly fun action game from the legendary Platinum Games.
Resident Evil, the GameCube remake of the original title is one of the best remakes of all time. It perfected and changed everything that needed work in the original while keeping what makes the base game so pure and important. It is most surprising to me that it still manages to look that good on what was at one point limited hardware. The power of pre-rendered backgrounds!
Beyond this, we get the shockingly fun and solid Transformers: Devastation, another well-crafted action game that demonstrates that Platinum Games might be the Telltale of Japan.
Rounding this out is From Dust, one of my absolute favourite indies on the PlayStation platform. A simple yet elegant concept coupled with fantastic art direction and some superbly crafted gameplay segments. Or, in other words, something you definitely shouldn’t skip.
And now it’s time for the slightly underwhelming Xbox offerings.
Super Mega Baseball: Extra Innings – Xbox One
The Escapists – Xbox One
MX vs ATV Reflex – Xbox 360
I Am Alive – Xbox 360
I honestly don’t have much to say for this batch. While I can’t directly say that any of these games are good or bad having played only one of them briefly, it is very underwhelming given Sony’s fantastic freebies.
I Am Alive, a game stuck in development hell for far too long, is a mostly solid survival game that offers some unique mechanics and an interesting world to explore. It’s by no means a great game, but it’s worth the bandwidth and hard drive space.
Beyond that, I’ve heard good things about The Escapists, so I guess this will be my chance to check it out.
The worst part about a great plot twist is that spoilers for it are bound to precede the story it appears in for anyone that was late to the party. Even if you’ve never seen a second of the films Psycho, Planet of the Apes, or The Sixth Sense, you probably already know all of their most famous surprises due to how ingrained they’ve become in popular culture. With video games often growing into franchises, spoilers are even harder to avoid as major twists of previous games can be played up in promotions for the newest one. The following spoilers are almost unavoidable now due to how much they’ve been brought up since in their respective franchises. If you follow games media even lightly, you already know all of these insides and out. However, for the sake of those that have managed to avoid learning these twists early, I’ll just be listing the titles of the specific games being spoiled so you can skip any entries that you’re worried about. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
7. Final Fantasy VII
This one doesn’t exactly fit the theme of the article given that the Final Fantasy franchise tends to reboot its lore with each numbered entry, but it’s hard not to call it one of the most famous and unavoidable plot twists in gaming history. Partway through the game, one of your party members, the kind-hearted Aerith, is fatally wounded by the villainous Sephiroth. Despite countless rumors of a way to revive her, her death is irreversible without hacking the game. While Final Fantasy VII has had plenty of spin-offs, the only one I can think of that made a point of Aerith’s death is the Advent Children film. However, it still belongs on the list just for being the one thing that is always the first to come up in any discussion of the game. It’s gotten to the point where most people don’t even recognize it as a spoiler and just assume it to be common knowledge. How many news outlets do you think mused about the possibility of resurrecting Aerith while reporting on the recently announced remake? Even the quirky competitive FPS Screencheat uses her name as one of its many analogies for killing an opponent. That’s the thing with big surprises; everyone starts to either analyze or satirize it endlessly.
6. Metal Gear Solid 2
The first thing that comes up with any conversation on Metal Gear Solid 2 is its infamous bait-and-switch that had regular protagonist Solid Snake built up as the lead in all demonstrations and marketing for the game, only to replace him with an entirely new character named Raiden. Where the big twist of Final Fantasy VII is one of the most discussed topics of the game, the bait-and-switch of Raiden is the only thing that ever receives any attention when discussing MGS2 or even just the character of Raiden. When Metal Gear Rising, a spin-0ff centered entirely around Raiden, was released years later, many were still so jaded by his appearance in MGS2 that they refused to give the spin-off a chance. It’s actually pretty ironic given that Raiden was actually built from the ground up as a parody of the very fanboys that hate him, spending most of the game whining right alongside the bitter players for the ‘real’ Snake to get involved in the mission. Typical Kojima.
5. Warcraft III
Prince Arthas Menethil, the main hero of Warcraft III, is pretty much your typical Prince Charming when the game starts out. That’s what makes it such a shock when he turns to the dark side and ultimately changes from being one of Azeroth’s most celebrated champions to one of its most repulsive monsters. His descent begins when an undead curse begins to spread across the land, turning people into mindless ghouls. Desperate to contain the curse, Arthas resorts to slaughtering an entire village that has been infected but has yet to fully turn. It’s a brutal choice that immediately turns both his mentor and his beloved against him. Eventually, his struggle against the forces of darkness leads him to not only embrace the undead curse himself, but to even become its leader as the infamous Lich King. From there, Arthas quickly became Warcraft‘s most iconic villain with an entire expansion in World of Warcraft centering around his final downfall and being made a playable character in Heroes of the Storm. If you haven’t been following Warcraft lore from the start, it’s likely too late to check out Warcraft III without already knowing who goes full Darth Vader in it.
4. Fire Emblem: Awakening
Here’s a tip: If you don’t want games spoiled for you, don’t even look at the Super Smash Bros games as you can find massive spoilers for other games just by looking at the character roster. For example, there’s the identity of the masked swordsman going by the name Marth from Fire Emblem: Awakening. This was built up as the big mystery for Awakening right from the game’s reveal and remained the focal point of its marketing all the way up to its release. How could the legendary hero king from the very first Fire Emblem game, whose reign was generations ago, be appearing in this era? Well, you could play the game yourself to discover the truth, or you could just take a glance at Super Smash Bros for Wii U and 3DS. As it turns out, it’s not King Marth traveling from the past, but Prince Chrom’s daughter Lucina traveling from the future. While having Lucina appearing on the roster may not immediately give away that she’s the Marth impersonator, her using the mask from the disguise as one of her taunts and Kirby wearing the same mask after stealing her ability certainly make it obvious. At least they didn’t give away the time-travel part from tha… She mentions it in one of her victory quotes, doesn’t she?
3. Portal
Here’s one that’s become so ubiquitous that you’ve probably forgotten that it even is a plot twist: GLaDOS, the mastermind behind the first Portal game, is actually a psychotic computer out to kill you. Today, that just seems as obvious as the fact that you use portals, but this was actually a massive surprise when the game first came out. Remember that Portal was first released as a part of the Orange Box alongside the highly anticipated Half-Life 2: Episode 2 and Team Fortress 2 with little build-up for the tacked-on puzzle game. People started it up thinking it was just some simple bonus that was thrown in with the big releases because it wouldn’t sell on its own. Then it starts throwing around a dark sense of humor slowly enough for it to be cynically charming. As you dig deeper, it becomes more and more apparent that this facility is not what it seems and that everything has been designed to tear you apart physically and mentally. Finally, you meet with the mechanical mastermind to shut down her devious plans… And then GLaDOS became the most iconic character in the Portal franchise, being heavily promoted for the sequel, making cameos in Poker Night at the Inventory 2 and the film Pacific Rim, and generally made it impossible for anyone to enjoy the same mental trip that Portal once offered again.
2. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Smash strikes again, but at least it’s not the only guilty party for this one. The fact that the mysterious ninja warrior named Sheik is actually the missing Princess Zelda in disguise has been made abundantly clear in anything and everything to feature Sheik since. First, Super Smash Bros Melee introduced both Zelda and Sheik as playable fighters with the unique ability to transform from one to the other during matches. This was carried over into Brawl before being cut with the 3DS and Wii U entries making the two completely separate characters, but the damage had already been done by that point. Even then, Hyrule Warriors came by to make sure nobody forgot the princess’s double-life by making it a plot point in its own campaign. At this point, expecting anyone to be surprised at Sheik’s true identity is a joke in and of itself.
1. Resident Evil
Capcom really couldn’t try harder to make the single biggest plot twist from the original Resident Evil known to everyone, regardless of whether or not they’ve ever even touched it game or any games in the series. One of the members of your team sent into the Spencer Mansion, Albert Wesker, is secretly a double-agent working to sabotage your operations from the inside. It’s shocking to discover that, after all of the horrors you’ve struggled to survive against, one of your own is actually complicit in it all and working to cover it up. Or, at least, it would be shocking if Wesker hadn’t been made into the main villain of the series and highly advertised his turn to the dark side in future titles. Not only did he reappear as the antagonist in several RE games, such as a major selling point for Resident Evil 5 being the chance to finally take revenge on him, he’s also appeared in two of the live-action films and as a playable character in Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 and Lost Planet 2. Each time he’s appeared, it’s been readily apparent that he’s the baddest bad guy that the entire RE series has to offer. Honestly, it feels like he should have just been a low-level goon that died within the first game and have a new character take up the role of the mastermind if only to keep the surprise fresh for a lot more people late to the party. If you haven’t already picked up Resident Evil with any of the half-dozen rereleases that the game has had over the years, you’re going to have to go in already knowing who the surprise villain is right from the start.
What spoilers are you sick of seeing everywhere? Do you have any that should have been included on the list? Leave a comment below and let us know what you think.
I’ve got no problem with Resident Evil Revelations 2 (or Revelations 2, for ease), apart from that girl who points at everything like she’s just seen E.T. for the first time… and the fact that Barry has slightly better voice acting (Jill sandwich for life), but Revelations 2 seems to me an opportunity sadly wasted.
Let’s face it; Resident Evil is HOT right now. With Resident Evil HD edition officially achieving the title of the fastest selling Capcom game ever to grace the PlayStation Network, now is a great time to celebrate all that original Biohazard horror and bring back old favorites like Barry Burton, right? Well, yes and no.
Strategically, the recent releases were a golden idea; first, you’re hit with Resident Evil HD, an admittedly terrifying experience regardless of its age that just the other day, had three grown men cowering to the plinky-plonky music of typewriter-laden safe rooms (I was among these ‘men’). Then there’s Revelations 2, which brings you back to modern day ease and a more comfortable (and less atmospheric) experience. Though, when I first heard that Revelations 2 was an episodic game experience, I was excited, nay ready, for something fresh and new.
When reading first impressions and user reviews, I was a tad disappointed at the lack of tropes that I’ve tended to associate episodic gaming with. The traits of the excellent Telltale games appear to be absent in Revelations 2, and while these traits are not a necessity in episodic games, I feel that implementing some of them could have presented new opportunities. It got me thinking ‘if any game could benefit from moral choices that led to multiple endings, resident evil is it.’ Imagine if the bowel-stopping horror was combined with split-second choices that resulted in putting either yourself or your buddy character at serious risk?
Resident Evil one went a good way to inspiring this thought train. Between the gasps of uncontrollable horror, I was able to identify the kind of actions that led to the game’s multiple endings. Revelations 2 was a fantastic opportunity to bring multiple routes back to Resident Evil. That’s not to say that the thought of making hard decisions on top of the general horror game stress doesn’t terrify me, but that’s the point, right?
Just imagine seeing ‘this action will have consequences’ after every seemingly innocuous decision, or having the game tell you that Natalia (the buddy character that menacingly points at things) will ‘remember this’ whenever you do something morally suspect. Features like this would also allow you to influence the buddy characters in the game, like the way Corvo’s actions can change Emily’s view of the world in Dishonoured.
Now that the holidays are over and dispensed with, and the TV has stopped bombarding us with adverts featuring snow and jangly music, it’s time to look forward. 2014 was an odd year for games, what with Gamergate and snowball fights to the death in Grand Theft Auto V and all. But it’s time to leave all of that behind.
Today, we’re starting a series of quick guides to some of the biggest and best upcoming games this year. This is probably a controversial choice to be starting with, on many radars but unlikely to be at the top of players’ lists. Neverthless, buckle up for Resident Evil Revelations 2.
When the original hit the 3DS three years ago, I was sceptical. All of the hypetastic was pointing to a true return to the series’ roots; to the balls-out survival horror which fans feared was long gone. Since Resident Evil 4, as we know, things had taken a gung-ho, Arnold Schwarzenegger movie turn. Games 5 and 6 elevated this yet further, and are closer to TPS than anything.
This isn’t to say that they did nothing right. Much as I, and many others, love the earlier Evils, the mechanics do feel a little archaic. I have to admit that I much prefer the over-the-shoulder control scheme and dynamic camera. Just not at the expense of the exploration, the atmosphere and the puzzling that gave the series its name.
Revelations, I was delighted to find, managed to blend the old and the new successfully. It didn’t please everybody, as nothing does, but was well-recieved and in my book the most Resident Evil Resident Evil we’ve seen for some time. On a handheld, to boot.
For the sequel, we’re expanding on the same formula. Another duo of series stalwarts are returning; Claire Redfield and ginger bearded hero Barry Burton in this case. Interestingly, Claire’s partner is Barry’s daughter, Moira Burton, making her franchise debut. The two have been kidnapped, and awake in a mysterious and distinctly creepy facility. You know how this all works.
The partner-zapping mechanic so prominent in Resident Evil Zero makes its return here. It’s essential to Revelations 2‘s puzzles, as each member can perform actions the other cannot. Moira, for instance, is unarmed, instead wielding a torch with which she can uncover hidden objects and the like. As well as, y’know, lighting the surroundings. That’s a given.
With all new totally-not-zombies enemies, brilliant throwbacks to the past and that spangly new control system, this is a real one to watch this year. It’s being released in episodes, which some may find obnoxious, but at least it’s a convenient and cheap way to try out this new brand of Evil. The first installment hits next month, and it’s highly recommended to anyone familiar with the games.
Resident Evil 4 was the game that brought a paradigm shift to the franchise. As such, it’s an odd case that is as celebrated as it is scorned (and if anybody does scorn, it’s the nerdsassins of the Internet).
Over the course of the original trilogy, we got a cast-iron sense of what Resident Evil is. What is should be, shall be and darn well will be. Survival horror was to mean claustrophobia-tastic static camera angles and wonky movement/aiming. It was also to mean baffling puzzles with square-shaped cranks, which you’d have to backtrack for half an hour to find a use for. That was the genre, right there, and we loved it.
Nemesis suddenly careening through a wall towards us and making us foul ourselves? We lived for that stuff.
When the fourth game arrived, it completely obliterated all of those expectations. For better or worse, the horror/shooter/TPS/whatever-else-is-going-on-here genre was born. But the question is –the question you see right at the top of the page there– did it keep the spirit of Resident Evil alive in the process?
The title began life in 2005, as a Gamecube exclusive. It’s the story of Leon Kennedy’s merry little jaunt to Europe, and the furious, murder-your-face-right-in-the-face cult he managed to irritate while there. His objective was the rescue the president’s daughter, who was rumoured to have been sighted in the area. Naturally, from his first encounter with the locals, it was clear that something was very wrong here.
There’s nary a zombie to be seen. Instead, your first foes are the Ganados, regular farmfolk infected by the Las Plagas parasite. This is essentially a one-way ticket to homicidal crazy town. They still maintain some semblance of human intelligence, and you’ll find yourself besieged in a house very early in the adventure. The Ganados will plan among themselves, smash down your barricades and raise ladders to the upper windows. One particularly hung-ho gentleman brings along his chainsaw to attack you with. It’s all rather dramatic.
Suffice it to say that these are a world away from the shambling undead of yore. Enemies are agile, tenacious and well-equipped (once you reach the island at the end of the game, they’ll have rocket launchers and miniguns), and there are many horrifying scenarios to overcome.
But how does this translate into survival horror? There are certainly some scary situations. The barn siege with Luis, the ambush by the Bella Sisters and the Regenerator/Iron Maiden business is a shocker for sure. There are also charming little Resident Evil touches sprinkled throughout, NPCs who have recently suffered grisly deaths and such.
Resident Evil 4‘s issue is that it’s a great game, but not a great Resident Evil game. It feels more like a spin-off, rooted in the franchise’s world but still very much its own entity. There are flashes, but it’s just not enough. It is also derided for its legacy, with the following two games taking further great leaps from survival horror ideals. Still, if you can look on it in these terms, it’s certainly worthy of its title as one of the best games we’ve seen in recent years.
Few games have had such a seminal impact on a genre as Resident Evil. These are gaming’s defining moments, the yardsticks by which future releases are compared. In the case, it’s pretty well the source of the zombies that are every-darn-where in games just now. You can hardly turn around for rotting shamblers chewing on your undercrackers, and it’s all thanks to this 1996 classic.
But hey, let’s not hold that against it.
Resident Evil hit the PlayStation eighteen years ago. You’re presumably familiar with the sorry tale of Jill Valetine and Chris Redfield, but here’s a quick recap. The elite S.T.A.R.S team has been dispatched to investigate a series of horrific murders in Raccoon City. Contact with the Bravo team is lost in the Arklay Mountains, which prompts a rescue-the-rescuers effort from Alpha squad.
And so begins that classic romp through the forest we all know so well. There’ll be a dodgy mansion to cruise through, rabid hellhounds gnawing at delicate fleshy bits and Wesker wearing his sunglasses indoors like a foolish fool.
Fans will fondly remember that opening cutscene, and how utterly cheesetastic it was. But somewhere in that big ol’ display of awful, awful acting, survival horror history was being made. Jill, Chris, Barry (with his ever-brilliant ginger beard) and co seek refuge in the Spencer Mansion. Once inside, they discover zombies and all manner of other festering secrets. Betrayal, secret super-villainy, elaborate faked deaths, it’s quite the drama.
Under the bed? That’s like SO last century. For today’s discerning monster, in the wardrobe is the fashionable place to lurk.
I’m sure I don’t have to go into the gameplay. As either Chris or Jill, you’ll traverse the mansion and piece together its secrets. Through the magic of static camera angles and infamously tanky controls, you explore and take out the fiends that now inhabit the cursed place. It isn’t just combat, either, with a range of different kind of puzzles to tackle; most of which involve some irritating inventory-flailing.
While bumbling around, and enduring cryptically crap clues from your fellows, you piece together the mystery. These strange beasts are the results of unholy experiments by the pharmaceutical company, Umbrella Corporation. That darn T-virus (‘Angry Mutants in a Can!’).
Survival horror as a genre was… severely lacking in 1996. Resident Evil served as the template for ‘doing it right,’ and has brought us almost two decades of bizarre plotlines and fun with zombies since. More recent releases may be more questionable, but that’s a story for another day.
At first glance, the Ganados just look like innocuous old dudes. You could mistake them for somebody’s grandpa. Albeit not the kind of grandpa who eats mint imperials, and tells wild stories about his past which may or may not be true. This is the kind of grandpa who SPROUTS Evil BIG OL’ TENTACLE-SPIKES WHERE HIS HEAD USED TO BE.
Resident Evil 4, as we know, eschewed that whole zombies-shuffling-about-in-shadowy-corners thing. It was a fancy new blend of survival horror and TPS. Dispensing with those static camera angles and cumbersome controls in favour of much more dynamic and actiontastic gameplay.
What did all of this mean? It meant that festering, hobbling simpletons wouldn’t do as opponents any longer. After all, our hero Leon can now run properly, and use a laser sight to aim his gun wherever he darn well pleases. Could the zombies of yore compete with those kinds of tricks? They couldn’t. And so, the Ganados were born.
From the first moment Mr. Scott Kennedy shows a villager a photograph of the kidnapped Ashley, he knows he’s dealing with some badasses right here (it was that axe waved at his forehead that tipped him off, our hero is quick on the uptake like that). These guys are aggressive, strong and beardy, and they don’t take kindly to strangers. Leon has no idea what he’s let himself in for.
The Ganados are the first enemies you encounter, in the game’s opening area, Pueblo (the village). They are humans, ‘possessed’ by Resident Evil 4‘s new spin on Umbrella’s viruses: the Las Plagas parasite. It has a similar effect to those, making the infected aggressive and just generally worse house guests, but without the whole mutate-y, growing-huge-slavering-fangs-out-of-my-chest effect the series is used to.
Most importantly, they lose little of their human cunning. As you venture through their domain, they will hunt you intelligently. Co-ordinating their efforts, raising ladders and climbing through windows if you are taking refuge in a building. They also wield rudimentary weapons, butcher knives and pitchforks and such.
There are other horrors in the game, certainly. The Zealots who dwell in the castle, the army dudes on the island, and a couple of monsters to boot. Nevertheless, the Ganados were our first introduction to a new breed of Resident Evil foe, and a memorable one at that.
Well, in this case, apparently not. If we’re going to be beholden to the all-knowing and unquestionable decisions of gamerankings, it’s the fifteenth best game ever. Still, the reasons for evil critical/player acclaim is the subject for this series. After all, that’s as close to being objective as you can get on the matter.
Anywho, we’ve ventured a little further down the list this time, because Resident Evil 4 is a fascinating case.
Gamers, as we know, aren’t very responsive to change. Well, ‘responses’ will often vary from rabid, spittle-flying rage, to futile one-man boycotts, to crying to grandma, to… so forth. When a major franchise announces a radical new direction of some sort, the Internet implodes. I still remember the world’s first sighting of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.
The point we’ve hopefully established here is that we don’t like things being screwed with. In recent memory, no series has been screwed with quite like Resident Evil was in 2005. Buckle up, ladies and gentlemen. Grab your cans of furious beardy villager repellent, because we’re going in.
Leon’s European holiday was quite a departure. Gone were the stalker-ish static camera angles. Gone were those notorious rotate-y controls. In their stead, we had Resident Evil 4. This was a far more dynamic and cinematic adventure, which liberated your movement and aiming into a kind of pseudo TPS. It felt, to me, like a Hollywood parody of the earlier games, right down to the convoluted and bizarre plot (not that that’s anything new for Resident Evil, come to think of it).
Revolutionary as it was, the remarkable thing is that the game worked. Those earlier scenes in the village showed what survival horror really could be. Desperately barricading yourself in the house as an angry horde climbs through the windows on ladders? While a nutbag with a sack over his head assaults the front door with a chainsaw? It’s immersive, it’s genuinely unnerving and it is pretty well unanimously agreed to be among the best action games of recent years.
Sadly, its legacy is the problem. Resident Evils 5 and 6 took the concept much too far. While the fourth achieved –for the most part– that delicate balance of action while retaining the horror, its successors did not. These were more gung-ho, actiontacular, check-out-my-boulder-punching-biceps sorts of games. Nevertheless, you can’t understate what Resident Evil 4 achieved.
Yes, there are franchise fans that begrudge the game, and you can’t fault them for doing so. This was, after all, the death of so many classic tropes which madeResident Evil. But were these changes for the better? For so many, that’s a resounding yes. The first try, at any rate.
