It was back in 1996 when the first Resident Evil game graced our presence, sure there had been horror games before it, but none quite struck a cord like the original Resident Evil did.
The games had 3D graphics, a great story, fantastic gameplay, and best of all, zombies, the game put players in a horror house filled with an undead infestation and a plot which thickened more than a zombies head. You see, Resident Evil was the epitome of horror games, coming from the George Romero movies like Night of the Living Dead and with the surge of 3D gaming, the game let you live out your worst nightmares and take part in some of those awesome zombie encounters you only saw in the movies. Of course, after Resident Evil in 1996, warping forward two years to 1998, Resident Evil 2 was released. Now Resident Evil 2 was and is probably the greatest Resident Evil game ever made, back then games such as Gears of War with its over the top style bosses were not even thought of or realized since the new generation of 3D consoles were still in there infancy.
For those that did play it, you'll remember the scene where the zombie trucker splits Claire and Leon apart as you then make way to the Police station, the game itself was more realistic than the first, sure you had the Lickers and bosses which were a combination of zombies, monsters and dogs, but the game was fairly realistic, well, as realistic as it could be. Now 'Resident Evil' and 'realistic' probably aren't the two best suited words (am I the only one prepared for a zombie infestation?) but given the circumstances you have to think what is and isn't possible if zombies did overtake the world.After Resident Evil 2 we were of course given the delights of Resident Evil 3 which put us in the shoes of Jill Valentine trying to escape from the nefarious Nemesis, and with one of the best opening cut-scenes that will ever grace our zombie gaming screens. Those that enjoyed RE2 over the original were sure to like RE3, it again built of the success of the second game but while it wasn't as good as the second it was still a great game and a worthy sequel. After Resident Evil 3, we were whisked off to CODE: Veronica on the Dreamcast, the game kept a similar setting with its drab colour palette but the monsters started to get bigger and badder, but not in a good way.
Resident Evil 3 Intro - One of the best introductions ever?
Moving on and past a few other Resident Evil games such as the gun games which don't really count, Resident Evil 4 was hailed as a step in the right direction for the series, critics praised its gameplay and story even though the zombies were gone and had been replaced by an over infestation of crazy axe wielding Spanish farmers. The most recent, Resident Evil 5 was similar, Capcom must have thought that moving the game to a new setting would keep fans interested and entertained, but in Resident Evil 5, you head to a desert in Africa which instead of crazy Spanish farmers, you now faced starved crazy African zombies.
With Resident Evil 5 came the truly over-the top humongous monsters that you would expect to see in something like Gears of War, and while this is a horror game afterall, the new settings and new monsters took the essence of what Resident Evil was all but away, no more would you get the same suspense as Resident Evil 2's Police station where a Licker would randomly jump through the window as you explored the Interrogation room and make you crap yourself in amazement at how awesomely shocking that scene was. The game had taken a direction away from the core fans of the series and tried to open up the survival horror genre to a more wider audience.
Some may think that RE4 and RE5 were a step in the right direction in the progression of the series, it certainly could of got stale if they carried on using similar settings and stories, but then wouldn't we have preferred them to try and fail than to not try at all? One can only hope any new Resident Evil game that comes out in the future goes back to its roots as a true zombie survival horror. Capcom have certainly commented on the fact that Resident Evil 6 could return to it's roots and that the current Resident Evil 5 could be the last of its kind, certainly a good thing then but only time will tell whether they can pull off an engaging sequal without polluting the series any further, certainly the Resident Evil movies with Milla Jovovich kicking ass with magical powers certainly doesn't help matters.
