by yummylee
Partly inspired by Game Informer's recent ranking of the series, which reminded me that despite being such a self-proclaimed Resident Evil nut, I still haven't formally listed the games from Best to Worst. It would ideally go the other way but... Giant Bomb lists, whattayagonnado.
One of the reasons why I've held off for too long with this is I tend to... ramble a little lot when it comes to these games, which in turn potentially amounts to an awful lot of writing. Being the lazy bugger that I be, it as such has kept me from ever even getting to the stage of listing them out. However in the interest of just finally putting this out there, I'll try to be as concise as possible, for all our sakes. Plus, I want to keep my thoughts on the modern games brief especially, as I'm STILL trying to write up these damned retrospective blogs.
Also, I can of course only include the games I've actually played, so there are a few omissions regarding the series as a whole.
Note: I'll add in advance that I'm actually writing this all up within the confines of the lettertextbox... So, typos and garbled sentences are likely prevalent! Once posted I'll do as I do and feveriously re-read it all while negatively judging my own work from every angle... and maybe swat a few of the typos here and there, too.
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A rather common pick for No.1 I'm sure, but there's a reason for that! Many in fact! For myself a large part of it undoubtedly resides in nostalgia, which is why it just ever so manages to scrape past the equally predictable No.2 spot. This was the first Resident Evil I had completed, and literally one of the first handful of games I had ever played! This game defined much of my childhood -- it lead to weird instances of me walking around IRL with 'tank controls' and would inspire many live-action reenactments of the game's most famous scenes... If only I had a video camera at the time >_> In any case, it made a vast number of improvements over the original in terms of production values, with all kinds of swanky new animations across the board for both characters and enemies alike. Shooting a zombie with the shotgun and witnessing the torso collapse off onto the floor as it then begins to crawl at you -- good stuff! The story's a lot of fun too, with the right amount of cheesy melodrama and some actual, legit drama. That kiss scene between Leon & Ada... not gonna lie, it brought a genuine tear to my 8-9 year old self. The Scenario system to this day is a really neat feature at that and is perhaps one of the most inventive uses of New Game+ I can think of. The Mr. X Tyrant was also a real fucker too, bashing through walls and the like, causing my heart to skip a beat or three. And the big fella's respectful enough simply for being the prototype for what would soon follow in the series' next entry. Man, and then there's the amount of unlockables! Like, giving you a side-story playing as the enigmatic 'HUNK' character is one thing, but then also fitting in a Tofu-lead parody of aforementioned side story??
I'd say the 2002 Resident Evil remake is insurmountably a better game for all intents and purposes, but again, it can't beat that nostalgia! Nonetheless, Resident Evil is a genuinely superb game, and perhaps the only one that to this day can still prove to send the odd shiver down my spine. On its own terms it makes for a hauntingly beautiful and densely atmospheric horror game, but for the veterans it's all the more special, for how it plays tricks with your expectations and constantly keeps you guessing as to what else Mikami has rejiggered for this 'un. Also, Crimson Heads -- OHGODWTFNOSHIEEEEEETTE
I decided to add the DC version as it's essentially the original just with bonus stuff. In any case, while this one hasn't aged all too well (which, coming from me you know means a lot), it still has a place in my heart. The almost impressively awful dialogue is timeless and infinitely quotable , and while it's obviously not especially scary any more, it's still creepy enough to be effective courtesy of its brilliantly placed camera angles. The DC's Advanced mode only makes it all the better, with an even more unnerving assortment of camera angles to go alongside a much tougher experience overall, with items moved around, a new flurry of jump scares, and a significant amount more of those fakkin Hunters! Jill also gets herself a real swanky new costume in it, too.
Resident Evil 3 at times sorta feels like it's in the wrong format. This is still survival horror all the way, but it's undoubtedly actioned things up a skosh. It's got this new dodge manuever (that's admittedly rather tricky to pull off, however) you can create your own ammo, and it was also the one to firstly introduce the Mercenaries minigame, albeit one that actually differs pretty greatly from the much popular RE4 iteration. Even still, the inclusion of Nemesis still does the job in giving you a feeling of intense vulnerability. He's just as much of a horror video game icon as Pyramid Head, and his ceaseless determination in hunting you down aids that fact. While like all monsters he will still ultimately perish by your hand (You want STARS? I'll give you STARS...), he still proves to be a terrifyingly tenacious foe from beginning to end. While RE3 is unfortunately much shorter this time, with only one playable character and no Scenarios system or anything like that, it at least has a bevy of random elements--including when Nemesis will show up--to infer plenty of replay value all the same. Also, Carlos Oliveira's accent changes midway through the game, and I think that's pretty funny.
RE4 was a tough time for me. I mean, like everyone else I fucking loved this game! I completed it in two sittings straight and wanted to head right back in as soon as the credits finished rolling... However this still sort of functioned as the beginning of the end for me. I've liked Resident Evil games released after the fact, but not to the extent of my favourites, as this list proves of course. This was also the tipping point for the series of having a delicate balance between action and adventure, to now embracing the action side of things almost wholesale. That you're actually encouraged to kill every enemy you encounter of courses makes for a pretty heavy distinction between RE4 and all of the ones that came before it. The linearity of it all also meant that you were no longer trapaising throughout one huge environment on key hunts; whenever you located a key item, chances were high that you would then proceed to use that item a few steps ahead of you. Still, for what it is RE4 is a bloody good time. It's a genuine innovator for starters, leading the way for such series as Gears of War, another favourite of mine. It's a 15-hour long adventure that never feels its length, it's got oodles of unlockables, and it was a graphical powerhouse for its time -- it to this day still looks fetching enough on PC I'm sure. So many iconic boss battles, weapons -- Hell, even the weapon sound effects are still to bring about a smile. Playing as Krauser in Mercenaries also holds what is quite possibly my favourite video game bow at that. ...Ashley's still an annoying bint, though.
Whoops, heh, this isn't a Resident Evil game! My mistake...
...I've put over 200 hours into this bloody game. I think that alone proves to me that I have clearly enjoyed me some RE5 in my time. While it has at this point pretty much completely abolished any pretence of trying to be a horror game, it's still a superbly crafted third-person shooter, with some of the best gameplay this side of Gears that I can recall. It has many notable flaws, such as the Wesker boss battles, the final third where they start throwing enemies with guns at you, and the game's a little on the easy side -- with a disappointingly bog-standard NG+ offering. On the other hand its Mercs mode alone has kept this game installed on my PS3 HDD since day-1, and the impressive amount of weapons has always pushed me on in giving this game just one more playthrough. Its small DLC offerings also delivered both aspects of Resident Evil at their prime, with Lost in Nightmares delivering a look at what a modern day survival horror game could entail, and Desperate Escape providing all of the contemporary thrills of the series, only now with randomisations elements mixed into the fray. The gameplay is so grand that it's a wonder why Capcom felt they had to 'reinvent the wheel' as it were... But more on that later.
Yes, yet another version of the original Resident Evil. Though like the DC, the DS version includes its own mode to help introduce many a new element to keep fans on their toes. The many new puzzles (most of which involve the touchscreen & microphone, though not all) are all weaved in surprisingly naturally and manage to add a lot adventure to this action-adventure title. Even besides the added puzzles are a number of incremental improvements at that. 180 degree turn? ffffffffffffffff yeah!! Having the knife existing as a permanent fixture of your character like in RE4 is a wonderful addition at that, and one I wish RE2 and 3 could see one day... One day...
Revelations is a game that I more so respect than I do outright... enjoy. OK, that makes me feel like I'm judging this game a little harder than I mean to be... I mean, it's OK! But at the same time that's kinda all it is, and I believe it's because of what else was coming out at the time that's made Revelations seem like such a comparative gem. Still, its lofty ambitions of meshing together the old and the new is something I again certainly respect. However what that ultimately lead to is a game that doesn't excel in either direction of the series. It doesn't quite capture the vulnerability of survival horror, there are very few puzzles overall, and there's far too much action and character-switching throughout that deflates much of the intended effect of horror. Furthermore, the shooting isn't nearly on the same caliber as Resident Evil 4 or 5. It does carry a smidgen of the atmosphere of old school Resident Evil at least, and it does also include many opportunities to go and explore the primary Queen Zenobia ship. Its story, while needlessly convoluted as it is, helped introduce the world to Parker Luciani! A character that is so likeable and full of enough personality that if anything he's... almost too good for this series even in a weird way of putting it. Much of the dialogue throughout has a playful nature about it, which is a nice change of pace from the stark, grim and overly self-seriousness of Resident Evil 6 for example. Its Raid mode makes for an intriguing evolution of the staple side-game for the series at that. Adding in RPG elements such as random loot and damage numbers makes every game better! And Revelations is no exception.
