Retro|Spective 021R: Resident Evil

[Neon Ignition]

Game 23 - Resident Evil VII
The third mainline trilogy begins and another series refresh began with a first person perspective was the key shift players experienced along with a heavy shift away from action and back to survival horror. Creeping around the Baker family estate, you tried to track down your missing wife. With the option later added to play the game in VR it became without question the most immersive entry and a huge hit.







The second major overhaul of the franchise, was it as big a hit for you as the previous shift?

[Asura]

Game 23 - Resident Evil VII
The third mainline trilogy begins and another series refresh began with a first person perspective was the key shift players experienced along with a heavy shift away from action and back to survival horror. Creeping around the Baker family estate, you tried to track down your missing wife. With the option later added to play the game in VR it became without question the most immersive entry and a huge hit.

The second major overhaul of the franchise, was it as big a hit for you as the previous shift?

This was the point at which the series completely vanished off my radar, despite having been a big fan in prior generations.

I know people love it, and I know it reviewed extremely well, so I don't want to come across like someone contrary just for the sake of it... But I just couldn't get into the idea of a mainline Resident Evil game that was first-person.

I've never actually played it, for that reason; because I was an RE fan and it seemed so different that it was kinda starting from "a standing start" in trying to get me interested, and the material in-and-around the launch just didn't grab me. Maybe it's a lot more like the older games than I know of? Potentially. But I just had an immediate sense, upon seeing the initial footage, that it was some kind of reboot.

Maybe it's just me. Actually it's definitely just me. But I think that a company the size of Capcom, with all their money and resources; if they wanted to make something new and distinct from classic Resident Evil, could they not just make a different, new game?

Like when Capcom could have Resident Evil and Dino Crisis, and the second one didn't have to be called Resident Evil: Dino Attack or something. It was just a new survival horror brand, because it was distinctly different from Resident Evil.

Admittedly this ties into another huge bugbear I have, which is when Codemasters just call their latest racer "Grid", or when you want to talk about Hitman 2, but not Hitman 2, the other Hitman 2. Search Engine Optimisation, digging its claws into creative media.

Perhaps I'll eventually give it a go. But not in VR. Alyx was scary enough!

[Neon Ignition]

I only tried a small section of RE7 in VR and it was insanely immersive and looked great but effective to the point that the fun just completely vanished. RE7 was an entry I'd been wary of because, well, I own a PC and if there's one thing the PC is drowning in it's weak first person horror games.

RE7 is incredibly polished, it's a very foreboding experience as well until the later stages when an increasing amount of Resident Evil structure and cliche creeps in. The game is the entry which feels the most like an experience, but in doing so it feels the least like a game. I strongly remember my time with it but equally it's the very last entry I'd ever feel a need to replay. For me it was a big stride forward for first person horror but a monumental step back for the franchise.

[wakka]

I really like Resi 7, although it's not perfect. One thing I love about it is I think it very much feels like a Resident Evil game. They pulled off the same trick that they did with 4 - reinventing the format and yet staying true to the core of the franchise. In fact, its slower pace and greater emphasis on classic item puzzles meant that for me it bore greater resemblance to the earlier part of the franchise than the action-driven entries from 4 onwards.

There is a genuine sense of creeping dread to proceedings. I think moving it to a Texas Chainsaw Massacre/Deliverance type setting was a stroke of genius personally, and the vile Baker family and their rotting bayou mansion are both consistent with Resi's heritage and yet bring a fresh feel.

However, it's not all good. The game is badly let down by its last third, which is comprised entirely of a trudge around a very dark boat full of similar rooms and enemies. It's an obvious piece of padding, and I think it shows that the famously low budget wasn't quite equal to the ambition. I wish they had simply made it a shorter game, wrapping it up after the mansion, because the lengthy boat segment is most reminiscent of one of Resi's duller spinoffs (Dead Aim springs to mind) and adds little.

But overall, I think it was an excellent step forward for the series. For me reinvention is part of the Resi DNA as much as slotting things into other things to open doors, or mixing herbs. The game was exactly the shot in the arm the series needed after 6. I just wish it had ended earlier.

NB: I have only played it on a TV, not in VR.

[Cassius_Smoke]

The element that made the first resident evil is overwhelmingly its puzzles. Its about 70%puzzle/30% combat. Even the zombies are part of the puzzle in a way, making you choose a route that might avoid them or do you use Ammo to kill them that you might need later?

Resident Evil 4/5&6 moved far away from this leaning heavily on the combat.

Resident Evil 7 moved it back to the puzzle elements. You had to manage your inventory and conserve ammo. You had puzzles to solve with the backtracking of the first game. You needed to check the map more frequently too.

Its very well polished. It took a chance with the huge change in setting and it being first-person. Because of this, for me it's the second best in the series.

[Neon Ignition]

Game 24 - Resident Evil 2: REmake
The second entry returned, remade in the same spirit as RE4 with a third person over the shoulder viewpoint and dramatically superior visuals. The remake was critically and commercially a smash hit.






Did RE2R hit all the right notes?

[dataDave]

Maybe it's just me. Actually it's definitely just me. But I think that a company the size of Capcom, with all their money and resources; if they wanted to make something new and distinct from classic Resident Evil, could they not just make a different, new game?

Nah, it's me too. They need that IP attachment or else not many people would take notice. The naming is aimed at the millions of people who post on Facebook gaming groups who have only ever owned a PlayStation in the 90s, and now maybe a PS4 for their kids.

I never played VII because I didn't have a PS4 and PSVR. I had a Vive, but there was no PC version with VR support.

[wakka]

For two people who've never played it, you certainly seem pretty firm in your judgements that it's not a proper Resi game and it shouldn't even have been named Resi!

Yet when I played through Resi VII I came away from it feeling that it was very much a Resi game and actually truer to the series' origins than the action-oriented trilogy.

[Cassius_Smoke]

Somewhere I need to do a write up of my resi evil play throughs.

Resident Evil 5:

Terrible. After 4 it just felt like a complete miss step. The setting and plot are rubbish and I hope they don't do a remake because these are the elements that can't be changed

Resident Evil 6:

So this is like the mad cousin youve been told to avoid because he's on drugs, but after spending a couple of hours with him you realise he's actually OK.

[Asura]

For two people who've never played it, you certainly seem pretty firm in your judgements that it's not a proper Resi game and it shouldn't even have been named Resi!

Well, yeah. I get what you're suggesting, but at the end of the day, the game isn't free, and Capcom have to convince me to pay (in both time and money) to try it. If it had looked a bit more similar to the prior games from the pre-release hype, I would've been more inclined to give it the time of day.

But it was marketed as something of a reboot. I didn't hate the idea. Just if they're rebooting (or stuff to that effect) I have to look at it like any other game that I've never tried before. I liked the older games though, so I didn't rail against it or knock people who bought it at the time, but similarly, I didn't have to buy it

[Cassius_Smoke]

[MENTION=5941]Asura[/MENTION]
Resi tends to reinvent itself after 3 games looking at the trend. 1,2&3 fixed camera, 4,5&6 over the shoulder, 7&8 first person. Just seems to be the trend.

You are allowed to not like it being first person, but did you dislike it changing to over the shoulder when it did? Just wondering.

[wakka]

Well, yeah. I get what you're suggesting, but at the end of the day, the game isn't free, and Capcom have to convince me to pay (in both time and money) to try it. If it had looked a bit more similar to the prior games from the pre-release hype, I would've been more inclined to give it the time of day.

But it was marketed as something of a reboot. I didn't hate the idea. Just if they're rebooting (or stuff to that effect) I have to look at it like any other game that I've never tried before. I liked the older games though, so I didn't rail against it or knock people who bought it at the time, but similarly, I didn't have to buy it

I get that, I just think you’ve been off the mark in your judgement of it. It’s been available for buttons for ages now - worth giving it a try at some point.

[Asura]

[MENTION=5941]Asura[/MENTION]
Resi tends to reinvent itself after 3 games looking at the trend. 1,2&3 fixed camera, 4,5&6 over the shoulder, 7&8 first person. Just seems to be the trend.

You are allowed to not like it being first person, but did you dislike it changing to over the shoulder when it did? Just wondering.

I loved 4. But then 4, following Leon Kennedy and featuring characters like Wesker seemed a change in gameplay style, but a preservation of tone.

VII changed both at the same time, which made me think it was a clean break, and Capcom seemed to lean into it. Again, it might have given a false impression (judging by what some here have said) but that's Capcom's deal.

[Cassius_Smoke]

I loved 4. But then 4, following Leon Kennedy and featuring characters like Wesker seemed a change in gameplay style, but a preservation of tone.

VII changed both at the same time, which made me think it was a clean break, and Capcom seemed to lean into it. Again, it might have given a false impression (judging by what some here have said) but that's Capcom's deal.

Yeah I guess thats true.

But as I've been playing through each one they all venture further and further from the original puzzle type game. Hell 6 is more like house of the dead. Capcom didn't have a choice but to sweep the table clear and start fresh. Plus PT was a thing, so they riffed heavily on that.
It plays differently but it feels very Resident Evil. Back to the puzzle survival roots. Village then steps away from it again though....

[Neon Ignition]

Game 25 - Resident Evil 3 REmake
Following hot on the prior remakes heels, Resi 3 received the same treatment the very next year with a little more focus on faster movement to honor the original games differences from its predecessor. The game as another well received one even if a little less so because of its comparative short length and some cut features from the original version.







Did Resi 3 Remake show enough TLC?