Back in 1996 Capcom decided to shock the world with a brand new game
called "Resident Evil." Up until this point, the world had only seen a
hand full of "horror" based video games. Most of the horror games
released never really did what they set out to do, and most of them were
actually pretty unknown. Now sure, there were a few games with a few
good scares, but none of them really offered that in depth horror
experience many people had been looking for. That is, until Resident
Evil entered the picture!
The first Resident Evil game was a
horror survival game which focused on two playable characters: one was
named Chris, and the other named Jill. Both of these characters had
entered an old mansion which was filled with flesh eating zombies, and
mutated animals, and they both had their own skills and abilities to
help the player progress. The thing about these characters is, well,
players were able to really connect with them, and you truly cared about
their well being as they explored this crazy mansion. The game used
fixed camera angles with prerendered backgrounds to give the game a
realistic feel, the game's music and sound effects always kept you on
the edge of your seat, and you never knew when a zombie or monster would
jump out and scare the heck out of you! For its time, the game was a
horrifying experience, but its setting was not the only thing that
scared players.
Resident Evil is what you would call a "horror
survival game," which means it is also about surviving. As you explore
the scary old mansion, you find items, read diaries filling you in on
what happened to the people who lived there, and you also find weapons
and other resources to help protect yourself. The monsters and zombies
in Resident Evil are NOT ones to mess with, and unlike in most action
games, they do NOT go down without a fight. You can use up all of the
ammo from your gun trying to kill a SINGLE monster, but then you will
find yourself completely defenseless for who knows how long. You could
also use health items to heal yourself when you get hurt, but just how
many health items are actually IN the game?
The thing is,
EVERYTHING is limited in Resident Evil, and that even includes the save
points! You cannot save the game unless you find an item that allows you
to save, and just like everything else they are very rare. Sure you
could go ahead and save your game as soon as you get one, but how long
till you find more? Then again, what if you hold onto that save item, go
out exploring, solve a few puzzles, and then get killed and lose hours
worth of progress? In Resident Evil you always had to question yourself
on what the right move was, how much of an item you should use, which
fights you should fight or run away from, and even when you should save;
it was a survival game, and you were ALWAYS scared of dying and losing
progress.
After Resident Evil 1 came out, the game soon became a
series with games like Resident Evil 2, Code Veronica, and Resident Evil
3 following. Every one of these games offered a similar experience to
the first game, and every single one of them focused on survival and
limited resources. They were all pretty challenging games, but die hard
fans could never get enough of them! So it was only natural that Capcom
should continue making Resident Evil games right? Well, they did, and
things were not quite the same. Before we knew it, Capcom was throwing
out a lot of the major features of the Resident Evil series, they were
changing the tone, and soon headed down a completely different path.
Resident
Evil 4 is at number 8 on this list for a very good reason, but that
reason also prevents it from being higher up as well. While RE4 was
Resident Evil's first jump into full 3D, it also changed a LOT of the
game's mechanics as well (so much it actually SPLIT the Resident Evil
fan base)! Although RE4 follows the story of Resident Evil 2's main
character Leon, it is really nothing like the Resident Evil most fans
had come to know and love. While the game still did have tank controls,
jump scares, puzzles, objects to find/collect, an inventory system which
limited how much they could hold, and most of the same weapons and
items; the rest of the game was not what you would expect from Resident
Evil. Instead of a horror survival game, it was basically a "horror" 3rd
person shooter.
Unlike in the past games, resources were not as
limited (most enemies drop ammo and healing items), there was a shop for
you to buy power ups, upgrades, and equipment, you could save as many
times as you wanted, and above all, there are NO zombies! The game is
mostly about a parasite that lives inside the bodies of the people in a
strange cult, and most of the game is spent shooting their heads off so
you can shoot the parasite inside. Now sure the game is pretty
disturbing (especially the bosses), but due to the fact that you can
just shoot the heck out of everything, you really are not on edge as
much. This time around the knife is much more useful as well, and you
can shoot enemies in the knees to knock them down, then follow up with a
melee kick to the head to send them flying. Really, these guys are
nothing to fear, and you are actually rewarded for taking them down
instead of avoiding them.
Another thing that makes Resident Evil 4
so much different is the fact that it uses a level based set up! As you
progress through the game you access many different types of areas, and
each one of them is completely different from the last. There's really
not much backtracking (there's no back tracking to older areas since
they become locked off), and the game is more focused on moving forward
in a linear style, rather than exploring every inch of a single house.
This is another very unexpected change from past Resident Evil games,
and it is also one of the reasons the fan base is split between Resident
Evil 4 and the classics.
Really, Resident Evil 4 was something
no one saw coming. Up until the release of Resident Evil 4 Capcom had
been showing off tech demos of a few other versions of the game, and
just about all of them showed off a game similar to what fans had come
to love. They featured Leon walking through dark corners of a house with
a flashlight, solving puzzles, and there were also a few jump scares
thrown in as well. This is what most people thought Resident Evil 4 was
going to be like, but when they got the final game, they found a
completely new game unlike the classics. It was a shock to fans
everywhere, but it is the Resident Evil style that has been with us ever
since.
On top of all of that, Resident Evil 4 also shocked 3rd
person shooter fans as well! The game featured a wide verity of features
that were not yet common in shooters, and they really set the stages
for future generations of games! In Resident Evil 4 you could actually
enter houses, push furniture up against walls and windows to prevent
enemies from entering, and you could also shoot through some materials
such as wood! Locked door? No problem! Just blow it up! Before Resident
Evil 4 came out these were the type of game features you would rarely
see, and they really did shock a lot of people! (Both Resident Evil fans
and 3rd person shooter fans alike!)
Although Resident Evil 4 may
not seem as shocking today as it was back then, but let me assure you,
it was in fact quite the shock!
