Resident Evil Series Review (Xbox, PlayStation & PC)

Resident Evil is many, many things, but above all, it’s a fine wine that continues to get better with age. It’s a time capsule, if anything, that I fondly think back to whenever I ponder the nineties—an era during which irritable camera angles and diabolical voice acting were commonplace, and seemingly nonsensical puzzles were mandatory for the sake of establishing the illusion that the medium was a lot more technical than the narrative. Heck, if I tug on any of the strands from the earlier iterations, I so very rarely grapple the plot points or the twists and turns. Instead, I think about the countless times where I’d scratch my chin and ponder the purpose of a jigsaw piece. But that’s not all I think about. No, I also think about the intense encounters with Nemesis on the burning streets of Raccoon City, or the grueling battles with a licker on a speeding bullet train. Frankly, those memories are still nested deep within me, and I honestly wouldn’t want it any other way.

Resident Evil may have taken its outbreak formula all across the globe, and sure, it has been an advocate for the act of recycling a lot of the same characters and plot elements since its initial incarnation. Having said that, I often find that Resident Evil, regardless of its choice of setting, protagonist, or antagonist, has been more than capable of keeping its world alive with fresh ideas. As a matter of fact, since the arrival of the fourth mainline installment, the anthology has only continued to evolve and incorporate more canals to keep its blood flowing, with iterations that have sunk their teeth into a ton of prosperous synergies and standalone stories. And, truth be told, Capcom hasn’t exactly shied away from its ambitions to cloak the genre with a wide range of zombie-encrusted outbreak scenarios, either. Lest we forget that, aside from the wealth of mainline installments, we also have the likes of Code: Veronica, Outbreak, and, for argument’s sake, The Umbrella Chronicles to ponder, too.

Birthing the Outbreak

Of course, there is a reason why Resident Evil has an ironclad reputation, and it isn’t solely because it helped popularize the modern zombie, but because it also helped to birth and revolutionize an entirely new world of survival horror—a term that it coined during the aftermath of previous Capcom cult favorites à la Alone in the Dark. With a stern eye for innovation, the initial sequence grasped aspects that, at least during the time, weren’t dominant in the market. And it was due to that natural shift in direction—a pivot to horror and puzzles, inventory management and combat—that Resident Evil found eternal life, and with it, the mass following of an entire generation.

Suffice it to say, since its surge in popularity, Resident Evil has undergone a lot of improvements, such as its natural gravitation towards a third-person camera-hugging system, and its overall lenience towards a smoother, less jittery combat style, to list just a couple of its standout enhancements. Don’t get me wrong, there are still a lot of irritating areas that the original chapters were severely lacking in, but at the time it wasn’t so much of an issue as it was an uncharted frontier open for exploration and manipulation. And to give credit where it’s rightfully due, Capcom did manage to build on its weaknesses with a ton of great technical improvements, which ultimately led to the development of an ironclad in-house engine and a signature blueprint that would later inspire countless fledgling franchises to traipse the same path. In other words, Capcom blazed the trail for the future of survival horror, despite having its own flaws and technical hiccups.

Horror, Immortalized

The series as a whole has covered a lot of ground since its formal debut on PSX, with titles that have added new plot points, characters, and dilemmas to help formulate a grand-scale narrative with a ton of lore to unpack. Moreover, it has dabbled in a lot of different gameplay styles, with its bread-and-butter PSX style serving as the foundation for its golden era and, more recently, its first-person survival-horror chapters. But, what’s impressive about all of this is that, regardless of the design or perspective, Resident Evil has always been coherent in its own right, with each installment being in receipt of all of the same hallmark elements that originated in its first release. Matter of fact, I’ve yet to encounter a game in the series that hasn’t kept ahold of those signature qualities.

When all’s said and done, there’s a little something for everyone in Resident Evil. It’s a thought-provoking puzzler; it’s a rigorously crafted survival thriller; it’s an intense action-oriented horror; it’s a jack-of-all-trades franchise that waxes compelling, albeit cliche storylines and characters with pulpy chemistries. And the best part is, it’s a franchise that is continuously  evolving, with its own unique formula acting as a portal to copious amounts of sequels and spin-offs. Frankly, not many other series can amount to that.

Verdict

Ever since Resident Evil coined the survival horror genre back in ‘96, the franchise has been on an ever-evolving upward trajectory, with its vast collection of iterations illustrating its prowess as a true force to be reckoned with among seasoned players and fledgling developers alike. It is, to some extent, a snowball with the potential to influence monoliths—a pioneer with the ability to inspire, expand, and unapologetically conquer its own plateau. And sure, while you could argue that it isn’t to everyone’s liking, there’s just no denying the importance of the series and its value as a franchise. Heck, there’s a reason why it’s marked as one of the most popular, almost cult-like torchbearers in the world. Frankly, it feels as if I’m merely stoking the fire and blowing smoke up its backside — but for good reason.

There’s an enormous opportunity for Resident Evil to pivot into countless different scenarios in the future, that much is evident. The question is, will the series continue to remain true to its roots, or will it make good use of its eternal life to broaden the scope and venture beyond the realm of Raccoon City? It seems that only time will tell on that one.