According to some stories, Shinji Mikami, the man who directed the first Resident Evil but ended up stuck in a producer role for the majority of the franchise’s run, threw down his controller in disgust when playing Resident Evil Zero, and was spurred on to take direct control of Resident Evil 4. The game had already had a difficult development, going through several major revisions, one of which would become the first Devil May Cry game. The game that eventually got released would defy everyone’s expectations, and change the course of the series until Doomsday.
The game first appeared on the Gamecube, as part of an exclusivity deal made with Nintendo that would see the console get five exclusive games from Capcom’s Production Studio 4 (all of which would closely involve Shinji Mikami); Resident Evil 4, Viewtiful Joe, Killer7, Dead Phoenix and P.N.03. Of those five, one was never released, one was dreadful, and the other three were eventually ported to other consoles. Strange how things turn out, isn’t it?
Anyway, I digress. Much has already been written about Resident Evil 4, which has gone to receive practically-universal praise and numerous Game of the Year, even Game of the Decade, awards. The majority of the gaming press, including one of my colleagues here at GameStyle, have loudly proclaimed the game as not only the best in the entire series, but one of the best games ever made full-stop.
Here’s where I find myself disagreeing with the common view. While I think Resident Evil 4 is a good game, I remain unconvinced that it deserves the insane amounts of praise it has received. I’ll be honest and say that the first couple of times I played the game I absolutely despised it, considering it nothing short of a betrayal of the entire franchise. Even today, long after I’m over the shock of just how different the game is, I still find it hard to believe that it’s called Resident Evil for any reason other than a marketing ploy.
The first problem I had with the game was the plot. Set six years after Resident Evil 2, Leon Kennedy is now a government agent sent to rescue the President’s daughter, who disappeared somewhere in what I assume is rural Spain. Umbrella is written off within the first minute, apparently defeated by falling stocks and a freeze of their business practices. This enraged me the first time I played the game as it had rendered all the build-up throughout Resident Evil 2 and Code Veronica to be for absolutely nothing. It’d be like, say, in Final Fantasy VII, if halfway through the game Sepiroth was defeated because he failed to fill in his tax return form. It started a new chapter in the franchise’ storyline way, way too early, before all the loose ends from before could be resolved. The story itself is slight, and has very little to do with the rest of the series at all.
The game’s opening level, of course, was superbly engaging. Within minutes you’re thrown in the thick of trouble, trying to fend off hordes of dead-eyed, Innsmouth-Looking folk speaking in garbled Spanish in a decaying village. It was a great introduction to the game and the new gameplay style; the genre had now shifted from “survival horror” to “panic action”, and it was genuinely panic-inducing stuff, especially when it came to avoiding getting your head lopped off by the dreaded, sack-masked Dr. Salvador in the early stages when armed with nothing but a weedy pistol.
However, the shift to action-focused gameplay brought with it changes that, to me at least, proved detrimental to the experience and lessened the impact of any potential fear. Weapons, ammo and healing items were no longer scarce; instead they were often dropped by enemies, and even if they weren’t they could be bought off a pirate-voiced masked merchant who cropped up all over the place. This character was such a bizarre non-sequitur that he remains my most distinct memory of the game, even above all of the large set-pieces and siege situations that Leon would find himself in. This all meant that by the time you reached the game’s climax you had enough weapons and spare ammo to fuel a small country’s army, and the initial fear of facing mobs of enemies was diminished when you could mow them down so easily.
Also, in spite of changing the camera angle to a constant over-the-shoulder view which allowed for more accurate aiming, the stiff, tank-like controls remained in effect. A context-sensitive button allowed Leon to perform more actions both in and out of combat, but movement was still very fudgy and awkward, which really didn’t suit this new gameplay approach. In a time when games like Eternal Darkness had proved that you could have smoother controls in a survival-horror game without diminishing the fear factor, Resident Evil 4’s reluctance to move on from relying on stiff controls to build up tension seemed flat-out juvenile. In spite of this I saw reviewers complimenting the “new controls” which made me wonder if they played the same game I did; it’s amazing how easily a simple change of camera angle fooled so many people.
The last major problem I have with the game comes in the form of the President’s daughter herself; Ashley Graham. I could slap this whiny little dingbat in the face over and over again and not feel guilty. Once she’s found she turns half of the game into an escort mission, something which I absolutely hate whenever they crop up in games. So not only did she have an annoying, repugnant personality, but she also had almost no self-preservation instinct, often getting caught or stumbling into your line of fire. It always made me feel glad whenever she got re-captured as part of the plot, so that I could get on with playing the game without needing to babysit someone who could not take care of themselves at all.
By this point, you must be thinking that I absolutely hate the game. Like I said before, I did hate it, but my opinions have softened since those days. While those points outlined above do still stick with me, I do believe that Resident Evil 4 is a good game; it’s got a great opening, the graphics are fantastic, the shooting-gallery gameplay is satisfying, there are some really creative and exciting set-pieces and encounters, and the tone of self-flagellating camp throughout is amusing. I just remain unconvinced that it’s a Resident Evil game, and I can’t help but wonder about ways that the series could have re-invented itself without coming across as embarrassed by the series’ legacy.
Still, like it or not, Resident Evil 4’s impact on the industry is not to be denied. It practically started an onslaught of third-person shooter games with the same over-the-shoulder viewpoint; Cliff Bleszinski, speaking at GDC 2007, commented that the game was a source of inspiration for the Gears of War series, and other games such as Dead Space were also heavily influenced.
Given the enormous critical and commercial acclaim Resident Evil 4 received, following it up would always be an unenviable task. Still, the team behind Resident Evil 5 put in a good effort, but would end up producing one of the most controversial entries in the series.
While the game did try to make more solid story connections to the previous games, with series veteran Chris Redfield heading to Africa and eventually stumbling upon the source of all the problems that began in the Spencer Mansion, the gameplay had several changes that proved to be very unpopular. The limited inventory spaces returned, with real-time inventory browsing which was a really bad idea in the heat of a battle, and some of the more interesting ideas – such as the intense heating having a negative impact on Chris – would be dropped. The inability to move and shoot had returned, which would prove to be a major sticking point for gamers who by now expected mechanics along the lines of Gears of War and Dead Space, both of which had taken Resident Evil 4’s shooter mechanics and improved on them exponentially.
The biggest sticking point was the introduction of a game-length co-op mode, clearly inspired by Gears of War, as Chris was always accompanied by new character Sheva Alomar. Some say that the presence of an ally diminished the fear factor, but the much more disturbing problem was the AI, which seemed far too eager to waste precious ammunition and healing items. Things became much more endurable when a second human player was helping out, but the whole thing left a sour taste in the mouth of solo gamers.
Then of course there was the whole issue of unintentional racism, but let’s not even go there. It’s a well-worn debate and I don’t think I could add anything meaningful to it.
Overall, Resident Evil 5 was a good effort, but it comes across as a pale imitator of its predecessor, stuck in limbo between traditionalism and advancement.
On a side-note, the spin-off games would continue to experiment and send the franchise in all kinds of directions. Of all of them, Capcom would finally perfect the woefully sub-part light-gun games with the two Chronicles games on the Wii, both of which are worth checking out for a brief crash-course on the series (though I would say Darkside Chronicles is more worthy of your time than Umbrella Chronicles).
This brings us to today. With Resident Evil Revelations on its way for the 3DS, one wonders where the series can go from here, and whether it will have to re-invent itself again someday. Personally, I hope for a better balance between the old and the new ideals. I miss the oppressive atmosphere of the older games, and I felt the challenge was better back then; I preferred the idea of staying alive and being virtually defenceless. In an era where just about every videogame protagonist is some kind of super-powered action man, this aspect of the series needs to be re-introduced. Still, taken as a whole, the Resident Evil series holds a very special place in my heart. Its past is really exciting, and I don’t doubt that its future will be also.
At the end of both the original Resident Evil and the Gamecube remake, Chris Redfield gazes out of the window of the escape helicopter as he rides to safety with his surviving comrades, and we reflect on the time we spent in that mansion with him. In the credits sequence, a series of clips plays alongside the credits showing events from the game, as if the character is viewing memories.
That’s what the Resident Evil games are to me; memories that will last forever.
