The Resident Evil Series

I went to Gamestation in Sutton in the early hours of this morning, to get a copy of the much anticipated Resident Evil 5. As I pre-ordered a limited edition, I was entitled to a free toy figure of Sheva (one of the games characters). So yeah, never one to turn down a freebie, she is now standing on top of my TV cabinet.

I have to say that the staff did a really good job in making such an event of the games release. My girlfriend was a bit bemused by the whole situation, what with the midnight opening, the staff walking around dressed as zombies and the old typewriter at the kiosk (a nice little nod to the series saving mechanism), so I had to explain to her why Resident Evil 5 is such a big deal.

You see, I have been a fan of the Resident Evil series ever since the second instalment was first out. After spending many hours playing Resident Evil 2, I treated myself to a copy of the first game, which I played and enjoyed immensely (if not quite as much as its successor). Compared to games these days, the voice acting seems quite hammy and I can't help but watch these clips and laugh:

Later on around that time, I treated myself to the Sega Dreamcast (whatever happened to those?). Whilst Sega's little white box wasn't exactly the most successful games machine to grace the market, it did have one good thing going for it. It was the first machine and (at the time) the only machine that saw the release of Resident Evil: Code Veronica.

Code Veronica was a massive step forward in the series. Instead of static shots, the game was full of all sorts of interesting and animated angles. As Claire Redfield would walk down corridors, the camera would follow her. It doesn't sound like much now I know, but for the time, I believe it was a first.

Around the same time, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis made its debut on the Playstation. I wasn't exactly the biggest fan of this one. I liked the fact that Jill Valentine was in it, but I hated the Nemesis. He would just come out of nowhere and start beating Jill to a pulp. It kept the player on edge, which was great, but at the same time it was very annoying.

Like the first game, Resident Evil 4, was another title I missed upon release and it wasn't until it came out on the Wii that I managed to catch it. Much like Code Veronica, the fourth instalment was another step forward for the series. Instead of zombie torn cities, Resident Evil took place in Europe. Realising that the zombie genre was in overkill (pun intended), Capcom wisely flipped the series on its head and changed the villains to, and I quote, “unruly villagers”. This time round, Leon (from Resident Evil 2), is now working for the US government and has been sent to a rural village in Europe to rescue the presidents daughter, who has been kidnapped by the said “unruly villagers”... God damn country folk...

And today, Resident Evil 5 has finally been released. Once again, the setting has been changed - taking place in an African country and this time you control Chris Redfield (previously in the first game, Code Veronic and the Umbrella Chronicles).

So, in answer to my girlfriends question, what is the big deal about the Resident Evil games? Well, they are well made, thought provoking games that are both entertaining and challenging. The plots, if a little over the top, are always engaging and apart from anything else, this is the first Resident Evil game on the current generation of consoles.

I have to say I haven't played Resident Evil 5 yet, but as you can probably tell, I can't wait...

I also can't wait for the upcoming wii ports of Resident Evil Zero and Resident Evil One - lets hope they re-record the voice acting!