Summary
Resident Evilis a name long associated with a long string of incredibly successful titles. This series of games has managed not only one but two successful genre reinventions. It has also spawned a series of movie adaptations that, despite their dubious quality, have never failed to bring in box office gold.
Still,Resident Evilhas become such a large brand with so many side games on so many different systems that some great games have ended up overshadowed by the bigger games in the series, likeResident Evil 4, and other blockbusters from their time that overshadow them. Here’s a look at the most overlookedResident Evilgames out there.
A group of regular people working together online toescape Raccoon Cityduring its worst night seems like an instant classic idea. Unfortunately, the reception to both entries in theResident EvilOutbreaksubseries was tepid at best. It’s a shame, because it was one of the first games to truly explore the fun side of the PlayStation 2’s online gameplay capabilities.
A similar concept would later end up popularized byLeft 4 Dead.It’s definitely a much better game thanOutbreak File 2, but the latter definitely deserved way more love than it originally got — especially in Europe, whereOutbreak File 2finally got online gameplay, which was somehow completely absent in the first game.
Resident Evil 5almost got a spot on this list. It’s a fantastic game, especially when played on co-op, but it’s also amainline entrythat sold very well despite negative comparisons toRE4.In an attempt to honor bothResident Evil 5’s memory and another game that deserves it, it’s worth discussingRevelations 2.
This game is a true blast of even better co-op action for fans of one ofResident Evil 5’sbest elements. The plot ofRevelationsisn’t exactly memorable, but the fun players will have turning zombies into Swiss cheese with their friends more than makes up for any perceived shortcoming.
What ended up asResident Evil 3wasn’t originally meant to be a mainline entry, but a spinoff. Luckily, that “promotion” paid off.Resident Evil 6,however — despite its huge production budget — turned out so bad it should have become a spinoff.Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles,many say, rightly, should have been the one promoted to mainline entry this time around.
It’s a straightforward light gun action title, though one that’s extremely fun to play, and it explores a bunch of alreadybeloved charactersin the series. ThoughUmbrella Chroniclesdoesn’t reinvent the wheel likeResident Evil 4did, it’s sure to please the fans of the more action-oriented gameplay introduced by the most successful game in the series.
The originalResident Evil Survivordefinitely won’t show up in this list. It’s one of the worst games ever made, and likely the worst to ever feature theResident Evilname. It’s an absolute slog that somehow makes using a light gun on the PlayStation less fun than shooting via the controller. It’s truly baffling, especially for players experiencing the game in PAL regions, where the game somehow isn’t even compatible with light guns.
Survivor 2, however, improves upon most shortcomings of the original. It also uses the underrated setting ofResident EvilCode Veronicato come up with a much more compelling and fast-paced action scenario.
If there’s one thingREpurists complain about when it comes toResident Evil 4, it’s the clear switch from survival horror to full-on action horror, roundhouse kicks, suplexes, and all. The problem with that argument is thatRE4is amazing and proved an essential step forward for the franchise. Gamers would know that if they had playedResident Evil: Dead Aim, a pretty goodREtitle that didn’t pull off the move to action territory as well asResident Evil 4did.
It plays as a regular third-person action game that switches to first-person Lightgun action when the player approaches the zombies. The transition might be a bit jarring at first, but it’s a fun game, nonetheless. Even those who don’t vibe with it will at least see it as an important stepping stone into what would later becomeResident Evil 4.
BeforeResident Evil 5nailed the campaign by allowing players to do it in full co-op mode, there wasResident Evil 0,which had one player controlling two different characters in a way that made it feel like a co-op game. It was a bit more confusing than it should have been, as was the more punishing inventory system that required players to drop stuff to pick up later or to abandon altogether.
However, there was a lot of good in it, as well. It was a fresh take on the series that still kept those beautiful 3D environments fromREmake.Starring Rebecca Chambers and a mysterious co-main characternobody knew anything about, the story was filled to the brim with stakes. Though0isn’t perfect, the only reason it didn’t garner a more dedicated fanbase was that it was stranded on the excellent but unsuccessful GameCube for too long.
Nowadays, gamers get showered with fake trailers whenever there’s a new gaming event coming out. Back in 2001, when Nintendo rolled out the first trailer for “REmake”, fake trailers still weren’t a thing, but this game just looked too good to be true. It showed a never-before-seen combination between pre-rendered backgrounds and the GameCube’s fantastic 3D that had to be played to be believed. Then, the game came out, and it was the most horrifyingly beautiful thing anyone had seen up until then.
The game itself improves upon the original in every single way, and it got great reviews, but it was stuck on the unsuccessful GameCube for too long to snowball into something huge. A few years later, fans gotResident Evil 4, which killed the interest in horror games with pre-rendered backgrounds, so the originalREmakeremains the swansong of that particular genre of horror. Even years later, and especially because of the HD remaster that further improves the game,REmakeremains one of the bestResident Eviltitles out there.
