Ye Old Skoole Resident Evil games rated in a numerical fashion

When it comes down to it, there are only a few games and franchises that really incite the kind of mad, salivating fervor that I display on the internet. Fire Emblem is one of them. Resident Evil is another. Since I have played every single main-series Resident Evil game, I figure it fair to rate them in a numerical order to show how much I like each one. The newer games aren't on this list because they're different kinds of games and I'm really not sure where I would put them in the hierarchy of the series. 4 is obviously a game that holds up for not-crazy people, I liked 5 more than most people seemed to, and 6? Well, I sorta enjoyed RE6, but I'm not going to pretend it's a good video game in any sense of the word.

List items

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  1. Resident Evil

  If there was a gold standard for how to remake a game, REmake would be that standard. In addition to being hard, it's really the best game in the series for showcasing what "Survival Horror" is actually about. Killing Zombies without decapitating or burning them is a bad idea, and ammunition is scarce enough that avoidance is usually the best policy anyways. It also succeeds at having clever puzzles, a gloomy atmosphere and messes with your expectations if you've played the first one. Truly best in its class.

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  2. Resident Evil 2

  Has the much vaunted A/B system, though if we really want to be fair the differences between the 4 scenarios aren't that numerous. Still incredibly solid, albeit incredibly easy by your 4th or so time through.

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  3. Resident Evil

  Nails the B-horror movie tone (unintentional as it is) that the other two don't quite do as much. Sure, they play better and are a bit more clever, but the voice acting isn't as laughably terrible and that's really what makes this a classic, more than anything else.

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  4. Resident Evil 3: Nemesis

  Nemesis is pants-crappingly terrifying, though the game itself throws absurd amounts of ammunition at you via the gunpowder system and by the end you have like 40 freeze rounds regardless of whatever else you've done.

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  5. Resident Evil 0

  After a quick replay, this game fell a decent amount in my personal estimation. Not without its merits, but definitely one of the weaker games in the series as a whole. Still better than Code Veronica.

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  6. Resident Evil - Code: Veronica

  Has a severe issue of pacing, easily twice as long as the rest of the games on this list, and is also surprisingly hard for the first part and surprisingly not hard for the second part. Also invalidates any need for inventory management because both characters have 10 inventory slots. Does get props for having a knife that isn't totally worthless, for what that's worth.