Why did I decide to play all the main Resident Evil games? Read my initial blog

Resident Evil 0 chronologically is first, read my pre and post game thoughts

I decided to do a chronological playthrough of the Resident Evil franchise because I enjoy watching events play out how they are supposed to be (except Memento, watching it edited chronologically sounds boring). Thus this means that I would be alternating some games between generations, which means jumping between tone as well. That is what I experienced from starting with RE0, a game trying to be extremely serious and scary, and DC, which comes off as campy and B movie-esque. And god dammit did I absolutely love it.

Note: I just want to say here that I didn’t finish the game myself. As I was about to enter the labs, my Vita got an error and I couldn’t start any game. Once I got it working after a reboot, I had lost about 2 hours of gameplay so I elected to watch the conclusion of the game. I was very sad that I couldn’t beat it myself and hope that it doesn’t happen in the future…I’m planning on playing 2 and 3 on my Vita and god I hope it doesn’t happen again.

As I sit here writing this, I am having a hard time of evening thinking of anything that I disliked about the game. From beginning to end I think they nailed everything, whether intentionally or not. Let’s start with the combat and gameplay. It surprised me how responsive and comfortable the combat was after about 30 minutes of adjusting to the control scheme, which is quite simple and effective. By the end of my time with the game I was able to respond to most situations quickly and effectively, by contrast in RE0 I felt sluggish and I relied on a slow approach to minimize getting caught off guard. DC allowed me to straddle the line of cautiousness and play ability and I absolutely applaud them for nailing it and somehow living up to that still. And maybe I sit here and applaud the game’s mechanics because I have never really been bothered by tank controls and the specific camera angles that exist in the early RE games. I know some can’t get passed this aspect of the game and I feel bad for them as it just comes to me so quickly that once I adjust I can execute pretty much everything I want to. Same thing with the MG series, these weird control schemes just make sense after a little while. Regardless I was very surprised how playable the game was after all these years and despite hunters being able to stun lock you to death, all my deaths were on me rather than the game which makes me a better player.

Now let’s talk about what I loved most about it, the tone and atmosphere of the game. As with a lot of things that are unintentional, I don’t know if I would want the original RE to be serious. It strikes me off as the perfect way to start the series, rather than being overly serious and “scary.” God I can’t get enough of the FMV sequences and the terrible costumes, the painful dialogue with pauses between lines, everything about the story telling was incredibly charming and I just couldn’t help but smile every time one of these scenes came up. An example is the opening cutscene, I verbally laughed every time they show the close of the (I'm assuming) figurine of a zombie dog and do the zoom in and out and rotate the camera, it was cheesy in the right way, the best way possible. I did a Chris playthrough in this version (I'll admit I'm saving the Jill playthrough so she is in HD...) so sadly I didn’t get any amazing, classic Barry lines that everyone knows but Rebecca’s incredibly high pitched, overly enthusiastic delivery despite the dark circumstances made up for it with me. As I sit here writing this, I want to do another playthrough just for the hell of it, and when I get that feeling after a game that says it was special to me in some way.

I’m still having a hard time thinking of issues I had with the game. Probably the obvious thing is the Hunter’s and how they could be complete bullshit, but as long as there was only 1 I had to face I would be ok. Maybe not enough boss battles and relied on Yawn more than they should have. The bosses are where I misplaced REmake memories onto the game so I was expecting a huge shark or “head” zombie battle but those never happened, and maybe for the best. I remember this game scaring me as a kid, but that wasn't the case this time. I even tried to play in the dark to at least try and get a "scare" atmosphere while I played but there is nothing scary about it. I was 8 when it came out and easily scared I guess, nostalgia wasn't ruined as that was a time and place thing for me. Not enough different weapons? I don’t know. I’m really stretching here so I don’t come across all lovey dovey with the game, but I truly enjoyed 99% of the game.

So where do we go from here? I suspect some of the charm of this game is lost on 2 and 3 as they are probably more successful in being scary or serious. Definitely by the time the games come off the PS1 I’m sure the B-movie feel is completely gone, and that kind of saddens me. I almost want to say that there are two Resident Evil series, the first one and then the rest. Eventually when I get to the HD remake I wonder how I will feel about that game. I suspect a lot of it will feel like a different game in the same setting, but I fully expect to love both of them for different reasons. And that’s OK in my book.

Final verdict. Resident Evil: Director’s Cut is still a very playable and approachable now, despite being almost 20 years old. If a game that is quite cheesy and B-movie style doesn’t interest you, stay away, but I pity you, I don’t know if I would want this one to be serious. And maybe it’s for the best that this (maybe) is the only entry that crosses that line. I sit here truly surprised how much I enjoyed the game.

In keeping with the chronology of the series, the next blog will be a combination of RE 2 and 3, as the first half of 3 takes place before 2 and then ends after the events that occur in 2. I’m very curious to see how this plays out and pray that my Vita doesn’t crash again, I really want to play these games rather than resorting to Let’s Play videos.

On to... actually you can read my thoughts on RE2 and 3 here!