Resident Evil: Best and worst games in series ranked
With all the buzz around last week’s unveiling of Resident Evil 9, I thought it was high time to look at the best (and worse) of what the progenitor of survival horror has to offer.
Top 3 best Resident Evil (RE) games
3. Resident Evil 7
RE7 breathed new life into the franchise with its radical shakeup of the old tried-and-tested formula.
It got rid the previous characters and lore, introducing us to Ethan Winters on a quest to find his wife in the swamps of Louisiana.
The gothic house we explore is reminiscent of the mansion from the first Resident Evil, but the virus-infected zombies are replaced by fungus-infected creatures known as ‘the Mold’.
A switch in perspective from third-person to first-person also thrusts players in the heart of the action – maybe a little too close, like when Ethan’s hand gets chopped off by a chainsaw.
This makes it probably the scariest game in the series so far due to the vulnerability it exposes you to, something which was carried over to its sequel Resident Evil Village.
2. Resident Evil 4
Although it received a remake last year, the original RE4 still stands tall thanks to its perfect mix of horror and humour.
The game took the series in a more action-oriented direction (spoilers for later – that route went downhill rather quickly) but Capcom managed to nail it on their first try.
It reintroduced Leon S. Kennedy from RE2 as an agent sent to rescue the US president’s daughter from a strange Spanish cult.
The survival horror is still ever-present, but it becomes a lot more fast-paced. Levels like roundhouse kicking infected villagers and firing at zombies from a speeding minecart make for intense, if comical, action.
Coupled with Leon’s one-liners and a raft of outlandish villains, the game is filled with a certain charm that is yet to be replicated elsewhere.
1. Resident Evil (2002)
The remake of the first game follows an elite team of police officers investigating an abandoned mansion in the middle of the forest, fighting off the zombies and other mutated monsters that lurk within.
The blocky graphics and awkward voice acting of the original were updated, while retaining the core elements like solving puzzles and limited supplies.
The tense atmosphere slowly builds up as you explore the Spencer Mansion and unravel the mystery behind the outbreak, occasionally broken by a spike of music at the arrival of an enemy.
Similar to how the original set the blueprint for an entire subgenre, this game started the precedent of remakes within the Resident Evil series.
And again, Capcom nailed it in one. It’s as close as you can get to survival horror perfection.
Top 3 worst games
3. Resident Evil 3 remake
Don’t get me wrong, the game isn’t actually that bad.
It follows the original’s story of Jill Valentine, from the first Resident Evil, racing through an abandoned Raccoon City to try and find a vaccine for the virus that caused the outbreak.
All the while, she is being pursued by the Terminator-like Nemesis and eventually must escape the town before the government drops a nuke on it.
There are some saving graces, such as the greatly enhanced graphics and introduced of a dodge ability, but its biggest downfall is the short length and huge range of content that was omitted from the original.
The game takes around 2 hours less to complete than the game it’s based on, mostly owing to several locations that Jill explores – like the city hall – being cut out and a greater emphasis on action sequences and cutscenes.
It’s a shame it didn’t manage to replicate the proper experience.
2. Resident Evil 5
There are two main criticisms of RE5 – its AI system and the focus on action elements.
This time, we follow Chris Redfield and his fellow agent Sheva Alomar as they investigate a terrorist threat in West Africa.
When playing in multiplayer, the second player takes control of Sheva; however, she is a constant thorn in your side if you’re in single player mode due to the annoying AI that controls her.
While its predecessor RE4 found a balance of silly and scary scenes, RE5 goes overboard with the former and completely neglects the latter in the process.
It departs from the series’ horror roots with mixed results. Some of its scenes are downright stupid, like when Chris uses his bare fists to punch through a boulder that blocks his path.
To top it all off, the final boss fight takes place inside an active volcano.
From that, you’d expect it to be more of a blast to play.
1. Resident Evil 6
The ambition for this game was there, but the execution unfortunately missed the mark.
RE6 follows four interwoven campaigns about a worldwide bio-terrorist attack and the protagonists’ attempts to find those responsible.
The game is dragged down by its needlessly complicated story, whose events range from the assassination of the US President to the characters trying to survive a virus outbreak in China.
Quick-time events and drawn-out fight sequences further hold it back.
Ironically, unlike RE3’s remake, the main campaigns were criticised for being too long.
It also scraps any notion of survival horror and goes into full action-film mode.
Apart from featuring legacy characters from earlier games like Chris and Leon, it has almost no connection with the series that it’s part of.
This leaves RE6 as just an action game where you shoot some zombies, lacking any real personality that makes the series so great.
If I were you, I’d give this one a miss.