Where Resident Evil Went Wrong

Resident Evil is one of those series’ that started so well-regarded, so perfectly beautiful, so pure a piece of video gaming. But where did it all wrong for Capcom’s survival horror?

[naruga]

we have said it 1 fing million times -> RE 4!..every other justification is ridiculous by default ..the game ruined completely RE series

[Fin_The_Human]

Resident Evil died after Code Veronica.

[ji3200]

resident evil died after SHINJI MIKAMI creator left the company

[Imalwaysright]

How can one of the best games ever made ruin anything? RE was stagnating and RE4 was a welcomed change. It had that creepy atmosphere and was an intense experience from start to finish just like previous RE games. Mikami leaving Capcom was what ruined RE.

[DeadManMMX]

Because it wasn't a Resident Evil game. It was an action game with the name Resident Evil. It abandoned everything that made Resident Evil. It's a great game and I love 5 and the co op action it brought but when Resident Evil stopped feeling like Resident Evil was RE4. Hands down.

[Imalwaysright]

@ DeadManMMX

To you. To me RE has always been more about creepy atmosphere and intensity than horror. I was never scared while playing a RE game before RE4.

RE4 kept the atmosphere and intensity so to me is just as much a RE game as its predecessors.

[Reibooi]

The way I kinda see it was that RE did need a shot in the arm as it were and Resident Evil 4 was certainly that. The problem is that Capcom don't seem to completely understand why people consider RE4 a classic and made RE5 and 6 miss the point entirely. Yeah they are more action based like 4 but 4 also had alot of stuff that felt like Resident Evil while 5 and 6 did not.

That said I think it's hard for alot of folks to admit that RE4 is where the series went wrong because it is a awesome game and it's kinda hard to imagine how a great game can cause a series to go the wrong way.

I think that the success of the remakes we have been getting kinda shows that Capcom should return to making new Resident Evil games in that old style. Maybe make them smaller cheaper experiences. We have seen that the old games hold up so take your design cues from them and run with it. Hell maybe we will see that after Capcom has nothing else to remake.

[ape007]

agreed 100%, Resi 4 not only the best Resi game ever but one of the greatest games of all time, it made past resi games completely outdated/unplayable....sad what happened to resi 5 and especially 6

[Rhezin]

NO. RE 4 was a different game, definitely not Resident Evil anymore. Took all the scares out once they released that crap.

[Imalwaysright]

"Took all the scares"

What scares? What's scary about RE games? RE isn't about scares... It's about tension that comes from its atmostphere and RE4 had a great atmosphere just like its predecessors.

http://www.escapistmagazine...

RE was stagnating, it needed change and RE4 was the perfect change. Kept what was great about RE and took it to a whole new level. RE4 is by far the best RE game and hands down one of the best games ever made.

[Pullmywaffle]

RE4 did more for action games in the last decade than 99% of what came before it. Survival horror died with that game, and Dead Space picked up the slack...for 2 games at least. I still consider RE4 to be one of my favorite games of all time, but i've never considered it really a true RE game.

[_-EDMIX-_]

100% completely agree

[Lightning Mr Bubbles]

Yeah, and the worse part is that RE4 was so well reviewed and accepted as a great game. But it just wasn't Resident Evil anymore.

But the real problem is when Capcom just gave into the sales, and turned it into an action game to appeal to a wider audience, they just killed the franchise.

Silent Hill on the other hand went bad after they broke up the team that created it and they just started trying to keep milking the franchise. Silent Hill died after Silent Hill 3.

[ShaunCameron]

RE was always an action game at heart. It's just everything they wanted to do with the IP came full circle with RE4, taking advantage of the newer technology at their disposal.

[Rhezin]

completely agree. The change to survival horror to action horror started with 4. Anything after 3 sucks IMO.

[Lightning Mr Bubbles]

Code Veronica was not bad, not it's best but it was still Resident Evil, and the Resident Evil remake and Zero where also okay. It's RE4, RE5, and RE6 that just turned the franchise to crap more and more.

[_-EDMIX-_]

Agreed

though I love Resident Evil 4, that should have been the start of some side game action series and not a replacement for the main series especially considering it's not as if Capcom didn't already have side games in the Resident Evil series.

Re4 is the beginning of their removing limited saves removing limited ammo and removing limited health..

[Germaximus]

Yup. It was never the same after they turned it into a third-person shooter.

[Sirk7x]

Man, RE4 is one of the greatest games ever made. It still held true to its horror values, even with the added emphasis to action. Resident Evil 5 was where things took a serious turn for the worst. Capcom wanted to emulate Western shooters to sell more.

[fitfox]

RE4 did not ruin the Franchise, RE5 & 6 did. RE4 is an important game that set the standard for all modern 3rd person shooters.

[Psytrix]

I actually quite enjoyed RE 5 for what it was.

[Fin_The_Human]

I am going to guess you didn't start playing the RE games until the XBox or PS3.

The movement in RE5 alone was dreadful and the amount of QTE in RE6 was so ridiculous that they made a song about it .

[Pullmywaffle]

I enjoyed RE5, but again, like with RE4, i don't consider them true RE games. The co op in RE5 was truly phenomenal if you had someone with a sliver of skill.

[Grap]

i loled when zombies started shooting me with ak47 in RE5.
RE5 was garbage period.

[_-EDMIX-_]

I love how zombies gained motor skills and begin sniping you, forming as mobs and calculating plans to kill you.

The lolz.

Watch Resident Evil 7 be a racing game and they're just going to have the drivers in the car look like zombies and tell you it's still a horror survival game lol

They were so damn desperate to pass that game off as a survival horror game it wasn't even funny these people were damn near mercenaries!

Watch the next game they're going to be flying helicopters and tanks and the story's going to be like "oh no the virus has changed they're flying jets now!"

[VTKC]

Yeah it was bloody ridiculous

[1Victor]

Grap I agree with you zombies riding motorcycles and shooting is where I put my foot down and stop buying RE games 4 was a good game with the RE name a nice change but it was as scary as a empty box there was no single moment that I can remember that make me jump like the dogs coming in the hallway or nemesis chasing you on the police station after dropping from a helicopter. RE 1,2,3 was the stuff that gave you nightmares 4,5,6 was the stuff that makes you LOL or shake your head in shame

[Pullmywaffle]

Honestly for me, RE3 really started the decline of the true formula. Several ammo pickups, herbs galore, overpowered weapons, easily being able to dodge any attack, the list goes on. A fantastic game, but definitely felt more action oriented than the first 2.

[DeadManMMX]

That game was awesome. Play it on hard it makes you work for weapons and use the gunpowder. If you want access to better weapons you have to put your resources on the line and take down nemesis so he would drop briefcases. You had to be able to move to fight against an enemy like Nemesis. The fact that he could show up and chase you anywhere really added to it. I'll always believe RE2 was the best but man was RE3 a blast.

[tmisellati]

i completely agree
RE 3 with its action atmosphere is what changed RE games
RE 4 had just perfected that formula IMO.

[Artemidorus]

The moment they got rid of the camera angles and D pad movement it was over for me.

That and the storylines de-railing

[ShaunCameron]

In other words, RE simply evolved with the times while its fans refuse to let go of the PS1 era.

[IRetrouk]

evolved? changed maybe but not evolved, and the fans are the whole point of a series are they not? if not for the fans resi would have died a lot sooner than it did, the real fans are the ones that have been buying the remasters over anything else, even capcom have got the message, resi evil 2 remaster or remake is next isnt it?

[Artemidorus]

Absolutely. If it isn't broken then don't fix it.

I didn't see games like Uncharted go through massive changes or storylines go off the rails.

[majedx9]

Where Resident Evil Went Wrong? ok..
-zombies does not looks like zombies anymore they looks just like angry mob of people.
- it's no more a Survival horror game
-too much action shooting
-no more safe rooms with relaxing music
-"no more ink ribbon" and this one is really important to make you feel that you can die any time and lose progress.
-over shoulder camera
-puzzles where are the crazy puzzles.
-no more items & keys like in RE1,2 and 3
-the game is holding your hands now pointing where to go next,it should be just like RE1,2 and 3"figure it out yourself "
- Wesker can shoot Lasers from his Eyes WTF -_-
-OH and episodes sucks a**

[tmisellati]

if we followed the style of the RE games from 1-6 , we see how the game has changed from an adventure horror game ( RE1) to action adventure horror game ( RE 2) to completely action horror game ( RE 3,4, 5 ,6).
the change into completely action game is what destroyed the series. RE 4 was great game but it never felt like a classic RE game and what makes things worse is that both RE 5 and RE 6 were medicore games at their best.
RE 7 needs to return to old atmosphere. they have to implement more puzzles , more exploration and of course going back to the zombie era.

[sdcard4gb]

We've been through this... At RE5.
The only solitary good thing about RE5 was Wesker's hammy performance, everything else was watered down, unnecessary and just straight up didn't get the point of what was making RE good all these years. RE6 is a natural progression of RE5's mess - a absolutely devoid of character and sense of self-respect piece of rot.
Good thing we got The Evil Within eventually, a true Resident Evil 5 in my book - not a perfect game by a long-shot, but for everyone who loved RE4... This is a treat :)
I hope for a sequel.

[Spurg]

Well its in Capcom's hand so...it gonna be doomed forever

[MasterD919]

I'm ready to see the franchise retire but also curious to see if RE7 would be a significant departure from the last two games. I think the series has been crap ever since the movies came out...it seems like their main focus went from horror to action.

[ninjazfistz]

Capcom should call Resident Evil Biohazard and vice versa in Japan so they could start fresh combining best elements of old games with modern controls, no merchant, new characters with journals telling stories from umbrella/oldcharacters (didn't play 6 so don't know how they would continue it), and they got my money.

[AdmGenAladeen]

RE died the day RE4 came out. It was and still is a disgrace to the series. RE was a franchise born of horror and then twisted into some Michael Bay garbage by the geniuses at Crapcom. If you like 4, 5 or 6, more power to you. You have the right to like what you want but the undeniable fact is the series went far off course when they tried to change it up. A reboot is needed and it needs to be done by someone like Mikami. As it stands now the story is so twisted and screwed I can barely figure out what's going on. They just need to finish the REMAKE of the greatest RE game ever made, RE2 AN ABSOLUTE MASTERPIECE!!

[ShaunCameron]

Ironically, the same Mikami that called for the ditching of the old RE formula (read: PS1-era gamelay) in favor of fresher ideas in RE4, because even he thought RE was getting stagnant.

[Sirk7x]

^

[Gears_President]

Yeah decline started at Res3 but it was cool...Res2 B side my friend would watch me play and I'd be like, my man gone bust through wall right here...and I would still jump smh...good times

[ShaunCameron]

According it its die-hard fans, it left the PS1 era.

[ninjazfistz]

Capcom lost control over the series by rushing and making Resident Evil 3: Nemisis the third installment. Resident evil: Code Veronica should have been 3 and it should have been called Resident Evil: Nemisis. This is the game they got off path with. Capcom needs to release Resident Evil 7 soon borrowing what they learn from the re-release of 2 and revelations.