Resident Evil: RE4 Remake moved in house!

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Ahead of the showcase on Thursday I thought it would be interesting to get GRs perspective on the series, what are your favourite entries, what are your least favourite entries, what did you think of 7, hopes for 8 and the future of the series and just your experience with the series it's off shoots and funny stories.

The more I think about it the more I think that the Resident Evil series is the quintessential video game franchise, from it's goofy begins and hokey story and acting, to early on demonstrating fun combinations of exploration, action and puzzle solving. It grew up in the early 00's tapping into and steering the market into new action shooter focused gameplay and made reached out to movies spawning what I assume is at least a moderately successful film series given the number of them. After a few years in the wilderness it has recently reinvented itself again, bringing horror back to fore and another perspective change with the shift to first person. Ever the experimental franchise it also made use of VR given the option to play 7 fully immersed. And finally in the past couple of years we've had the spectacular remake of 2 and also quality remake of 3 back to back. I can't really think of another franchise that's experimented so much, changed the tone and cast back and forth, yet managed to keep the standard generally so high.

For my take, I think it's only really since Remake 2 that I've come to appreciate Resident Evil fully. Having never owned a PS1 it wasn't until RE Remake on the Gamecube that I had my first experience with RE. I loved it at the time and it had always been my favourite in the few games I played in the series. I've never gone back to it, and maybe it's well over time that I should, but the gorgeous graphics and survival action puzzle solving was just a great mix. Despite loving the game I never played 0 so my next entry was 4. Despite really enjoying it, I have always found it to be one of those games where I don't quite get the hype. I couldn't really knock too much about it, bar the wonky story, but for whatever reason I never loved it that much and it wouldn't feature anywhere significant on a list of my favourite games ever.

After those two I went blind on the series for a long time. I don't think I was next gen at the time of 5 so didn't feature on my radar much. I think I got the Umbrella Chronicles light gun game on Wii and I also re-bought 4 on the Wii (which as it happens I enjoyed more than the original thanks to the aiming). After this again I went back to observing from afar wondering if the series should just die, particularly around the failure of 6.



In the last few years though I think you'd be hard pressed to find a series or studios working on a singular series that have knocked it out the park more. Resi 7 was a great shake up, I loved the fact that it went back to feeling properly scary and there's some mystery in the story again. I'm not particularly enamoured with the characters, moulded enemies (very dull), and setting, but functionally it's a real blast it got me back in and I've played through it several times. Never gone into the DLC though which I'm tempted to in the lead up to 8.

Remake 2 in 2019 though is really what sealed the deal for me in terms of developing a love for the series. I've posted about it loads elsewhere but I l love everything about the game, the puzzlebox style of the police station, the enemy interactions, item management, boss fights, it's all brilliant. Remake 3 is a bit disappointing by comparison, almost feeling a bit of a budget version of Remake 2 but it still has some superb moments and the feel to play of it carried across from 2 is again, just sublime. Using these last 3 games as a jumping off point I've also gone on to sample more of the series, given Code Veronica X a stab, which I really enjoyed, though was unable to complete. I've also sampled Revelations 2 which unfortunately I'm not a fan of.


Rambled on a bit more than I intended, but I'm really looking forward to this showcase on Thursday. I hope 8 can build on 7 and improve some of the aspects I had slight issues with (enemy design). I'd also be really keen to see some kind of timeline of the series. I know the story is absolutely bonkers and not supposed to be taken very seriously, but just logistically it would be fun for them to actually plot out the 10-15-20 years post the outbreak in 1998 so we can actually see where everyone is and what they've been doing. I'd love to see a remake of Code Veronica 2 as I think it would benefit from it far more than 4. Also keen to hear whats in store for the Netflix series.

I've only dipped my toe into the bloody waters of Resident Evil.

I have played a little bit of Resi 1 and 2 on PS1, a tiny bit of Resi 4 on Wii and a little bit of Resi Revelations on Wii U. I get too creeped out by the games to play them for long .

I am okay watching them, though, and I saw a lot of Cora's 24-hour Resi charity stream last year. Resi 4 was neat and Resi 7 seemed very "OMG".

I really need to give the Resi series another shot.

I was a huge fan of the original trilogy on PS1, and both 1 and 2 are easily in my top 10 for the system, if not top 5. I also really enjoyed Code Veronica on the Dreamcast, it brought enough new elements to the series without losing what made me love it and then the remake of 1 came out on Gamecube and it was as good as ever!

But then 4 came out and, ugh, it just never really worked for me I'm afraid. I soldiered on with it as much as I could but I just couldn't love it, or even like it, in the way that I had the earlier games. From there I basically drifted away from the series, 5 and 6 looked like going even further away from anything that I was interested in and the ever growing piles of side stories and spin offs just made me think "nope, I'm done with this, no way back"

Really cannot wait for VII_I_age. I'm hoping to play VII and the 2/3 remakes yet again before it comes out.

The only game I've played to completion is Resi 4 on Wii. Absolutely one of the all-time greats.

I've played a little bit of Resi 5 and Resi 6 in co-op, they were both ok. Resi 6 was probably mechanically more interesting? I've played the start of Resi 3 remake but wasn't feeling it and I've watched my gilrfriend play most of Resi 2 remake which I probably would enjoy if I played it as it looks great. Otherwise I just know the original for its memes and... I guess I've watched most of the live action films

jawa2 wrote:I've only dipped my toe into the bloody waters of Resident Evil.

I have played a little bit of Resi 1 and 2 on PS1, a tiny bit of Resi 4 on Wii and a little bit of Resi Revelations on Wii U. I get too creeped out by the games to play them for long .

I am okay watching them, though, and I saw a lot of Cora's 24-hour Resi charity stream last year. Resi 4 was neat and Resi 7 seemed very "OMG".

Pretty much this.

The only Resident Evil game I've played is 3 and found the first encounter with the Nemesis far too stressful and soon gave up.

Fared slightly better with Onimusha, until I got to the giant wasp bit and noped out.

Resident Evil was one of the first games I saw on the Playstation and it was a real "wow" moment - The opening video footage and adultness/horror of the game. Think that would have been Xmas 96. I never really played it much at that point but it always stuck with me.

In the first half of 1997 my younger brother got a Playstation. The following Xmas we went to York for a few days, the day after boxing day. While there I talked him into buying Resident Evil with his Xmas money. When we got back home I don't think I went out for a couple of days while I completed it.

I can't really remember if he was any good at it (I was 17, he was 13) but he must have liked it because he got Resident Evil 2 for his birthday in June (or maybe I just convinced him to get it). Again I spent the next few weeks playing it (and watching France 98) when I should have been revising for my A-levels. Unlike the first game, I actually replayed this quite a lot in order to get all the unlockables. There was an extra game where you had to escape and you could play as a piece of Tofu if I remember rightly. At this point it was probably in my top 3 favorite games of all times.

I didn't like Nemesis. Didn't even finish. Probably thought I was done with the series at that point.

Then came 4 on the GC and all the hype/rave reviews (I've never bothered with any of the off-shoots - CV, Revelations, Zero etc)

I loved it. I think the new style was just right for my gaming preferences at that time in my life. I've since bought it on 360 and Xbox One. It's probably still in my top 5 games.

I've completed 5. It was ok, can't remember much about it.

I've got 6 but never played it.

I played through REmake, 2 years ago I think, finishing it with both Chris and Jill. After re-adjusting to the controls I enjoyed it as much as I ever have.

Started playing REmake 2, about a year ago but dropped it for some reason - I will go back to it though.

I completed 7 just before Xmas and thought it was very good. I thought the change to first person worked great.

So the Resident Evil series has been a big part of my gaming life, with ups and downs along the way.

Captain Kinopio wrote:it wasn't until RE Remake on the Gamecube that I had my first experience with RE.

Same here and boy did I get some mileage from it. Despite playing through the game several times, I have only ever played through Jill's quest, primarily because there was a challenge in NGC's Skill Club to finish the game in under 2 hrs.

Never bothered with any of the other GC releases until 4, which I was massively pumped for. It didn't disappoint and until Super Mario Odyssey came along I'd not have hesitated to name it as my favourite game when asked.

Didn't own any of the Xboxes or Playstations that followed so 4 remains my most recent venture into the series. I'd like to try the remaster of RE2 but that won't happen unless it comes out on in physical form on the Switch at some point. Same I suppose for the other games.

Ste wrote:

I applaud the shenanigans or a 17 year old you convincing your 13 year old brother to spend his money on a game rated 15+

Drumstick wrote:

In my head REmake is a 30 hour game, I’m flabbergasted it can be done in 2, maybe I should replay it. I think I ended up doing both at the time because I wanted to see what the Flamethrower looked like.


On the subject of trilogies. It’s interesting to look back and see where they might take 8 or even 9.

1-3 is a fixed camera trilogy focussed on Racoon City

4-6 over the shoulder action trilogy on new types of virus around the world (though is 6 set in Racoon City at all?)

7-9 first person trilogy looking at impacts of natural virus impacts in small contained situations / communities?


It’s weird, I’m not actually sure how 7 ties in to anything else.

I’ve only ever played Resi 4, the games generally do look quite to very good but it always comes down to the problem of always wanting to play something else first and then I never get around to any of them!

Don’t really have the time to post my history with the games (most of them, because I’m old) but I will say that the current creative team holding the reins of the franchise - if there is one, exec producers or other leading names within Capcom - have REALLY got it going on right now in terms of the quality. The last 3 games have been just excellent, even 3’s remake was still pretty damn good despite being the perceived weakest entry lately.

Never really got into this series, always found the controls so slow and clunky that even in the demos i tried, i ended up getting killed really quickly.

It's the best franchise. I don't need an essay to explain why, it simply is. Neck and neck with Zelda for the game I have the most good memories and fun experiences with. The original trilogy, REMake and Resident Evil 4, then latterly RE2Make and RE7 which I played for the first time last year, are all in with a shout of being in my all time top twenty list.

Resi 1 - remember my mum renting it from Global Video for me and playing it on my brother's PS1. Unfortunately he never bothered buying a memory card for some daft reason so I never completed it.

Resi 2 - also rented this one, brother finally had a memory card so I actually managed to complete it. Loved it. I remember there being a lot of hype for it in school around launch and one of my friends couldn't get past the first licker encounter.

Resi 3 - rented it like the previous two. Thought it was decent but not as good as 2.

Code Veronica - didn't play this until the Gamecube port. Got strawberry floated with a bad save point and couldn't beat the Tyrant on the plane with the gear I had. Didn't really like the game up till then anyway.

Resi 4 bought it at launch on the Gamecube, and the Wii as well (best version). Loved it at the time but I don't really think it's aged well after playing the subsequent games. The not being able to move while aiming thing just feels plain awkward and annoying now and I can never be arsed playing through it all agin. Hope they change the movement in the remake (and give people the option to chose between being able to move or not to shut up all the elitists that would inevitably moan about it)

REmake - phenomenal game, looked absolutely amazing at the time and still holds up well now. Got this at launch on the Gamecube, I remember picking up my preorder from Electronics Boutique after school and playing it till about 2am. I've got the PS4 version from PS+ but haven't played it in aaaages.

Resi 5 - completely forgettable other than steroid Chris punching the boulder and all the dodgy as strawberry float racial stereotypes. Absolutely no way the same game would be released today. No desire to ever replay it. Dead Space came along and was better anyway.

Resi 6 - I've spoken about this on here plenty of times before but I absolutely loved it and it's one of my favourites in the series. It was everything I ever wanted a big budget Resi movie to be

Revelations 1 - Capcom did wonders with the 3DS and the episodic structure of it suited the format very well. Online raid mode was brilliant, I remember playing a lot of it with Dalagonash

Revelations 2 - got the first episode for free on PSN. Wasn't a fan.

Resi 7 - I always find the killer dumb hillbilly trope in horror movies boring as strawberry float so I completely skipped this one.

Resi 2 remake - one of the best remakes ever, couldn't believe how good it was. It's almost perfect, struggling to think of any negatives other than maybe the sewer section got a bit boring.

Resi 3 remake - I only played the demo of this but I wasn't really feeling it so never bothered getting the full game. Nemesis just felt plain annoying unlike Mr X, mostly because he could jump around and close distance so fast. Might pick it up if I ever see it for under a tenner.

I was always gutted that GBC version of Resi 1 got cancelled. I played some of the version that was leaked and it was impressive what they managed to do on such limited hardware.

I have played a few resident evil games but only for short periods apart from Resident Evil: Revelations which I really enjoyed and first completed on the 3ds and then on the Wii U, it was excellent on the 3ds playing in bed with headphones in, it felt very immersive with great atmosphere, great visuals and like playing a “proper” full home console game but on the 3ds

I understand why RE0 doesn’t get much love, but having completed all the numbered entries (other than 6, which I could not abide), CV, both Outbreaks, and all the remakes, 0 for me is at least top 5.

7 is top 3, although it dragged at the very end and could have used more enemy variety (zombies would have been nice). 8 looks good for more of the new style, but I worry that it might highlight the negative aspects of 7, in the same way that 6 highlighted the flaws of 5 (and even 4).

So I’ve changed my No.1 from 0 to the original RE2, which had a super-tightly compacted story and a scenario-interactivity dynamic that hasn’t been done since.

I’m glad that we’re done with the RE4 style, but as much as I liked the switch to first-person, I still have a soft spot for pre-rendered backgrounds, and would love to see what modern tech could do with them. Resi was always amongst the best-looking games, and 7 looked great on my PC, but with so many other amazing-looking games it would be good to see resi back on the graphics-forefront, as the trailers for 8 didn’t wow me as much as some of the other next-gen titles...

Completely forgot 0 existed when I was going though my list I've never played it.

Mafro wrote:Completely forgot 0 existed when I was going though my list I've never played it.

I got really far but then got strawberry floated off because I died and hadn’t saved in ages. Good game, I guess. Wasn’t mad on the swap mechanic either but the map screen revamp was a godsend - showing you what items you’d dropped, if a room was ‘clear’ or not. The remakes use it to great effect.
Also there’s a well annoying bit where you need an item that you hadn’t used since, like, near the start of the game, so if you’ve dropped it miles and miles away it’s well annoying. Will never forget that bullshit.

The swapping mechanic completely put me off.

What are the chances they announce another REmake on top of all the VIllage news tonight? Code Veronica is £4 atm and I'm kind of tempted