When Resident Evil released in 1996, it bore
more than a few uncomfortable similarities to 1992’s Alone in the Dark. There’s no denying,
however, that Capcom’s game was more refined, more interesting, and more influential, literally
naming the genre we now call survival horror. Most importantly, it grew into a series in its own
right, developing its own identity, weaving its own lore, and introducing countless characters
who all speak like they’ve recently suffered head injuries. [“Jill, you’re here, too.” “Yes,
you’re here, too.”]During its journey from spooky experiment to horror juggernaut, however,
not all of its games were created equal. You know what that means: It is our sacred
duty to tell you exactly which ones are better than which other ones and by how much.
No, no need to thank us. All in a day’s work! The rules are simple this time around. In
fact, we fit them into the title of this video: We are ranking every Resident
Evil game from worst to best. We are excluding ports and enhanced
re-releases, however. Basically, that means we are judging these games
by the state in which they were released at launch. We will be including the remakes of the
first three numbered games, as they are distinct enough from the originals to merit inclusion.
As usual, we will not be ranking the mobile games, as many of them are either lost to time or
too difficult to play properly. Only joking; we will not be ranking them because they
are terrible. Also, we are not including the Resident Evil pachinko or pachislot games because
a man needs to retain at least some self-respect. Let’s rank ‘em.
I’m Ben and I’m Peter from TripleJump, and this is Every Resident Evil
Game Ranked from Worst to Best. Let’s Rank Em. #26: Resident Evil 2 (1998)
Game.com We debated including this one at all, mainly
because we were afraid that if we mentioned its name three times, it would appear in the room
with us, but the fact is that it’s a completely unique game rather than a direct port. And it’s
ambitious, I’ll give it that. Of course, leaping off a building because you believe you can flap
your arms rapidly enough to fly is also ambitious, so that’s not necessarily a good thing.
Resident Evil 2 for the Game.Com is running on hardware that’s moderately less
powerful than a cigarette lighter, so we can forgive it for lacking content. But
this game is missing the entire Claire scenario, all of the cutscenes, most of the story, nearly
all of the puzzles, and many of the enemies. At that point, why not create a simpler
spinoff tailored to the hardware instead? The game at least does have a deliberate pace, but
that’s only because it runs at the frame rate of a book of postage stamps. With so many other ways
to play this game, picking it up on the Game.com is madness. It’s like experiencing Resident
Evil 2 as a set of badly Xeroxed trading cards. #25: Umbrella Corps (2016)
PlayStation 4, PC In game design, there is always a struggle
between quantity and quality. Do you dedicate your resources towards making games as large and varied
as possible, knowing that each element could be better if you spent more time working on it? Or do
you dedicate your resources towards making every aspect of the game as good as it can be, knowing
the game will be smaller and shorter as a result? Umbrella Corps answered that question
by saying neither quantity nor quality was important. Which is certainly…an opinion.
Umbrella Corps was released as a budget title, though even if it were released
free-to-play, it would have been overpriced. It’s a generic multiplayer
shooter with Resident Evil imagery painted overtop. It reduces one of the most famously
terrifying franchises to a frantic Hollywood firefight, and it doesn’t even do it well.
Any fun to be had with this game is accidental, and will almost certainly be in the form of
amusement at its many glitches. There’s nothing wrong with creating an action-oriented spinoff,
but Umbrella Corps looks and feels cheap, like a fan game that really needed another few weeks
of development before it went into early access. #24: Resident Evil Gaiden (2001)
Game Boy Color It’s tempting to say that any attempt to
translate the survival horror experience to a system as weak as the Game Boy Color was doomed
to fail, but I honestly don’t think that’s true. Capcom worked gory, atmospheric wonders with
Sweet Home on the Famicom. That game was a crucial part of Resident Evil’s DNA, so
creating a spinoff along those lines would have both worked well and been a lovely
nod to one of the series’ predecessors. Instead, we got a strange RPG/rhythm game hybrid,
with encounters on the overworld leading to timing-based battle sequences. It was a graceless
blend of two very different kinds of games, and you won’t find too many people who wish
to see it return. While the timed attacks were surely meant to replicate the difficulty of the
combat in the main games, all it really did was make every encounter frustrating and tedious.
It’s not totally without merit. The chiptune soundtrack is good, the graphics are charming, and
the haunted cruise ship would go on to become the setting of a much better game. It’s also one
of only two games in which you play as Barry “Just Take-A-Look-At-This” Burton.
Just don’t…y’know…expect to enjoy it. #23: Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (2012)
PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC The nicest thing we can say about Operation
Raccoon City is that it actually features characters and enemies we recognize. The
second-nicest thing we can say about it is that your house might not burn down while you play it.
Operation Racoon City takes place during the events of Resident Evil 2 and 3. That’s
misleading, though, because you probably remember those games being fun and having
interesting setpieces. Operation Racoon City, by contrast, has waves of disposable enemies and
tedious fights against bosses that you already conquered more satisfyingly in the main games.
To be fair, Operation Racoon City is not a survival horror; it’s a squad-based
shooter. To be even more fair, Operation Racoon City is a very bad squad-based
shooter. With the exception of our beloved HUNK, the playable characters are interchangeable,
and the story isn’t canonical anyway. That last bit is a shame, because with more
polish, playing as the Umbrella Security Service could have given the events of Resident Evil
2 and 3 some fascinating perspective. Instead, Operation Raccoon City raises the question
of “What did the USS get up to during those games?” only to answer it with, “They
pulled the trigger a lot,” and a shrug. #22: Resident Evil Survivor (2000)
PlayStation, PC The only game on this list that had the
unfortunate distinction of being featured on Worst Games Ever, Resident Evil Survivor is a spinoff
that seems to believe the success of the first game was due to its loading screens. At least, I
assume it did, since it features so many of them. You play as an amnesiac who falls onto an island,
where Umbrella has yet another installation and is performing yet more horrific experiments.
We’d tell you more about your character, but it would be pointless; you
essentially play as a targeting reticle. The game was intended to play with a light gun. If
you didn’t have one – or if you lived in the U.S., where the functionality was removed – you
got a terrible horror game that wasn’t worthy of shining Resident Evil’s shoes.
If you did have one…well, you still got that. But now you could play it with a light gun.
The story is canonical, at least, so if you truly fancy yourself a Resident Evil scholar, you’ll
need to play through it at least once. If you are a Resident Evil scholar, though…what are you doing
with your life? Philip… the writer of this list… #21: Resident Evil Survivor
2 – Code: Veronica (2001) Arcade, PlayStation 2
I will acknowledge up front that this game had a Japan-only arcade release,
and that I have not played it. If I had, I might well have ranked Resident Evil
Survivor 2 – Code: Veronica a bit higher, as I’m sure it feels and controls better
than the mess we got on PlayStation 2. And by “we” I mean fans in the UK. North America
was spared this atrocity. Thanks, Capcom. Survivor 2 is a retelling of Code Veronica, and
since you won’t hear about that game for a very, very long time, you can rest assured it’s an
unwelcome, unnecessary, and unenjoyable one. That game’s incredible atmosphere and engaging story
are replaced here with zombie shootinggalleries and tiny maps full of dull corridors. Also,
Nemesis shows up if you take too long, like that ghost whale in Bubble Bobble. Only,
somehow, feeling even more out of place. The game also lacks voice acting, despite the
fact that no new dialogue would have had to be recorded; they could have reused voice clips from
the actual Code Veronica and called it a day. A better Survivor game and a better Code
Veronica game both exist. Let this one rot. #20: Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D (2011)
3DS Minigames and side modes are a staple of Resident
Evil, appearing in nearly every main game. Some of the best-received ones were the Mercenaries
modes in Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 5. The Mercenaries 3D had the bright idea of expanding
on those as a standalone release. Was it worth it? Well, it should have been. Taking the Mercenaries
modes from those two games and fleshing them out into a full, action-packed experience is a solid
idea. What we got in reality, though, was a title that offered precious little in terms of content.
Major characters such as Leon were missing, there were few enemies and environments available,
and other than trying to beat your own high score, there was no incentive to keep playing.
What’s more, Capcom ruffled feathers by making the save data undeletable, meaning you
couldn’t even start the game over from scratch just for fun. It also meant you couldn’t
as easily sell it secondhand, but I’m sure that’s just a coincidence. The Mercenaries 3D
is not a bad idea, and we’d love to see a new version with more characters, environments, and
modes, but what we’ve got is certainly lacking. #19: Resident Evil: Dead Aim (2002)
PlayStation 2 Resident Evil: Dead Aim is the best of what
Capcom calls the Gun Survivor series, so its low placement on this list tells you everything you
need to know about whether or not you should ever play the Gun Survivor series. Like the others,
it was designed as a light-gun game, meaning that everything beyond the shooting got little
attention from the developers. Having said that, Dead Aim does a decent job of building the
tension and creating a memorable atmosphere. You play as a member of the Anti-Umbrella Pursuit
Investigation Team – no points for guessing what their mission is – as you explore a monster-filled
boat, adrift in the ocean. That’s a setting we saw already in Resident Evil Gaiden and it’s one
we’ll see again in much better circumstances, and indeed the setting goes a long way toward
making you feel isolated and vulnerable. If you weren’t a fan of the
other Gun Survivor games, Dead Aim isn’t going to suddenly make you
understand their appeal. I should know, because I played it and I still don’t understand
their appeal. But if you did enjoy them, it’s worth playing this one. And…all of the remaining
games on this list, which are objectively better. #18: Resident Evil 6 (2012)
PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 Well, something has to be the lowest-ranking
game in the main series, and it might as well be Resident Evil 6. Abandoning survival
horror completely in favor of action, the game was met with a deeply mixed reception. It’s true that Resident Evil 6 plays well
and achieves what little it sets out to do, but it’s also true that it represents a major
departure from what came before. It’s difficult to fault fans for picking up this game and expecting
something much different from what they got. Ultimately, the problem is that it tries to do
too much. Leon’s campaign tries to be scary, but it’s too full of Hollywood explosions.
Jake’s campaign tries to be an action movie, but it’s riddled with quick-time events and
feels too over the top for a series that used to take itself seriously. Ada’s campaign
tries to have a focus on puzzles, but…well, okay, it does, but it’s also boring as sin.
Chris’s campaign is the most successful of the bunch, but it jostles for space with three
others that drag down the experience. Resident Evil was never all that smart, but this
was the first time it was outright dumb. #17: Resident Evil Outbreak (2003)
PlayStation 2 There are those who have fond memories of playing
Resident Evil Outbreak. Almost certainly those people had the luxury of playing it online.
Indeed, that was the “correct” way to play it, but that wasn’t as easy as it sounds. For
starters, the PlayStation 2 wasn’t exactly at the forefront of online capabilities. What’s
more, if you lived in the UK, the game had no online functionality at all; that was limited
to the Japanese and North American releases. What did you get if you couldn’t play online?
Well, a forgettable story full of forgettable characters. The entire point was to replicate
the tension you would feel with a real group of survivors. The possibility that any
of you could permanently die lent real stakes to every decision, and you’d each
have to rely on one another to survive. Without the ability to play online, you were
stuck with a squad of ditzy AI characters who had a tendency to walk in circles, overload their
inventories with items to the point that they couldn’t carry any weapons or ammo, and sometimes
even quietly pick up a mandatory quest item so that you’d have absolutely no idea where it went.
That’s not an experience I can rank very highly. #16: Resident Evil 3 (2020)
PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC A controversial ranking, perhaps, but Resident
Evil 3 seems to wear its shortcomings on its sleeve. It pales not only in comparison to the
previous year’s masterful Resident Evil 2 remake, but to 1999’s Resident Evil 3: Nemesis.
It looks fantastic, the voice acting is great, and the soundtrack is appropriately
atmospheric. But with so much of the content missing – including bosses, entire locations,
and the branching story moments – and so little introduced to take its place, the game ends up
feeling slight. Not helping matters is how often its central threat – Nemesis – is reduced to
a series of quick-time events, making him feel more like an obstacle than a true antagonist.
There are a few hours of fun here, for sure, but there’s little to keep you coming back the
way the previous game’s multiple campaigns or Ghost Survivors modes did. Sure, there’s Resident
Evil: Resistance, which is a multiplayer mode for people who don’t realize it’s more fun to
be asleep, but Resident Evil 3 is overall disposable, and an unfortunate misstep for a
series that had been doing so well recently. #15: Resident Evil 5 (2009)
PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 You won’t find many people citing Resident
Evil 5 as their favorite game in the series, but it has sold the largest number of copies.
In fact, it’s the third-best-selling Capcom game ever, and until 2018 it was second only
to the mighty Street Fighter II. Certainly the fact that it was the first proper co-op
Resident Evil game made it appealing to many. As a single-player game, Resident Evil
5 is quite a bit less interesting. Its environments are designed as arenas far more
than they are structured to deliver the spookums, and you’ll pull the trigger more in a
half hour of this game than in an entire playthrough of the original Resident Evil.
Its biggest problem is that it feels like a step too far from what the series actually is. Or,
I suppose, was. Resident Evil 4 made the puzzles less inscrutable and more easily…scruted, but
Resident Evil 5 just about abandons them entirely, leaning directly into the action and never
looking back. Does that make it a bad game? Of course not. Does it make it
a disappointing one? Well, yeah…but I wouldn’t say that to Chris’s face so let’s
just agree it’s not and keep our rocks intact. #14: Resident Evil Outbreak File #2 (2004)
PlayStation 2 What’s that? A game designed for online play
that we can actually play online? Capcom, with this basic functionality you are really
spoiling us. Yes, for those of us who stick a “u” into every word imaginable, Outbreak File #2 was
the first time we could play Outbreak as intended. The result? Well, yeah, it’s better, obviously.
The core game itself isn’t much different, though, and it suffers from many of the same issues
as the original. The campaigns are still a bit short – usually clocking in at just over an
hour – but they are more varied this time around, with some genuinely interesting environments.
Have you ever wanted to visit a zoo during a zombie apocalypse? If so, you have
some rather unconventional desires, but you can fulfill them right here!
It's often referred to as a standalone expansion rather than a full-fledged sequel,
and that’s probably the correct way to describe it. It’s another opportunity to experience the
Raccoon City outbreak from the points of view of some interchangeable nobodies. It’s fun while it
lasts, but it’s better in concept than execution. #13: Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (2007)
Wii We’ve seen Resident Evil experiment with its
spinoffs, sometimes changing genre entirely, and so far it’s gone about as well as Umbrella’s
experiments. Surprisingly, it’s an on-rails shooter for the Wii that finally bucks that trend.
I admit, I never would have seen that coming. The Umbrella Chronicles is a loose retelling
of the events of Resident Evil Zero, Resident Evil, and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis,
introducing its own connective tissue along the way. Capcom invested a good
amount of creativity into the game, leaving it to professional death-faker Albert
Wesker to narrate the experience with all the cheese and smarm that should naturally entail.
It recontextualizes previous games as shooting galleries, and does so in a way that actually
works and feels authentic. The fact that it’s a retelling from the perspective of perhaps the
least reliable narrator in history certainly helps. It’s also nice to see familiar environments
from new angles; it’s a great mix of old and new. The game isn’t perfect. It features mandatory
waggle at various points, and if you play with a partner you each need to complete the quick-time
events correctly, otherwise you both fail them, but the game provided a great foundation for
a sequel to build upon. Speaking of which… #12: Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles (2009)
Wii The Darkside Chronicles is a nice step
forward from The Umbrella Chronicles. Not enough to climb much further up the
list, but enough to make it stand out as a solid sequel of a surprisingly good game.
This time, the games reimagined as on-rails shooters are Resident Evil 2 and Code: Veronica.
There are also completely new sequences centered around Leon Kennedy and Jack Krauser, which
provides context for the pair’s relationship as we saw it in Resident Evil 4. It’s a
less playful framing than we got with the wisecracking Wesker, but that works
in favor of The Darkside Chronicles. The game works hard to retain a sense of actual,
tangible horror. The lighting is moodier, the enemies are more grotesque, and there’s an
uncommon emphasis on ammo conservation and health management for games of this genre. The graphics
and voice acting are also improved, making The Darkside Chronicles feel like a more serious
attempt at pulling closer to the main series. For a Resident-Evil-themed time killer,
you can’t really ask for more. Well, you could ask for a proper game, but this was
the Wii, man; that was never going to happen. #11: Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (1999)
PlayStation Resident Evil 3: Nemesis is a strange case.
There are those who argue Code: Veronica is the true third game in the main series, with
Nemesis being more of a side story. Then there are those who are incorrect. Compared
to the dense environments of Resident Evil and the sprawling twin campaigns of Resident
Evil 2, Nemesis feels both empty and slight. It follows Jill Valentine as she masterfully
unlocks her way out of a dying Raccoon City, pursued by sentient bicep Nemesis. Jill can
never be certain how far away Nemesis is at any given moment, and neither can the player;
his appearances are parceled out differently with each playthrough, as are those of other
enemies and even some items. That’s all good. The bad is that there’s not much to the game
beyond that. The environments feel more like a series of “stages” than the areas of the
previous games did. The puzzles are far simpler, and the increased emphasis on combat is at odds
with a game that still controls like the slow, deliberately paced first game.
Granted, Capcom added a dodge, but that worked about as well as politely
asking Nemesis to not hit you. In either case, you end up picking your teeth up off the ground. #10: Resident Evil: Revelations 2 (2015)
PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC
Why so many platforms for Revelations 2? For one good reason, my friends: It’s the
first time we can play as Barry “I’ll just go and get some fresh air and be eaten by
a monster” Burton. What was that? Resident Evil Gaiden? No idea what you’re talking about.
Barry isn’t even the only Burton in Revelations 2; his daughter Moira pairs up with Claire Redfield,
who makes a welcome return. The game shifts between the horrific adventures of Moira and
Claire, and Barry’s after-the-fact search for his daughter. He links up with a terrifying child with
supernatural abilities, because of course he does. Like the first Revelations, the game unfolds
episodically, and each chapter really does feel interesting and complete, even if you have to get
used to the stop-start nature of the narrative. There are definitely fans who prefer Revelations
2 to the first game. It’s more gruesome, it features fan-favorite characters,
and Moira is a compelling heroine. But there are AI-related issues to contend with,
exacerbated by the fact that two of the four main characters are essentially defenseless for most
of the game. It’s a story worth experiencing, but we don’t think it’s quite as tightly
or cleanly constructed as its predecessor. #9: Resident Evil Zero (2002)
GameCube In the first Resident Evil, you arrive at
the Spencer Mansion to find the previous STARS team dead or dying. All except
for resourceful medic Rebecca Chambers, who is hiding in a safe room and
waiting for her chance to mace Chris. Resident Evil Zero follows Rebecca in
the hours precedingthis historic moment. She meets up with a convict named Billy Coen and
gets into all manner of leech-related shenanigans. Is that what fans were hoping for from a
prequel? Probably not, but it’s still quite good. Ultimately, Resident Evil Zero is an entirely
self-contained game, and that’s for the best. You don’t need knowledge of any other games in order
to follow the story or care about the characters. It is a flawed entry, however. The lack of item
boxes makes inventory management a bit more of a hassle than usual, the dual-protagonist
mechanic often boils down to just having one character pass a key to the other, and the
difficulty is a bit too sharp at various points. Rebecca is a great character, though,
and she’s one who never really got the spotlight outside of this game. It could be far
worse, but we do wish she got one a bit better. #8: Resident Evil: Revelations (2012)
3DS Alright, let’s get this out of the way up front:
Resident Evil: Revelations is a game that splits TripleJump Towers right down the middle. Some
of us see it as a welcome return to the slower, creeping terror of the earliest Resident
Evil games, with a small set of enemy types masterfully deployed for maximum
horror. The rest of us are Ben. Honestly, though, we understand both sides of
the debate. As much as we love the setting, the grotesquerie, and the fact that it
stars Chris and Jill for the first time since the very first game in the series, it’s
a bit dull, too easy, and fairly repetitive. It does fare much better when compared to
Resident Evil 6, which came out the same year and seemed to indicate that the
series had lost its identity for good. Revelations kept its focus on actual horror in
contained, mysterious environments. It felt like a stabilizing force, keeping the franchise from
capsizing. Also, its lack of variety and tiny scope is more forgivable when you take into
account that it was released on a handheld. For its time and on such a weak system…well,
it really was a kind of revelation. #7: Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (2017)
PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC After Resident Evil 6, Capcom had a decision to
make. They could either pursue the action-heavy approach that was proving so successful
financially, or they could try to win back fans who missed the genuine horror that
made the series so popular to begin with. To the relief of many, they took the latter route.
As Resident Evil grew as a franchise, we fought our way through outbreaks around the
world. We encountered so many of Umbrella’s monsters that it started to feel…familiar.
Familiarity does not play well with horror. Resident Evil 7: Biohazard put us right back
where we were when the original game was released in 1996. We were meeting all of the important
characters for the first time. We were confined to one mysterious location. We were encountering
enemies we didn’t already know how to deal with. Criticism focused on how little
it had to do with previous games, but I think that’s exactly why it’s so effective
and how it manages to be the scariest Resident Evil game in years. By detaching it
so much from the rest of the series, it reintroduced the concept of the unknown.
For the first time in a long time, we didn’t know what was hiding in the shadows.
And we couldn’t be happier about that. #6: Resident Evil (1996)
PlayStation It is impossible to overstate just how
significant a release Resident Evil was in 1996. It genuinely felt like a
milestone in gaming, with no previous horror game being anywhere near as atmospheric,
as unnerving, and as pants-pooingly frightening. In the decades since – yes, decades; you are old
now – the game has certainly aged, but it’s still a lot of fun. In fact, it’s fun in ways we never
realized when we were younger, because we were far too busy being tormented by waking nightmares.
It was also, of course, profoundly influential, shaping not only horror games to come, but laying
down the rules survival horror and codifying its tropes. Limited ammunition; fragile heroes;
needing to solve a chess puzzle, recite the alphabet backwards, and do the Hokey-Cokey
before you can open a door…it’s all here. Look past its rougher edges and you’ll still find
a compelling and genuinely scary experience today. Just be sure to pick up the Director’s Cut, which
restores some features missing from the Japanese version, Biohazard, such as lock-on aiming. Be
equally sure to avoid the Dual Shock Version, which replaces the soundtrack with
the music of flatulent elephants. #5: Resident Evil – Code: Veronica (2000)
Dreamcast Code: Veronica was released for the ill-fated
Sega Dreamcast. It was a critical success with scores nearly always in the 90% range,
but it only sold 10 copies. That’s twice as many Dreamcasts as were sold, but still.
It functions as a pretty direct sequel to Resident Evil 2; Claire Redfield was searching
for her brother Chris in that game. She found a lot of monsters who wanted to smooch her, but
that was it. Code: Veronica continues her quest, which takes her from an Umbrella prison all the
way to Antarctica, and she eventually reunites with Chris, who then gets a campaign of his own.
It’s certainly a highlight of the fixed-camera era and it’s full of memorable characters, but
Code: Veronica is often overlooked. Even now, Capcom has no plans to remake it the way they
have Resident Evil 2 and 3. That’s especially puzzling when it contains crucial moments in the
series for important characters such as Claire, Chris, and Wesker. If there can be said to
be a hidden gem in the Resident Evil series, Code: Veronica is it. Fitting that it
released on a hidden gem of a console as well. 4. Itchy. Tasty. Okay, okay, sorry. I had to
get it out of my system. Ahem… #4: Resident Evil 2 (2019)
PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC There’s no real debate over whether Resident Evil
3: Nemesis or its remake is the better game, but in the case of Resident Evil 2, there’s
a case to be made for either version. We are ranking the remake lower
than the original, but not by much. Both games offer very different kinds
of experiences, and each of those experiences is brilliant. It comes down to whether you prefer
the more fluid and modern design of the remake, or the carefully curated horror of the original.
No matter what you like, with Resident Evil 2, you simply cannot go wrong. GET THAT OUT OF HERE.
This is precisely what every fan of an old game wants from a remake: something that retains
as much of what worked about the original as possible, while updating any bits of outdated
design. The experience is true to the PlayStation version while also charting its own territory.
What’s more, it’s genuinely scary, with Mr. X being every bit the looming threat he was
meant to be in 1998. There, he was just an intimidating enemy. Now, he’s an intelligent,
inescapable presence that redefines the way you engage with the game’s puzzles, obstacles, and
even the other enemies. The original may still just barely eclipse it, but it certainly wasn’t
due to lack of effort on the remake’s part. #3: Resident Evil 2 (1998)
PlayStation There is one specific area in which the
remake of Resident Evil 2 falls down, and that’s the limited way in which the two
campaigns overlap. The PlayStation original wins in that regard by a mile. Leon and
Claire each get a disc to themselves, and your choice of which disc to insert
first – as well as a few other choices along the way – affect how things will
play out for the other character. It was a remarkably clever approach to replayability.
Resident Evil 2 is a work of horrific beauty. Confining the first game to the Spencer Mansion
and its immediate surroundings worked well, but this game allows the horror to bleed
into less-isolated surroundings. It’s now an entire cityfindingitself under siege by the
undead, with poor Leon and Claire turning up for their own reasons at exactly the wrong time.
The game also introduces fan-favorite Ada Wong, who makes the experience even more
traumatic for bighearted boy-scout Leon in ways he never could have anticipated. The
puzzles are better, the zombies are scarier, and there’s even a loading-screen fakeout
that plays with the conventions established by the first game. It’s a perfect sequel, and it
remains beloved for a wealth of very good reasons. #2: Resident Evil 4 (2005)
GameCube There are those who spurn Resident
Evil 4 not because it was bad, but because they believe the games that followed
it were. You’ll have to pardon my French here, but that mindset is UTTER SILLINESS. It’s true
that the success of Resident Evil 4 led Capcom to create more sequels in its vein. I mean, why
wouldn’t they? They had a hit on their hands, and some of my insider video-game contacts have
confided in me that companies enjoy making money. Whatever you think of the later games, though,
Resident Evil 4 evolved the series in a way that helped it keep pace with the industry without
sacrificing the horror. For the first time, we were right there in the midst of these
environments rather than viewing them from detached, distant cameras. The filth and
grime was so close we could almost smell it. And the fact that the villagers retained
more of their human characteristics than the zombies did in previous games lent an
air of horrific tragedy to the proceedings. Resident Evil 4 indeed represented a shakeup for
the series. We obviously agree that what followed wasn’t always great. But, taken on its own merits,
it is among the best horror games ever made. And it’s still not the best game
in the series. That honor goes to… #1: Resident Evil (2002)
GameCube Is there such a thing as a perfect remake? The
2002 version of Resident Evil argues that there is. Taking the memorable framework of the very
first game in the series, this remake reworks it as something that is both recognizable and fresh.
It addressed every weakness of the PlayStation original, added more content, and then – just to
show off –introduced the single best storyline in the entire series: the tragedy of Lisa Trevor.
Most impressive, though, is the fact that the changes and new material don’t feel changed
or new; they feel like they’ve been part of the game all along. This isn’t the case
of digging up an old corpse and stapling new features onto it – something I’ve recently
learned is frowned upon – but rather refining everything that the original already was.
Had Capcom simply upgraded the visuals and hired new voice actors, the remake would
have been worth playing. It would have been well received. It would have been all we could
reasonably ask for. Instead, they brought back Shinji Mikami – director of the original game –
to reinterpretit entirely for a new generation. The result is something that’s every bit as scary
as the original used to be, with nearly a decade’s worth of game design experience behind it. What’s
more, for a game from 2002, the Resident Evil remake still looks phenomenal today. Mikami and
his team clearly never stopped at something being “good enough.” They pushed to make every aspect
of this game great, and they succeeded handily. 2002’s Resident Evil remake is Mikami’s
masterpiece, possibly Capcom’s masterpiece, and the highlight of one of the most
influential series in gaming history. Not to put too fine a point on
it, but we think it’s pretty good. And that’s every Resident Evil game ranked from
worst to best. What would you have put at the top? Do you think we were unduly harsh on the Game.com?
Why won’t Capcom remake Code: Veronica? I’m asking you that last one because they won’t return my
calls.Also, if you have suggestions for Every X Ranked From Worst to Best videos, be sure to let
us know. Maybe we’ll end up ranking all of your suggestions from worst to best! I’m joking, of
course; that would be imbecilic.You can follow TripleJump on Twitter here, and while you’re
at it, why not support the things you enjoy by having a look at our patreon. Finally, don’t for
get to like the video, share it with your friends, and subscribe to the channel. I’m Benand I’m
Peter from TripleJump, and thanks for watching.
