The Long History of Resident Evil (Part 5)

In 2002 Capcom brought out what was and still is rumoured to have been in development since CODE Veronica was in pre-production back in 98’ the game was a full on remake of the original Resident Evil. This game was amazing in both visuals, and the gameplay didn’t feel too bad, even though the control mechanics hadn’t really been altered since Resident Evil 3. The plot of extended to include mentions of the G-Virus, Birkin, and Alexia it also released an online Wesker’s Report 2.

The game in my opinion had surpassed Resident Evil 2 in what I thought was the greatest Resident Evil game, however the care and attention that went into the Remake of the original had just made it superior in every sense. If a remake of the original came out, surely a remake of its sequel was to follow?

Well before any sequel remakes came out we finally got our hands on a fully refurbished Resident Evil 0, and it gave fans a slightly different game, for example it had the “Zap” system that was advertised so much by Capcom back in 2000, you also had no item boxes so wherever you dumped you items you had to backtrack to get them back, a more realistic challenge, but a pointless and frustrating one none the less. This however was a turning point for Resident Evil as far as plot and genre: Ever so slowly the game had started to become more ridiculous, and slightly more action orientated, rather than being of the horror genre.

The last straw came for Resident Evil when not remakes but ports of Resident Evil 2 and 3 were released with little to no changes since the N64 and Dreamcast versions of the game. It looked like Resident Evil had finally died.

However in September 2002 fans were intrigued by Resident Evil 4 for the Gamecube: First of all not only did the game look visually beyond its time, but it looked menacing and scary. The plot revolved around Leon investigating Umbrella’s headquarters and being infected with the Progenitor virus mentioned in Resident Evil 0. Fans couldn’t wait.