Which RE games elevated, and devestated the series, in your opinion?

[Wrathborne]

Rather than be a simple "whats your favorite, and least favorite RE game thread", this is more about what entries in the series you think made it great, and then made it fuck awful. Of the now 6 main entries(3 and 4 are main entries, even if they are still side stories) you get to choose three, the 3rd choice is your runner up for your either great, or awful choices. You can have the same game for elevated, or devastated if you want.

Elevated:
As much flak as it gets for its story, some of which is earned, I'm gonna say RE4 was the one that elevated the series the most.

It'd been what...an almost 5 year gap between RE4 and code V and the changes the series went through between those games really was pretty amazing. It wasn't the new combat system, which added a lot of skill to the game or the weapon upgrades, it was the also the fact that the game was a much more open environment to explore, though exploration was still pretty limited.

It also proved that the series could use different enemies than the undead flesh eaters it'd used for so long and still be effective.

While it robbed the players of getting to take down Umbrella themselves, it did move the story along and take it into a new, and for a time, interesting direction. Global bio terrorism outbreaks instead of "small" ones like cities and different, though weird, villains that were never part of Umbrella.

It was different game that had enough survival horror to still keep that genre description, but it started a new trend that the series hasn't managed to recover from...COD player pandering.

Devastated:
RE5. They ended the Umbrella story arc the series built itself on with this game, and they did it so fucking bad it still makes me mad.Its not just the shitty "you have x hours to save the world" doomsday story cliche they chose, its also choosing to half assedly wind up characters storylines in a rushed copy and paste job of the previous game in the series.

So much of RE5 feels like a condensed version of RE4 in terms of bosses, some of the level design, and the over abundance of quicktime events made it feel like a lazy sequel. To this day I still cant believe they spent almost 5 years making that one game and A: Its short B: Its lazy. The Majini were nothing special, just copy and pastes of the Ganados, the characters in this game were all just stupid(RE has never been known for having characters that smart, but rock bottom stupid is everyones intelligence in this game) and C: its unsatisfying. If you're gonna finally end the original story arc, why are you ending it with just 3 characters from the beginning? The existence of other characters who have encountered Wesker, as well as Umbrella were completely ignored.

Like Barry, Rebecca, Claire, Leon, or Adas inclusion wouldn't have added anything to this game at all. -_-

If the whole point of the game was the climax of the original story arc, how stupid do you have to be to only include a bare bones cast who where there from the beginning to get any resolution at the end? Especially with how much more dramatic the series story arcs have been becoming, you'd think having at least Rebecca in the 5th games story could have added something.

Co-op is fun with a human player, outside of that the Sheva bot will give you a bad time...shes worse than the L4d AI at times.

Runner up(devestated)
RE4. I still enjoy RE4 a lot, but its ultimately responsible for the series downfall in that it introduced 3 new ideas that have fucked the series over:

Quicktime events.
action over mystery and atmosphere.
An excuse to tell lazier stories with characters no one gives a shit about, or wants to remember. Sheva, Irving, Excella, Simmons, Carla, Salazar, Ashley, Hunnigan, Saddler, Jake, Uruburos, and C-Virus I'm looking at you. All were written in a different era of video games where games are rivaling movies in terms of story telling and have no excuse for being only slightly better than VG characters from the late 90's.

Las Plagas was, and still is the one virus I still find interesting for some reason, might be due to it resembling "The Thing" and my being a big fan of that film.

Its been almost a decade since RE4 and the only decent RE game out there, that still can call itself an RE game, is Revelations.
Revelations goes back to atmospheric, mystery, and has a better story than 4,5, and 6 combined. Its not that amazing a story, its just so much better than 4,5, and 6's stories and I'm still curious to see more of Jessica and Raymond as they managed to make some impact character wise.

I would have liked some more horror at atmosphere, but after a look back at the decades RE entries, its got the most of what made the series good in it...despite Quint and Keith.

So these are the rules of the game. feel free to share your thoughts and entries.

[ccrogers15]

To be totally honest, RE CV released and brought the series to whole new levels.
But when RE4 released, while it was successful and acclaimed, its success is the reason the series is terrible, because capcom is trying so hard to emulate RE4 that they are massively going off course. Dont get me started with that RE5 abortion. The only thing RE about that sack of crap was the characters.

[Enigmatism415]

RE1 (00->50)
RE2 (50->80)
RE3 (80->85)
RECV (85->85)
REmake (85->100)
RE0 (100->95)

RE: Outbreak 1&2 (95->65)

RE4 (65->00)...(00->80)
RE5 (80->50)
RE6 (50->50)

IMHO...

[Wrathborne]

You didn't follow the established format...now I'm sad.

[Rombie]

Answer to both is simply RE4. No question. It's ultimately what made the most changes as was needed at the time but also ultimately its success led Capcom down the path of change that provided us with games that the older fan base questioned, mostly latterly titles like RE5 to some degree but mostly things like ORC and RE6.

Right now the company is as stuck as it was post Remake/Zero on where to go next. We can only hope the next game pulls a RE4 so in another decade after we can start pointing fingers again :p

[Darkmoon]

Yeah, it's pretty much gotta be RE4 for devastated. While it brought new life to the series it was action shooter life - ever since then Capcom have been trying to capture the action shooter market. But people have action shooter games - they don't want kung-fu powered kinetic death kicks and dual wielding Gatling cannons in an RE game, and Capcom don't seem to want to understand that. RE6 tried to cater to everyone - it's noticeable that the (slightly) more horror based Leon sections were better reviewed than the more action focused Chris and Jake sections.

Plus, RE4 pissed away the Umbrella storyline in the prologue. It wasn't even nessecery - Umbrella being gone wouldn't have changed RE4's crayon-written script in anyway. That single sentence is one of the major reasons I'm so unsure of Shinji Mkiami now. Anyone who thinks that's a good idea makes me very nervous as a director. "The psycho killer whose been chasing you the whole series and killed your family? Oh, I shot him off screen a couple of minutes ago. Come on, we need to go chase this new person you've never heard of!" Even if he didn't do it himself, he approved it as a good idea.

[News Bot]

BH4 to both. It's utterly baffling how they managed to veer so far off course with that.

[Rick Hunter]

Elevated: Rebirth. It was a fresh wind for the franchise and successfully combined modern graphics with the efficient classic gameplay.

Devastated: Without a doubt Code Veronica. It's when Resident Evil turned into some stupidly mediocre Hollywood drama. Awful characters, matrix fights, too long, too boring and introduced love and family dramas. And of course the lame Wesker come back...

[Carnivol]

Resident Evil 0 and Code: Veronica X for me. Both of them introduced way too much Japanese stupidity to the storyline/universe.

Honestly didn't have a problem with Resident Evil 4 going the way it did. By throwing away everything resembling continuity and focusing purely on gameplay, Capcom did what they ultimately does best; took a massive risk, ran with it, and delivered a game that ultimately was awesome as a game. I kinda wish RE5 would've been more "fine tuned" like RE4 and that RE6's idea of "horror" would've been more in line with the "less is more" of Lost in Nightmares... but, well, necessary evolution in order to maintain continuity, I suppose. A strange thing about RE6 is that I'm seeing a very Lost Planet 2 and Vanquish type of appreciation for it. Word of mouth love, people replaying it after hating it first and suddenly discovering things about it that are neat/different from all the "generic" shooters people keep comparing it to.

REmake was pure terror cubed.

[Guest]

Almost anything after Resident Evil 4 - Devastated
RE4 had acceptable soundtrack, gameplay and scenarios. But the story? Oh God, "Let's save the world from domination. Bonus: Save the president's daughter". RE5 is just the same, except that they f**ked up Wesker and got him in the role for the World domination freak. RE6? The whole shit just happened because Simmons wanted the USA to keep their cool. The partners you get are complete retards, Ashley does nothing, and Sheva is a dumbass, yet, you are forced to protect your partners. Gameplay is really boring and unrealistic, I mean, you take 10 handgun shots to kill a Ganado/Majini/Whatever, but a single punch from Chris is enough to kill them. In RE5, you buy/sell stuff anytime you want, anywhere you want, and you buy them from a Dino Crisis 2-like computer box. And finally, most of the new characters are useless to the series' storyline, they last 1 game and get forgotten. What does Sheva do of important to the story? Helps defeating Wesker. Helena? Helps defeating Simmons. And so on.

[TheOrganization]

I have to disagree with you about the story of Resident Evil 6 purely being Simmons wanting the USA to keep their cool, yes this is partly true for most of Leon and Helena's story but the rest of the outbreaks in the game are down to something thats worked in the past, revenge. It was all about Carla getting revenge for what Simmons had done to her, she had also gone power mad and wanted to ruin the world just like Wesker before her. The revenge factor has always worked in the past, James Marcus got his revenge by starting the Arklay outbreak, Wesker got his revenge by stealing the red queen and seeing off umbrella and finally spencer and Chris finally got his revenge on Wesker for betraying them all those years ago.
I'm not defending Resident EVil 6, it has a lot of faults, but in all honesty I loved it, they stepped aside from the ridiculous story of 4 and 5 and gave us this game. Yes by making it so long it began to feel like a hollywood movie but some of the scenes in it are absolutely stunning, I still get goosebumps when the missile detonates in China and the city gets engulfed in a blue cloud. So in my opinion this most recent game is the one to elevate the series again, it brought zombies back, it had puzzles, it had a good story and I loved pretty much all of it.
I agree with everyone else that Resident Evil 4 is the one to devastate the series, what the hell was it in all honesty?? A storyline that nobody cares about, a ridiculous spanish cult and rescuing the presidents daughter. I didn't like it at all, I didn't care for any of the new characters and I more preferred the seperate ways scenario as at least that felt a little more resident evil like with the constant feedback to wesker. I thought the introduction of Las Plagas was important for the future of the series (it couldn't always be zombies could it?) but I hate the way it was introduced. A small village has a believed to be extinct parasite living under it?? don't make me laugh

[ccrogers15]

Imagine if RE4 hook man version was not scrapped. If only the new games were based off of that they could be closer to being worthy of the RE name. RE was a horror series, but now its just HORRIBLE to play. All the new games are trash.

[Guest]

I have to disagree with you about the story of Resident Evil 6 purely being Simmons wanting the USA to keep their cool, yes this is partly true for most of Leon and Helena's story but the rest of the outbreaks in the game are down to something thats worked in the past, revenge. It was all about Carla getting revenge for what Simmons had done to her, she had also gone power mad and wanted to ruin the world just like Wesker before her. The revenge factor has always worked in the past, James Marcus got his revenge by starting the Arklay outbreak, Wesker got his revenge by stealing the red queen and seeing off umbrella and finally spencer and Chris finally got his revenge on Wesker for betraying them all those years ago.
I'm not defending Resident EVil 6, it has a lot of faults, but in all honesty I loved it, they stepped aside from the ridiculous story of 4 and 5 and gave us this game. Yes by making it so long it began to feel like a hollywood movie but some of the scenes in it are absolutely stunning, I still get goosebumps when the missile detonates in China and the city gets engulfed in a blue cloud. So in my opinion this most recent game is the one to elevate the series again, it brought zombies back, it had puzzles, it had a good story and I loved pretty much all of it.
I agree with everyone else that Resident Evil 4 is the one to devastate the series, what the hell was it in all honesty?? A storyline that nobody cares about, a ridiculous spanish cult and rescuing the presidents daughter. I didn't like it at all, I didn't care for any of the new characters and I more preferred the seperate ways scenario as at least that felt a little more resident evil like with the constant feedback to wesker. I thought the introduction of Las Plagas was important for the future of the series (it couldn't always be zombies could it?) but I hate the way it was introduced. A small village has a believed to be extinct parasite living under it?? don't make me laugh

Well, if you take in account that the Chronicles or RE5 weren't released by that time. RE1 was all about a virus that got leaked and Wesker taking the opportunity to take everything away. RE2 was about a mad scientist who took his "perfect" virus before his life and wanted to get payback on Umbrella. RE3 was about Jill getting away and Raccoon's destruction. Code Veronica was about a pair of twin freaks that were trying to dominate the world. RE0 was just a big unnecessary excuse for Rebecca having her own adventure. In RE1, she says "after the helicopter made a forced landing, I just ran into this house". The only ones which deals with revenge is RE2 and 0.

Even with Carla's role in RE6, that was still retarded. "OMG, MY LIFE IS A LIE!! MY BOYFRIEND ALWAYS LIED TO ME. SOLUTION? DESTROY THE WORLD!!!"

[Det. Beauregard]

Almost anything after Resident Evil 4 - Devastated
RE4 had acceptable soundtrack, gameplay and scenarios. But the story? Oh God, "Let's save the world from domination."

I can agree with this, at least in terms of the main games (I think Revelations, although not without its problems, was a far better game than 5 and 6 were). RE4 took the series' gameplay to a new, and in my opinion, interesting area. It was addicting, and is one of the few games I've ever played that upon completion, I'd want to instantly start again (the early moments in the village were easily my favorite). To me, gameplay is something I place far above story or dialogue - the former makes a game for me, while the latter two have the ability to enhance it, but do not necessarily need to be quality in and of themselves.

Many will complain that RE4 felt nothing like Resident Evil, and to a degree, I agree. But it still had the ominous vibes of previous games, despite being set in some more absurd locations. The village in the first two chapters was just as eerie as the original mansion, RPD, Rockfort, etc. if you ask me. Yes, the weapon-weilding baddies (who were few and far between in RE4, I might add) didn't bring back memories of good ol' Raccoon, but the back story about the parasites was quite intriguing to me (even if its execution was flawed), as it was a new and fresh take on the evils of biology. RE4's soundtrack was a bit ambient for my tastes, but it fit the game, so my complaining is minimal.

RE5 is where everything started to go wrong, and is where the "devastated" starts in my mind. Quality-wise, it was a far stronger game than 6, even though the latter ironed out many of the co-op kinks for the single-player (while adding more problems in their wake). Bright and sunny Africa is not an interesting location to me in a supposed horror series; I could literally count the number of times the game felt like true Resident Evil on one hand. The gameplay was hampered by the fact that you had to babysit your AI partner (thankfully they fixed this in 6), and the story, while better than 4's, was incredibly cliche and felt like a summer blockbuster script more than a horror game about mad science. Add to that the unlikable characters (at least 4 had funny ones), mind-numbing linearity, lack of a map, lack of RE4's incredibly detailed inventory system (of which I have always been a fan), and overblown climax which felt lifted from a Mario game in which I was facing a sunglasses-wearing, mutated Bowser, and you have a pretty lackluster RE game.

RE6 favored quantity over quality, which rarely works. Sure, four scenarios might seem appetizing (like a four-course meal), but the game's overall quality was sub-par. Had the campaigns been done with RE5's quality and attention to detail, it would have been much more pleasing. However, much of the game simply felt cheaply-constructed, from the semi-cut scenes to the scripted events to the frustratingly out-of-place and unwelcome vehicle segments (aside from the VTOL one, which kind of made sense). Anyway, we've all bitched and moaned about RE6, so I'll keep it to a minimum.

Could you imagine a game with RE4's gameplay but the horror and atmosphere of the games from the Raccoon era? I'd be a happy camper. RE4's attention to detail combined with the classic RE enemies would make a lot of fans happy. I loved the old camera style, but I feel it would be a mistake to get my hopes up that an RE game in that style would ever be made again.

In closing, although Wrathborne wanted us to limit this discussion to numbered games, I can't help but bring up Code Veronica. I feel that this game was really the bridge between the classic style and the newer style, although it leaned more toward the former. Backgrounds were now real-time, the story was more action-packed (while still retaining all the classic horror), and the sense of urgency more commonly found in the newer games really shined through at times. This was, in my opinion, the turning point of the series. It seems that this game is either loved or hated, much like the stellar Outbreak games, which also fell somewhere in the "bridge" section with their co-op and real-time inventory (because of the co-op).

[Darkness]

Elevated: Rebirth. It was a fresh wind for the franchise and successfully combined modern graphics with the efficient classic gameplay.

Devastated: Without a doubt Code Veronica. It's when Resident Evil turned into some stupidly mediocre Hollywood drama. Awful characters, matrix fights, too long, too boring and introduced love and family dramas. And of course the lame Wesker come back...

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