The series of resident evil video games is one of the most celebrated franchises of the gaming industry. From the origin of the title as survival horror up to the game’s evolution to become a shooter video game, Resident evil has continued to thrive increasingly in diversified market. For its 16 years of existence, the video game has already sold over 50 million copies, it expanded into novels, comic books, collectibles, and computer-generated and live-action feature films, and became a common name in the whole world.
The success of the Resident Evil franchise is due to the combination of consistency and adaptability. Though these two seem to be opposing terminologies, a video game series that endured 16 years faces a challenge when it comes to the fan base; Resident Evil needs to preserve its familiarity in order to remain true and honest to its passionate league of fans, while it keeps their experience fresh through innovations. This duality in the Resident Evil franchise introduces two subsets of enthusiasts, those who embrace the game’s zombie-filled and horror aesthetic and those that resonate more with the shooter/action fusion of the later installments.
In general, the fans of the Resident Evil franchise are divided into two types, the old school and the contemporary. The old school fans are the ones who await the return of the franchise to simple horror where zombies are the ones scaring them. The contemporary fans are those who connect with the action elements that are evident in the later video game titles which include different kinds of weapon as well as gameplay which is fast paced.
The newest installment to the Resident Evil franchise, RE6, might possess the variability that will satisfy those two types of fans. Capcom has absorbed lots of the fan inputs with the zombies, new types of enemies, returning characters, and more dynamic, fluid mechanics when it comes to the gameplay of Resident Evil VI. In this new installment of the series, gamers can choose from the three storylines, each reflects the different facets in Resident Evil’s spectrum.
The story of Leon, the survivor of Raccoon City happens in Washington. Leon’s story will surely appeal to those old school fans of the series as it involves dark hallways, close encounters and zombie swarms. Manwhile in Edonia in Eastern Europe, Jake Muller, a mercenary and son of late Albert Wesker fled from authorities during an attack. This character is the one that introduced physical attacks in the Resident Evil series, which is dominated by trusty knife and firearms in the previous installments. Chris Redfield and his team join the battle in Lanshiang which is a fictional city in the Chinese territory of Hong Kong which is also under the threat of bioterrorist attack. This storyline includes lots of explosions and gunplay compared to the two other scenarios.
RE6 is a beautiful combination of the familiar, unique, old and new. Lots of diehard fans of the Resident Evil franchise wants the game to remain scary, tactical as well as action packed. Maybe you are one of them who couldn’t wait until October 2 for its release for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.