25 years of Resident Evil – A concept in the line of video games. A zombie horror series that has rightly risen to cult status, sometimes scaring us to death, other times making us laugh, but it definitely charms us thanks to Capcom’s dedicated work. Let’s take a look at how this brutal amount of 26-piece games take the exam based on Metacritic scores.

 

 

26. Resident Evil Gaiden – 2001 (No Metascore)

This game appeared on Nintendo’s small color handheld console, Gameboy Color, needless to say, the platform wasn’t really suited to what the developers wanted to achieve. The game has only managed to scare the tasteful, demanding gamers, no one else. Plus, Nintendo’s target audience was kids…

Everything was against the game, yet instead of the original 1996 Resident Evil 1 port, this game ended up on the shelves. There was also a role-playing element in this puzzle adventure game. In fact, it’s hard to judge it today, it’s so outdated. In its own time, it bagged some positive criticism, for it has successfully transferred the survival horror formula to handheld, depending on the circumstances.

 

 

25. Resident Evil Survivor 2: Code Veronica – 2001 (No Metascrore)

The sequel to Resident Evil Survivor is this title, which doesn’t continue the plot of the previous game, but instead lets you shoot with a light gun released in a new story. The story was an addition to Resident Evil: Code Veronica, but it also included new monsters like Nemesis, so it interpreted the original gameplay in the SEGA Dreamcast a bit freely.

It was originally released in 2001 for Japanese arcade machines, where it became the most successful of the year, but somehow the console version didn’t come together – it only appeared in Europe for home machines, America could never play with it. Unfortunately, you can’t find a meta score, but I personally wouldn’t assume it’s a hidden gem that is secretly the best RE game…

 

 

24. Umbrella Corps – 2016 (Metascore: 38)

The Umbrella Corps can no longer get away with not being rated at Metacritic: critics have spoken out and together they have given a very reprehensible 38 points to the game. Released in 2016, the game had both singleplayer and multiplayer modes, blah-blah-blah, does anyone really care?

We all know it’s a bad game, either because we tried and deleted it from our machine after 5 minutes, or because those 38 points are very eloquent. According to the story, we are an agent of the Umbrella Corporation and are developing new ways to defeat the nasty zombies. Serious stuff, huh? Online multiplayer takes place 3 years after Resident Evil 6 anyway. In it’s abandoned, zombie-infected areas, we need to get some secret files.

Umbrella Corps is not a Resident Evil game. This is a Call of Duty clone that took advantage of the popularity of Resident Evil to try to exploit players. The co-op has been a favorite of many throughout the series, but not for me. I like it when horror stays horror. And the only horror here is that this game has come to light.

 

 

23. Resident Evil Survivor – 2000 (Metascore: 39)

A degree better game than the previous one. Maybe. But not much! The hero of the game is Vincent, who crashes on Sheena Island. After the fall, the guy doesn’t remember anything, the name Vincent is also given to him by another character. There was no save in the game, so you always had to start all over if you died. (Good old days…)

The game has received a lot of criticism for being neither action-packed nor story-oriented enough, so it doesn’t really keep our attention. By the way, Survivor is an early light gun game, as is the sequel to the one already mentioned, however, it has not been properly released in America either because of the Columbine school shooting because of which Capcom was forced to remove the light gun support. Logical.

Surely, RE makes children become murderers, not the lack of love and the television / media / internet that manipulates through our fears. No matter, due to the pixelated image, many loading screens and slow gameplay, it didn’t count as a particularly good game even in its time. If you would like to try a similar title from the old ones, stay with Time Crisis or Point Blank.

 

 

22. Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City – 2012 (Metascore: 52)

This „masterpiece” takes place between Resident Evil 2 and Resi 3, which isn’t even part of the official story. (Which is very hard to follow anyway, so that’s not why we love Resident Evil.) Operation Raccoon City sends us on various rescue missions. The plot unfolds two different stories, one following the team at Umbrella Security Service trying to capture the Nemesis-T-type mutant, while the other thread depicts the Echo Six unit researching in town what caused the virus outbreak. Although apparently no one cared about this game, critics didn’t like it either, they still sold 2.3 million of it, making it one of the more successful titles. Strange.

Anyway, the series has been pulling towards the action for a long time, which we will pay for later…

 

 

21. Resident Evil: Outbreak File # 2 – 2004 (Metascore: 58)

Online role-playing escaper-shooter-stabbing-creeping-climbing horror, second edition. The sequels are rarely better than the original, and that’s the case here as well. In Outbreak File # 2, everyone takes on the role of a survivor, trying to survive on different levels of difficulty. We can pick up the story in 5 different situations and complete 100% of everything in a list to finally play through the game. That’s it. Once you have successfully completed the game, you can play with endless ammo and indestructible weapons in one mode. Otherwise, hidden stuff was hidden on the field for each character. With 58 points, critics also say it is one of the weak RE releases.

 

 

20. Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D – 2011 (Metascore: 65)

Nintendo 3DS is an exclusive shooter that stretches Resident Evil 4 and 5 mini-games onto the small console. The goal is to shoot down as many opponents as we can in a given amount of time. The title also used an FPS  view and a shoulder view. Critics say the game was damn fun, but replayability had nothing to do with it. There’s nothing to recommend here because once you’re done with it, there’s nothing you can come back for.

The 3DS was a pretty big thing when it came out, even though many nearly had a heart attack when they saw the price tag. The first Resident Evil that appeared on the machine was this, and many people who loved the increasingly mindless action the series was going for at the time have also taken this game off the shelf. Good Resi or poor Resi, at least it’s a portable Resi…

 

 

19. Resident Evil: Dead Aim – 2003 (Metascore: 65)

Dead Aim, released for PS2 in 2003, critics say didn’t have an interesting story (it was built around mercenaries fighting the Umbrella Corporation and their goal was to stop a T-virus missile), and even the locations were repetitive. Luckily, unlike Survivor, the gameplay is already faster here, so playing with a light gun could have even had a chance if they’d push a little harder and put a longer game on the table. The game wasn’t bad to play, but it wasn’t a memorable piece. The light gun king of the age, by the way, was Dino Stalker, which was secretly a sequel to Dino Crisis 2.

Dead Aim ultimately didn’t become an official Survivor sequel to keep from ending up as it did. Nevertheless, as can be seen, it did not arouse serious interest either. Interestingly, instead of being a plain light gun shooter, in Dead Aim we move in a TPS view and only see events from the inside when we are aiming. Unfortunately, this game can’t even face the best of its own genre, and as it fails miserably, it closes the line of the worst games among the Resident Evils…

 

 

18. Resident Evil: Revelations – 2012 (Metascore: 70)

We have finally arrived at the good games! (Mostly.) In the part between Resident Evil 4 and 5, we try to stay alive at the sea, which is certainly not an easy task! In the challenging game, we can control Jill and Chris, among others. (I say that among others, because in the audience’s favorite, ingenious RAID mode, we are free to destroy and fight against monsters in a very violent and bloody shooter.) The Queen Zenobia ship is one of the coolest locations in the series, scary and dark, with terrible things inhabiting it.

Disgusting creatures and the horror elements are unique and appropriate to the scene. The game was originally released for the Nintendo 3DS, but was later given various ports, including one for Xbox One and PlayStation 4. By the way, the original game was even more successful than its ports (understandably, as it was state-of-the-art on that platform), and although it started out as a handheld console title, it could eventually be a full-fledged episode on a big console as well. Personally, I really like this game, I spent a lot of time with it.

 

 

17. Resident Evil: Zero – 2002 (Metascore: 70)

Resident Evil Zero is the prelude to the series, which the stupid first movie wanted to be. As a member of the S.T.A.R.S. Bravo team, we try to smell out what the hell happened on a ghost train resting in the woods near Raccoon City. Unfortunately, the interesting place again only gilds the beginning of the game, after which we can witness a gradual decline of great ideas until we finally get there that the whole thing drowns in complete disinterest.

Resident Evil Zero has looked awesome and continues to look awesome to this day, however, it basically misunderstands the basic concept of Resident Evil, unnecessarily tweaks long-familiar game elements (such as inventory management), and treats you with stupid puzzles and a ridiculous story.

Sounds, music is relentlessly great, a perfect companion to the visuals, but being one of the best Nintendo Resident Evil titles at the time was in vain, as the GameCube game couldn’t reach the success of the GC version of Resident Evil Remake, and combined with Code Veronica’s DC failure, it was responsible for making the old, adventure-game-like Resident Evils disappear for a while. The game eventually became an HD Remaster, but the controls didn’t come together as many have wanted, and many got angry about it as well.

 

 

16. Resident Evil Outbreak – 2003 (Metascore: 71)

8 survivors, an online experience. Guests and staff at J’s Bar face a horde of zombies out there one night. Raccoon City is hit by a zombie attack and we have to escape with one of the characters we choose. We had 8 protagonists at our disposal, and our goal, of course, was to get out of town alive, preferably without getting infected. Although the game was a co-op multi-title, it was not possible to communicate with each other normally, so it was almost impossible to play as a team.

It’s a shame that the game never materialized the way the developers wanted it to. Many modern Resident Evils had multi, but none had such a classic exploratory horror adventure experience like Outbreak did. Maybe one day Capcom will update this game and then the servers will restart… We’ll see. It would be good because, with today’s technology, communication would already be solved.

When it came out, critics praised the innovative intention, but scolded the developers for the short game length, and because there was no voice chat at the time.

 

 

15. Resident Evil: Deadly Silence – 2006 (Metascore: 71)

Deadly Silence is a Resident Evil 1 remake for the Nintendo DS. The game has been packed with a lot of new features, but unfortunately not enough to make it different or new enough. There were four new modes, two of which were online. It’s all great, but gamers have also noticed that the original game or even Nintendo GC’s superbly customized Remake can be played for much cheaper all the way through. At least the controls were advanced, so it wasn’t a problem on the handheld either. Critics liked it.

Still, there wasn’t enough novelty here to collect extra money again for the same story. Many critics have resented the transfer of the game to the smaller display, saying the quality of the backgrounds has deteriorated. Oh yes, if Resident Evil, then many of us think of TV or monitor…

 

 

14. Resident Evil 6 – 2012 (Metascore: 74)

Wow but I hate this game! I don’t even understand how they could have given 74 points for this! What do I think about this? Get 34 points and you’re okay. No, seriously, there are three positives to this game: 1. it is not mandatory to buy it, 2. it is not mandatory to play with it, 3. even if you start, it can be stopped. There were 4 damn campaigns in the game and I didn’t have the guts yet to finish any of it!

Obsolete camera, combat system, stupid QTEs, disastrous story, disastrous mood, disaster, disaster, all bad. That’s it. At least it doesn’t freeze the machine or you don’t explode from it, these are such special RE6 positives for which you got 34 extra points from me. Hehe. By the way, we are talking about blaspheming the series to the ground. Shame that this game could only grasp all the bad from Resi 4! The game is still loved by many today, well, I will never understand how and why.

 

 

13. Resident Evil: Revelations 2 – 2015 (Metascore: 75)

I spent little time with the campaign here too because I couldn’t care, but RAID mode is one of the best things that ever happened to the series. Claire Redfield returns in Revelations 2, which somehow fans liked even more than what I think is a distinctly stronger first Revelations. The game was built for co-op, and it looks good. Since I never had a chance to sit in front of the game with anyone for an extended period of time, so like I said, I didn’t even go far in it. The game was divided into different chapters, episodes that appeared separately.

Players could also control Claire and Moira Burton, the latter the daughter of Barry Burton in the first game. While many hated the Resident Evil 6 co-op outright, critics loved it here. One day I will do a playthrough with a friend here, as I only hear good things about this game. (The 75 points are also telltale.)

 

 

12. Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles – 2009 (Metascore: 75)

Darkside Chronicles is a light gun rail shooter that brings the story of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil: Code Veronica to life with much, much better modern graphics. Players were able to relive Leon S. Kennedy’s first day at Raccoon City Police and experience the horror from Claire Redfield’s perspective. Like many Resis, it is possible to play through several story-threads, and although critics have drawn attention to the lack of a complex story, they were amazed by game mechanisms, graphics, music, and a weapon system that made it a great night shooter.

Fans say the game is downright scary in some places, with a tense atmosphere and is a virtually unmissable piece. The stuff originally came out on the Wii, but was later released on the PlayStation 3 as well.

 

 

11. Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles – 2007 (Metascore: 75)

Another light gun game that Capcom managed to do right this time. Although in the past, Resi and the genre didn’t go hand in hand, but here everything is great. The game takes place during Resident Evil Zero / Resident Evil 3. It’s a rail shooter where the game does the movement in our place and we shoot. One of the merits of the game is that we can experience a whole new story in an extra chapter. It was originally a Nintendo Wii title, but then came out on PS3 and Xbox 360 as well. Not a perfect game, but a good way to get to know the original story for those who can’t stand the gameplay of old Resi so much.

We are able to go through 5 story threads in this game that take us from Resident Evil Zero to Resident Evil and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. Chronicles practically sum up everything that happened in these three games with a modern take on them, and even lets you get to know the events from Wesker’s perspective. The first three episodes took place in Raccoon City and the last in Russia. Critics loved the way the game summed up the series and made it easy for new players to understand as well, but other voices say it’s a mediocre game that didn’t offer anything new for the series.

 

 

10. Resident Evil 3: Nemesis – 1999 (Metascore: 79)

One of my favorite Resident Evil, my first Resident Evil, is the benchmark. I think it’s an almost perfect piece, I would give it a minimum of 90 points, it’s unbelievable that they could come up with such a good game right after the second one! The third part was originally started as a side thread, and the goal was to achieve a much more action-packed game, which it ended up being, as Resident Evil 3 is one of the toughest, most special attempts to make action games/puzzle elements / mix with adventure parts.

Nemesis became the icon of Resident Evil as the main villain. This terrible enemy stalks us, scouts and destroys us. It feels awful when you know he’s watching you. You just know, you understand? Intelligence seemed to have spun to a higher degree in this game, at least the clever scripts made us believe that Nemesis was a worthy opponent. Many say the game is too short, but I will say that the scripts are ingeniously diverse, almost every playthrough is different and that’s damn good! It made sense that an idea as strong and well-functioning as an action-puzzle-adventure would also be worth reviving, which happened this year as well. Let’s see how!

 

 

9. Resident Evil 3 Remake – 2020 (Metascore: 84)

Its strange, but the next game on the list is a remake of Resi 3. A lot of people thought this sequel wasn’t worthy of the previous Resident Evil 2 Remake, but I’d say that the second game was an untouchable masterpiece to begin with, I mean the original PS1 stuff, and it didn’t make much sense to touch it from the start because the result would be weaker than the original. I was thinking like this before the game came out, and I left with these feelings after playing through the Leon campaign.

Unfortunately, this Resident Evil didn’t do much better than RE2 either – the original is so strong that it can almost only be ruined. Here I also managed to get caught up in what I shouldn’t have, so for example the clock tower isn’t in this game… It doesn’t matter, after all, it was just the most important venue in the third game… Anyway, the game was popular and plenty of players, including me, were delighted to see that Capcom have done at least one thing right, taking advantage of modern technology: the streets of Raccoon City by modern 3D are just as weird as it was wandering in front of pre-rendered backgrounds 20 years ago.

Nemesis itself, I think, was a missed opportunity, but that’s not the fault of the developers, it was just so much better with the original camera view – decision system. What was good about RE2 Remake is good here, and what was weak isn’t much better here either. At least we can finally dodge again, even if it’s done much weaker than previously on PS1 (!)… Wonderful graphics but a series of iconic scenes are missing in this game…

At least an uninteresting multiplayer is attached once the perfect Mercenaries mode of the original game has been cut out… Ultimately, Resident Evil 3 is a missed opportunity, all in all, just as (I think) Resident Evil 2 Remake was. (But such is this unnecessary remake-madness…)

 

 

8. Resident Evil 5 – 2009 (Metascore: 84)

I don’t like this game either. A badly ageing title with irritating opponents and poor gameplay. Tweaking the formula of the fourth game, rethinking the game was a bad idea. Resident Evil shouldn’t have been dealing with politics or getting serious because that doesn’t really work for it. At least not the way they wanted to do it here. No one cares about an action movie that doesn’t even have humour. The game wants to be cool way too much, all in vain as a result.

Wesker is ridiculous, Chris Redfield is ridiculous, the gameplay is ridiculous copy-paste from Resident Evil 4. The stuff, moreover, ignores Code: Veronica, which I think is a light years better game than this one. Well, let’s leave it at that. For me, its a 50 point, with great benevolence – and that doesn’t save the co-op that ultimately kills the horror experience. Many scolded the game’s management and inventory system. Not without reason. A trash game it is.

 

 

7. Resident Evil – Code: Veronica – 2000 (Metascore: 84)

Code: Veronica X has been my favorite game for a long time, which was an expanded version of the original Code: Veronica SEGA Dreamcast version. I loved playing it on PS2. The story takes place between Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 4 sometime and tells the story of Claire Redfield and her brother Chris. Claire besieges Umbrella as she searches for her brother. She is captured and taken to an island. Here, too, the T virus gets loose and we have to survive.

The story thoroughly unfolds the origins of the Umbrella company. Throughout the terribly sick story, we settle things with the family running the company and try to survive amidst many puzzles and actions. The game isn’t as good as Nemesis or 2, or also, an almost perfect Resident Evil 1 Remake, but it can be a lot of fun with its vast areas and a lot to discover. What is weak about the game is the combat. Horrible. It is unfair. Annoying. Unfortunately, this pulls it a bit down, but otherwise a cool game to this day.

Many critics say it is one of the best Resident Evils to date. Some have even called it mandatory. Indeed, it is worth playing, you do yourself good if you do. Unfortunately, Zero and this have dug a pit for old-fashioned Resident Evils. Capcom didn’t see the benefit of the classic adventure game approach for a long time, but luckily that changed again over time… Along with the camera view.

 

 

6. Resident Evil 7: Biohazard – 2017 (Metascore: 86)

Biohazard is the first VR title in the series, and the changed, FPS-view camera is a great help. Resident Evil 7 is the first Resi to be fully tailored to the expectations of Western audiences, and I have to say that Capcom did great: it completely reformulated the original recipe. Mostly new heroes, mostly a new situation, an eerie atmosphere that keeps the supernatural presence in the air all the way through without distracting us for a minute from the fact that we’re playing a Resident Evil game.

The game is also pretty fresh, so go and play it, critics and I personally love it. Lots and lots of puzzles and discoveries characterize the game, so it might be a little different than the other Resis, but still light years better than Resi 5-6, or Remake 2-3, which just copied something that they visibly failed to understand.

 

 

5. Resident Evil 2 – 1998 (Metascore: 89)

Perfect. The masterpiece. One of the strongest atmospheric horrors of all time, a huge tribute to the B-category horror genre. The story follows rookie police officer Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield, the latter the sister of the hero of the first game. We have to try to get out of town shortly after we get there. Zombies are everywhere in a much larger space than the locations of the first game had. Lots of monsters, iconic music and lines of dialogue here too, just like in all the pieces in the PS1 trilogy.

Great game that, not surprisingly, Remake couldn’t catch up with. Resident Evil 2 is an adventure game without all the unnecessary shooting and BS. A clean experience. All it’s merits dispensed on a pharmacy balance. Just as the atmosphere is pleasantly creepy. The sequel to the first game is one of the greatest cult games of all time. Many adore it, although it has not won the favor of some critics because of its inventory management and voice acting. All I can say about this is that this is a game in which everything is like that for a reason. It is as it is. Deal with it.

 

 

4. Resident Evil – 1996 (Metascore: 91)

The original, the unrepeatable. Or not? Haha, the joke is that Capcom made an even more perfect Remake of this game, which seems an almost impossible task, but it did! The game takes place in a huge mansion and the secret labs below, scary as a beast and full of good puzzles. And with zombies. It’s practically an adventure game a little tuned up, and that’s it. There was less action in it than in the sequels, but the atmosphere was simply unbeatable.

Remake is cool, but the tragically bad voice acting of this game also adds to the experience greatly, so I think its almost on the same level with Remake. (I like to torture my ears.) Interesting: the genre-creating, well, okay, genre-renewing game (we’re after Alone In The Dark, isn’t it?) is a particularly beloved game, a bad opinion was hardly born about it. It’s no coincidence: it simply laid great foundations.

 

 

3. Resident Evil 2 Remake – 2019 (Metascore: 91)

Well, many say it was last year’s game of the year, but I don’t think it was. It was a huge critical success, but I think a lot of them just liked it out of fashion because they were afraid to say how much trouble there really is with this game. Of course, it’s obviously doesn’t come into view to those who don’t peek into a more serious difficulty, but there it becomes clear at what level the game is thoughtless and how many wounds it actually bleeds from.

No matter, love it, play it, just do one thing for yourself: take the second game, the original, and play it on some emulator or computer. Then you will find out that the so-called “absolute perfection” that so many critics shouted here is not really more than an overrated mediocrity.

 

 

2. Resident Evil Remake – 2002 (Metascore: 91)

This is a perfect game! 100/100 with me, just like the next one! It knows everything a Resi needs to know, interestingly it’s one perfect side of the same coin: the more brainy Resi, while Resi 4 is the perfectly accomplished action-Resi. Both are great, but if I had to choose… I’d rather choose this. But only because of the formula: I hold the adventure game style much closer to my heart than the action one, probably also because I know the latter eventually led the series into the abyss. (Resident Evil 5-6.)

It’s unbelievable that it managed to take an otherwise simple little horror seriously in this masterpiece! It was a great idea, the title became one of the jewels of the Nintendo GameCube! It was in vain to be masterful though when sales decide, unfortunately. And the game crashed with the GameCube… Fortunately, like Resident Evil 4, this game has a very serious afterlife: it has been released on everything. Play it. This is a request now. Seriously: it brings you closer to understanding what a good game is like and what we used to give 100 points for.

 

 

1. Resident Evil 4 – 2005 (Metascore: 96)

Oh yeah, even critics say it’s almost 100 on the scale. I have straight 100 for it! Perfect! I wouldn’t easily give you 100 points for a game, but for this and Resi 1 Remake it is a MUST! The perfect difficulty, perfect controls, perfectly thoughtful gameplay and game modes. It reveals all the clever design work, even the story is funny where it should be and never takes itself too seriously, thanks to the perfectly absurd dubbing.

This game could not be removed from the throne even by the success of the Resident Evil 2 Remake. The game, set in the Spanish village world, simply enchants with its atmosphere and perfectly prepares you to the well-tailored Resi 7. Perhaps one of the best games of all time.

-Praesagus-

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