Survival Horror Part 1: Intro and Resident Evil

As time has gone by the horror genre has become big in video games and movies. And when you think of video games you think of the genre of survival horror. The most popular enemy of survival horror is probably the zombie. And when you think of dealing with the undead, you think shotgun. So what do you do when trying to find that fabled shotgun? Do you panic or pull a Frank West and use any weapon you can get your hands on? And what if the game has no zombies and you are left battling spirits? What then? Do you run for you life hoping for the best or find some way to fight back? There is only one way to solve this, and that is to discuss some of the elements of the survival horror genre.

Resident Evil

In Resident Evil you usually always start off with the practical handgun....however it usually has very limited bullets. If you find yourself being a clumsy shot, you could find yourself dead or surrounded by zombies without any ammo. But after a little exploration you usually find the all powerful shotgun. With this beast you can make zombies look like easy walking targets. However, the problem with the shotgun is that well like most weapons in a survival horror game, it does not have that much in the way of ammunition. So you find yourself scrambling around looking for ammunition for any of your guns.

And as if needing ammunition wasn't bad enough, you need to find ink ribbon throughout the game in order to save. Why ink ribbon you might ask? Well what else would you use with a type writer? Yes that is correct, you save using a type writer. That old fashioned device for writing that everyone takes for granted nowadays is for a save point. And there are only so many, which requires you to be stingy with your saves. Now being stingy with your saves can also come back to bite as you can die at just about anytime in Resident Evil especially when something comes around the corner and you are not prepared for it.

In all honesty though these issues exist in the original Resident Evil games when zombies were your main enemies. Where fear existed and made you cautious when going around each corner. When the slightest misfire could kill you quickly. And rather then issues, it is more along the lines of the glorifying pieces that made Resident Evil great. In the later renditions zombies were traded in for people infected with parasites. Limited ammo was traded in for more ammo. Limited storage eventually became a lot more storage. The type writer now didn't need ink ribbon...that makes one hell of a type writer. Though eventually the type writer concept is sadly abandoned in the latest iteration. And most importantly crappy dialogue...well that still remains....

Overall Resident Evil is an amazing series whether you are getting eaten by a zombie or punching a boulder the excitement is always there. And if you want fear then you will definitely get a fair dose of that with the earlier original games. So Resident Evil gave a great foundation to the survival horror genre. But it was not the only one to do so. So tune in next time when I tackle the next game of Survival Horror which is Silent Hill! Until then keep a shotgun handy because when we reach Silent Hill you will need it!