Survival Horror

Videogame history is incremental additions to mechanics and systems, series and genres, and technology and production pipelines, and following their cinematic shooter Resident Evil, Capcom began applying its 3D action model to more genres, swapping elements to experiment without breaking. The PlayStation 2 primed the design for the design’s second generation, and Jun Takeuchi’s Onimusha: Warlords successfully created cinematic sword fighting, translating hack ‘n slash into 3D as SquareSoft’s The Bouncer had done for brawlers. The increased processing power for animations and effects, the high-res art and character models, all aided gameplay and presentation, transforming the grindhouse zombie flick into a historical fiction samurai horror film.

A Biohazard Outbreak

When Special Tactics And Rescue Squad’s Bravo team goes dark in Raccoon City’s Arklay Mountains while investigating grizzly murders, the Alpha team rescue party finds itself in a firefight against bloody claws and gnashing teeth, a scene Resident Evil brings to life with real actors dashing through the woods towards the safety of Spencer Mansion. Though primarily told through cinematic in-engine cutscenes framed by a static camera system, this live-action scene transitions the player into the B movie game’s world filled with zombies, mutated dogs, giant spiders, and, at the end, the perfect bioweapon, manufactured by the international conglomerate, Umbrella Inc. A controllable, branching B horror movie starring S.T.A.R.S.’ Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine and supporting characters, Resident Evil tests your delicious brain’s skills to survive a different kind of haunted house, discover the truth about a biological outbreak.