Practical Analysis: Resident Evil

Now I will start my primary research into how the first three Resident Evil games, which I believe are all very similar and fall under the same umbrella (ha, get it?), use audio and visual elements to create fear and tension. I will look into the pinnacle moments in these games; the events, the characters and the environments which may be used to build an immersive and frightening gaming experience. 

Following this I will test my own personal accounts of these games against secondary research and opinion. Additionally, I will also have a bit of fun and ask some of my friends to personally play the games I will look at and video their responses while playing.

But that's all (hopefully) to come!

PRESS START

NEW GAME

*Deep, intimidating voice sneers*

"Resident Evil"

Immediately, considering whether you find this narration humorous or terrifying, you know this is something special. And somewhat proud- the game creators had the confidence to sneer at the player in an almost Vincent Price-esque manner, a possible sign of the game's self-assurance. It knows (or at least hopes) you're going to be scared by this game, and players are hopefully going to be rattled by it. 

The original Resident Evil had a hold on the survival horror genre straight from its 1996 release. The trademark moments in-game cemented its place in PlayStations around the world and allowed many sequels to be spawned.

As you move along the corridor you hear a tap on the window. 

Keep on walking and the dogs will make a sudden entrance.

One of the first and most notable moments in the game is, of course, the zombie-dogs crashing through the window in that corridor. This kind of cheap scare became a staple fear device in the rest of the series, with enemies popping round corners, out of walls and a host of other places. The problem I found with this however is how, when playing, the player starts to become desensitized. As I was progressing through the game I found myself gradually not becoming as frightened by the things that would jump out at me. Certain clues would start to give away when an enemy would appear, like when you haven't seen one for a while or you see something which quickly darts out of view. As I've already wrote, this can be disturbing. You don't know what it is, where it's gone and when it will attack, but after a while I found myself being prepared for anything that would appear. This raises questions of how to avoid this happening and what games would have to do to keep this type of cheap but useful scare tactic fresh and exciting.

Regardless of it's life value, the "sudden appearance" scare still had an effect on me while I was playing. Going back to my first example of it, the zombie dogs, I was still shocked by their entrance, bringing me into the game experience and allowing me to expect things like that to happen again. But what if they didn't? What if the cheap scare was only a precursor to the rest of the scares in-game, making us believe that all we are going to see are monsters popping up, when really new and fresh scare tactics await the player? Unfortunately for Resi, the series has always relied on the cheap scare, just as horror films have. But to truly scare players nowadays, who are wise to the ways of the survival horror genre, something new must be introduced to keep the fear flowing. But what? 

I swear I just saw something.

But before I analyse Resident Evil...

Tonight was interesting. So I thought I'd quickly note down what happened. 

Admittedly a trip to a forest late at night wasn't intentionally educational (educational being relevant to what I'm investigating at the moment), but after traipsing around in the pitch black with only a few torches you start to question what you are actually afraid of. Until you see what looks like a figure in the distance.

There were 6 of us, me included, with 4 torches. I think. The moment I stepped out of the car I knew I was in a scene reminiscent of a horror film. Teenagers go off to forest, say they'll be right back, and don't. We did, and I knew we would. There was nothing in that forest except the unknown. Which was exactly what was scary. 

Of course, this has an obvious connection to survival horrors. As noted in this brilliant article I found on GamaSutra, the kind of scares I was experiencing were created out of nothing but my own imagination running wild. As the article states, "Being visual creatures, humans are most comforted by sight because of our ability to discern objects, action and consequences based on a picture". With only the ability to see only a few metres ahead, I was unable to know what we were walking into, or more importantly, who we would walk into. On top of this horror fiction cliche, it was also unbelievably foggy, just the perfect night to get spooked in the middle of nowhere and not see the axe murderer who was probably watching us walk into his trap. 

All of the survival horror games I've ever played have utilised this obvious but incredibly powerful tool. Who knows what's round the corner? In the game world, anything is possible. We wouldn't (hopefully) see zombies shuffling towards us in the real world, but in game imagination is endless. Anything could pop from anywhere. 

So as I clutched my feeble wind-up torch, glancing around quite a bit for some sign that there in fact was something there, there suddenly was. I saw a moving light, and later on, what looked like a figure. Just thinking that you've seen something that has any similarity to an object with it's own mind can set your adrenaline pumping. Even the smallest things can mess with you when you only see a small part of them. As mentioned in said article, "Even if visual stimuli is used, limiting or obfuscating the player’s view can enhance the horror in a game, especially if the player sees it for an incredible short time. This can hint both at the difficulty of an upcoming encounter, or even allude to matters earlier in the narrative that the player will soon have to face". You've seen something ahead, now you know what you're dealing with, but it's disappeared. Where has it gone? Has it seen you? 

Condemned and Resident Evil have used this technique, like many other games, very well. In the former, enemies may make an early appearance just as you enter a new area and hide. You know you have to progress past them and you know that they're there, but you don't know when or where they will strike. I found myself moving very slowly throughout the course of Condemned, the fear of not knowing when you're going to get hit by a 2x4 piece of wood is not something to run head first into. 

Resident Evil is also guilty of using snippets of enemies which disappear as soon as you hear/see them. My personal favourite is the famous debut of the Licker in Resident Evil 2. As you move along a corridor in the police station, with no sounds of zombies groaning off screen, something 4-legged crawls across one of the windows you pass by. As soon as you take a second look, it's not there anymore. Immediately this triggers feelings of caution in me, you know that you're going to have to face it. And you do, sooner than you expect. Walk up to that puddle of blood and the FMV introducing the Licker dangling from the ceiling kicks in. 

No more unknown.

Now, you've got to deal with what you've found.

  

[1] GamaSutra: Opinion - What makes a Horror Game Scary?, 27/02/09, Nayan Ramachandran. Retrieved on 03/04/09.

Enter the world of survival horror...

...is a quote straight from the original 1996 Resident Evil on the Sony PlayStation, the game that, from that one line, coined a brand new genre of digital gaming. Even though there were games beforehand which set the foundations of Capcom's ground-breaking title, it wasn't until then that the genre entered the mainstream. Since then the Resi franchise has gone on to sell in excess of 34 million copies worldwide and with such commercial and critical success over the years, the survival horror genre must have sank its teeth into the public's neck pretty firmly as even today the genre is still going strong [1]. 

Even though Alone in the Dark and Sweet Home created many of the conventions that Resident Evil would then use, notably the lone main characters and spooky environments, Resi would then take these much further. The gameplay has a direct link to Alone in the Dark's puzzle and combat combination. Characters have to roam around the Arklay Mansion to complete puzzles to progress further in the game, while having to fend off the zombies and various other creatures which clog the corridors. The inventory system was much more of a new feature however, and introduced the ideas of item collection. When the player found a new item, they may not have enough to space to store it, even if they need it for a puzzle they are currently completing on the other side of the mansion. Also, Resident Evil would allow the player to combine certain items together to create new ones, adding many more possibilities to the puzzle process. Maybe you need combine those plate pieces together so they fit in the indentation?

The opening scene from Resident Evil. Note the pre-rendered backgrounds and static camera angle.

 

Combat is restricted by a distinct lack of ammunition for guns, the most useful weapons for zombie disposal. When this dries up, the player will have to resort to very weak knife attacks, leaving them extremely vulnerable to attack themselves, or flee altogether. This leads to a much more frightening experience when you come across an enemy and you can't defend yourself appropriately. Zombies can be outran quite easily, except at close quarters, and the later enemies are much more proficient. When you've been attacked many times your running speed decreases, you are more vulnerable, heightening the tension. When this happens, it's much like a game of cat and mouse, and you are the mouse. In addition to this, the plot elements of the game can be furthered by finding documents around the mansion, reminiscent of Alone in the Dark, while the game also restricts the use of saving the player's game progress by only allowing them to save when they find a typewriter. Placed in a variety of places, they can only be used with an ink ribbon. When you've run out of ink ribbons, you can't save your progress. If you die you go straight back to where you started from previously, furthering heightening the fear and tension of the game. 

Now, I will analyse the audio and visual elements of the original Resident Evil and assess just why it became so popular at the time from the scares it produced, and how they managed it. Also, I will look into whether it's still frightening now and whether we can still become so immersed in the game that we forget where we are and become scared silly. 

[1] Capcom Press Release. Retrieved 01/04/2009