Regardless of your favorite, we can all agree that Resident Evil is a groundbreaking series. Over the last couple of decades, the series has been an ever-evolving pioneer, constantly changing before losing its way. Thankfully, the series is now as strong as it ever was. With that, I bring you my list of the best resident evil games in descending order. I know people will disagree with some of the placement on this list but here goes.
24. Umbrella Corps
There were plenty of candidates for the worst resident evil game. I wouldn’t argue with a lot of them finding last spot. For me though, it’s Umbrella Corps. An online multi-player attempt as a Resident of Duty. It just doesn’t work. I understand there’s a call for the more action-packed Resi games but they need to be done well. This wasn’t and fans knew it. When I was playing the multi-player was dead and that wasn’t even that long after launch. A failed experiment.
23. Operation Raccoon City
There seems to be a theme here doesn’t there? Another online multi-player game, this time in the vein of Socom. Orc is set during the events of Resident Evil 2 and 3 it plays out as a what-if scenario. What if Leon was killed, what if the bad guys won, what if I cared. Now, I did have fun playing this game for a while but it was a poor man’s Socom. Had it been Canon and actually played a bit better it could have been much higher on this list.
22. Resident Evil Gaiden
Another non-Canon entry into the series. Gaiden was odd, yet it still takes pride and place in my collection, fully boxed. Originally Capcom had tried to port Resident Evil 1 to the Game Boy Color. They failed. What they came up with instead was this. Gaiden stars Leon s Kennedy and Barry Burton as they investigate strange goings-on on a boat. Story-wise there are plot points that have made it into both the Revelation games weirdly enough. Gameplay wise the exploration was from a top-down view and the combat was first person (take that people complaining about Resi 7 copying Silent Hills). The fighting was almost a quick time mini-game as a cursor moves from left to right, a button press in the green acts as a hit. Think Everybody’s Golf. It was a curious game indeed.
21. Resident Evil 6
Part of me wants to put this game way lower down the list and part of me wants to pretend it never existed. Resi 6 gets a lot of stick and rightly so. Although, I guess we have to thank it for helping the series get back on track. Without it, there’d be no 7 or Remake 2.
After the action of 4 and 5, Capcom wanted to switch things up and cater to everyone. For 6 they gave us 3 main campaigns. Chris who was all about shooting, Jake who was all about punching and Leon who was supposed to take us back to the horror aspects of the series. They spectacularly failed in all 3. The game was a mess with sections having to be re-played with countless characters. Don’t even get me started on the Dino boss or the Ustanak, a Nemesis lite character who isn’t even remotely scary.
Then there’s the added Ada campaign once you’ve finished the game. Play it in co-op and one of you can even open doors.
To make matters worse, I was excited about this game. To make matters worse still, I bought it on the ps3, ps4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. I’m part of the problem, but you can’t say I didn’t give it a chance.
20. Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D
I have nothing against this 3DS game at all. It’s an extremely fun version of the mercenaries mini-game squeezed down to portable size. It’s pretty enjoyable. The reason it’s so low on this list is that’s all it is, a mini-game and I’m not entirely sure it warrants it’s own separate release. It feels like a bit of a cash grab. Unheard of for Capcom.
19. Resident Evil Survivor
Look. It’s Resident Evil in light gun form and another Resident Evil in first person view, predating Silent Hills by quite some time. Survivor was a brave attempt to create a light gun version of Resi. It works really well on paper. The trouble was, Capcom and developer TOSE lost the instructions. Players actually got to guide the playable character around as they explored and then shot zombies using the controller. The main issue with the western release was light gun support had been removed and the game was made for it. They removed this due to the Columbine tragedy and so had a good reason. It’s hard to complain over this version of the game when there are much worse things happening in the world.
I do remember enjoying my playthrough of this, however, I haven’t had a chance to play it since released and thus, it isn’t too fresh in my mind. Time to dust off the old copy.
18. Resident Evil: Dead Aim
Dead Aim was the third and final game in the Resident Evil Survivor series, although, there is another entry based on Dino Crisis. It’s also the best of the three, even if I have put 2 higher. This time with full light gun support thanks to the Gcon2. Set on a boat once again the game switched between a third and first-person view and was a fun, if forgettable entry into the series.
17. Resident Evil: Gun Survivor 2
What if Resident Evil was a dream? Well, this game is. Claire Redfield’s subconscious retelling of the events on Rock Fort Island. What we have here is a pretty standard arcade light gun shooter. It may not be the best game but it was the shooter I spent the most time with and I had plenty of fun doing so. Sometimes, mindless fun is just what’s needed. I also really miss light gun games, stupid modern TVs.
16. Resident Evil Outbreak: File #2
The Outbreak games are crying out for a remake. At this point, I’d be happy with bog standard ports, same graphics and controls just with the modern internet.
The 2 games were an attempt to create an online cooperative version of the original games. They did work, but they would work so much better now with modern internet and tighter controls for the people that struggled with what was on offer.
15. Resident Evil Outbreak
Again, read above. Needs to be re-released with modern internet, controls and voice chat. Outbreak really was way ahead of its time and I give Capcom credit for trying this. It’s a shame that what could have been so special saw quite a botched release, with the pal version not even supporting online play. Either of the two games is interchangeable on this list really but I’ve given the higher spot to the first game purely because it was the trendsetter. That may be the wrong decision but that’s how it is.
Remake it Capcom.
14. Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles
To end part one of this list I bring you two more easily interchangeable games and two more shooters. First up, Darkside Chronicles. Released on the Wii back in 2009 it acted as a prequel to Resident Evil 4 along with the retelling of 2 and Code Veronica. It was an on-rails shooter that utilized the Wii -mote to great effect. Both looking and playing great Darkside Chronicles was a fun addition to the series, I did miss having an actual lightgun but it was fun nevertheless.
13. Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles
Basically, the same game as above only predating Darkside by a couple of years and retelling the events of zero, 1 and 3 through the narration of long-stay villain, Albert Wesker.
It’s just like the other one and marginally slips its way higher up the list. Another couple of games that I need to dust off and play again.
And there we have it. Part 1 is done. Join me soon for part 2 where I’ll bring you the top 12 Resident Evil games. The big boys. No doubt there will be disagreements as we all have our own favorites. See you soon.
