Laws of Nature

I went back to playing HUNK on the 4th survivor mini-game recently after having played the HUNK side mission on Umbrella Chronicles, which of course is based on the 4th survivor scenario. I must say that the HUNK side mission was pretty enjoyable and faithful to the original inspiration, especially when compared to the Resident Evil 3 missions.

The 4th survivor is one of my favourite Resident Evil mini-game and i was pretty chuffed when i first managed to make it to the end, having memorized most of the enemy placement and routes. It's actually not as hard as one might think but of course, having a good grips of the tank-like controls and knowing which enemies to fight and which to run from helps a great deal.

4th survivor will also one of those Resident Evil mini-games that enforces the laws of nature within the Resident Evil universe so strongly that you can't help but to learn and abide by it as well.

What is this laws of nature within Resident Evil universe you say?

Simple, no two different type of monsters should ever co-exist in the one same room or area. It's a simple rule that was probably born out of the complications of programming but one that makes absolute sense when you sit down and think about it.

If say, the crows were in the same hallway as a zombie, wouldn't they be tempted to pick the flesh off their bodies since zombies do possess a body of decaying flesh? It makes complete sense to me so when the development team behind the Deadly Silence port decided to tweak with the formula and create a more challenging Rebirth mode, i was absolutely dismayed. While i adored the original Resident Evil and kinda liked the Deadly Silence port, i absolutely loathe the Rebirth mode included.

There, all my worst nightmares came to life, as Hunters, zombies and crows were all running rampant in the mansion, most of the time in the same area. You could say that this was due to the limitations of the hardware during that time so that's why you never get two different type of monsters attacking you in the one same area but think back to when you last played Resident Evil 4.

Did that game have two different monsters in the one same area?

Liberty Stories

One of the topics fanboys love to discuss about most is which storyline is considered canon among the games in a series. It's often a never-ending debate especially when a latter sequel or remake is released and decided to take a little bit of liberty with the storyline of the previous game. Yes you can probably guess that i'm taking about Umbrella Chronicles and how the game re-tells the events of RE0, 1 and 3.

I think storyline-branching is one of games' biggest strengths in storytelling, when the power to change certain outcome or events of a story lies in the hands of the gamer. Few games manage to achieve this successfully, one of them being the original first Resident Evil, where how you first meet certain supporting characters or events are changed depending on how you progress in the game. It's done in a very subtle, rather ingenius game design where sometimes you don't even realised it happening, as opposed to the dead-obvious style of RE3 where you are given a choice of selecting either option A or B.

I think it's pointless to argue over the events of which game can be considered canon, so long as the outcome of the story doesn't change dramatically, game developers should have the freedom to take certain liberties with the original storyline if they think it will benefit the game from a gameplay point of view. In Umbrella Chronicles, how rebecca and billy first meet is slightly altered, as with how jill and carlos from RE3 first meet too. In fact, most of the event and locales in the RE3 segment looks and feels significantly different from the original RE3. It's not all bad though, the dynamic duo of chris and jill teaming up to explore the original mansion together is like a dream come true for many RE fans, one which you will probably only get to experience in this game. Capcom also decided to make up for some of these by detailing and fleshing out certain events in the Resident Evil mythos, such as how Richard Aiken got injured in the first Resident Evil and also how Wesker got resurrected before appearing again in Code Veronica.

My point is don't get worked up over trying to figure out all the timeline and events of your favourite game series, you will probably end up with a headache anyway. Instead enjoy the game for what it is, and celebrate that the fact you get the experience your favourite game once again from a slightly different point of view.