Resident Evil (Biohazard) is a survival horror video game by Capcom and is the inaugural title in the Resident Evil series. It was originally released in 1996 for the Sony PlayStation and has subsequently been ported to the Sega Saturn and PC. A Director's Cut was also released.
In 2002, a remake of the game was released for the Nintendo GameCube featuring new graphics, voice acting and many significant gameplay changes. A Nintendo DS port of the original was released in early 2006.
It was the first game to be dubbed a "survival horror", a term coined by Capcom to promote the title. Whether it was the first game in the survival horror genre is disputed
In a recent International ranking by IGN boards, Resident evil was ranked 3rd.
The opening scene from
Chris's scenario in the original
PlayStation version.
The same scene from
the GameCube remake.
The original game opens on the evening of July 24, 1998 in the fictional Raccoon City where a number of grisly murders have taken place on the outskirts of town. Victims were attacked in their homes by a group of assailants, who left evidence of cannibalism. Local law enforcement sends in the S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team. After contact is lost, the Alpha Team is sent out to find Bravo Team and to continue the investigation. Alpha Team locates the downed Bravo Team helicopter, but there is no sign of survivors; only a severed hand is found. While searching the area for further clues, Alpha Team is attacked by ferocious dogs, which kill one of the team's members, Joseph Frost. Alpha's helicopter pilot, Brad Vickers, suddenly lifts off and abandons the team. Pursued by the violent dogs who killed their colleague, Alpha Team is forced to seek refuge within a nearby mansion, believed to be abandoned.
A scene from the uncut intro.
Chris smokes a cigarette.
With the dogs roaming the outside of the building, the four remaining Alpha Team members (Jill Valentine, Chris Redfield, Barry Burton and Albert Wesker) are besieged within. A gun shot rings out, to which the player's selected character moves to investigate. At this point, the player takes control of the character and begins to explore the mansion. One of the first discoveries to be made is a member of Bravo Team, Kenneth Sullivan, being eaten by a zombie. The character eventually finds the mansion to be anything but abandoned, riddled with puzzles, traps, and horrors. Scattered documents and files suggest that a series of illegal experiments and criminal activities were being undertaken on the property by a clandestine research team, under the authority and supervision of pharmaceutical conglomerate Umbrella Incorporated. The creatures roaming the mansion and surrounding region are the results of these experiments, which have exposed the mansion's personnel and various animals and insects to a highly contagious and mutagenic biological agent known as the "T-Virus" (hence the Japanese title, "Biohazard").
After navigating a series of tunnels, passageways and buildings, the player discovers a secret underground laboratory containing detailed records of the Umbrella Corporation's experiments. In the lab, Albert Wesker reveals that he is a double agent working for Umbrella and releases the "Tyrant T-002", a giant humanoid monster created through prolonged exposure to the T-Virus. Upon release, the Tyrant turns toward Wesker and impales him with its left arm. The player then apparently slays the Tyrant. After slaying the Tyrant, a self-destruct program is triggered. After the player calls for a rescue chopper, the Tyrant bursts through the roof of the lab onto the chopper landing pad and attacks. Suddenly resistant to [bleep], the Tyrant is finally slain when the chopper pilot, Brad Vickers, drops a rocket launcher and the player uses it to completely destroy the creature. The player escapes in the chopper and the game ends as the mansion explodes.
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