Resident Evil: Boss Fight Books Review
The Master of Unlocking
“We should start from the first floor, okay? And, Jill, here’s a lock pick. It might be handy if you, the master of unlocking, take it with you.”
Who doesn’t remember at least one of those iconic yet cheesy and over the top quotes from the Resident Evil series? The franchise celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. With the recent release of RE8, Capcom demonstrated their commitment perfectly while pushing the definition of survival horror once again (I’m looking at you, House Beneviento). However rocky the road of Resident Evil may have been at times through the years, I still fondly remember the first entry on PlayStation. In the late ’90s, my friends and I were still almost a decade below the age restriction of Resident Evil 1 and 2, but we still got our hands on the games somehow, and were not afraid to play them day and night.
These memories are some of my favorites from my childhood, and they left a lasting impression on me and my taste for video games. It’s become an obsession, and every new RE entry still excites me. But besides the game, Resident Evil also has a very elaborate world of lore behind it, and some funny and exciting behind the scenes moments, especially during the early years. A lot of it was messy. Even Shinji Mikami himself couldn’t be sure if the game was going to be a global phenomenon. Luckily, Resident Evil became the household name it became. Now, after all these years, it’s a real treat to go back to the beginning and relive the original Resident Evil through the eyes and words of Philip J. Reed, author of the Resident Evil book published by Boss Fight Books.
“Do I have your attention, boy? You are about to see something wonderful.”
I was lucky to get in touch with the author Philip J. Reed through one of my fellow Obilisk writers, Jason, and after a quick chat between Philip and myself, I got a review copy of his book. It’s funny how easily you can get into a conversation with someone who harbors the same love for a particular franchise as yourself. The book’s structure is simple: it follows the events of the first Resident Evil (1996) game, where you play as either Chris or Jill. Where you fight your way through the Spencer Mansion, uncover the horrific experiments of Umbrella and flee from hordes of undead monsters of all shapes and forms.
At the same time, Philip takes you on a trip through his memories of playing through the game various times while enriching each chapter with some fascinating trivia that I didn’t know even as a long-time fan. He conducted interviews with the actors and voices. He shares cool facts from the infamous Resident Evil cinematic intro and its characters. Surprisingly, most of the actors didn’t even know that they made it into the game or that it became such a huge success.
There are also interview snippets from Shinji Mikami that give insight into his process on how to create horror and how to keep players engaged, even in a remake of the original.
Rebecca: Chris! It’s me, Rebecca! — Chris: Is that YOU, Rebecca?
One of the essential parts of every Resident Evil game is the writing and overall b-movie flair of it all. So naturally, the book is full of references and trivia about these text passages from the game.
It’s interesting to look at the game’s impact on culture retrospectively. The original Resident Evil was in many aspects revolutionary, and many couldn’t figure out why that was at first. Resident Evil had impressive production value with breathtaking graphics and a story very similar to a horror or action movie compared to its competition — especially if you look at games like Alone in the Dark 3, which came to PC only two years prior.
Just as in an earlier era, the real-life intro sequence was impressive for its time; campy, yes, but absolutely perfect for this game. Again, another example of how closely the game was taking inspiration from the b-movie scene.
Combine that with the script and voice performance, and somehow, Resident Evil stood the test of time, and instead of being perceived as bad, it became endearing.
Itchy. Tasty.
Another part of the book I would love to highlight here is about survival-horror and fear itself. The author talks about various definitions and psychological aspects of fear, terror and horror that helped define what Resident Evil is made of. Here are three of the nine elements that Philip mentions to define survival-horror: the scarcity of resources, methodical progression, and emphasis on atmosphere over the story.
The longer I think about this, the more I can see other games taking notes from Resident Evil to create a similar sense of dread — and they, too, are favorites of mine. Think about the Dark Souls series, Silent Hill, Death Stranding, or even Breath of the Wild. However universal this concept may be nowadays, Resident Evil was at the forefront of guiding us into a new era.
We also learnt that fear does not equal fear. Resident Evil perfectly balanced our expectations by showing us sometimes more, sometimes less directly what’s in front of us. Even veteran players were distressed the first time they’d re-enter the mansion to suddenly find this new enemy type (Hunter) roaming the halls. They were putting an unknown danger in an otherwise familiar setting.
The Verdict: Resident Evil by Philip J. Reed
What makes this book special is the overall experience of reliving the original survival-horror experience with someone guiding you through his memories and thoughts along the way. There are passages in this book with thoughts and comments that reminded me of the things I used to talk about with my friends. Most of us definitely played these kinds of games way too early, but it also made us fall in love with the genre and magic of it all.
I highly recommend you check it out and give it a read. Make sure to follow the author, too; there is plenty more to discover in that rabbit hole!
What are some of your favorite Resident Evil moments? Feel free to let us know on Twitter.
Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this book (ebook) to review.
