Resident Evil growing as a brand, regressing as a game franchise

GamerTell has posted an opinion article that argues the Resident Evil franchise might be doing well as a marketing brand and with offshoot products but is beginning to fail as a game series.

[dedicatedtogamers]

It's hard to tell if it is growing as a brand, to be honest. How many of these purchases are based on nostalgia or someone thinking "oh, I heard of that Resident Evil series, but I never played them. Perhaps I'll get the new one" without knowing any better?

Just think, a few years ago when RE4 came out, EVERYONE agreed it was an excellent game, whether the person was new to the series or a long-time fan. But every single RE game this generation has been riddled with fanbase backlash, low review scores, and disappointment. That should tell you that the brand is declining.

[LOGICWINS]

Most people don't read/care about critics'reviews when they consume media entertainment.

RE: Retribution has had the best worldwide success of any RE movie to date...and its a 39 on Metacritic.

[aquamala]

do you want to go back to a fixed camera? Laughable voice acting? Long time between save points?

RE4 came out 7 years ago! I think people are just remembering how "good" the old games are because of nostalgia

[CcreapMurda310]

So fixed camera angles mean that there will be bad voice acting? And the save points were far and few in between so that it would add to the tension of the game as it made the player wonder if they would make it or not. It really doesn't matter if Resident Evil 4 came out 7 years ago, people remember it because it was a great game with a good mix of both horror and action. Unlike the latest sequel, which just doesn't have that tension anymore. Felt like any other mindless shooter out there these days.

[aquamala]

You think RE4 is a well liked game? I remember a lot of complaints because its different than earlier RE's, and people hate Ashley!

[GribbleGrunger]

Regressing? I wish

Edit: So whoever disagreed with me doesn't want it to return to what it once was?

[LOGICWINS]

Back to the bad camera angles, cheesy voice acting, characters that controlled like a tank, and an inventory system where a herb took up the same amount of space as a rocket launcher?

I don't think anyone wants to go back to that.

RE4 came the closest to establishing a true balance of action/survival horror.

Personally, I'd like to see an RE game that focuses on stealth. One where you don't even get a chance to use a firearm until 2/3 into the game.

[Kyosuke_Sanada]

Well it kinda depends how it's managed. There are games such as Cry Of Fear which was praised for returning to similar inventory management because it helped creating tension for survival (especially in how its used certain parts of the game story).

Then there is Deadly Premonition which people loved because of it's mix of camera angles and over-the-shoulder view which was similar to what was shown in Resident Evil 3.5.

I wouldn't even talk about the commendations of Resident Evil Remake....

Old methods can come back but can be tweaked a bit to cater to more people.

[phntom]

Back to the horror, which isn't in the new installments of the series.

[izumo_lee]

I do not think we need to go back to the first 3 games as the blueprint on how the series should be handled.

I am surprised not a lot of people are mentioning Code Veronica cause that game was stellar on taking what the 3 original games gave but added its own twists to make it different.

Code Veronica is so underrated in the franchise with who i believe is a much more interesting character in Claire. It does a lot of things right that would lead to the development of Resident Evil 4.