We’ve been bringing a ton of Resident Evil content this week with our Resident Evil Week. It’s a chance for us to showcase our love and criticism of the games and films, which is essentially a way of showing just how much the franchises have impacted our lives.
But today brings something a little different. Rather than hearing just from us and our perspectives on the series, we’re bringing in an outside voice, one that has enchanted and thrilled millions across the globe: Cristina Scabbia of Italian metal band Lacuna Coil! She has come to share her 13 most memorable moments from the Resident Evil games.
Scabbia is no joke when it comes to the Resident Evil series. Her knowledge and passion for the games is obvious with how strongly she talks about them, her excitement almost palpable.
Scabbia tells BD:
It is no secret that Capcom’s game Resident Evil has been in the Top 3 of my all-time favorite games EVER since it came out for Playstation in 1996.
It came as a storm for me: the story, the videos, the tension… Even though it was not the first survival horror game, the overall theme was exciting and the game refreshing.
Since ‘96, a lot of editions have been released but my heart still belongs to the first three chapters of the saga: Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis.
The recent release of ‘Origins’, where the first chapter ever (remastered and with lot more scenes and locations) and ‘Zero’ are released as a combo, made me go back in time and I HAD to replay it… Mmmh, wait. Yep! Still awesome.
Here is a little random list of some of my favorite moments and things about these chapters.
Additionally, if you want to hear more Lacuna Coil, their eighth studio album Delirium is coming out May 27th via Century Media Records. You can pre-order it via iTunes. or through Amazon!
First time playing RE, I was basically exploring a very quiet mansion where the only noises were coming from a clock, a fire crackling, my own steps and the doors that I was opening… All of a sudden, the animated movie of this zombie who turns to look at me as I interrupted his dinner… on a corpse, of course! It is the very first zombie I had to kill in the game and I will never forget how I felt when he looked at me.
When I was walking back to the mansion, the game kinda stopped for a second and a sudden scene of something running veeeeery fast towards me, basically following the same looking path I just followed in the game a moment earlier but 100X faster than I did, and it was clearly hunting me. It ended up being a monstrous green creature I believe is called, guess what, the Hunter. Well, it was “poo your pants time”. I freaked out back then and still remember that “What the hell is this? Is he coming for me?” feeling.
The enemies you have to face are, in a lot of cases, HUGE animals. Like a giant snake, a giant crocodile, enormous spiders and wasps. But the scene that really creeps me out is when you have to walk through a pool where two live sharks are free to swim in their element but they don’t really like you being in there with them and try to feed themselves with an unexpected snack: you.
I felt pretty bad bad when I had to electrocute them in the game… After all, it was my bad for going to bother them in their own house, right?
Let’s talk about Mr. X from RE 2.
Ok, imagine a HUGE creature that you can’t even kill with bullets (unless you have with you at least 25 full rounds of ammunitions) that moves toward you slowly and it doesn’t make a sound or say a word. You surely convey that is not the description of someone you would want to cross path in a dark alley.
BUT knowing that he is also uncomfortably wrapped in a long grey/green kind of Russian war coat… well, go figure!
In Resident Evil 2, Chief Irons speaks in a very calm way about the mayor’s daughter who is dead on his table, describing her as in a cold medical report. He was supposed to take care of her but obviously kinda failed, duh!
Eh, whatever, he will pay for his negligence during the game as he will become a sort of monster incubator.
After getting the sheet music you will find during the game you will be able to play the music on a piano and open a little tunnel in which you will find an emblem.
Don’t ask me why but that part got stuck in my memory, I think is a cool moment.
Birkin’s transformations – William Birkin who worked on Umbrella corporation as a scientist and has created the T-Virus (and worked on the G-Virus too), injects himself with the virus itself – it is definitely no vitamin D! – and slowly turns into something that has only little remains of something human.
The fight on the elevator made me nervous as this disturbing creature was jumping everywhere, disappearing from the screen, not knowing where he will be coming from next.
He will come out in the game on several occasion (RE2) and it will not be fun.
You will also meet his daughter and you will have to struggle a bit to let her stay with you all the time and not go around alone. KIDS!
The first time I saw a Licker was kind of a shock. It was waiting for me in a corridor and walking on the ceiling, looking at me with his tongue hanging out, covered in copious saliva. Its look really reminded me of Marvel’s Venom. Very effective and a moment to remember.
The crows. I believe it is genius that as the player you have to walk slowly through them to not get them scared and attack you. It definitely adds tension to the game.
In the remake of ‘RE Origins’ it doesn’t happen all the time (I was surprised) but I think is a very cool touch to the game.
The zombie dogs. Beautiful dobermans turned into bleeding living dead creatures ready to bite. The scene of the corridor when they jump in from the windows when least expected was so amazing when I first played the game.
They are not always rebels, though, In some parts if you walk slowly they don’t even care about you and in ‘Origins’ you can even call them with a whistle! Good doggies!
In the remake of RE (Origins) the game has been remastered and the mansion is way bigger and there are lots of things I didn’t remember at all from the first game (I might be wrong though).
There is a part in the backyard of the house where, by a cemetery there are some stairs that are taking you into a basement where there is a metal coffin held by rusty cage. I have to say I was a little disappointed when I killed Crimson head so fast (the monster you have to fight) as it takes some time to release that coffin from the ceiling, through a puzzle of masks… So I was expecting a little extra action after lot of work, ha!
Totally worthy though and great idea.
The Tyrant: the ultimate form of perfection.
When Chris stays in front of the tank containing the monster and the guy who created (I believe) this creature (that has some internal organs inside out on his body) drains the protecting liquid to releases him… only to get killed by his creation, is a moment to remember.
The sounds. The noises. The contrast in between the silence and the break scenes are so well studied that are a big part in the success of this game but I have to ask, isn’t the music in every saving room in the first RE rooms hypnotic for you all as well? I would freeze at times because of that and feel calm, even if I know there is a zombie out of the door waiting for me.
Well, there you have it! There are 13 memorable moments from the Resident Evil game series from Cristina Scabbia! But instead of just ending with these choices, she wants to posit a very serious question:
I will end this piece on RE with a last question for those of you who played the first episode and played ‘Origins’: Is it just me or are Jill Valentine’s boobs downsized from the original RE to the ‘Origins’ remake? Not that I am surprised, they must be uncomfortable on missions like these. Just saying’.
Lacuna Coil online:
Official Website
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Tour dates w/Butcher Babies, 9ELECTRIC, and Painted Wives:
Sat/May 07 – San Francisco CA – Social Hall *
Sun/May 08 – Los Angeles LA – The Roxy
Mon/May 09 – Phoenix AZ – The Marquee
Tue/May 10 – El Paso TX – Tricky Falls
Thu/May 12 – Dallas TX – Trees
Sat/May 14 – Cherokee NC – Cherokee Event Center #
Sun/May 15 – Richmond VA – The National #
Tue/May 17 – Davenport IA – Adler Theater #
Wed/May 18 – Madison WI – Majestic Theatre *
Fri/May 20 – Traverse City, MI – Ground Zero *
Sat/May 21 – Flint MI – The Machine Shop
Wed/May 25 – Brooklyn NY – Saint Vitus ^^
Thu/May 26 – Uncasville CT – Mohegan Sun Wolf Den ^^
# – Direct Support to Halestorm – LC Only
* – no Butcher Babies
^^ – no support
