Video Game Vintage Title: Resident Evil

Resident Evil

Resident Evil is a media franchise created by Shinji Mikami and owned by the video game company Capcom. The franchise focuses around a series of survival horror video games, but has since branched out into comic books, novels and novelizations, sound dramas, a live action feature film followed by a series of live-action and animated sequels, and a variety of associated merchandise, such as action figures. The overarching plot of the series focuses on multiple characters and their roles in recurring outbreaks of zombies and other monsters due to the release of the T-virus, a biological weapon created by the fictional Umbrella Corporation.

The eponymous first game in the series was released in 1996 as a survival horror video game, but the franchise has since grown to encompass other video game genres. The series is a mix of action and horror film-inspired plotlines, exploration and puzzle solving, but from Resident Evil 4 onwards, the main series took a more action-oriented approach with less puzzles and more of an emphasis on gunplay and weapons upgrading. As of 30 June 2012, the video game series has sold 50 million units worldwide. It has become one of Capcom's biggest ever franchises and marked the start of the "survival horror" genre, which was already influenced by earlier efforts such as Sweet Home and the Alone in the Dark series.

Reception
Using horror elements, puzzle solving, and a lot of action, most of the games in the main Resident Evil series have been released to positive reviews. Some of the games, most notably Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 4, have been bestowed with multiple Game of the Year honors and often placed on lists of the best video games ever made. In 2012, Complex ranked Resident Evil at number 22 on the list of the best video game franchises. That same year, G4tv called it "one of the most successful series in gaming history." The game series has sold 50 million units as of 30 June 2012.