Resident Evil

Resident Evil, known as Biohazard (バイオハザード) in Japan, is a successful franchise of horror-adventure video games developed by Capcom. It is credited with popularizing the survival horror game genre, in which the goal is to avoid being killed by monsters, undead and assorted evil creatures bent on attacking the player. The franchise is heavily influenced by George A. Romero's Dead movies.

Story

The success of this franchise has spawned several computer games, a comic book series, novelizations, two Hollywood action movies and action figures. While the games mostly adhere to a consistent storyline there are enough deviations from the game plot within the movies and novels to be considered alternate storylines.

Related Topics:
Franchise - Computer games - Comic book - Novelizations - Hollywood - Action movies - Plot

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The first game (Resident Evil, 1996) takes place in the fictitious Raccoon City, a typical midwestern American urban setting controlled economically by the Umbrella Corporation, a conglomerate that produces a wide array of consumer products. Raccoon City's elite S.T.A.R.S. (Special Tactics and Rescue Service/Squad) are dispatched to investigate strange and gruesome murders outside the city in the surrounding Arklay Mountain and Raccoon Forest area.

Related Topics:
1996 - Raccoon City - American - Umbrella Corporation - S.T.A.R.S. - Murders

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The Bravo team disappears, and the Alpha team is sent to recover them and continue the investigation. They are chased into the Spencer mansion where they uncover evidence that Umbrella is conducting illegal and unethical research into biological warfare. They have secretly been researching the mutagenic effects of synthetic viruses on living organisms, resulting in the creation of several species of fierce, bloodthirsty mutants.

Related Topics:
Mansion - Biological warfare - Mutagenic - Synthetic - Viruses - Mutants

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Each title sheds more light on Umbrella's operations and background, how far-reaching they are, and what lengths they will go to in order to keep their operations a secret. More recent titles touch on the government's attempts to take down Umbrella.

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