The Resident Evil Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Welcome to a somewhat experimental episode of the Resident Evil Podcast where the team looks back specifically at the original PSX trilogy and the influences in horror gaming that our beloved title drew from. This means an examination of some older horror titles that shaped the industry before Biohazard including Sweet Home, Alone in the Dark and Clock Tower with an analysis on what aspects worked to bring the scares in a low polygon era.

We then discuss why Resident Evil was so special and despite perhaps not being the first "survival horror" title (albeit the game that coined the phrased), the OG trilogy in particular became the benchmark in jump scares, tension and cinematic gaming.

The conversation then switches to the games that were influenced by Resident Evil - and boy are there many! From the obvious like Dino Crisis and Silent Hill, but also some obscure titles like Deep Fear and Run Like Hell that have really flown under the radar!

In the news we also share our thoughts on the recent fan film - The Keeper's Diary and theBatman reveals the creation process for his recent REmake mythology! 

Musical credit to WackySB for the incredible remixed save room themes (https://tinyurl.com/ye2acphr)

Enjoy!

We've held out long enough and today we are back with our audio commentary of the 4th live action Resident Evil movie, Afterlife. With P.W.S Anderson back in the director's chair and fully embracing 3D as well, join Neptune, Rombie and first time viewers of the film, STARS TyranT & George Trevor in this watcha-along.   How does this film stack up some 14 years since release? Can we make any sense of the storyline where Extinction left us and how effective is the use of 3D - Neptune is watching along in 3D for this one for a unique perspective!   As always with these audio commentaries, they are designed to be listened to whilst watching the film. So grab yourself a beverage (you may need one), dust off your old blu ray and strap in as we go into the afterlife...

Join REP as we celebrate 20 years of Resident Evil: Dead Aim! Yes, Gun Survivor 4 is now 2 decades old and the team come together to take a retrospective look at this pioneering and divisive title.  Long time listeners will know that we are quite fond of this quirky spin off, arriving at a time when the future of the series was looking bleak on PlayStation with the major titles finding a new home on Nintendo's purple cube. After a few false starts under the Survivor banner, could Capcom strike gold with new characters and a notable time jump into 2002. In this hybrid retrospective/happy birthday podcast we dive deep into the lore surrounding the locations, characters the B.O.Ws and the rather somewhat convoluted chronology events leading to Morpheus's plan to target the world's cities with the T-Virus. 20 years old where does this game sit in the wider canon? Is it as important as some of the team like to make out? And just why is this not available on digital download! Please enjoy!

Delving back into the archives once again we have for your listening pleasure our review of the very diversive Resident Evil 4; the game some say saved the franchise and others believe destroyed it. Originally recorded in April 2012 the news is dominated by more post-release reaction to Operation Raccoon City with the introduction of the timed exclusive Nemesis mode DLC for the XBox, prompting Neptune to enquire if we can get his tentacle out... Fittingly our community guest is Smiley; a man who very wisely invested his entire inheritance in bulk buying Operation Raccoon City in the hopes it would be a massive success. Needless to say he is still not a millionaire.

We have a sub-discussion on the many beta builds of Resident Evil 4, discussing black fog, hookmen, Devil May Cry 4 and the influences of games such as Haunting Ground and Clock Tower. Early story builds included Spencer's sons and the origins of the Progenitor Virus which would have been much more agreeable to what we eventually got. 

For the main discussion, we go through the game from top to bottom, talking about the new gameplay style and controls, as well as the obvious switch to action from horror. We go through the characters and enemies, lamenting Umbrella's pre-credits demise and of course explain how the infamous boulder has eclipsed Albert Wesker as the series best recurring villain. Spoiler alert: Mr Spencer's favourite part of Resident Evil 4 is the fact that Jill is not in it.

Time to go back to the archives again as we revisit a criminally overlooked classic with Resident Evil: Dead Aim/Gun Survivor 4: Heroes Never Die. This particular title is a favourite amongst the REP team and we break the game down and see how it has stood up to the test of time. Originally recorded in April 2012 this episode also features a comprehensive breakdown of the Resident Evil 6 Captivate trailer and several Alex Wesker theories years before Revelations 2 was born. We also discuss how Japanese translations have revealed a completely different outlook on the history of the t-Virus, providing yet another example of how much Western audiences are missing out on important plot details. Finally, making his debut as a guest is none other than Sean 'S.T.A.R.S_TyranT' Hall who would later join our team on a permanent basis. Please enjoy.

Time for another early episode plucked from the dusty shelves of the archives cupboard. This time we go back to 2012, shortly after the release of the highly controversial Operation Raccoon City. Following hot on the heels of Resident Evil Revelations on the 3DS, this initial review was done before the release of the arguably much better Spec Ops DLC campaign and in the midst of what was a troubling time for the series. This game saw release around the time veteran series producer Masachika Kawata stated Resident Evil was too big for the survival horror market and that the series should increase the action focus of RE4 and 5, something that didn't go down well with fans at that time. Join Neptune, Batman, George Trevor, Mr Spencer and special guest Zombie Fred as they break down this non-canonical entry into the series, trying to be find a few positives amidst a sea of negatives in what is a a valiant but ultimately rushed and buggy product.

And so we creep ever closer back to the very beginning of this journey as we now revisit early 2012 when Resident Evil Revelations had just debuted on the Nintendo 3DS. This represented the first major title since Darkside Chronicles and was the second successive storyline prequel since the release of Resident Evil 5. Reception to Revelations was quite positive at the time, although fans were taken aback by its overly complicated storyline, something that was not helped by some of the worst file mistranslations in the series history. Here we break down the characters, the enemies and the environments as we attempt to piece together just exactly what is going on. It's easy to forget the unique features the 3DS version had, such as first person view and of course the 3D aspect itself. Also featured on this episode is a preview of Operation Raccoon City, which at the time of recording was just a few weeks away from a highly controversial release. Joining us as special guest for this one was Project Umbrella staff member Ridley.

And so we near journey's end through the archives as we head back all the way to February 2012 when we recorded the first episode proper of the then Project Umbrella Podcast. After a successful pilot episode we felt it fitting at the time to dedicate episode one to the original game that started it all; the original Resident Evil on the PlayStation. Join the panel for a nostalgic trip down memory lane as we recount our personal experiences with the game. In the news we briefly discuss release reaction to Revelations on the 3DS and the build up to the imminent release of Operation Raccoon City. But the biggest news of the time was the official announcement of Resident Evil 6, with a first trailer that promised a continuation of the action of Resident Evil 5 and then some... As you can imagine George Trevor was pleased with this! Neptune's biohazard quiz launched with calamity and has maintained that steady standard ever since. Apologies for the erratic audio quality throughout as back then we were still learning our way around this whole podcasting lark. It's certainly interesting to listen back to our thoughts and experiences from nearly a decade ago when things like Umbrella Corps, Revelations 2, Vendetta and even Remake 2 were never in our thoughts. It is thanks to the continued support of the Resident Evil fan community that we are still going strong today and are about to begin an exciting new chapter. Please enjoy.

 Well then folks here it be; the original test episode for the podcast to see if it would work as a valid idea. Originally recorded 8 years ago by members of Project Umbrella, we set out to carry the torch from where the RPD Dispatch left off. At the time we'd had the idea of a podcast for several months and had been planning it behind the scenes, however we never envisaged just how difficult it would be to pull off. We knew 2012 was going to be a pivotal year for the franchise in terms of media and so we scrambled a panel together to record our thoughts. Here we speak briefly about the translation issues that plague the series and focus on upcoming titles Resident Evil Revelations and Operation Raccoon City, both of which were due out in the coming months. Although we knew it was coming we actually recorded this show 24 hours before Capcom publically announced Resident Evil 6 to the world. Just to put into context where the series was way back then, the last canonical material we'd had at the time of release was actually the story DLC packs for Resident Evil 5! And now here we are all these years later and the series has more than doubled in content and is still going strong. The Project Umbrella Podcast is now dead, long live the Resident Evil Podcast!

Welcome back to our series of live audio commentaries for the feature length Resident Evil adaptations. Thankfully we take a break from Paul W.S. Anderson's live action 'take' on the series and instead switch our attention to Resident Evil Degeneration; the first full-length motion capture CG animation feature developed and produced by Capcom themselves. Join Neptune, Rombie, STARS_TyranT and a returning Mr. Spencer as they sit back and analyse the film from start to finish. Please enjoy and continue to stay safe everyone.