"Jill, here is a lock pick. It might be handy if you, the master of unlocking, took it with you."-- Barry, S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team

Poking fun at this unique display of engrish from the seminal 1996 PlayStation survival horror classic Resident Evil is a bit like stating the Venus di Milo is missing a set of arms--antiquated and obvious at this point. Similarly, a video game that was fresh and innovative eight years ago simply doesn't provide a comparable experience in late 2005, despite the continual deluge of clones that have been produced and released, even to this day, to capitalize on the concepts Resident Evil pioneered.

While some titles have managed to expand upon the original ideas presented by Resident Evil (which in essence, heavily borrowed from the even older PC game, Alone in the Dark), most have been more than a little derivative and frequently boring, often crippled with poor control schemes--something from which the survival horror genre, and particularly Resident Evil, has extensively suffered. Even subsequent RE sequels have lacked much compelling gameplay, while maintaining a tendency to continuously re-use the standard and dependable mechanics and ideas presented in the original.

The Silent Hill series has probably seen the fairest amount of success for riding on the coattails of RE. Instead of relying on the "boo" tactics RE is known for, the designers of Silent Hill 2 dropped the quick-and-cheap scares of Resident Evil and instead focus on creating an atmosphere designed to creep into the psyche of the player. Anyone who played through the horrifying underground prison section towards the end of SH 2 will comprehend how disturbing the game could get, especially when played at midnight, in the dark, with the volume up louder than it probably should be. Still, even subsequent releases of the series have been somewhat stale...

While other developers have managed to take the traditional survival horror ideas and incorporate contemporary concepts into their own game designs, often is the case when those new concepts are more superfluous than successfully implemented game play intellections. The insanity effects in Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem were fairly potent and unique--I'd never actually experienced anything like them in a game before--but ultimately, those effects could have been completely removed from the game, and the end product would not have been affected, though the experience would have been much different, and certainly less entertaining.

Now with the imminent arrival of Resident Evil 4, gamers everywhere (at least those few with a GameCube) will be able to immerse themselves in, if the Japan demo is any indication, the best example of isolation in a desolate world where slow-moving, shambling zombies have been replaced by crazed, fully mobile hicks hell-bent on sending you to an early grave as quickly as possible and in the most grisly ways imaginable. The feeling of claustrophobia and utter helplessness when barricaded in a shack as villagers pound on the doors, break windows to clamber inside, and power up chainsaws to cut their way into your much-too-vulnerable stronghold is intense to point that you may feel you're experiencing an accurate representation of what pure terror may entail, at least in video game form.

Of course, there are still problems that need addressing with survival horror games: clunky menus and inventory systems, antique control schemes, and over-used cliches to name a few--problems which Resident Evil 4 still falls prey to. Fortunately, it appears the developers are improving and evolving the primary aspect of what makes survival horror games fun--the horror.