A few decades ago the masses believed video games were a waste of time for lackadaisical youths to pacify themselves while ignoring their responsibilities as both kids and young adults. As more and more people started understanding the benefits of gaming so too did the perception of what a video game is and, most importantly, the benefits gaming can bestow on a person’s life changed.
Hi, my name is James Bullock and I am a gamer who has spent the better part of his existence testing the laws of physics, exploring the vastness of a world ruined, and been a champion inside various arenas courtesy of digitized worlds both driven by reality and created through pure unbelievable ingenuity unlike anything seen by human eyes. And as a gamer I’ve discovered something else video games provide: life lessons. Today I examine a gaming franchise that showcased just how important it is to manage what you have, “Resident Evil”.
Manage Your Resources
When producer Tokuro Fujiwara decided it was time to up the ante in regards to what makes a horror video game successful he did so by looking at the past. Originally conceived as a remake of the 1989 video game adaptation of “Sweet Home” – a terrifying tale of five filmmakers infiltrating an old mansion looking to restore abandoned artwork before discovering the ghostly trappings inside said house – the first “Resident Evil” blossomed during a time when console gaming was moving from its sixteen-bit limitations into a CD-ROM-based future that only Sony was able to initially capitalize off of with its Playstation console. After many years of work, compromises & challenging the then-bountiful tech Sony’s first video game console housed, “Resident Evil” found its way onto store shelves in 1996 – a year that also produced horror film classics like “Scream”, “The Frighteners”, “From Dusk Till Dawn”, and “Leprechaun 4: Leprechaun in Space”.
Choosing to play as either Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine, the player is able to take the Raccoon Police Department’s Special Tactic and Rescue Service members into mansion where mutated humans & animals showcase their abilities to both spook and hurt the protagonists & NPCs. As the story progresses so does the revelation of what is truly occurring in this apparently cursed building before things such as double agents are uncovered, loveable characters are killed, and a gigantic brute of a super soldier is defeated. But the real challenge for any “Resident Evil” player is managing one’s resources. With a very limited inventory holder/backpack as well as stashes separated by significant distances, the player is forced to weigh the options of whether or not an item is necessary or can be tossed aside – an issue more emphatic when tools such as bolt cutters are introduced without the knowledge of said item being needed in the very near future (an issue later games thankfully rectified by giving an item no longer useful an icon to indicate that a player can dispose of said object).
The game’s lacking inventory space is complemented by the fact helpful items like ammo & first aid are just as scarce with the player having to cobble together found objects like green herbs to create a healing item. As if the small inventory size, miniscule health & ammo weren’t enough, the original “Resident Evil” gave players a limited supply of “ink ribbons” that were necessary to save the game by interacting with one of the multiple typewriters in the mansion. Of course these ink ribbons also occupied inventory space, meaning the player would have to decide whether or not taking a chance by saving would be beneficial as an ink ribbon could take up a slot needed for some first aid or newly discovered ammo.
Some of the big limiting factors such as the ink ribbons would become only associated with “Resident Evil’s” sequels’ hardest difficulties, but inventory management has remained just as important & stressful now as it was in 1996. Be mindful of what you have, think carefully about if it’s still useful in your life, and trash it if an item is doing nothing but taking up space in a very finite area. You’ll be very grateful to have that free space when you discover a giant spider living in your home can only be stopped by the acidic rounds you recently found made specifically for your shotgun.
Have you learned any major life lessons from playing “Resident Evil” or any video game for that matter? Leave them in the comments below and, as always, thanks for reading.
