Summary
TheResident Evilseries has an extremelylong list of amazing titlesand a few black sheep that are probably best forgotten, but the cultural impact on the gaming world is undeniable, and it deserves all the respect and praise it receives. There have been quite a few different angles taken in the series in terms of gameplay and setting, with each entry trying something new while trying to stay under the same survival horror umbrella. Earlier titles focussed more on puzzle design and environmental scares, then a transition over into action with some of the middling titles, and now the latest titles and remakes are showing off the original’s horror elements in a completely different light in new and creative ways.
No matter the setting and no matter the era, the one constant is the combat. Scarce ammo supplies and less-than-desirable weapon choices, given the circumstances, players have been forced for decades into using a wide arsenal of guns, knives, and everything in between to tackle the hordes of infected and mutant abominations. A lot of the weaponry on offer gets the job done, and for the most part, players can choose any weapon they like and do just fine with it. But there are more than a few on the list that stand out as being particularly weak, situational, or just downright bad overall and have been constantly avoided and complained about by fans for generations.
7Matilda
Outclassed And Outgunned
The pistols in theResident Evilseries have always sat on their own tier on lists as other than exceptions like the Magnum, they are some of the weaker weapon choices available when compared to what’s on offer. They can be incredibly useful and provide a decent amount of firepower, with the ammo being pretty abundant across all titles, so they are by no means useless and can quite easily get players through the majority of a playthrough without too much trouble. The Matilda is one of those pistols that asks the questions when and why, as athough it does have some strengths, they are not significant enough to warrant choosing this gun over even the starter pistol.
Resident Evil 4is full of great and not-so-great weapons that each have their own place in the lineup, whether a must-pick choice that can carry entire playthroughs or a glorified BB gun that does little to nothing against most enemies. The Matilda falls into the second category, as for one, the weapon can only be bought after completing the game, and by that point, the player will have so many upgraded weapons that outshine this one thatthe real horrorbecomes trying to make this mediocre pistol function at even a basic level. It might have a high ammo count and a fast rate of fire, but these games aren’t about speed. They are about care and caution, which make the Matilda a less than desirable choice compared to other weapons of its kind.
While bullet-based weapons are great and all, sometimes it’s nice to swap to something a little more old-fashioned, that even allows for some ammunition retrieval and explosive power as well. On paper, it sounds great, but in practice, it’s slow and a bit too bulky, and there aren’t many situations where the Bolt Thrower does something specifically better than another gun or even a grenade. The biggest issue with the weapon is the ammo. It can be nice to headshot a zombie and run over to retrieve the bolt, but the process can get quite tedious, and there is more than enough ammo for the other weapons that being able to collect a few extra shots doesn’t really help much.
The explosive side of the gun can be quite devastating, taking out large groups of enemies in one fell swoop. The issue is that the ammo for those rounds is few and far between, and the situations where the play needs that AoE punch are also pretty scarce, with grenades serving a better method for dealing with hordes and even the RPG. The Bolt Thrower does have the fun factor down to a T, trading instant head explosions for impales and satisfying decapitations. But aside from being a funny choice to induce a few laughs, the combat capabilities are pretty lack luster, so it is probably best to leave it in storage.
While the original entries in the series served as a great introduction to the world and the horrors within,Resident Evil 5was asignificant departure from the slow and methodical puzzlesand the tense and intimate sequences found earlier on. An emphasis on action made the game a lot more exciting, if hurting the horror elements quite a bit, but it is still a great title to enjoy with a friend for some quick laughs and easy fun. So, in a game that’s a lot less serious and more dramatic, the Gatling Gun is the perfect weapon to show off the ludicrousness of the entry and to demonstrate that size doesn’t always matter.
The giant weapon is just too damn slow, and the large ammo container takes up a pretty large portion of the screen, which makes wielding it not only feel incredibly sluggish but actually hard to see at times. And the actual damage output isn’t anything to get excited about. About as effective as any machine gun against regular zombies and an okay choice against bosses, but the gun is quickly outshined in almost every category, and the whole package is incredibly weak given how cumbersome and annoying it can be to move around with. If there was an award for the funniest weapon in the game, the Gatling Gun would probably win, but in terms of raw power, there isn’t much on the table.
A similar dilemma to the Bolt Thrower, only in a far weaker form, the Crossbow fromResident Evil 6is another case of a fun and interesting weapon that doesn’t do a whole lot. Ada’s starting weapon in her section of the campaign, the arrow-shooting contraption, is hardly the most elegant and effective choice against the enemies. The biggest issue with it is the lack of ammo. Even if the player wanted to use the Crossbow for longer, there just simply isn’t enough ammo on the map to allow for it, and if a shot goes wide, say goodbye to it as there is no way to retrieve missed shots once they have left the barrel.
Once again, the weapon comes with an explosive option for dealing with groups and specific enemy types, but it suffers from the same problems as the original shots in that the ammo count is so low, and even when the shots go off, there’s a pretty high chance of some self-inflicted damage. The second another weapon is offered or the player finishes the section and returns to a normal arsenal of guns, the game feels so much better, as any kind of bolt or arrow-based weapon is simply too clunky and archaic for it to be good in an apocalyptic world of mutants and more.
3Samurai Edge
The Worst Of Its Kind
There are plenty of iconic weapons that are shared throughout theResident Evilseries. Take the RPG or the Magnum, for instance; two incredibly powerful and memorable weapons that, once acquired, gives long-time fans a grin that lasts with every shot fired. The Samurai Edge is another one of those weapons that has found its way into several titles across the IP’s lifespan, but none of the examples made a big enough splash for it to even be considered an average weapon choice compared to the competition, the pistol class.
It just doesn’t do anything special to warrant choosing it. Other pistols have higher damage, higher rate of fire, and higher magazines, and the Samurai Edge doesn’t provide a well-rounded weapon choice that combines the strengths of many into one; it’s just a bad gun overall. Now, obviously, any weapon can work, and there is no reason why a player wouldn’t be able to make this gun work if they chose to. There’s just nothing good or even remotely interesting about the gun, and in later titles likeVillage,the gun could not be any weaker and deserves to be tossed away.
In terms of a titlethat sticks out in a great way,Resident Evil 7demonstrates that the series is still capable of delivering some amazing horror moments whilst still keeping to its roots. The game is amazing and introduces a whole new world of fear and misery that few games in the series can capture. A disgusting house full of mold and bugs, the latter of which has a specific weapon to deal with. The Burner is more of a tool than an actual weapon choice, great at taking out flying insects and having some fringe uses like the Marguerite fight, but the second the player leaves the house, the flames die out, and there is virtually no reason to use it.
The weapon was clearly designed and balanced as a device for clearing out the specific threat of the bugs throughout several sections of the early game, but when attempting to use it against any other enemy, players will struggle to make any waves, and it is better to extinguish the fire before the mold takes over. The game as a whole does lean away from the action and combat significantly, but when guns and shooting are needed, the burner is an option that should never even be considered and the arsenal of shotguns and rifles that are found throughout the game are so much stronger and more useful than a handheld flytrap.
Resident Evil
Ahorror series about shooting zombiesand creatures of all kinds,Resident Evilsure has a lot of incredible weapons to clear out the infected in wild and wacky ways. But sometimes, weapons are designed more as a piece of utility rather than a powerful choice that can be used at all times. The Combat Knife is found across many games in the series, in varying forms and levels of power. The main intention in most games is as a defensive mechanic that prevents damage and can save the player when they get into a tough spot.
For the first few entries in the series, however, the weapon is basically useless and serves as nothing more than a tool for challenge runs. Later on, it takes a significant number of swings to even begin to dent even regular enemies, and good luck trying to deal any large blows to the bigger enemies. In 99% of all cases, any other gun will do a better job than the combat knife, and in that 1%, it’s basically a coin toss and down to preference. Sure, it might be nice to have a knife in the pocket to help take care of an unexpected foe, but for the most part, it is a basic tool that only comes out once in a while and when compared to the stopping power of the rest of the arsenal, it isn’t even an competition.
