Resident Evil: Degeneration

—Review Score: 9/10—

Resident Evil: Degeneration is a CG movie created by Digital Frontier. The movie follows the game universe, with the setting 7 years after Raccoon City incident. This is a good start, considering the previous Resident Evil movies are not conforming the game storyline. After Raccoon City, Umbrella Corporation is closed because of its relation with the incident.

The main characters in this movie are Claire Redfield and Leon S. Kennedy. Claire is a member of a non-profit organization opposing the T-virus existence and its use as a biological weapon. Leon, on the other hand, works on a governmental agency who fight bio-terrorism. Aside from physical appearance, there is an apparent difference on their personality since Raccoon City. Leon is now more aggressive in opposing bio-terrorism, while Claire take the peaceful way to deal with it. But both are aware that the end of Umbrella Corporation doesn’t mean that the virus are not exist anymore, but simply keep being traded by unofficial means.

The story of this game is pretty straightforward, Leon and Claire are reunited because of a T-virus outbreak in an airport. From there, the story took a full throttle of action sequence. There are lots of zombie killings, and it’s also topped with a huge monster battle. All this leads to a whole lot of action sequence. It’s a pure zombie killing fest with a taste of the game, in such way that it makes the game feels like a nostalgic experience for the avid game fans. And the movie also ends in another cliffhanger a la Resident Evil.

On to visual quality, RE: Degeneration sports a high quality animation. The characters are beautifully modeled, faithful to the character design of Leon and Claire in Resident Evil 2. Besides of the characters, environments in RE: Degeneration are also rendered greatly. Overall, the visual quality is stunning, even though most part of the movie happened on night time. It’s a different story on the sound department though, the music tracks used in this movie are mostly ambient music, creating an eerie feel just like the game. It’s great for this kind of genre though, keeping the scare factor through the music.

All things considered, Resident Evil: Degeneration is a great survival horror movie. It lives up to the Resident Evil legacy and provide a great entertainment for the viewers, especially if the viewers are avid game fans. The plot is a very Resident Evil like with solid action sequence and the characters are nostalgically lovable. Combine that with a great animation quality and fitting sounds, you’ll get an entertainment package that should not be missed out.

(Picture Credit: Resident Evil: Degeneration Official Site)