10 RESIDENT EVIL GAMES YOU PROBABLY DON'T KNOW ABOUT

Resident Evil VII is, by all accounts, a return to form for the series, following the mixed critical reactions to its two predecessors. The franchise's twisty-turn-y ongoing storyline, involving the shadowy machinations of the Umbrella Corporation - a corporation that, presumably, started out making umbrellas, before moving into hazardous chemicals - is 21 years old this year.

But... did you know that there haven't just been seven Resident Evil games? As well as the Zeroes, and the Code Veronicas, and the Nemeses, there have been many, many others. Too many to count in fact, if you're as lazy as I am.

Here are just a few of the most obscure entries in the franchise - and to keep things moving along, there are reactions to each of the games from Zippy the Monkey. You go, Zippy!

RESIDENT EVIL: GAIDEN (Game Boy Color)

Inevitably, punting the Resident Evil series onto the Game Boy Color was going to result in some compromises, but such was the limp critical reaction to Gaiden that Capcom must've wondered why it bothered.

Gaiden switched out the series' trademark survival horror for top-down shooting, and misguided first-person shooting battles. However, the setting - a cruise ship - is a location that the series would return to more than once.

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RESIDENT EVIL: DEAD AIM (PS2)

One of several Resident Evil light gun shooters, Dead Aim is notable for being the first time the series adopted a bona-fide first person perspective (unless you include the rotten 2D FPS of Revelations). But - hey - it was once again set on a cruise liner, proving that reasonable ideas never die.

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RESIDENT EVIL: DEADLY SILENCE (DS)

Released to celebrate the series' first anniversary, Deadly Silence was a sort of remix of the very first Resident Evil game. The biggest change to the original is the way in which the DS touch screen was utilised for first-person "knife battles". Also: there surely must be a really good joke in there about silent but deadly flatulence.

"What's that smell? It smells like rotting flesh..."

"Yes... rotting flesh..."

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RESIDENT EVIL: MERCENARIES VS (iOS)

Confusingly, Mercenaries VS features enemies and locations taken from the horrific Resident Evil 4, and mixes them with characters from the "horrifically racist" Resident Evil 5. Essentially a stripped back version of Mercenaries 3D for the 3DS, it's primarily a two-player online game, with various competitive modes. Was it any good? No. Not it was not.

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RESIDENT EVIL: DEGENERATION (N-Gage/iOS)

Yes: there was a Resident Evil game released for Nokia's ill-fated N-Gage, based upon the early airport-set  scenes from the Capcom animated movie of the same name. Indeed, you may have forgotten it was one of the key games upon which N-Gage was sold. Or, as history records, not sold.

It was a surprisingly robust RE game, featuring the core tenets of the gameplay, mixed with quick-time events and graphic nudity.

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RESIDENT EVIL: ZOMBIE BUSTER (mobile)

As Resident Evil Gaiden proved, when you turn Resident Evil into a top-down arcade-style shoot 'em up, you lose pretty much everything that makes it Resident Evil. As well as the series' trademark zombies, the enemies were considerably more cartoonish than was typical for Resident Evil. Look: a big serpent.

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RESIDENT EVIL: THE MISSIONS (mobile)

The missions featured 150 or so mini challenges, designed to be consumed in short bursts, with Jill Valentine as the main character. Though there was no story to speak of, it featured a neat branching system, with players able to choose their route through the game. And when I say "neat" I actually mean "not really that interesting".

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RESIDENT EVIL: GENESIS/UPRISING (mobile)

Based loosely on the first two Resident Evil games, Genesis and Uprising featured slower-paced puzzle-like gameplay than the series was typical for. As you can see in the above screenshot, it featured Jill Valentine encountering not one, but four Incredible Hulks.

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RESIDENT EVIL: CONFIDENTIAL REPORT (mobile)

Confidential Report took an all-out shift into turn-based strategy. It featured an original storyline, featuring rookie cop Tyler Hamilton. The report upon which it was based can't have been that confidential, given that they made a commercially available game out of it.

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RESIDENT EVIL ASSAULT: THE NIGHTMARE (mobile)

Probably the most stylish and individual of all the lesser-known Resident Evil spin-offs, Assault: The Nightmare also had the worst name. It was a first-person shooting gallery game, with striking, cartoon-like visuals. That, alas, was the best thing there is to say about it.

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