CGI cartoons based on the Resident Evil universe have long been part of the general canon. And although the scale of events there is usually more modest, it is still interesting to watch the “live” communications of your favorite heroes. Recently “Resident Evil: Death Island” was released online, which promised fans a real gift: all the main characters of the series will gather in one place to fight back a really serious enemy. What happened in the end? Unfortunately, reality is full of disappointments, but first things first.
Boring Avengers
The painting wastes no time during the exhibition. We soon get to see the heroes: Leon, Chris, Claire, Jill and Rebecca, as well as a few Umbrella soldiers, whose role in what happens remains a mystery for some time. However, it is better not to count on interesting intrigues. The plot twist is guessed almost immediately.
The creators rightly believed that outside viewers are unlikely to want to watch such a project, so they do not introduce the characters. You already know them, the images come straight from the games and the most important activities are known. Unfortunately, this makes the cartoon feel completely dependent. Without an impressive knowledge of the lore, watching it is pointless.
Moreover, this is a continuation of the film “Resident Evil: Vendetta”. One of the villains takes revenge on Leon for the events described in the previous cartoon. In this case, again, there will be no explanation or reminder. As a result, “Island of Death” lasts an hour and a half, which is very modest by modern standards, and an extra 30 minutes of running time would clearly only benefit this.
The plot is indecently simple. A new infection, but this time people become zombies without any bite. All evidence suddenly leads to Alcatraz Island. The famous prison has long been a tourist attraction, which presents an obvious problem in the plot. How the villains could quietly settle in a place full of people and conduct experiments is a mystery.
Almost immediately it becomes clear that it is no coincidence that the heroes end up on the island. They were lured there and left alone with the monsters. There aren’t that many zombies themselves, which is strange considering the museum’s visitor numbers, but there are monsters for every taste. There are friends here too Resident Evil 2 lickers and cybernized mosquitoes spreading the virus, and even a huge fish that looks like the boss of Resident Evil 4. Unfortunately, no really new and interesting enemies were introduced.
A lot of attention was paid to the villain and his motivation. Although the premise of his story seems intriguing, everything ultimately falls into the usual banality. At least this time they didn’t talk about world domination, and thank you for that.
The characters of the main characters also do not develop in any way. Everything you learned about Chris, Leon and the rest from the games and other films remains unchanged. There are no interesting situations or interactions between the characters in Resident Evil: Island of Death.
Only Jill gets a little attention – for a few minutes she thinks back to the time when Albert Wesker controlled her. However, this is done casually, leads nowhere and seems completely inappropriate. The rest of the fighters against bioterrorism only discuss specific events and are not distracted by any ‘human’ communications at all. It seems like famous characters were added just for the sake of advertising and fan service. The Alcatraz situation could have easily been resolved with a much smaller team.
As a result, the cartoon cannot cope with its main task and does not give the viewer anything new. Designed for fans, it almost completely ignores all the heroes’ previous experiences and turns them into soulless dummies that perform specific functions. It is reminiscent of the movie Avengers: Endgame, from which all jokes and conversations have been left out. All that remains is action and action, which is not so interesting to watch.
Do you watch cartoons based on the Resident Evil universe?
“Resident Evil” smoker
Unfortunately, secondary nature is the main feature of “Island of Death”. This applies not only to the plot, but also to the battles. You shouldn’t expect a stylish gunfight like the one Chris and Leon staged in “Resident Evil: Vendetta” – there’s nothing like that in the new cartoon. Every fight with the infected is too standard and without any special twist. You’ve seen all this a million times in games, mainly because the situations there were much more interesting.
The lack of new opponents also plays against the picture. The same lickers in Resident Evil 2 were more dangerous, and there is nothing to say about standard zombies. The final boss in the form of something huge is another failure. This is the only fight where the heroes show some individuality, but let’s not forget how many times in games we had to kill tentacle biomass. It immediately becomes sad.
The only one who at least brings some variety is Leon, who usually plays the role of an agile and clever guy who prefers to win with cunning. But even his ‘personal struggle’ only brings boredom. For other characters the situation is even worse: shooting pistols with endless ammunition looks funny.
“Resident Evil: Island of Death” also failed in terms of atmosphere. There is no tension at all, as is usual with games, and a high-quality action film is not possible due to the lack of original situations and the modest timing. You don’t get better in an hour and a half.
Resident Evil: Death Island feels like a completely unnecessary installment of the series. The plot doesn’t bring anything new to the world of “Resident Evil,” and watching the standard action after a dozen games is downright boring. If you were hoping for some interesting interaction between your favorite characters, unfortunately there isn’t any. Feel free to skip the cartoon.
What do you think of the idea of a project with all the main characters at the same time?
Source: VG Times
Christina Moncayo is a contributing writer for “Social Bites”. Her focus is on the gaming industry and she provides in-depth coverage of the latest news and trends in the world of gaming.