This guy has almost as many personalities as he does faces and body types.
This is the original Chris. He's basically a piece of cardboard like his co-star Jill, except with a way less memorable design and a way less interesting sidekick. I never choose him in RE1, or in Remake. His game is just flat out worse IMO.
He comes back in Code Veronica, still looking pretty similar. Now he's more of an action hero, though, and they begin his feud with Wesker (something that was not AT ALL present in the original game that they were actually in together). So, ok, this is basically the same Chris as RE1 Chris, only he's in a game with actual character-driven interactions now.
REmake and Darkside Chronicles Chris looks like a completely different character. His first real physical transformation! His personality is still basically next to nothing in these games, though. He has no real dynamic with any other characters. His dialogue never amounts to anything besides reacting to stuff and getting the job done. Even side characters like Enrico have more memorable lines than him.
Ok, RE5 Chris brought him back and arguably made him popular. This is the Chris most people remember and know, just like most people remember and knew RE4's Special Agent Leon instead of his rookie boy scout persona from RE2 before its remake came out. Now he has his whole BOW supersoldier schtick going on. He's basically like the GI Joe commando of the RE series at this point. He's out to get Wesker, he values his partners' lives and wellbeing as equal to his own, he has a sincere hatred for BOW warfare and he is super strong. Chris punching the boulder became a meme for a reason. This game cemented him as the heart of the "action" part of Resident Evil.
RE6 basically throws the table upside down, though, and now he's a PTSD ridden, amnesiac alcoholic. For most of the game he's just a huge asshole to everyone, especially his team. I give the writers props for at least trying to show us how this change happened and justify it, but it still feels artificial with how over the top it is.
RE7 gives us the weirdest Chris of them all, so much so that many people doubted it was actually him at first. He works for a section of Umbrella. He looks completely different. He acts and talks like the Chris from RE5 (over his PTSD episode by now I guess) but he looks so different that people still thought he might be an imposter. Just when we thought he might have finally found an identity for himself, he goes to work for a sketchy new organization and gives himself a facelift.
That is, until he morphs BACK into his RE6-ish self. He's definitely older here, but he's apparently shed his new skin, and oh, he's also an asshole again, and maybe even a villain now.
I really think Capcom just uses him for name recognition. His lines and role could be written for any other character 90% of the time in any given game and nobody would ever know it was originally supposed to be Chris. His only constant is his hatred for Wesker and his occasional GI Joe Captain lines. Everything else? Changes from game to game, or has no real substance to it to begin with.
Out of all the popular legacy RE characters, I think Chris is by far the most boring, and the one with the least amount of creative vision behind him. I think he keeps getting the spotlight because he was the "original RE guy" and he is big and strong. That's really it. He looked cool in RE5, but that kind of got flipped around as the sequels came out and kept morphing him again.
Do you like Chris? How do you feel about him being a chameleon?
This is the original Chris. He's basically a piece of cardboard like his co-star Jill, except with a way less memorable design and a way less interesting sidekick. I never choose him in RE1, or in Remake. His game is just flat out worse IMO.
He comes back in Code Veronica, still looking pretty similar. Now he's more of an action hero, though, and they begin his feud with Wesker (something that was not AT ALL present in the original game that they were actually in together). So, ok, this is basically the same Chris as RE1 Chris, only he's in a game with actual character-driven interactions now.
REmake and Darkside Chronicles Chris looks like a completely different character. His first real physical transformation! His personality is still basically next to nothing in these games, though. He has no real dynamic with any other characters. His dialogue never amounts to anything besides reacting to stuff and getting the job done. Even side characters like Enrico have more memorable lines than him.
Ok, RE5 Chris brought him back and arguably made him popular. This is the Chris most people remember and know, just like most people remember and knew RE4's Special Agent Leon instead of his rookie boy scout persona from RE2 before its remake came out. Now he has his whole BOW supersoldier schtick going on. He's basically like the GI Joe commando of the RE series at this point. He's out to get Wesker, he values his partners' lives and wellbeing as equal to his own, he has a sincere hatred for BOW warfare and he is super strong. Chris punching the boulder became a meme for a reason. This game cemented him as the heart of the "action" part of Resident Evil.
RE6 basically throws the table upside down, though, and now he's a PTSD ridden, amnesiac alcoholic. For most of the game he's just a huge asshole to everyone, especially his team. I give the writers props for at least trying to show us how this change happened and justify it, but it still feels artificial with how over the top it is.
RE7 gives us the weirdest Chris of them all, so much so that many people doubted it was actually him at first. He works for a section of Umbrella. He looks completely different. He acts and talks like the Chris from RE5 (over his PTSD episode by now I guess) but he looks so different that people still thought he might be an imposter. Just when we thought he might have finally found an identity for himself, he goes to work for a sketchy new organization and gives himself a facelift.
That is, until he morphs BACK into his RE6-ish self. He's definitely older here, but he's apparently shed his new skin, and oh, he's also an asshole again, and maybe even a villain now.
I really think Capcom just uses him for name recognition. His lines and role could be written for any other character 90% of the time in any given game and nobody would ever know it was originally supposed to be Chris. His only constant is his hatred for Wesker and his occasional GI Joe Captain lines. Everything else? Changes from game to game, or has no real substance to it to begin with.
Out of all the popular legacy RE characters, I think Chris is by far the most boring, and the one with the least amount of creative vision behind him. I think he keeps getting the spotlight because he was the "original RE guy" and he is big and strong. That's really it. He looked cool in RE5, but that kind of got flipped around as the sequels came out and kept morphing him again.
Do you like Chris? How do you feel about him being a chameleon?
