Resident Evil, known in Japan as Bio Hazard, is a survival horror video game developed by Capcom in 1996 for the Playstation, and is the first game in the Resident Evil franchise.

Survival was the key. Despite all their Hollywood bravado, none of them wanted to die. They, being members of the crack, secret unit known as STARS. You only became a member by invitation. And that was not invitation by anyone, but by serving members of the team. Invitation alone was not guarantee of acceptance. This was only an invitation to try-out for the crack unit. And they had an acceptance level of less than 30% of those invited. Members of STARS were considered the-best-of-the-best. They were forever pushing themselves. They wanted to elevate themselves to a level higher than new recruits. Once accepted to STARS, there were several organizations that one could join, and members were encouraged to join at least one. Each of the organizations had hierarchies, each organization having 33 hierarchies to be exact. There were only two surviving members who had reached the height of their chosen organizations, but still, membership of STARS alone was enough of a reward.

Members were disuaded from having any physical difference to non-members. Members of STARS were expected to be able to effortlessly mingle with non-members with the non-members being none the wiser that the member was a member of STARS. So there was no dress code, nor was once encouraged. They were only asked to wear jewellery if they had worn jewellery before joining.

The game follows Chris Redfeild and Jill Valentine, two members of the crack unit STARS, as they investigate the outskirts of Raccoon City after the disappearance of members of their team there.

Today had looked like it was going to be just another day at STARS. That was until the phone rang. At STARS there was an open-floor policy in effect. The phones were all on desks and anyone could pick up any phone. There was no secretary or receptionist, and this was all part of the plan of making the elite group seem as un-hierarchial as possible. Jill Valentine was closest to the phone, and duly answered one. 'Hello, Go-Go Pizzas, can I help you?' she routinely began.

'Hi, this is Hitman One. Come to my office immediately. Over. Oh, and bring a partner.' The phone immediately went dead.

Protocol had to be followed now. Like all members of STARS, she recognized Hitman One's voice, and by the tone in his voice she could tell that he was serious. Something was up. She had to call someone, anyone, to join her. 'Who was that? You look like you've just heard from a ghost,' laughed Chris. Chris was relatively young for someone who had successfully been recruited into STARS. He was rumoured to be up to Level 10 in his chosen organization (Torture Resistance) and he was clearly one of those people who fancied himself. Maybe a little too much. Certainly too much for Jill's liking.

They soon become trapped in a mansion infested with zombies and other monsters.

So Chris and Jill it was who knocked on the door of Hitman One's office. 'Come in and sit down,' boomed Hitman One on the other side of the door. Chris and Jill immediately entered the room and sat down in silence. They knew better than to chat with one another, although in less than two minutes Hitman One was back at his desk staring at the two of them. 'Ladies and gentlemen, we have a hostile situation which requires your assistance. It's the infamous Raccoon City again. Trouble is, our entire force there has just instantly disappeared. One minute they're chatting with us like nothing matters, then all of a sudden they're gone. No trace of them on social media. Their IP addresses have vanished. It's like they were never there. At first we thought it was nothing more than a power cut, but the rest of the city has power. It's just members of STARS who seem to have been affected by whatever this outage is. Even IP addresses that weren't using the same server have just vanished. And like I said before, only members of the STARS team are affected. Other IP addresses that were using the same server as STARS remain unaffected. Any questions?'

'How long ago did this happen?' asked Chris.

'Less than an hour ago,' replied Hitman One. 'About 45 minutes ago judging by my unreliable wristwatch.'

'Have we had any other contact with the affected STARS members since their disappearance?' asked Jill.

'No. None whatsoever,' replied Hitman One.

The player, having elected to play as either Jill or Chris, must explore the mansion to uncover its secrets.

'It's Raccoon City where the action is, where the fun starts and finishes,' went on Hitman One. 'The two of you are to investigate and report your findings to me directly. At the moment we're keeping this story on the hush. Here is a map of Raccoon City. The red circles are where STARS IP addresses are known to have gone down. You'll notice that these red cirles seem to form a larger circle. The area inside the larger cicle is a very plush area. There are at least a couple of sprawling mansions in the area inside this circle. We'd like you to start your investigations here, moving outwards with time. If you have no further questions, you'll be leaving for Raccoon City within the hour.'

Chris and Jill sat in silence before looking at one another. Chris smiled, annoyingly according to Jill. He had her where he wanted her. 'Done,' said Hitman One. 'Good luck and goodbye.' Hitman One swiftly left the room to begin preparing the exit of Jill and Chris.

Conceived by producer Tokuro Fujiwara as a remake of his earlier horror game Sweet Home (1989), Resident Evil became its own production with development by Shinji Mikami.

Chris looked over wanting to talk to Jill but she was having none of it. She would never decline the opportunity to get involved in a mission, but she'd had the coming few weeks perfectly planned. Now she was going to have to put those plans on ice. Telling her boyfriend was going to be easy compared to telling their three year old daughter that she would have to wait a while, again, before returning to Disney World in Paris. The thought of her daughter's face the first time she'd cancelled had been enough to send Jill on a drinks bender, but the effect that that had had on her relationship with her boyfriend ensured she wouldn't be doing that again. Even after she told Lizzy that they weren't going anywhere in the next few weeks. A few weeks was assuming that their investigation ended rapidly. She'd heard stories of investigations that went on for years, with staff on those cases rarely being given time off.

Chris, on the other hand, was the proverbial 'single guy', and he loved it. No responsibilities, and he took advantage of this fact whenever his work allowed.

During production, Mikami took cues from Alone in the Dark (1992) for cinematic camera system, as well as from George A. Romero films for aesthetic desing and The Shining for scenery.

It was getting kinda late in the office at STARS, but both Jill and Chris were night owls. Both were grumpy in the mornings (Jill particularly so) but both became full of life at around the same time, around morning tea time. But now it was pushing 20.30 and both had been at their desks since around 08.30 Not many other people were left in the office on a Thursday night like tonight, and they prided themselves on this fact. Jill had to admit that for all his faults, Chris worked hard. By any measure he was a workaholic. Although he never gave Jill a break (he really liked Jill) she had to acknowledge that there were many other women who had shown that they were more than ready to throw themselves at his feet. Looking from the outside one might think that Jill was simply taking the professional route, not mixing business with pleasure. But as Chris and others knew, Jill was not averse to the occasional office romance. There were a few guys in the office who could testify to this.

Jill went to the printer to pick up a job she'd sent there, when right on cue Chris followed her there. 'We gotta talk, we gotta coordinate our strategies,' began Chris.

'No, you're right,' replied Jill.

Gameplay consists largely of third-person action, with heavy emphasis on inventory management, exploration, and puzzle solving.

'It's the disappearance of our men in Raccoon City,' continued Chris. 'We've gotta....'

'Wait a minute,' interrupted Jill. 'Why do you assume it was only 'men' who disappeared?'

Chris had deliberately put emphasis on the word 'men' when speaking to Jill, knowing full well that this would provoke a reaction from her. 'If I may continue,' continued Chris. 'We are not really concerning ourselves with the gender of the abducted, just the fact that they have been abducted. If you want me to rephrase that sentence I can. Anyway, Hitman One has asked me to investigate the disappearance of a number of our colleagues in Raccoon City. He has asked me to recruit anyone I so choose. Anyone I feel can be of benefit to this investigation. In fact, this is not only an investigation, but it has also turned into a manhunt. I've chosen you.'

'Oh, aren't I lucky,' joked Jill sarcastically. However, she knew that Chris knew that she was genuinely chuffed with his choice of her. Yes, she had been hoping to take a few weeks off and stretch her legs, but this experience would be vital to her aims of moving up in the organization STARS.

'Don't be cheeky,' said Chris. 'There are many folk, above your pay-grade, who would be more than happy to take your place.'

'Go on,' said Jill. 'When do we start?'

Resident Evil introduces many of the conventions used throughout the series, such as the control scheme, inventory system, save system, and the use of 3D models superimposed over pre-rendered backgrounds.

'Let's back up a bit,' continued Chris. 'I think we ought to find an empty office and discuss our next move, our strategy, over a cup of coffee.'

'I'll never say no to a cup of coffee,' said Jill. 'In fact, this one's on me, so as to get us started on the right foot.' Jill knew she was backing down a little, but she was not too concerned. She knew Chris loved a free cup of coffee (which man didn't like a free drink) and this was likely to result in a good score on her report card. She dug in her handbag for her purse and made her way to the coffee machine. She returned with two steaming cups of black coffee (the way the two of them liked them) and sat at the head of a large desk in an empty office.

A team from their office had been sent to Raccoon City as there were some strange, some would say paranormal, goings on in the city. Within days of their arrival the entire team had fallen sick. Then four of their members had just disappeared without a trace. The rest of the team had been quarantined as terrible boils had broken out on their skin and doctors had said that their condition was infectious. They were in such a bad way that the doctors would not yet allow them to assist in the investigation and so Chris and Jill had to begin proceedings by themselves.

Resident Evil was well received both critically and commercially, and is often described as having defined the survival horror genre.

'Listen,' said Chris, 'the two of us are being assigned to this mission to find out what we can about the disappearance of some of our members. Ours is now an official mission, but we're being asked to keep this on the hush. Nobody has yet been briefed on the disappearance of the STARS members, at least not officially, so we've been asked not to talk about it as of now.' What Chris was saying to Jill was mostly standard protocol, and there was no concern or objection from Jill. Chris continued to brief Jill, telling her a little bit about those poor souls who had disappeared. The crack unit was not yet sure if the members had disappeared randomly, or whether there was some connection between these members. One could probably deduce more once it was established how they disappeared, and this would hopefully say 'why' they disappeared.

Chris went on to say a little bit about Raccoon City, the place where the disappearances had occured. It had been noted that if one drew a circle around the disappearance locations on a map, a particularly vast mansion was encircled. It was certainly too early to conclude that the mansion housed the disappeared members, but it was probably going to be as good a starting place for the investigation as any.

Its success has spawned a multimedia franchise, including video games, comics, novels, movies, and other merchandise.

Chris answered some of JIll's questions as best he could, though he found some of her concerns a little trivial for a crack unit member ('Would there be clean bathing facilities available on this mission?'). Then he ended their meeting. They would meet here at the offices, tomorrow morning, before departing for Raccoon City by coach.

It was a Friday morning when Chris and Jill met at the coach terminus. Jill was dressed immaculately, and as a result Chris felt a little intimidated. When Jill was dressed this good, she often became a handful and would need several goes of putting her down into her place. This Chris was more than happy to do.

'Good morning,' began Chris. 'We're out of the office now so you needn't start the day in your usual grumpy way.'

Jill Valentine ignored this obvious provocation for what it obviously was: provocation.

'Good to see you too,' quipped Jill.

The game has received dedicated ports to the Sega Saturn, Microsoft Windows, and Nintendo DS.

There were a couple of coaches in the terminus, but 'The Route Killer' coach was the only one going to Raccoon City. Route Killer only went to Raccoon City once a day (Raccoon City being out in the middle of nowhere) and although Raccoon City was not its final destination, today the coach was near empty. Maybe they'd pick up some more passengers along the way.

Chris and Jill were seated next to each other as they were a few things they'd need to discuss on the way. Within half an hour they were on their way to Raccoon City. Jill was happy to be on another mission (the past few months had been barren) but she was still teary about the timing. She'd had to cancel a few appointments, and this after a period when she should really have taken advantage of her freedom. 'What do we know,' began Chris. 'A few members of STARS have not been seen for over a month and are assumed to be missing-in-action. Only their immediate families have been informed of their status. The bureau is taking this matter pretty seriously as a number of the missing were due to begin a popular training course in sunny Tahiti in a few weeks. We've had no confirmation of their missing status, neither have we received any threats or demands for their release.

'Do we know where they went missing?' asked Jill.

In 2002, a remake of the game was released for the GameCube, featuring enhanced graphics, sound, and updates to the gameplay and story.

'We've got a map showing the areas where they each went missing. Here's the thing, drawn on a map, the areas of disappearance circle a massive mansion. It's as if this mansion forms a black hole sucking in all our agents. We've never had any trouble from this mansion prior, but it's worth bearing this in mind. We may as well start our investigation there. As good a place to start as any if you ask me.'

Chris went on to give more information about the disappearance, including the fact that all had gone missing within a five day period, with last sightings of the missing always being between 17.00 and 19.00 As a result of this agents had now been requested to only leave their digs after 17.00 only if it was essential.

After an hour and a half they saw the signs which told them that Raccoon City was a mere 10km away. The town itself, and the areas leading into it, was a Ghost town by all definitions. The pumps at the local gas station had cobwebs all over them. A few animals lay dead in the streets, with no one having been bothered to clear them. In the city centre itself, very few places had any activity. The burger diner, the hairdresser, and one or two newsagents. The place was abnormally quiet, with the sound of the wind sometimes being the only sound to generate from the streets. There were no functioning telephones nor flushing toilets to talk of. Surely no one could stay in such an inhospitable place.

A high definition remaster of the GameCube game was released in 2015 for newer platforms.

Jill and Chris disembarked from the coach. As the coach went on its way the two of them realised just how isolated they now were. Other than the road, there was no way into or out of the city. Their little research of 'google' had told them as much, and the two of them had come as prepared as possible. 'Do you think that we should catch the latest movie at the cinema?' joked Chris. Unfortunately for him, Jill didn't see the funny side of this, and she simply ignored him.

'I guess we had better find Norton's Mansion now that we have arrived in the city,' remarked Jill. They got their bearings in order by finding their location on the map that they had printed out of 'Google Earth', and slowly they began to make their way to Norton Mansions. From the map they were about seven kilometres away, and in this ghost town there was no way to move other than by foot.

After a few turns they faced a long, empty road. They began to trudge along it, with Chris whistling a few tunes to himself. 'I wish you'd talk to me now and then,' he interrupted his whistling by saying. 'I feel like I'm on a first date with a hot chick.'

'Oh, I'm so sorry you're only stuck with me,' replied Jill, 'but if you'd rather...'

'Riled are we?' laughed Chris.

A direct sequel entitled Resident Evil 2 was released in 1998, with a prequel entitled Resident Evil Zero released in 2002.

The two of them carried on marching towards their destination. 'You know, being a member of a crack-unit, secret service force squad is not all it's cracked up to be,' continued Chris. 'Growing up, I thought that was the pinnacle of one's career. I grew up reading Robert Ludlum and Tom Clancy. Being a real life 'Jason Bourne' without the amnesia is what drove me. I even did martial arts for a few years. Kept me out of trouble and helped improve my discipline.'

'And you're telling me this, why?' queried Jill. 'No disrespect, but I'm a little tired at the moment so, unless it's really necessary, you wouldn't mind doing me the courtesy of 'shutting your gob' right now, please.'

'Oh, how very nice. You really are good company right now, you know that don't you.'

The player's character is a member of a special law enforcement task force, and is trapped in a mansion populated by dangerous mutated creatures.

However, Chris was aware when the joking needed to take a rest, and the two of them proceeded in silence. Chris was still trying to figure Jill out. In accordance with the way other girls behaved, he was pretty sure when a girl liked him. But despite all of their time together, Chris was still unsure of Jill. She really was a tough nut to crack, and so he decided to continue his way with her so that he could discover if he really could 'have any girl he so desired'.

The rest of the trek was taken in almost total silence. The odd greeting and comment came from Chris' mouth, with Jill making the obligatory response. They were going to walk passed Norton Mansions but for the sign at the foot of a modest gate. 'Here is Noton Gardens' the sign read. It was actually Jill who saw it first, and she waved to Chris. For a few seconds they just stood in silence, staring at the gate. From the gate they could not yet see Norton Mansion, but the lawn looked immaculate. Surely someone was tending to it. Chris pushed at the gate. It was unlocked and swung open.

The objective of the game is to uncover the mysteries of the mansion and ultimately escape alive.

Whoever was tending to the mansion in the meantime did not place security has a high priority. They began the final stage of their trek up the driveway. It was a long driveway and the mansion only came into view 350 metres from the gate. Another 200 metres along a curved driveway got them to the mansion door. 'Is this one person's residence?' asked Jill. 'The size of it. It's almost as if a whole school dormitory lives here.'

Chris tried the doorbell, which rang long. But when no one answered, it was Jill who instinctively tapped the door pretty gently, only for it to squeak open. The sight before them held their collective breaths for a second, and the two of them said nothing.

Whereas the outside lawn looked like it had been tended to not even 5 minutes ago, the inside looked, and smelled, like it hadn't had a visitor for over 5 years. The amount of dust and cobwebs that greeted them took their breath away. 'We're not staying here, absolutely no way,' began Jill.

'Now just wait,' replied Chris. 'Let's think this through for a minute shall we. Let's weigh up the alternatives. If we don't stay here during our investigations, it means we're going to be journying back and forth the whole time. Not ideal for an investigation.'

The game's graphics consist of real-time 3D polygonal characters...

'So you're suggesting we stay in this hell-hole of a place which we can't even enter,' retorted Jill.

'I'm not suggesting that,' replied Chris. 'I'm not suggesting that we stay in this place we cannot enter. Instead, I'm suggesting we turn it into a place that we can enter, and then we live here.'

Jill did like the sound of that. So they were going to spruce up the place. 'Won't we be destroying evidence?' ventured Jill.

'This is not a crime scene,' replied Chris. 'At least not yet. Furthermore, we're secret service agents. We know how to deal with anything we find that may be useful to our investigation.'

'Done,' said Jill. 'But whilst we're cleaning up this mess we ain't staying here. That's final.'

And with that they got to work. Chris readily agreed that he would be doing the outside and the lawn. There was a mountain of work to be done here. Not that Jill had it any easier. She had her work cut out for her too. The house was in a hell of a state, and she'd need plenty of chemicals and protective clothing to do her side of the deal. They worked long and they worked hard. Inside of a week the place was looking unrecognizable to how they'd found it. In a very short period of time the place would be hospitable. They worked from morning to mid afternoon, then caught a bus back home each day.

...and objects, superimposed over pre-rendered backdrops with fixed camera angles.

Another week was spent decorating, and making the mansion 'theirs'. They went home, collected their things, and then came back to stay a while in Norton Mansions.

'I deserve a medal,' said Jill as they put the final touches to their new 'temporary home'. Did you see the state of the toilets before I dealt with it. Sorry to bring this up, but the shit didn't look like that dumped, or should I say dropped, by a human. Not only did they often miss, I'm guessing they hardly ever used the flusher.'

'That'll be enough of that,' replied Chris. 'Even you said that I've done a stellar job in the garden. I'm sure they could play lawn tennis in our garden after my efforts.'

The place was looking good. One of them actually commented how they felt they deserved to own this place after the way they'd transformed it. But now the real work begun, and they both were still not sure of where to begin their investigation. But they would be given help on where to start after their first night at Norton Mansions. Help came from an unhuman source.

The player controls the character by moving the D-pad or analog stick left or right to rotate the character and then move the character forward...

It was the second night since the two of them had spruced up Norton Mansions. They'd both spent the previous night back at their respective homes in the comfort of their own rooms and beds. In effect, tonight was the first night that they'd spent in their new home. They'd spent that afternoon reviewing the case. There was no obvious evidence in the mansion that anyone had ever lived, or let alone been brought here. They'd been asked to bring back home any evidence which would help with the investigation, but they didn't believe they'd be able to get any evidence from within the walls of this mansion. The fact that their team members had disappeared in this flat was just speculation for now. They had decided that they would start their investigation outside of Norton Mansions, probably at the point of the closest disappearance according to the map.

They had both agreed that it was in their best interests to tuck in and have an early night tonight. Chris was more reluctant that Jill on this point, and spent the early hours of the evening with his ear glued to his portable radio. It was, after all, the semi-final first-leg of the Champions League, with Leicester at home to Bayern Munich. This was not the kinda match that Chris would ordinarily miss.

...or backwards by moving the D-stick or analog pad up or down.

By 21.30 the two of them were in their separate beds, and both were drifting over to the nether world of sleep. In fact, Jill was technically asleep when the scratching sounds got louder. For the past week or so, during their renovations, Jill had heard a quiet scratching sound coming from both the basement and the loft. At first she simply ignored the irritable sound, putting the sound down to rats. Even as the sounds got a little louder she was able to comfort herself because each time she paused to get a closer listen, the sounds would stop. Well, at least they stopped at the beginning. Over the past day or two, Jill had felt that whatever was making the noise was becoming more brazen as it took longer and longer for them to go quiet when their noise was being tracked. But tonight, the sound was as loud as ever. In fact, it was Chris who got up first and marched over to Jill's room. 'Can you hear that noise?' Chris asked Jill.

'Can anybody miss it,' Jill responded. This time the sound was coming only from the basement. Given that they were upstairs, in a mansion, in their rooms, spoke volumes as to the loudness of the scratching sound.

To fulfill the game's objective, the player uncovers various documents that provide exposition to the game's narrative...

In and of themselves, the scratching noises had not really been a problem for Jill. The real trouble was, whatever was making the noise had taken on a seemingly human element. As Jill approached her bedroom, the scratching noise would get louder. One could not miss the noise for the volume. Then, if the phone rang, the scratching noise would cease immediately. But it would get provatatively louder as the phone conversation progressed. When the phone conversation was finished, there would be a cresendo of scratching sound, before silence would resume for about half an hour. The last phone conversation had been from STARS HQ. They had wanted to speak to Chris as head of the investigation, but he was not available at that precise moment. The caller had readily agreed to pass the call information to Chris' deputy Jill: 'We've heard from reliable sources that there are a series of documents within that mansion that may hold information vital to tracking down the missing crew.'

With that the two of them had begun their 'minesweep' of the property. They had started in the sparsely finished library, but didn't seem to be able to track down any strange documents. All the books that they could so far find were published books and papers. The owners fascination with military history seemed undeniable, as was their love of all things science fiction (the works of Arthur C Clarke being a constant).

...as well as clues that help them solve puzzles within the mansion.

Jill had concluded that the last occupier(s) of the mansion had been male because they had found the games room spick-and-span. It had obviously been recently swept. The billards table was as clean, smooth, and green as one could seriously hope for. This room and the library were the only rooms in the mansion that looked as if someone had paid attention to them. The kitchen and bathroom didn't look as if they'd seen any cleaning work done in them since the mansion was built.

Jill and Chris made it through the night, though both of them seemed grumpy and annoyed the following morning. Neither had gotten much sleep, and the scratching noises had only begun to calm down as morning light approached. 'I challenge you to a game of snooker,' greeted Chris.

'I slept fine thanks, and you?' replied Jill.

'That's not an answer,' responded Chris. He then proceeded to lay the snooker table, before smashing the balls in a pretty average fashion. He sunk a red ball two times, each time managing to follow through with sinking a black ball, before he accidentally sunk the white ball after attempting to sink a tricky placed red ball in a corner pocket.

'I win,' exlcaimed Jill as she strode into the games room and immediately grabbed the cue stick away from Chris.

Key items are also available that give the player access to other itmes or new areas.

Jill proceeded to load a new snooker table and then score a very impressive 131 before finally sinking the final black and making like that game was an everyday training exercise. They made themselves a cup of coffee before agreeing to continue with work. During the preparation of her cup of coffee, Jill had found a memory chip which she'd nearly swept away as rubbish. 'Look at this SD card that I found lying around on the floor of the kitchen,' said Jill. 'Do you think I should have just chucked it?'

'Let me see that,' screamed Chris. Jill handed over the chip, surprised at Chris' reaction. She hadn't expected him to pay her much attention on this issue. 'Lucky I've got my mini-tablet computer with me at the moment. It's got an SD slot so we should be able to see what's on this chip.'

Chris turned on his tablet, with the internal disk drive making its usual swishing sound as it spun into life. After the Android OS came into life he inserted the SD card and just hoped it was not PIN protected. Luckily for them it was not, and soon Chris was examining the card's contents. Apart from the usual music and a couple of movies, there was a directory on the drive called 'Mansion'. When Chris attempted to open this directory it asked for a password.

The player can arm their character with weapons to defend themselves against their enemies...

Chris must have made about 20 guesses at a password for the directory before deciding to give the guessing a rest. Whatever the password was, it was not an obvious one that could easily be guessed at. 'This SD card is potentially our first clue as to what happened to our colleagues,' began Chris. 'Can't believe you nearly threw it away.'

Jill was silent for a while. Then, 'Granted, it may give us a clue, or it could just be a disk with files on it for entertainment. It's got Justin Bieber and DMX on it, judging from the names of files we can see. I'll go and do more sweeping and see if I can't find any more disks, or other clues.' Jill swiftly exited Chris' presence and was grateful for her solitude as she began sweeping the outside corridor. She did like Chris, he was a real cutie as far as she was concerned, but she concluded long ago that when he got serious about something he became a bit of an arsehole.

Chris was in two minds as to whether to try and crack the password on the directory, or whether to keep on scanning the mansion for clues.

...although the ammunition they have for each firearm is limited and the player must learn to conserve the ammunition they have for situation where they really need it.

Chris continued to scan the mansion for clues, but kept an envious eye on the oh-so-green snooker table. After about half an hour without success Chris decided to take a break. Not surprisingly he went into the games room. However, to his surprise he found Jill in the middle of an action computer game. She was playing Battlefield 1 and seemed to be totally engrossed. In fact, she was so engrossed that she didn't realise Chris was present until he turned off the light. 'Damn it,' she yelled, before realising that she wasn't alone. 'Oh sorry,' she continued, 'I was just taking a breather from all the work I'm, I mean we're, doing.'

'You do realise that we can both play this game at the same time. Fancy a challenge?' asked Chris.

With that Jill turned off the computer. 'We've got work to do,' she exclaimed.

'Now she tells me,' quipped Chris

'We're pretty sure our team members disappeared in this mansion,' began Jill, 'but we don't seem to have found any evidence that they stayed here.' 'That's true,' replied Chris. 'Could be that their evidence disappeared with them, or perhaps they never stayed here, but disappeared when they came to this mansion. Whatever the truth, this mansion still needs investigation done on it.'

To restore the character's health, the player used first-aid sprays or three types of healing herbs...

'Something doesn't quite add up. The games room looks so neat and tidy you'd swear that someone was living currently in this mansion. However, most of the rest of the mansion looks as if it hasn't seen a cleaning cloth since this mansion was built,' Chris continued.

Sweeping through the games room didn't take time as there was not much lying about. Then they made their way to the dirty, dusty, and untidy dining room. After about 20 minutes of sweeping and scanning the room, Jill commented, 'The air in most of these rooms is very stale. Even with the windows open I'm beginning to feel nauseous in them. I'm developing a headache in them too.'

'Sounds like your symptoms are mine too,' said Chris. 'I hate to admit it, but this place is beginning to give me the creeps, I must say.'

They quickly left the dining room and made their way to the upside-down living room. This place was a total mess, but one couldn't say that it looked unlived in. A lot of pests were feeding on old food crumbs in the room. Some of the wrapping paper of the stale and old food looked new. This food had recently been eaten.

...that can be mixed together in different combinations for different healing effects.

They got to work in this room. It took longer than average. This was not because of the quantity of mess lying around, but rather the haphazard nature of it. After about three and a half hours, the room was sparkling. However, Jill's nausea was getting the better of her, and she soon needed a break. 'I feel like I'm not going to make it through the day,' she began. 'I really ain't feeling too great. Honest.' She really didn't have to make the last comment as Chris knew that Jill was a hard-worker who never shirked responsibility.

'Tell you what,' Chris replied, 'you go lie down in your bedroom and I'll fix you something nice to eat. You need the food to get your strength up. I can carry on down here alone, plus I need to get in touch with HQ to find out how the investigation is going their end.'

With that Jill was off to her room and Chris was left all alone to continue with their investigation. He finished tidying up the games room before deciding to get in touch with the office on his laptop. It was whilst typing an email on his laptop that he heard Jill let out an almighty scream. A shriek of a scream. Then sudden silence. Before he knew it Chris was halfway up the stairs, yelling, 'Jill, Jill, are you OK? What's happened? I'm coming.' He smashed through Jill's bedroom door to find her passed out on the floor. Her window was open despite the curtains being drawn.

The carrying capacity of the player is limited by the character and the items the player does not wish to carry.

Chris ran over to Jill's side, half hoping she was merely dreaming, but knowing in his heart that this was not a real possibility. The first thing he noted was that Jill was barely conscious, and under her breath she was mumbling some incoherent jibberish. Her pulse was fine and there were no obvious markings on her body. For a second, Chris thought of attempting to bring Jill around and finding out what was going on, but he thought better of it. There was no immediate danger, and whatever threat there had been had now obviously gone away. He tucked Jill into bed and decided that he would keep an eye on her through the night. He was sure he could get more details in the morning. For now, Jill obvioiusly needed to get as much rest as possible. Then he heard it, loud and clear. The scratching noise coming from the loft. There was no mistaking it. Chris was initially in two minds as to whether to investigate or not, then he suddenly resolved that investigating the noise was what he had to do.

To save their progress, the player must pick up an ink ribbon and use it on any of the typewriters scattered across...

Chris collected his flashlight and proceeded to get the short ladder for the rise to the loft. Everything's gonna be alright, he kept telling himself. Tried to convince himself. He placed the step-ladder underneath the loft and climbed the couple of steps until he was able to open the loft. Had they truly forgotten to fix this room, he asked himself, or maybe they were simply going to get round to it. As he pushed open the loft door he heard something scatter away into the distance. The loft was pitch black and the air in it was heavy. Chris shone his torch left and right in the loft, but could not see anything. At least not initially. Chris made his way into the loft. It was silent. Then out of the corner of his right eye there was a movement. Chris turned but saw nothing but dusty stillness. Then again out of the corner of his right eye he saw another movement. He turned his head right again and that is when the 'skeleton' came for him. It knocked the flashlight out of Chris' hand and continued to run past him. It was a 5"5' tall skeleton, just as one is used to seeing in the text book. It had no hair or clothes covering it. It seemed afraid, though it itself made a scary looking creature.

...key locations throughout the game.

Chris did not panic. He moved towards the creature. It seemed to morph is size as it became that much smaller before disappearing down a shaft hole in the loft. Chris raised his flashlight, as if it were a firearm, directly at the hole. But the Gollum-like creature had made its getaway and there was no sound coming from the shaft.

Was this what had made Jill scream? Had she seen this creature? Had this creature come for her? After all, it had left no mark on Jill, but he'd need to investigate further to get answers to his questions.

Chris did not bother to further search the loft, and instead made his way back to Jill's bedroom so as to check on her. He found her dutifully in bed, but she was half way between being asleep and awake. Chris took one look at her and decided to leave her for now and question her in the morning. He turned to leave her room. 'Did you find anything?' she asked.

Chris turned to face her and was pleasantly surprised to find her sat up in bed. 'You're awake,' was his reply.

'You're not answering my question,' continued Jill. 'What did you find up there? I didn't hear any noise but I'm curious.'

Chris thought for a second of telling Jill they'd discuss the issue in the morning, but he suddenly remembered that he was dealing with a STARS agent.

However, the supply of ink ribbons the player can acquire is limited...

'I saw something in the loft,' began Chris, 'a skeletal figure. It was hairless and scary. Is that what made you scream?'

'So I wasn't dreaming,' said Jill. 'I knew it. There is something up in the loft. It was so terrifying that I really can't remember much. Think I blanked out. But yes, I saw the creature. It ran from me, but I think that I also ran from it. It was horrible. Really horrible.'

'OK, let's collect our thoughts,' interrupted Chris. 'We now know that we're not alone in this mansion. We both saw that thing. First thing we've got to do is to document our finding, as per protocol. We are STARS agents and there are procedures that we must follow. At this moment, gathering evidence of our discovery is not going to be easy. We'll perhaps leave that for a later date.'

Chris went out of Jill's bedroom and made his way for the bookroom. He had left a lot of stationery there, as well as a couple of tablet computers. He gathered a couple of notebooks and pens, as well as a mini tape recorder. He wanted to record Jill explaining what she had seen. This would benefit him when he came to writing his report. He was just leaving the bookroom when he saw some strange droppings, or excrement. They had recently swept and cleaned this room, so these droppings came as a surprise. They were the shape of a three-quarter cut doughnut and were not from any familiar animal or creature that Chris was familiar with. Maybe this would indeed be his first form of evidence. He retrieved a dustpan and broom so as to collect this evidence, which he placed in a brown paper bag.

...much like the player's ammo and healing supplies.

Chris returned to Jill's bedroom together with his newly acquired 'evidence'. They discussed amongst one another the creature that they had seen. Then, as per protocol, they each wrote out their reports on their findings. They concurred on the description of the creature that they had witnessed, but apart from this fact they basically wrote separate reports.

After about twenty minutes they were done, and they basically checked each other's work so as to check for grammatical errors. 'We'll continue tomorrow morning,' concluded Jill. To this Chris agreed.

Chris admitted to himself that he was glad that his and Jill's room were only a few metres apart. He was relieved both for her and his sake. He got into his room and turned on the coffee-making machine. He then pulled out of his waistcoat his PS Vita gaming console.

Players will encounter and fight various infected creatures, such as...

This gaming console was one of Chris's new toys that he used to keep himself out of mischief. It was a good job that Chris was in no way superstitious as he had a pretty frightening game currenly loaded on the Vita. Chris felt that the game was appropriately named, 'The Night of the Living Dead'. Chris had got to a point in the game where he was simply 'whacking' undead ghouls in the head so as to re-kill them. He had given himself the name 'Chris1' in the game, and he was using to good effect his character's array of weapons in his attempt to stay alive and kill ghouls. The zombies and ghouls just kept coming at him, and although he continued to kill a fair number of them, they kept coming for him in waves of ever-increasing numbers.

Chris felt that the sound effects for the game was exceedingly relevant, with the music fit for a funeral and the various haunting sounds at different places in the game. He had found that there was a female fiend who always tripped him up. He had found her attractive at first, and she was obviously using this factor to make him feel comfortable and to lure him in. She was typical. Using her charm and wit to get close to Chris1, and as soon as she was close enough and was sure that Chris1 was not looking and was preoccupied, she smashed into him.

...flesh-eating zombies, undead dogs, giant spiders, and other monsters.

Chris was going to have to learn not to fall for this girl's charms. This girl could not be any more obvious if she tried. One soon learnt to recognise her act. If one did not fall for her initial charms, the girl just went away and did not bother attempting to use the brute-force that she displayed if you had been stupid enough to fall for her. The ghouls seemed to derive a pleasure or satisfaction from their deceit, and if they managed to get the better of you when they first revealed themselves from the shadows, there was almost no way of stopping them as hordes of them just came at you in wave after wave of attack. Often, when the savage attack began, Chris1 had a full bar or energy. But these female ghouls took their toll once they saw that they had deceived you. As they attacked you their previous beauty seemed to fall to the side. They smiled at you with an empty maw, and they became skeletal in structure. Several times Chris1 died during this onslaught and had to start the whole game again with a full bar of energy.

A series of murders have occured on the outskirts of Raccoon City, with signs of cannabalism on the victim's remains.

Chris1 decided to retire for the day. He had decided that the females after him were vicious, ugly, Marxist, corrupt, disease-riddled, greedy, hurtful bitches. He'd have no more to do with them. Not now anyway. He wouldn't even stoop to killing them. He wanted absolutely nothing more to do with them today. Chris turned off his handset console and resolved to start a fresh day in the morning. He'd allow Jill to sleep on. Let her wake up fresh.

_______________________________________________________________

The sound of sizzling bacon and eggs woke Chris. The welcoming smell coming from downstairs could mean only one thing. Jill was down in the kitchen cooking up a lovely breakfast. It had been a while since he'd felt this relaxed in the morning. Plus the fact that he was famished. Chris made his way downstairs in his pyjamas. 'Now that's a lovely sight. A beautiful woman cooking a treat in the kitchen. Where's my hangover,' began Chris.

'Be careful Macho Man,' replied Jill. 'You're not being politically correct with your chosen words. That sounds like a sexist comment right there.'

'Goodness me,' exclaimed Chris. 'This political correctness crap has gone too far in my opinion. The only people I can see who are benefitting from this nonsense are the lawyers. Screw the politicians if you ask me. You can't say anything nowadays without someone standing up and saying you've offended them in this way or that.'

The Raccoon Police Special Tactics and Rescue Service (STARS) are assigned the case.

As the two of them had their breakfast they got straight into the case. 'I contacted our HQ and they told me that a file has been sent over to the Raccoon Police Department. Their STARS division is in contact with out own and the 2 sides are helping each other. What we know is that in addition to some of our own staff members disappearing, there have been a series of unsolved murders on the outskirts of this town,' said Chris.

'I assume none of our team members are amongst the dead so far?' asked Jill.

'That's correct.' Chris went on to describe in detail the state of the victim's bodies, with similarities being the bite marks around the neck and very real signs of cannabalism on the remains. Basically, half eaten body parts were often found around the bodies, with one particularly gruesome discovery of a body discovered with almost no brain left. The bite marks were human, signalling that cannabalism was involved. There had been eight deaths at the last count. There didn't seem to be any similarity or common thread with the victims. They seemed to come from all walks of life, with one being a priest and another being a prostitute.

STARS is divided into two teams: Alpha and Bravo.

The locations of the murders was also disparate, but here there was a small common thread. After a bit of digging they had discovered that all the murders had occured near a bank ATM. At first nothing was made of this fact. Withdrawals of cash had not occured in all but one of the murders, and even in this one case, robbery was not thought to be a motive as the withdrawn money had not been removed from the victim, and other valuables had been left in place. Furthermore, no one single bank's cash machine seems to have been targeted. Each murder had occured close to a variety of cash machines, with only the bank NatWorst being a common ATM in all of the murders. But apart from this one single factor, there did not seem to be any similarity with the location of the victims either.

After about a week of studying the murder cases, both Jill and Chris came up blank. They were not making any headway studying the cases here at the mansion. It had gotten to the point where it was obvious that a new approach was necessary. 'We're going round in circles,' began Jill. 'How do we approach this case from a new angle, from a new perspective?' Jill wasn't really asking a question, as much as suggesting that a new tact was required.

Bravo Team is sent first to investigate. But after contact with them is lost, Alpha Team is sent in to investigate their disappearance.

'We'll soon have to submit our first report on our findings in this case,' bagen Chris. 'If we haven't discovered enough, then we'll soon be replaced.' He left this thought to hang in the air for a while. None of them wanted to return to desk duty back at HQ. The life there was comfortable, granted. But one quickly got forgotten. If they busted open this case, this could really make them. When another big story broke, only certain members of STARS were considered worthy of getting involved. A case like this could really set Chris and Jill on their way, and they knew it.

It was getting dark outside, the end of another day, and it would soon be time to turn in. 'I'm hungry,' began Jill. 'Any chance you'll fix something to eat?' Chris could tell when he was being goaded. He wasn't too sure on how to respond. Should he attack back, or should he allow this one to pass over his head. Chris decided to ignore the comment. Silence, was how he replied. But this tactic was not going to work. 'If you're not going to help I'm gonna fix myself something in the kitchen,' continued Jill. Now Chris felt a little threatened, a little under the kosh.

Players can choose between the two Alpha Team members Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine, each with their own unique differential abilities.

It wasn't long before they were munching down a hot bacon-and-egg breakfast, savouring the taste and picking up on their energy levels. The coffee couldn't taste better. They thought they were in for another lazy day, when Chris' phone rang. 'Good morning captain, Chris here. Can I help you.' Jill could hear the captain's booming voice on the other end of the phone. From Chris' responses to the captain's chants, Jill could tell that more work was coming their way. 'Sure, got you captain,' Chris was saying. 'But when did this happen?' 'Any witnesses?' Jill's interest was piqued.

Chris soon rounded off the conversation in the usual 'I'll get on it way' before hanging up and turning to Jill. 'There's been a double homicide,' began Chris, clearly enjoying being the centre of attention once again. 'Two undercover agents have been found dead here in Raccoon City. Alpha Team members, just like us. Captain Sean wants us to go to the scene to behave as observors. We are not to get directly involved in the cases as, apparently, we have deep contacts with the victims.'

'Who are the victims?' asked Jill.

'Captain Sean didn't want to say,' replied Chris. 'He said we'd find out soon enough.'

Jill has more firepower and possesses a lock-pick than enables her to access areas...

From this moment routine seemed to take over. They hardly spoke to one another as they chomped down the remainder of their breakfast and made their way to their rooms to begin preparing to go out into the field. Jill went to her bedroom, feeling lucky that she'd decided to bath before breakfast. She pulled out her satchel and put in her usual detective accoutrements. She loved packing her gloves, which she routinely did last of all. Basically, she wanted them on top of her belongings, where she figured they'd remained neatly pressed. Chris, likewise, went into his room, but didn't really pack anything. He just stuffed his pockets with his notebooks, and exchanged the batteries on his phone so that his current phone had a fully-charged battery. Then he called for a taxi.

_________________________________________________________________

As per usual when approaching a crime scene with Jill, Chris began talking of unrelated subjects. It was a coping method he'd developed in the military as his platoon approached a mission. 'So Leicester City have fired their manager. Interesting isn't it?'

Jill knew what was going on. She had never really felt the need to divert her mind's attention away from a mission just prior to execution. She honestly did not know whether to play along or not. Her knowledge of Premier League soccer was excellent, considering she hung out with 'the boys' doing her day job.

End of Part One