Chris Redfield

Chris Redfield
Resident Evil character
Chris Redfield in Resident Evil 5
First game	Resident Evil (1996)
Designed by	Isao Ohishi and Jun Takeuchi (RE)
Voiced by (English)	Scott McCulloch (RE) Michael Filipowich (C:V) Joe Whyte (REmake) Roger Craig Smith (RE5, TDC, RER, MvC3, RE6)
Voiced by (Japanese)	Hiroki Tōchi (MvC3, RER, Project X Zone)
Motion capture	Reuben Langdon (C:V, RE5)
Portrayed by	"Charlie" (RE) Will Lupardus (viral series)[citation needed] Wentworth Miller (Afterlife)

Chris Redfield (クリス・レッドフィールド, Kurisu Reddofīrudo) is a player character and one of the main protagonists of Capcom's Resident Evil series.

Chris debuted as the protagonist of the first Resident Evil video game, along with Jill Valentine, and is one of the two protagonists of the game Resident Evil Code: Veronica, in which he looks for his missing younger sister, Claire, and one of the main characters of Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles. Chris returned as the protagonist of Resident Evil 5, working alongside his new partner Sheva Alomar, and also appears in the latest installment of the game series, Resident Evil: Revelations, as well as in several other games and the film Resident Evil: Afterlife. He is one of the three protagonists of the game Resident Evil 6.

The character received a somewhat mixed (in particular regarding his later redesign) but generally positive critical reception. According to PlayStation Universe, Chris is "as synonymous with the venerable horror series as the zombies and unintentionally hilarious, cheese-tastic dialogue" and along with Jill forms "the nucleus" of the series.

Design and portrayal

Hideki Kamiya described Chris as a "blunt, tough-guy type," admitting that he was a fan of this archetype. Resident Evil 5 producer Jun Takeuchi said that the series' fans "would really love" a video game featuring both Chris and Leon S. Kennedy as the protagonists due to their popularity, and it would be "pretty dramatic" if the two characters never met when the series ended. Reuben Langdon did Chris' motion capture for several Resident Evil games. He found Chris "fun to play" based on his look and characterization.

Chris' increased muscle mass in the game was to show that he had trained heavily in order to fight the series' powerful villain Albert Wesker bare-handed. Modeler Yosuke Yamagata added that they "made a new design that retained their signature color — green for Chris, blue for Jill — to carry over the same look from the past. The facial structures are mainly based on the visuals of the GameCube version, and we added various details to these in order to develop a realistic structure." For the sixth main game, Chris has been redesigned slightly, as he now has a slightly disheveled look due to his alcoholism, and has been slimmed down to a much normal musculature along with a slightly shaved head.^{[citation needed]} In 2009, GameTrailers made a video focusing on the his evolution throughout the series.

Appearances

Resident Evil games

A scene from the uncut intro sequence of the 1996 Resident Evil. The original Japanese release of the game had the live-action actor portraying him smoking a cigarette, which was removed in the overseas version of the game, but restored in the PC port.

Chris Redfield debuted in the original Resident Evil as one of the playable protagonists, along with Jill Valentine, partnered with the rookie officer Rebecca Chambers. He is introduced as a former U.S. military pilot and a member of the Raccoon City Police Special Tactics And Rescue Service's (STARS) Alpha team which was sent to investigate the disappearance of Bravo team after their helicopter went missing in a nearby forest. Chris, accompanied by Albert Wesker, Barry Burton and Jill Valentine, soon find themselves trapped in the nearby mansion, which is filled with horrific monsters and deadly traps. Chris's scenario is more challenging than Jill's, as he has a smaller carrying capacity and lacks certain items. He is also not equipped with a lockpick and so he needs to find small desk keys. On the other hand, Chris can take a lot more damage from enemies than Jill. In the end, Chris and his comrades discover how the nightmare began and witness the death of Albert Wesker, who was betraying them all along, and they face and kill a prototype Tyrant released by Wesker. Following the so-called "Mansion Incident", Chris left Raccoon City, embarking on a personal mission against Umbrella.

Chris returns in Resident Evil Code: Veronica, set five months later. As the protagonist of the second half of the game, he attempts to rescue his younger sister, Claire, from the Umbrella Corporation's research facilities on Rockfort Island and in Antarctica. Upon discovering she is now in Antarctica, Chris is briefly confronted by Wesker, seeking revenge on Chris for having destroyed his plans. Eventually, he confronts Alexia Ashford, the creator of the T-Veronica virus. At the end of the game, he fights with Wesker shortly after killing Alexia. He is no match for Wesker, and their fight is cut short due to the imminent destruction of the base. They vow to finish things another time.

Chris was one of the main characters of Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, in which he reunites with Jill Valentine. Parts of the game are essentially a retelling of Resident Evil. The two of them join a private biohazard containment force and in 2003 embark on a mission to destroy the Umbrella Corporation after hearing rumours of a new BOW being developed, resulting in their successful attack on an Umbrella facility located in Russia's Caucasus region.

Chris is the protagonist in Resident Evil 5, in which he is a founding member of the UN paramilitary group Bio-terrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA). In the game, Chris investigates a terrorist threat in Kijuju, Africa while looking for Jill, who is missing and presumed dead. Accompanying him is his new partner Sheva Alomar. Eventually, they manage to find and free Jill, and to ultimately defeat and destroy Wesker who was planning to release a new virus into the atmosphere, ensuring the end of humanity.

Chris makes an appearance in Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles as a playable character in the "Game of Oblivion" scenario's final chapter, a re-imagining of Code: Veronica. He is also available in the Extreme Battle mode featured in the later versions of Resident Evil 2 (the PlayStation 2 DualShock edition and the PC, Dreamcast and GameCube ports), and is one of the eight playable characters in Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D.

Chris returned in Resident Evil: Revelations, with Jill Valentine.

Chris returns as one of the three protagonists of Resident Evil 6, alongside Leon S. Kennedy, and Jake Muller, the son of Albert Wesker. In the game, Chris was assigned to investigate a bio-terrorist attack in the fictional country of Edonia, but nearly loses all his team members following a BOW attack by an unidentified woman. Chris resigns from the BSAA shortly afterwards, and becomes an alcoholic due to depression. He is eventually convinced by another survivor of his ill-fated team, Piers Nivans, to rejoin the BSAA and confront another bio-terrorist attack in the fictional city of Lanshiang, China.

Other appearances

Wentworth Miller portrayed Chris in Resident Evil: Afterlife. Miller prepared for the role by searching for images and videos of Chris in the Internet, as well as doing cardio for endurance

During the release of the Japanese Sega Saturn version of the original game, Capcom published a promotional sourcebook The True Story Behind Biohazard, containing an original short story titled Biohazard: The Beginning by Hiroyuku Ariga. The story depicts the events prior to the first game and fleshes out his character, describing the deaths of his parents in a car accident and his service in the United States Air Force. Redfield joined the USAF as a teenager, quickly becoming an accomplished pilot as well as a top marksman, but received a dishonourable discharge in the mid-90s for disobeying a direct order. He subsequently became a drifter, until enlisting on Burton’s recommendation in the newly established Raccoon City branch of the STARS.

In the rejected Resident Evil movie script by George A. Romero, Chris is a Native American civilian and ultimately one of the few survivors. Chris does appear in several Resident Evil comic books by WildStorm, Image Comics and Marvel Comics.

Chris appears in the 2010 live-action film Resident Evil: Afterlife, portrayed by Wentworth Miller. In the film, Chris is found trapped in a maximum security cell after his unit's attempt to control the T-virus in Los Angeles goes haywire and the survivors who find him believe him to be a prisoner. He is reunited with his sister Claire, who cannot remember him due to memory damage caused by an Umbrella mind-control device. He, Alice and Claire eventually defeat Albert Wesker and rescue imprisoned survivors being used for Umbrella's experiments.

Outside of the Resident Evil franchise, Chris also appears as a playable character in the crossover fighting games Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. The game's first cinematic trailer showed him fighting versus Hulk. He also appears in the crossover tactical role-playing game Project X Zone, for the first time in a non-Capcom game and wore Resident Evil: Revelations outfit.

A double-pack of action figures of Chris and the monster Cerberus was released in 1998 in the Resident Evil Series 1 by Toy Biz. Another action figure from the original game was released in 2002 by Moby Dick. Palisades Toys released two action figures (differing only by their color patterns) of Chris from Code: Veronica in 2002. An action figure of Chris from the original game was released as part of the 2006's Resident Evil Anniversary Series 1 by NECA. An action figure of Chris from Resident Evil 5 was released in 2009 by Hot Toys. A PVC diorama figure of Chris facing the monster Yawn from the original game's remake was released in 2008 in the Bio Hazard Figure Collection Vol.4 by Organic (Beagle). A statuette of Chris from the same game was also released in 2009 by Gaya Entertainment. A sand globe with Sheva and Chris was included among the pre-order bonuses for Resident Evil 5.

Reception

Chris Redfield's critical reception has been positive to mixed. In 2009, GameZone ranked Chris as fourth on a list of the top five "gaming gods" of the year for his new looks (according to PSU.com, "now a beastly, muscle-bound warrior with biceps the size of water melons"), calling him "one gorgeous hunk" with "a killer body and dreamy good-looks." That same year, Chris and his sister Claire were included in IGN's "Ultimate Zombie Strike Team", Chris for his "long, fruitful career killing zombies" that "proved that Umbrella's fearsome bio-weapons are no match for a lone warrior with guts." Also in 2009, Gameplanet stated that if Chris and Leon S. Kennedy would both appear in the next game it would be "awesome," adding that both are the main protagonists of the series. Chris was also repeatedly compared with Leon by IGN, both of them being regarded as the leading heroes of the series. In 2010, GamesRadar featured his team-up with Sheva in the article about the gaming's "most violent double acts" for their actions in Resident Evil 5. That same year, Joystick Division's James Hawkins ranked Chris as the seventh sexiest video game character, commenting: "Though Chris gets matched up with some of the finest damsels in all of video gaming, he never comes across as sleazy. He shares the workload with his partners and has an unfaltering allegiance with them. That and he has awesomely massive biceps." Hawkins also ranked Jill and Chris as the fifth top duo in video game history, as "the two of them together make a force that cannot be slowed by even the most sophisticated undead forces."

Among negative criticism, Chris was ranked fifth in IGN's 2009 list of most overrated video game characters, with a suggestion that he should "ditch the 'roids and concentrate on getting the job done", and included in UGO.com's 2010 list of top ten out-of-luck game characters for his failures across the series. His new design in the Resident Evil 5, called by GameSpy to be "a cross between Colin Farrell and Hugh Jackman", in particular became a source of controversy and was often ridiculed. GameSpot gave Chris the special award for "character most likely to fail a performance-enhancing drug test" in the Dubious Honors awards in 2009, adding that "the man is clearly a walking pharmacy." Including him on the list of "ten game heroes who fail at the simple stuff" for his inability to shoot while moving in RE5, GameDaily recommended him "to spend a little more time on the shooting range and a little less time pumping iron in front of a mirror." Joystiq commented that possibly during The Umbrella Chronicles Chris started his "steroid abuse", which was also suggested by IGN. In 2011, BeefJack featured Chris among the five game characters who are supposed to be sexy but turned out awkward, as "he looks like the runner-up in a Popeye lookalike contest." On the other hand, when GamesRadar compared his Code Veronica and RE5 designs while trying to evaluate which would fit better for a zombie apocalypse, they found the latter to give better chances to survive to a zombie attack also judging Chris from the original game as "horribly ill-prepared".

External links

• Chris Redfield at the Internet Movie Database