Chris Redfield

Resident Evil games

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 hailing from New York City, 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 Jill, Albert Wesker, and Barry Burton, soon find themselves trapped in the nearby mansion, which is filled with horrific monsters and deadly traps. Chris' scenario is more challenging than Jill's, as he has a smaller carrying capacity and lacks certain items. Unlike Jill, he is not equipped with a lock-pick and accordingly needs to find keys, though he can take a lot more damage from enemies than her. In the end, Chris and his comrades discover how the incident began, and witness the death of Albert Wesker, who was betraying them all along. They also 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 the fictional Rockfort Island, located in the Pacific Ocean, and in Antarctica. Upon discovering she is now in Antarctica, Chris is briefly confronted by Wesker, who is revealed to have survived the events of the "Mansion Incident" and now has enhanced strength and speed, 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 Bio Organic Weapon (BOW) being developed, resulting in their successful attack on an Umbrella facility located in Russia's Caucasus region.

Chris is the protagonist of 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 complete global saturation.

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. After co-founding the BSAA, Chris is sent by director Clive R. O'Brian to investigate the return of the terrorist group, Il Veltro, with his new partner, Jessica Sherawat. In the mountain range of Finland, the two lose contact with the BSAA, but they find Il Veltro's air base. After reestablishing contact, Chris and Jessica learn that Jill and Parker Luciani have gone missing while searching for them. Eventually, Chris and Jessica find them on the Queen Zenobia ship. Chris teams up with Jill once again to neutralize the t-Abyss virus. O'Brian then directs them to another ship, Queen Dido, where they find Il Veltro leader, Jack Norman, who injects himself with the t-Abyss virus. After a grueling fight, the two find a video that contains evidence of the crimes of Morgan Lansdale, director of the Federal Bioterrorism Commission, who was behind everything.

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 leads a squad of BSAA soldiers to investigate a bio-terror attack in Europe. They are ambushed by Carla Radames, posing as Ada Wong, and suffer severe casualties. Only Chris and Piers Nivans survive the assault, with the rest of his team being turned into monsters by Carla. Chris is overwhelmed with guilt and resigns from the BSAA. Piers convinces Chris to rejoin the BSAA in order to avenge their fallen comrades. They travel to China to investigate bio-terror activity and find themselves in another C-virus outbreak. While attempting to rescue Jake Muller, who possesses the anti-bodies needed to stop the outbreak, Chris and Piers encounter HAOS, a powerful BOW. Piers is grievously injured during the battle and injects himself with the C-virus to gain super-human powers. He is able to save Chris, but sacrifices himself to ensure HAOS is destroyed. Chris continues to serve the BSAA in Piers' memory.

At the conclusion of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, a man identifying himself as "Redfield" arrives to rescue Ethan Winters. While the credits refer to the character as Chris Redfield, the helicopter he arrives in is branded with the Umbrella Corporation logo, which is now blue instead of red, which raises doubts on the person's identity. Chris will appear in the downloadable content campaign, Not A Hero, which will be released in March 2017.

In film

In the rejected Resident Evil film script written by George A. Romero in 1998, Chris is a Native American civilian and ultimately one of the few survivors. In 2000, Capcom fired Romero and replaced him with Paul W.S. Anderson, who wrote a new script.

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; 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. Miller said he prepared for the role by searching for images and videos of Chris in the Internet, as well as doing cardio for endurance.

In 2017, Chris will be one of the main characters in the film Resident Evil: Vendetta, alongside Leon S. Kennedy and Rebecca Chambers. Unlike the live action films, the animated films are in the same continuity as the games. The plot involves the three protagonists trying to stop a man named Glenn Arias who is attacking New York City.

Other appearances

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 (USAF). 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. Chris also appears in several Resident Evil comic books by WildStorm, Image Comics and Marvel Comics.

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 against 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 his Resident Evil: Revelations outfit. He also returns in the game's sequel, Project X Zone 2.

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.

Design

Hideki Kamiya described Chris as a "blunt, tough-guy type," admitting that he was a fan of this archetype. During development of the game, Chris was also designed to be physically tougher than Jill Valentine, being able to run faster and absorb more damage Reuben Langdon did Chris' motion capture for several Resident Evil games.

In Resident Evil 5, Chris' increased muscle mass 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 post-traumatic amnesia. In 2016, IGN made a video focusing on his evolution throughout the series.

Reception

Chris Redfield has been well received by critics and fans alike. According to PSU.com in 2011, 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. In 2009, GameZone ranked Chris as fourth on a list of the top five "gaming gods" of the year for his new looks, describing him "one gorgeous hunk" with "a killer body and dreamy good-looks." PSU.com described the look as "a beastly, muscle-bound warrior with biceps the size of water melons". 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 Chris and Jill 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;" in 2012, Brittany Vincent of Complex ranked them as the 15th "most ass-kicking" game duo. In 2015, Logo ranked Chris first on their list of sexiest male video game characters, and he was included in Pixel Vulture's 2016 list of most attractive characters from recent video games.

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".