CGI isn’t usually a good word to hear when an anime adaptation is being created—especially when it is based on one of our favorite gaming franchises—but Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness is hands down one of the best CGI anime we’ve seen in some time. Characters like Leon, Claire, and newcomers Jason and Shen May look incredible with life-like designs and motions. The same can be said of the various backgrounds/backdrops which can look almost photorealistic! There are a few moments where we noticed some weaker CGI scenes—some of the minor characters look bland and dull—but overall Leon’s never looked better in an anime adaptation. RE: Infinite Darkness is one of the better CGI anime from the franchise we’ve watched and fans will no doubt be quite happy to see some of their favorites of the RE world look so solid.

Typically, any movie/anime adaptation of Resident Evil ignores newcomers and tries to cater to fans. Well, if you expected RE: Infinite Darkness to do anything differently, you'd be sadly mistaken. This latest anime for the RE world will only make sense to those who have played Resident Evil 2 and 4 as it takes place sometime after the two. We don’t think this ruins the enjoyability of Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness—as many won’t watch it without being fans already—but if you wanted to maybe see an anime based on the RE world without prior knowledge of Leon/Claire’s journeys from before, then this isn’t the entry for you.

One element that has always made the Resident Evil series work so well is the brilliant characters and their depth. Wesker will always be one of the best villains of the franchise because of his cruel nature and wicked design. Equally, Leon will always be everyone’s favorite rookie cop due to his cool demeanor and silly one-liners. This is where RE: Infinite Darkness fails...these aren’t noteworthy characters but are just inserted into this new tale.

As we mentioned a moment ago, RE: Infinite Darkness introduces several new characters in the form of Jason and Shen May. Grizzled fans of RE will no doubt realize who the real villain is here but ask those same fans a few months from now they were, and they will be like us, forgetting who Jason is and why we should have remembered him. Yes, Jason does have a cool final form but his death is laughably pathetic compared to others in the RE franchise. Jason…we’re sorry to say but you’re no Wesker.

Honestly, many of the issues above could have been resolved…had RE: Infinite Darkness just been several episodes longer. The fact that a whole story has to be told in 4 episodes—most being over 25 minutes in length—is probably why RE: Infinite Darkness can feel so quick and underdone. The ending alone begs for a continuation but will that ever happen? Infinite Darkness could have easily been an 8+ anime series but reduced to half of that length makes for an underwhelming story and a lack of polish with character development.