Resident Evil 3. I'm surprised that this game doesn't get more credit. This is the RE game that really got me deep into the series. I've finished this one more times than all other RE games combined. Playing through on hard all those times to get the epilogues was some great stuff. The thing that really sets this one above others is the Nemesis. The first two RE games were great and the knowledge that at a moment's notice a dog or zombie can come busting through a window or wall really makes you tense, but the fact that a five hundred pound ogre with a rocket launcher is tailing you the entire game really heightens things. I think this game had the right mix of elements and the addition of gunpowder mixing makes things less linear. (Note: ice grenades really do a number on the Nemesis..)

I'm definitely going to give tons of credit to the RE2 Director's Cut as well. When I talk about RE3 I tend to give off the impression that I'm either indifferent to RE2 or just think that it's only pretty good, but this game is amazing. A lot of my definitive gaming moments that I'll remember ten years from now occured while playing through RE2. I'll always remember the licker dropping down from the ceiling in the first hallway in the RPD station just like I'll always remember the arms busting through the walls and that creepy ass music in the main entrance to the RPD. Man, so many cool moments in this game and so many memorable quotes too. That's one area where RE2 outshines RE3; it's got moments that stick with you. Maybe it has something to do with it being the first RE I ever played, as well as one of the first PS games I ever played as well, but either way this is one of my all time favorite games.

Hmm. Code Veronica is the game that disengaged me from the series. Between RE1, 2, and 3, for a long time I was a hardcore RE fan (read: nerd) and I'd probably list it as one of my top two or three favorite game series ever. I had all the novels and I always read RE stuff online in my free time. Code Veronica lacked the typical RE feel for whatever reason, be it the cleaner graphics or lack of pre-rendered backgrounds or the different feel to the storyline, but it didn't feel RE to me. I never even finished it, and I haven't played a new RE game since. What others are there now? The RE1 remake, RE0, RE Outbreak and RE4? Damn, all this reminiscing is really bringing me back to some fun times I had playing games.

As far as RE vs. SH, that's a hell of a debate there. RE's scares, like someone already said, are more momentary and are like someone popping out at you. The overall feel of the storyline is pretty disturbing, but nothing to have more than one good nightmare over. Silent Hill's scares are more permeating and longer lasting. It's hard to play the games alone in the dark, I'll admit it. It's purposely designed to disturb you and pervade your mind and it really works. As far as which one is more fun, I'd rather revisit RE2 or RE3 than any SH, although I do feel that the later SH games are better than the later RE games.