For starters I copied Matias's comment from the previous Biohaze:
This is my favorite character:
The legend, the man himself, the fighting machine, the marksman, the knife master... Chris Redfield!
I always liked Chris, especially after Code Veronica. He became a determinate hero with such a strong sense of justice in that game, his final fight with Wesker made me like him even more because he knew he wasn't a match for Albert but still fought him without a single trace of fear... How can you not admire such a character like him? His top priority was the protection of Claire and avenging the deaths of his comrades, his personal values are admirable.
I liked him in RE1 because he was my first RE character ever but the voice acting kind of made him a funny yet memorable character to me.
RE Remake brought us a more serious and quiet version of the character... He wasn't really like his CVX counterpart (the ultimate badass hero) but instead we had a young and naive Chris who still wanted to save everyone but didn't really acted like a hero in the likes of "I'm here to save you and I will kill everything that stands in my way" like in CVX. In Remake, we could simply see that he was a warrior inside but still very naive overall, trying to wrap his head around what he was seeing in the Mansion.
In Umbrella Chronicles we pretty much had the return of CVX Chris and for the first time we could see his leadership qualities when he and his team raided the Caucasus Lab (kind of foreshadowing his future, where he eventually became a Captain).
His response to Jill when he said "We'll just take out whatever they throw at us!" made me say "Yup, badass fearless CVX Redfield is back!" hahah
His development was very consistent as a character and his RE5 depiction is among one of the best character depictions in the whole series.
Here in Portugal, people always like that serious type of character over the one who cracks lame jokes every two seconds, there might be exceptions though... But Chris' fanbase is huge around here and his fans admire Chris very much, like me.
I remember back when RE5 came out, the biggest praises were towards Chris' character and how much he matured and became a symbol of determination that never gave up. Achieving his goals (saving the world and killing Wesker) and saving those he loved above everything else (Jill and Sheva) were considered to be two of the biggest character qualities in the game... I mean, not really the qualities but rather how Chris acted and aspired to that, his personality, his quotes etc
When Sheva was about to die near the end and Chris suddenly remembered what happened to Jill in 2006, giving him enough strenght to save his partner this time around, thus avoiding what he couldn't last time... Fantastic scene.
Another thing I really enjoyed was how much he trained to overcome Wesker, he became muscular, fast, agile and a Thai Boxing machine that stood toe to toe with a freaking superhuman martial artist. Regarding the muscles, why do people feel so intimidated by a fictional character being in better shape than them? lol
His body change is yet another symbol of motivation and determination. Chris being a videogame character, ironically, was definitely what made me start playing less videogames and working out more often. Guess what? It worked.
Back when RE5 came out I had school exams at that time, so I only got to play it almost a month after release. Meanwhile, most of the guys at my group of friends were already playing it and they were like "Chris is awesome in the game, he's determined and definitely way more mature than the last time we saw him. Loving playing as him!" Anyway, take notes kids! School always comes first, even if a game from your favorite franchise comes out! Do it like I did hahah
He's fucking awesome in RE5 and my favorite character development in the series. His changes were superb, both physically and psychologically.
Regarding RE6, his story was amazing, it was the most personal out of all the campaigns. Like you, that game made me like him even more!
It showed us that Chris is indeed human and that even heroes can fall, I remember one of the producers saying something along those lines when it came to Chris' Fallen Hero arc in 6.
It's kind of sad ya know? Especially when he gave us that smile in RE5 after killing Wesker... I mean, he knew that Wesker's death wasn't the end of bioterrorism but it should've brought some peace to his life. Instead of having peace, Chris was thrown into a pit of sorrow and barely had the strenght to rise again if it wasn't for Piers (I know you and N7 hate his fanbase but Piers was an amazing character and Chris' apprentice, his only hope to one day retire and maybe even... Live a very happy life with Jill? haha).
Losing men in the battlefield must be traumatizing as shit, especially someone as young as Finn and a soldier like Piers, both of them still had bright futures ahead of them. No wonder why Chris was left scarred for good.
I know the story repeated iself in RE7 but the point here is RE6. That's where this arc first started and it was greatly explored and unique in the RE series for the first time in RE6.
The people he saved see Chris as a hero or a living legend but Chris himself doesn't see it that way and we all know that for him, there's nothing heroic in what he does.
The way I see it, Chris doesn't live, he just survives, breathes... Chris having to constantly save the day only means that there's no end to his nightmare and that he's cursed for life.
What happened to him in RE6 was needed and contributed a lot to Chris' development.
The ending where Chris was walking into the light was masterful and it definitely has some symbolism behind it. Chris was thrown into a pit of darkness the whole game, only to find the light at the end of the tunnel, meaning that he was going to rise again.
In Marhawa Desire he was fantastic as well, the first time we saw Chris as a Captain in the RE series. It was a great depiction of Chris and he had an amazing battle sequence against C-16 using nothing more than a Combat Knife, very impressive.
In Vendetta we could see a much light hearted version of Chris. Basically, the rise of Chris after the events of 6. He laughed and joked in the movie, which was surprising, considering he still went through some shit in the movie.
We could pretty much see that he kept his cool to see his mission through and approached his losses differently than what he did in 6. When Damien dies,you could see the sadness on his expression but he kept moving forward because he knew that Arias had to be killed... Let's face it, out of the people involved there, no one could face Arias in CQC besides Chris. If something happened to Chris... Leon, DC, Nadia and Rebecca would've been screwed if human Arias was still around lol
He sustained attacks from Diego, fought Arias (a trained CIA assassin) to a stand still while being injured and eventually defeated him using his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Judo skills.
Chris was a freaking tank in the movie, the guy overcame everything that was thrown at him. It felt like a mix of CVX and RE5 Chris, which was perfect to me.
Chris is an amazing character and definitely my favorite in the gaming universe.