Differences between the games and Movies

From Resident Evil Wiki

WARNING: Due to the nature of this article, there are many spoilers.

Movie (non-canonical)	Games (canonical)
Jill was suspended from S.T.A.R.S. after the death of her partner, Leon Kennedy. In the novelization Jill was suspended due to her report on zombies in the forest, but this is not canon.	Jill resigns from S.T.A.R.S. after all attempts to expose the events at the mansion are ignored or blocked by R.P.D. Chief Brian Irons (who subsequently disbanded the unit), on William Birkin's payroll. She resigns to investigate Umbrella's doings in Raccoon City full time.
Raccoon City is nuked by Umbrella in an effort to cover up the outbreak. With Umbrella's marketing and economic muscle, they are able to manipulate the media into reporting it as an incident at the nuclear plant.	The US government orders the destruction of Raccoon City after a group of Tyrants defeated elements of the armed forces in a battle near an abandoned factory on the outskirts of the town (the aftermath of this battle can be seen in Resident Evil 3). Despite the political maneuvering of Umbrella, who wanted to study the effects of the city-wide infection, the strike is initiated. Later on in Resident Evil 4, it is known that the US government suspended the activities of Umbrella.
The T-Virus can be used for medical applications. It helped Angie to walk.	In the games the virus is said to regenerate body cells, but it is unknown whether it works correctly to all body cells and can actually create a 'cure' for (muscle) disease, and if it can be controlled by an anti-virus. The only proven application of the T-Virus is to create bioweapons.
Lickers are created by injecting the T-Virus directly into living tissue. When they taste fresh blood, they mutate.	Lickers are created when people infected by the T-Virus are exposed to a second dose. These creatures are accidental and were created due to the circumstances of the outbreak. They do not mutate after tasting blood.
Nemesis is killed after defending Alice from gunfire. It might be possible that the damage it received wasn't bad enough to make it mutate, but this is only a suggestion from the game. Though it's mutations from Nemesis didn't really show.	Nemesis is killed after being dodged by Jill for a majority of the outbreak. After a series of battles, the Nemesis is reduced to a nebulous blob finally put to rest by two shots from the "Paracelsus Sword" weapon, a fixed magnetic coil gun brought in by US armed forces to fight off a squad of Tyrants.
Nemesis does not have tentacles, but does have a Gatling Gun and Rocket Launcher.	Nemesis uses his T- infected tentacles (Actually the 'roots' of the Nemesis-parasite coming out through the host's body) to attack enemies as well as a Rocket Launcher. S.T.A.R.S. member Brad Vickers was killed with his tentacles, and later resumed animation as a zombie (only to be killed by either Leon S. Kennedy or Claire Redfield).
The outbreak in Raccoon occurred as a result of Umbrella researchers re-opening the Hive. The city is infected within hours.	The outbreak occurs as a combination of monsters left over from the mansion incident and an assassination attempt on William Birkin for his G-Virus sample. As the assassin escaped with his work, Birkin injects himself with the G-Virus and wreaks havoc. In the process, the T-Virus is spilled and the rodent population in the sewer are infected, slowly spreading the virus to the citizens. The city is infected in less than a week.
The T-Virus is said to cause uncontrolled mutation.	The G-Virus is the only virus that mutates uncontrollably and it cannot be passed by bites, but according to Anette Birkin (William Birkin's wife) "it is able to revitalize cellular functions". It requires direct inoculation or embryos implanted on a genetically compatible host. However in Resident Evil 2 the T-Virus is described as "a mutagenic toxin", and even though most of its victims turn into zombies, other creatures such as the lickers, the Tyrant and (possibly) Nemesis, giant spiders, mutated sharks, and oversized lampreys are products of infection. No positive effects of the T-virus have been observed in the games.
The Umbrella Corporation publicly flaunts their wealth and power. They funded the construction of Raccoon City and have great power worldwide.	The Umbrella Corporation is a powerful company, yet they deal mostly in secret. Though their contributions have led to the development of Raccoon City, they do not flaunt their international power openly. To the public, they're known as a simple medical/health corporation, akin to Pfizer.
Nemesis was created as part of the "Nemesis Program", a project to create the ultimate bioweapon. It was created in the USA. It was unleashed by Umbrella within Raccoon City to test its abilities such as wiping out S.T.A.R.S.	The Nemesis was an experimental bio-weapon created by the European branch by implanting a new kind of parasitic organism into an ordinary mass-produced Tyrant. In the first game it is revealed that the real reason for S.T.A.R.S involvement in the mansion incident was Albert Wesker's intention to test the bioweapons against "realistic targets" (armed, trained paramilitaries/military personnel). Nemesis takes time to train and perfect, since they are programmed to hunt specific targets. In Resident Evil 3, its mission was to hunt down and kill the remaining S.T.A.R.S. due to their involvement in the "Mansion Incident."
Alice is forced to battle the Nemesis as a final "test" by Major Timothy Cain to determine which bioweapon is the most powerful. This takes place before the Nemesis' death while trying to save Alice and the survivors after decidingly revolting against his creators.	Jill Valentine is forced to defeat the Nemesis, now a gelatinous blob of organs, as it is preventing her to escape the factory towards the finale of the game. After being severely weakened by the "Paracelsus Sword" rail gun, Jill empties her Magnum into it, finishing it off completely.
Jill, Carlos, Angie, and L.J. free Alice from Umbrella headquarters after the Raccoon City nuking.	Jill and Carlos escape from Raccoon (with or without Barry's help, depending on the ending). Where they head is unknown, but it seems they still intend to meet up with Chris Redfield in Europe.
Nicholai was a heroic, somewhat naive mercenary, eventually killed by two Cerberus' in the movie.	Nicholai is a double-crossing, secret Umbrella agent, who is either killed by Nemesis, escapes in a helicopter or is shot down in a helicopter by Jill depending on the player's choices throughout the game.
Nemesis is computer-controlled and can be programmed with commands remotely from a laptop.	Nemesis is autonomous, and follows his pre-set commands to wipe out S.T.A.R.S.
Carlos' uniform shows his last name spelled "Olivera."	Carlos' last name is Oliveira.
The S.T.A.R.S. team consists of at least 25 operatives during the Raccoon City incident. Members include Jill Valentine, Peyton Wells, Commander Ryan Henderson and other unnamed characters. Chris and Barry, Rebecca Chambers (and other character from the games besides Jill) are nowhere to be seen.	The Raccoon S.T.A.R.S. team first consists of 13 members divided into two separate teams which were Alpha and Bravo. During their investigations of the Mansion incident, most of the team was killed off and reduced to 5 members when they escaped (without taking Wesker's revival into account). During the events of Resident Evil 3, however, Brad Vickers, the pilot of Alpha Team, is killed by Nemesis in front of the R.P.D. Precinct and Rebecca Chambers dissapeared, likely leaving S.T.A.R.S. and joining an anti-Umbrella movement. S.T.A.R.S. was disbanded by Chief Irons after the Arklay Mountain incident and the armed elite officers fighting the zombies were actually members of the newly created Select Police Force