With the release of Resident Evil 5 a month away, and with the recent addition of the two level demo on Xbox Live, I can’t help but get a little pissed off with all of the negative feedback the game has been getting. Resident Evil 4, arguably the greatest single-player game of last generation, is getting an upgrade in every single way, shape and form in Resident Evil 5. All across the web people keeping whining about this and that regarding the upcoming survival horror game. Things like, “This game is just like Resident Evil 4”, “there needs to be a strafe function” or “the controls suck” are littering video game message boards. It’s these new complaints compiled with the ongoing complaints that state, “RE 4 and RE 5 aren’t true Resident Evil games” that are really starting to piss me off.

I’m sorry Chris, but you’re going to have to check those guns at the door. That’s right all four of them, literally and figuratively speaking.

I’ve always been an avid and original fan of the series. Yes, I have played all of the first four Resident Evils (including RE 0), and yes, I have beat them all. I’ve even played the Gamecube remake of the original and the Dreamcast’s remake of RE 2 and 3. So, I am completely familiar with the more cinematic camera angles and the auto aim features familiar to the old games; however, that doesn’t mean that the new series makeover isn’t a forward step. It is true that the first three games provided gamers with a sense of fear and nervousness that the 4^th and probably the 5^th installment won’t have. Yes, I liked the idea of having very limited ammo and the sensation of not knowing what was going to be behind the next door. My favorite and most terrifying moments were when I’d open a door just to be met with a nonexistent view of a long hallway, in which I could hear the moans and groans of the undead at the other end. “How many are there?” “How close are they?” It was scary and amazing. I loved the first three games for everything they were worth.

However, many people didn’t share my same love for the old play style. In fact, it was that very play style that essentially began causing the series to take a downfall. After four games with mainly the exact same play mechanics, Capcom began looking for a new and refreshing take on the series. In addition, next generation fans were growing tired of the door load times, the annoying item boxes, the awkward camera angles, the boxy character movement and much more. Because of fast paced shooter/action games like Halo, people began crying out for new gameplay. It even took Capcom three different tries to finally come up with what eventually became the real RE 4.

Online co-op play? Where do I sign up?

Despite my love for the old Resident Evils, I will admit that I too fell in love with the new gameplay of RE4 and RE5. I know, it is much more action oriented with the over-the-shoulder camera and the action button sequences. Yes, I know that there is more ammo to go around, enough in fact to kill each and every villager/enemy in the game. Some people might think that these new implementations might have derived from the original sense of unease and terror of the original games. I agree with you. However, a new sense of horror and thrill has been instilled into the genre. For the first time in the series you have the option to full-out fight or to run hastily, and the best part is that you can choose which option to take with a partner, online or offline.

Originally, I was a bit skeptical of the co-op addition because I thought it would detract from the horror of the game; however, after playing the demo (far too many times I might add) I am sold on the inclusion of co-op. Having a partner will add a great new depth to the game and story. Working out how to plan your next move of attack with a partner/friend will be fun, suspenseful and satisfying. Resident Evil Zero tried a similar mechanic by allowing players to control two characters, Rebecca and Billy, one at a time (a novel idea), yet it wasn’t quite as polished as controlling Sheva and Chris in RE 5. Plus, in RE 0, a friend couldn’t assume the role of one of the characters.

Getting back to the much different, yet still intact sense of horror in the new Resident Evils, one of my favorite scenes in any RE game appeared in the opening of RE 4’s village scene. Leon first arrives at a seemingly quaint village, only to discover that two officers are dead and every villager wants his head. As a player, you’re running for your life, controlling Leon in and out of houses, up ladders, through windows, off of buildings – it’s terrifying. And just when you think it can’t get any worse, when you realize that no matter how many villagers you kill they just keep coming, you hear that initial, blood-curdling rev of the chainsaw. I don’t know about you, but I basically wet myself. 

Hey sack face, meet bag face. Why don’t you two get acquainted? After a little chitchat and a few dead bodies, you’ll find you both have a lot in common.

Likewise, there is a very similar scene to that RE 4 level in the demo for RE 5. The chapter called “Assembly” is very reminiscent to the village sequence of RE 4. Except this time, in RE 5, you have a giant bag-faced man with a ridiculously large axe instead of a mortifying chainsaw – still, equally as horrifying.

In essence, what I’m trying to convey in this seemingly endless blog is simply this: Resident Evil 5 may not be the true sequel to the original four Resident Evils (gameplay and mechanics – wise), it may not have the most responsive and adept controls, it may not be as scary (in the pop-out horror sense); however, it is Resident Evil, and it is suspenseful. Running from a mass horde of zombies or ravaging villagers just wouldn’t be as scary if you could run smoothly whilst unloading clip after clip into the enemy. If you didn’t have to STOP to turn around, reload and shoot, then taking aim at enclosing undead just wouldn’t be as scary. There is a reason why the controls are the way they are. Capcom didn’t just make them this way to purposely piss gamers off into thinking that they got lazy on the development side. Rather, they’re somewhat clunky to add that extra sense of unease while moving around in the game. If they would have made the controls exactly like Gears of War or Dead Space (which seems to be what people want) then it would be to easy to mow down enemy mobs by strafing back and forth and running while gunning. So, sit back, relax and get ready to play the next great installment to the Resident Evil series. Trust me, it’s going to be an amazingly epic experience. 

As always, thanks for reading. 

- Dillon (D Dub)

Tags: Dillon, Playstation 3, Resident Evil, Resident Evil 4, survival horror, Video Games, XBox 360

This entry was posted on Friday, February 13th, 2009 at 12:38 pm and is filed under Dillon, Uncategorized, Video Games. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.