Wow… opinions were quite varied on this game.. And while I’ve been told that I’m the only one in the entire free world that could have a shred of doubt when it comes to this huge release, I’m gonna have to stick to my guns. So here you have it, both Keith Stidham, and I, Tom Webster duke it out over what RE5 is and could have been. Seriously people, blood is everywhere from the fist to cuffs!
Tom:
Resident Evil… when the first game came out, it revitalized and changed the way people looked at Survival Horror games, essentially breathing life into this gigantic genre that we all know and love. What Capcom did with this amazing game is recreate it. Not to say it wasn’t enjoyable, I liked RE2, I played through it, it was enjoyable. But it was basically an expansion pack for Resident Evil. Same graphics, animations, concept. This happens more often than not in this industry. Well, that game was remade and released countless times under various numbers and subtitles until that one glorious day: Resident Evil 4. At one time a true Gamecube exclusive, Capcom took up their sword to retrieve their fallen kingdom. They once again reigned as champions of a genre, truly recreating what “Survival Horror” meant to video games. Sadly enough, though, it seems this once righteous king has slipped back into his old ways.
Capcom has once again capitalized on their huge success with Resident Evil 4 and we all should have seen it coming. I was worried when I first saw the trailers of RE5, noticing that Capcom chose to use the exact same animations that were in RE4 for this new game. I threw these worries away thinking, “Ok… its just a trailer, a tech demo, a teaser, they used the same content from 4 just to show off what they have been working on… they’ll change it by release.” Needless to say, I was completely wrong. Not only have they recycled animations, but they’ve recycled all of Resident Evil 4. I’m not saying this is a crime against humanity, I loved Resident Evil 4. I love Leon kicking ass and not bothering to take names, I liked the new creatures and how everything was very do or die, but when I see “Resident Evil 5″, I expect something different. Sure, take the same concept, the amazing balls-to-the-wall run and gun action, take the terrifying “Fast Zombies”, but do something different with it. Capcom has instead chosen to re-skin Leon and make an expansion pack that adds co-op. Now I love co-op as much as the next guy, and its quite a nice change to have a computer-controlled partner behave intelligently, but the game is just Resident Evil 4 with a makeover. I don’t mind the core gameplay being the same, I think they really hit on something good with 4, but I do have a problem with reusing the same animations, voice clips, and enemy AI as the previous game in the series. It seems lazy to me. If you’re going to call this game Resident Evil 5, it should be more than a cosmetic change, there should be something fundamentally better about RE5 than RE4. Capcom should give me a reason to buy this game other than “Umm.. its in Africa (among other place), looks, smells, plays, and feels like RE4.. and LOOK OVER HERE CO-OP!”
With this demo, and that’s just what it is, a DEMO, Capcom has once again let me down. Granted: Its not a finished product. The current release date for this game is March 26, 2009. Other than basic bug testing, the game is done, they can’t change the game enough to differentiate itself from RE4 by that date. Unless Capcom pulls a Nintendo and pushes the release back another six months, don’t expect another Resident Evil game, expect an expansion pack, because that’s exactly what it is.
PS- I’m a little bitch and I take it in the butt everyday, but I use Vaseline so I only have a small rash.
Keith:
First off the release date is friday the 13th worldwide, not the 26th. I VERY much agree with Keiths “review” being that it is only a DEMO but so far looks fantastic simply because it seems like the storyline will be awesome and at the same time a huge part of the games fun factor. And the intelligent co-op feature is awesome at the lease…. hardly a “OH LOOKIE HERES CO-OP” generalization. Play the demo, make your opinion but really how many other games out there have the Co-Op controlled by AI?? i think that was extremely downplayed by Toms review and it’s not something to be taken lightly.
least*
As a man that has proudly ignored the Resident Evil series, I thought I’d play this demo, see what all the hype was about…you can’t walk and shoot a pistol…why the hell can’t you walk and shoot a pistol? My character has arms like tree trunks, how can he not walk and shoot a pistol?
I was disgusted with myself after about ten minutes of shooting poor, starving African people while playing as the whitest man on the planet. If that’s the premise for a well told story then bravo. I can finally reenact “Birth of a Nation” without getting arrested.
That is something that I felt they would fix from 4 to 5- the thing about not being able to walk and shoot. Now I know that you have to attempt to aim and all that, but there should be an option where you can run/walk and shoot without being to aim well. That way you could pull out a shotgun, and actually blast your way out of a situation by running. I am also still waiting for a jump system and an ability to climb over objects to create even more difficult puzzles.
But I loved RE4 too much to not play this game. I would even play it through if they just reskinned all the zombies to black and changed the level design from #4.
I’m still really looking forward to it.
The demo just came out in the UK and US and I think and I’ve played it so much already. It has smooth graphics, and an excellent online play. Great action, great story, just amazing!
ignoring the RE series isn’t something to be proud of, CHADLEY!