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Resident Evil 5, Why the Fuss?
So, like everyone else I got Resident Evil 5 on release. I went into this game expecting an amazing story, great gameplay, and good controls. Many people seem to complain about many aspects of this game, the main things being the inability to move while shooting. Some of these concerns are very legitimate, such as Sal’s view on the subject. However, many of them are just mindless complaints from newer gamers who have never played a Resident Evil game. Day in on Xbox LIVE and day out on the Xbox.com forums, I hear people complaining how it’s much too slow paced and needs to be more like Gears of War or Call of Duty, or any other popular multi-player game. This does really bug me, and it has since the demo was released.
I find the controls to be spot on. Staying with the winning Resident Evil formula was just what they should have done, in my opinion. Taking the slow-paced stop and pop gameplay and adding in a much more intense atmosphere and relentless enemies was a winning choice. The gunplay is still as good as it’s ever been. The story is fantastic, and I can’t get enough of the new femme fatale, Sheva Alomar. I’m really enjoying this game and look forward to wasting many hours of my life in co-op unlocking the ACTION figures.
But, it seems that Africa has a huge abundance of monkey wrenches. What’s up with that?
03.22.09 (
3:05 pm |
You make some points, but Resident Evil came out over 10 years ago… I understand that nostalgia can be powerful, but games need to evolve!
There’s a reason why Gears of War doesn’t play like DOOM.
03.22.09 (
2:17 am |
I agree with the “comedian” in many respects that the feature missed on. It would be one thing if the controls were the only issue but it’s not although the controls make it difficult to enjoy the game.
First off, the zombies, like Sheva, show signs of intelligence but then resort to mindless polygons with great texture and lighting.
What I find infuriating is the fact that while some of the enemies are moving at rapid pace Chris skulks around like he’s carrying 8 bags of groceries. It doesn’t help that he’s constantly blocking the whole left side of the screen making it particularly difficult to see/fight enemies at times. Another thing that pisses me off as how close enemies are able to get because, once again, Chris has the mobility and agility of an elephant wearing shackles. Then again, at times they’re patient enough to wait for me to turn around to shoot/slash them.
I’m all for nostalgic controls but now that zombies have fiery crossbows and can ride motorcycles why can’t I move and shoot at the same time? It seems like everything in the game has been updated or refined but I’m still stuck looking over the shoulder of my character and can’t even move when I take out a knife. Seriously?
I’ve toyed with the idea of trading the game in while the value is still high but I’ve barely scratched the surface of the game and don’t want to give up on it just yet. I still feel like there’s a good game buried underneath the frustrating and morbidly ancient controls.
03.21.09 (
11:49 pm |
I’ve been playing resident evil ever since the 2nd , including veronica and the fps one. While the fps version of resident evil was generally very “shody” i was still scared and the game had suspense.
I was afraid when i saw a zombie, which has totally disappeared in this installment.
Capcom have told themselves that it was impossible for them to continue in the same fashion in this new generation, so they’ve replaced the suspense and fear of going against a zombie/having to ration your bullets with the fear of having to kill a mob of 10 zombies before they kill you.The only problem is there is no fear, when you die you go to the last save point, this a common fps system of saving removes the fear of dying. Not to mention that you’re offered the chance to stock up in ammo and first aid spray if needs must.
The player never needs to make the choice between shooting and running away as ammo is always abundant and then enemies will rush towards you, then wait 10 seconds before attacking giving you plenty of time to shoot them.
What i believe the epitome of the changes in resident evil are that now zombies carry guns and now look for shelter. The enemies are in all but appearance just generic fps enemies, they don’t scare me. There isn’t any sense that these used to be people.
By the way , Sheva Alomar is in my opinion one of the criminally neglected partners in a fps, where she adds almost nothing apart for someone to waste all your ammo.
I Enjoyed resident evil 5, thought it was a good game. It’s a pity it wasn’t the game i wanted, a game which i would be afraid to play in the dark, where i would fear picking up any item because i knew something was going to go wrong quickly, where an empty room was viewed with caution, where any change in the music was analyzed, where windows were viewed with incredible suspicion, where the sound of a growing zombie made you leap into action (you knew which enemy you were confronted simply by the sound of their footsteps).
03.22.09 (
1:52 am |
Those are very good points. However, when you grow and mature, things become less cary. Especially in modern day society where we see so much of fit that we are desensitzed to things that should touch us or frighten us. Silent Hill and Resident Evil games used to frighten me as well. But that was when I was a child and played those games. Silent Hill: Homecoming did nothing to frighten me, Dead Space, on the other hand, frightened me for about 2 hours, and then I was desensitized to the experience. These days, it’s just very hard to make things scary.
I see where your coming from, and I’m not stating any of this reply as fact, just a few possible reasons. In my opinion, while RE5 is marketed as “Fear You Can’t Forget” I feel it wasn’t really meant to be as frightening as the older games.
03.22.09 (
6:49 am |
I do think it’s possible for a game to be scary throughout the game, even if you’re not a kid anymore.The most important parts of being afraid, is:
1.Suspense: This is created with the atmosphere: the music of the game, your location, what’s happened. what do you think will happen.
2.Action: This is when something happens, it could just be a change in the music(how many time did the music in resident evil change putting you on the edge only for nothing to happen, then when the music stops and you calm yourself that’s when it happens) or an enemy appears.
3.Decision: After the initial yelp, what do i do ? Do i run, do i shoot? Can i run? Do i have enough ammo to spare?
4.Aftermath: It’s over for know, did i make the right decision. If i ran, i must remember there area couple of enemies in that room, if i stayed and fight, did i use too much ammo, did i get bitten?
What the old resident evils did, was make the game feel like a horror movie. This is epitomized by the camera angle, you have no control over the camera, you see what they want you to see, the player is reminded of his lack of control. Not too mention that must of the action happens where you can’t see it(you entered a room heard the grown and their footsteps but couldn’t hear them.You heard the footsteps of the dog, and waited for him to walk past the corner where you could see him).
My biggest problem with Resident evil 5 and i believe this to be a fundamental flaw of this release, is that the game is no longer scary when you have a partner, how am I supposed the feel outnumbered, alone when I have Sheva Almoar thanking me every time i ask her to pick up something. Capcon obviously jumping on the co-op band wagon, but in a horror game , i need to feel alone, i need to feel that there’s no way I’m going to make it. And it leads us to another problem, when a horror game starts you off with radio contact, a partner and aerial support there is no way I’m going to be afraid, and if the game doesn’t catch you by the balls the second you press play and hear “Resident Evil 5″ as you press play them I’m not going to be hooked and I’m not going to be scared.
P>S God damn i hated it when Sheva always decided to shoot the lickers as i tried to pass them silently only forher to shoot one while i stand between 4 for them to rip me to shreds.