The Game Druid

So i got this courtesy gamespot:

Capcom’s been teasing us with the promise of Resident Evil 5 for quite some time. The highly anticipated follow up first appeared on our radar in 2005 when it was first announced. Since then there have been a few appearances and teases on the game but nothing too meaty outside of trailers and the odd interview. We got a nice surprise at Capcom’s recent press event in the form of a new trailer, and short look at the game in motion on the Xbox 360 which has us intrigued.

Producers Jun Takeuchi and Masachika Kawata gave a short presentation that led into a new trailer which they freely admitted would merely raise more questions about what’s going on in the game. Takeuchi essentially ran through most of the high level information out for the game. He noted RE5 is set in Africa and follows Chris Redfield on an adventure that will lead him to discover the origins of the progenitor virus seen in RE: Code Veronica. The trailer was a montage of images and clips that offered a tiny hint at the game’s scope and some of the additional locales you’ll get to. We saw ruins, some country side, riots in the now familiar village, brutal imagery of locals clashing, and Chris running from a mob. Other parts of the montage included sewers, dogs, fighting on rooftops, a factory explosion, Chris using various weapons, dealing with chainsaw wielding foes, and a mysterious new female character who welcomes him to Africa. At the end of the trailer Takeuchi noted that the game is roughly 60% complete and should wind up being over 20 hours or so.

Once the trailer was over Takeuchi sprung the surprise and fired up a work in progress version of the game on the Xbox 360 for Kawata to play through. The demo opened with Chris Redfield in a house fending off zombies (or whatever the heck they’re calling them in this game) as they came in through the front door. From the look of things the game is sticking pretty close to the core of RE4’s combat systems. We saw Chris shoot, stab, and get off a context sensitive kick on the horde foes coming at him. As time passed, enemies started pouring down from the ceiling, which added a whole new dynamic to the action. As if all that wasn’t challenging enough, a massive warhammer wielding punched a whole through wall, showing off the new destructible environments and allowing more enemies in.

With the house compromised, Chris is sent running outside through the ruined streets with a mob of foes behind him–including his hammer wielding friend. The open space offers some new defensive opportunities as Chris is able to ignite some conveniently placed drums which flame up nicely and deal with the smaller enemies. Chris also switches weapons to his shotgun which tears through groups of foes at close range. Of course none of this matters to the massive hammer wielding foe who continues to shamble after the hapless adventurer. We then see Chris take to the rooftops to try and avoid enemies who simply head on up after him. The persistent bunch weather Chris’ throwing grenades and weapons fire to keep on coming at him. When none of that work Chris nabs a machine gun and incendiary grenade and gets up to a higher level on the roof in order to put them to good use. During his maneuvering he’s caught by an enemy and has to shake them off by moving the analog stick and matching a button prompt.

The remainder of the demo showed Chris making use of whatever he could in his surroundings in order to avoid or defeat his enemies. Takeuchi noted that the town is considerably larger than the one seen in RE4. In addition he stated that the large enemy with the hammer was basically a one hit foe (Kawata was using an invincibility cheat for the demo) that players will know to respect fairly quickly. Outside of the demo Takechi didn’t offer too much more insight into the game, noting only that more would be revealed at E3.

The work in progress 360 version of the game was richly detailed to convey its African town setting and sported impressive graphics. RE5 will run using the most current version of the framework engine that Capcom has been using. While elements of the visuals were unsettling, they certainly kept with the disturbing theme. Lighting and the like were looking very sharp as the settlement reflected its environment. The detail on Chris is really well done as are all his foes and their twisted minions. In terms of audio, the game is sounding great with everyone’s moans fitting quite well.

Based on what we saw, Resident Evil 5 should continue the rejuvenation of the series which got an impressive jump start with RE4. If the controls can be as solid as the original game but add some cool stuff we’ll be sold. We’re also hoping that there’s one hell of a story to be told, hopefully explaining the unsettling imagery. Resident Evil 5 is slated to ship during Capcom’s fiscal year which means it’s due at the end of this year or the start of 2009. Look for more on the game at this year’s E3.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008 at 2:47 pm and is filed under upcoming 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.