As we wait to get struck down with one monster of a next-gen debut for the Resident Evil series, every minute of early preview levels of Resident Evil 5 leave no room for disappointment. The hype, however, began well before with the announcement of original series producer Jun Takeuchi (along with co producer Masachika Kawata) taking the wheel once more to deliver a more survival / escape centered game, that will even more interestingly feature its original protagonist Chris Redfield from Resident Evil 1 and Resident Evil: Code Veronica. Still, if you’ve played the stunning Resident Evil 4, it would take a quite a bit of next-gen to get your pulse racing again and that concern alone should drive you to read this.
1. Third World Terror:
After scaling the globe to eliminate evil bioterrorism threats for ten years now, Chris Redfield returns to investigate a new threat in Africa. As part of a new organization called the BSAA (Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance), Chris sets out to unravel the virus’s origin and stop the growing madness as the local villagers and even animals are rapidly being transformed into mindless creatures in ridiculous amounts.
Most of the storyline will feature cut backs to Redfield’s past, since the events of the Raccoon City incident in the first game. That being said, there’s a really slim chance of there being many appearances from other characters from previous RE games. Now, while RE 4 had those creepy slow moving zombies that were frightening enough, these guys are infected with an advanced form of the same Las Plagus virus.
Get ready for a different breed of faster, alert and nastier human abominations that stop at nothing to tear you down. A little change in scenery would do you good and picture those dusty villages and shanty towns in war stricken movies like Black Hawk Down to get an idea of the environments you’re dealing with. All the more points for creepiness! What all this really does for the game, however, is let the developers step up the entire Resident Evil experience.
For instance they’ve taken up the challenge to set the game in a continent like Africa and then go one step further to make sure you feel the gripping intensity or eerie suspense as much in broad daylight levels as in the darker ones. Jun Takeuchi revealed that Capcom aimed for a similar experience to movies like 28 Days Later which featured a lot of bright outdoor scenes and still managed to be terrifying. Also, since you’re taking on such a violent onslaught of enemies, for the first time, you get a partner (AI or Co- Op) and this is where the gameplay gets most of its edge. (More details on co op below).
2. Of Graphics and Gore:
RE 5 uses an advanced form of the Dead Rising / Lost Planet engine. The whole switch between light and dark levels without losing intensity happens courtesy of an all new High Dynamic Range Lighting that the game incorporates. This means the developers could afford to have a full on enemy attack in broad daylight and make it look gorgeous, whereas in previous games for older consoles they’d rather keep things dark as a compromise on what was available to work with.
Realistic levels aside, so much detail lies in the red in the infected villagers eyes alone, all the way to the magnificent head splitting, to every last one of your RE guilty pleasures. You get the satisfaction of a bullet tearing through and leaving fresh wounds like never before and blood will most certainly spill.
Backed by the wonders of 5.1 surround, at many points you can actually feel the fear of creatures scurrying about a dusty and seemingly empty village as boards creak, shadows blend and dust clouds emerge. Speaking of attention to detail, Capcom boasts creating so many enemies for Resident Evil 5 that you don’t see the same one twice, inspite of cramming so many in each level.
So far as overall animations are concerned the game depends majorly on motion capture for fluid movement of the characters, but Capcom has more or less mastered keeping the right balance between motion capture and hand-keyed animation. This works wonders with the impressive AI.
While most of this is evident mainly in how your partner responds to various situations in single player mode, much credit goes to the smaller details like just the mannerism in walking or the way the infected seem a lot more smarter this time over. In the same vein, there’s so much consistency between the cut scenes and actual in game graphics that the game never loses its pace.
3. Co Workers:
To explain the much hyped co-op in the game, which is a first for the series, lets go back to the storyline to start with. The African branch of the BSAA is convinced you need some help kicking ass in unfamiliar territory so they enlist a partner for you, named Sheva who is very much a local.
Video games have taught us never to doubt the wrath of a woman and Sheva continues that legacy with some serious zombie ass kicking action. A concern that immediately arises is whether this is a good move for a game like Resident Evil where the fear aspect of going solo was very much vital.
Capcom however explains that instead of ruining the experience, it can add a whole new dimension and build up tension, much like those horror movies where main characters are always looking out for their friends or saving them. Also to dismiss all rumours, you cannot chose which character you want to play as in single mode as the entire storyline revolves around Chris and you would need to be Chris to well… figure it out.
While the single player mode has just you as Chris fighting with Sheva who is handled by the flawless AI, you can also leave an option open for people to join in and aid you via co-op online. This goes for any level that you are on and Capcom has created a system so smooth that online players can just hop in and out.
To be more specific, when an online player joins your game, he instantly takes control of Sheva, but if he leaves the AI immediately kicks in and you can continue the level without having to start over again, like clockwork. Of course, there’s a way to block out unwanted players and you can choose if you want just anyone to jump in your game or just specific players from a friend list.
4. What it takes to kill the infected:
The controls are more directed at you getting the most out of the over the shoulder camera perspective versus the crazier and faster infected that just hurl themselves at you. Selectable at the start of the game, you get the option of two control types.
One of them will cater to those comfortable with the original Resident Evil controls and the other is similar to the system of games like Gears of War. Asides the usual access inventory, fire weapon et al, there is a button for calling your partner and the same action button that picks up items, handles your special moves.
Now when the game’s enemies just creep at you from everywhere you could either a) Deal a gruesome headshot before they get too close b) Slice them open with your knife or when all else fails try the all new c) Special move system. The special move option pops up as soon as the enemies get too close (or you get close to them at the right time) and both Chris and Sheva got their own character specific knockdowns.
For instance Chris deals one nasty uppercut and Shevas got a flip kick. Also, when your partner’s in danger you get a special move option to swing into the rescue. Other options that come up are when you need to help youre partner execute something, for instance, a long jump.
The first preview level of Resident Evil 5 had a good example of this when Chris boosts Sheva to jump to another building to tackle the enemies from up close while you as Chris proceed to snipe them from a distance. If your partner gets too far you can always use the call partner button. Let’s not forget the simpler things in video game life like weapons.
The game boasts of having so many weapons, that a whole second try is necessary if you want to check them all out. Every situation will demand a specific weapon and all the weapons along with the items you carry on you are exchangeable with youre partner so you really get to be a little strategic in youre attack before you go all out.
Do you even need a final word with the fifth in the series of one of the most terrifying games to grace consoles? Aiming for a larger experience and infected with next gen, Resident Evil 5 which hits stores in March, will definitely be up there with other stellar horror releases like Dead Space and is most likely to add something completely new to the genre. This is quite simply what the edge of your seat was made for.
- By Jash Singh Reen