By Nathan Grayson on July 3rd, 2012 at 11:00 am.
I’m beginning to wonder if Resident Evil‘s really about a zombie apocalypse at all. Instead, my leading theory – only bolstered by this new reel of freshly unearthed footage – is that Leon Kennedy was an overzealous zombie fanboy who made some kind of Midas Touch devil pact to generate unending waves of shambling undead with his mere presence. First day on the job in Raccoon City? Sorry, zombies. Pleasant chat with his Commander-and-Bro-in-Chief, the President? Nope, zombies. And today, for your viewing pleasure, he’ll be making his way through an underground train station, but with zombies erupting from railroads and lockers and innocuous potted plants. And sure, he wears that boy-band-gone-bad grimace and perfectly coifed emo ‘do like a champ, but he can’t hide the truth: he’s loving every second of this.
Sad to say, this continues to look less-than-encouraging. Setting aside the constant stream of chit-chat that shotgun-blasted any sense of atmosphere and then burned the body for good measure, this level turned its barely attached nose up at any sort of pacing. A couple sections in Resident Evil 4, for instance, probably matched this section for sheer number of enemies, but – between scarce ammo and enemies that reacted in oftentimes unpredictable fashions – it never dispelled its own thick fog of spookiness.
Here, though, Leon’s just charging through unfaltering, undifferentiated waves like it’s just another day on the job. It’s less Night of the Living Dead and more Dead Rising. I did, however, at least like the bit at the end where – for some mystifying reason – he opts to ignore the woman in mortal peril, only to receive a face full of zombie bile seconds later. Serves him right. But honestly, I don’t even know anymore. Maybe he likes that too.
03/07/2012 at 11:03 N says:
Muchi saki kerasai, aie mutoro ramimas hei oiso miasai ochia koneitokorneaisoai e-e-e-e- zombi – HAI.
03/07/2012 at 12:55 outoffeelinsobad says:
Wakarimasen.
03/07/2012 at 11:07 Syra says:
Serves him right!
And yes, this is the least appealing res evil game I’ve seen anything about ;<
03/07/2012 at 15:14 rockman29 says:
It looks embarassing. The environment looks so horribly unexciting… all the demos have the characters just walking really slowly through a huge open area and then there’s a few tens of completely nonthreatening zombies with a few closet scares interspersed here and there.
It’s just trying to be all blockbuster, and it’s just not looking like a fun survival horror at all…
03/07/2012 at 15:38 obie191970 says:
That was abandoned in the sun drenched open areas of 5. At least this seems to be making an effort. It’ll be interesting to see how this pans out. While the survival horror was completely gone in 5, it was at least a solid action title.
03/07/2012 at 21:32 Cam says:
Too much of the survival horror atmosphere came from inferior game-play. Nobody would just stand there shooting their pistol, turn around 180 degrees, walk a few feet, turn a round again, and keep shooting. Most of these characters are supposed to be trained law enforcement or soldiers, but their movements are ridiculous. I’m still a fan of the games, but I’d prefer more realism. At least we can both move and shoot this time.
03/07/2012 at 11:15 Salt says:
Zombies, in a video game?
It’ll never catch on.
03/07/2012 at 11:26 HisMastersVoice says:
Hmm, it seems Japanese, as a language, operates in total extremes – either Mifune levels of badass, or lethal goofball overdose. Scream death threats or sound like a 12 year old.
Fascinating.
03/07/2012 at 11:29 Stonecrow says:
Another japanese video game I wont play. That over the shoulder camera thing kills me!
03/07/2012 at 11:43 Ultra Superior says:
Or does it?
03/07/2012 at 11:43 DarkFenix says:
It looks like they’ve completely forgotten what made Resi 4 a good game, just like before that they completely forgot what made Resi 1 and 2 good games.
And another thing, one thing that really turns me off a game is watching the demonstrators play it extremely badly.
03/07/2012 at 11:54 rhubarb says:
The best bit was the cutscene where the train’s lights turn off.
03/07/2012 at 12:09 Swabbleflange says:
I kept getting distracted by Leon’s shiny hair. Must be wonderful to the touch.
03/07/2012 at 12:29 Malk_Content says:
Will it be another game with horrible aiming and camera? By the looks of it yes! Will the zombies all inexplicably pause for a second when they reach you to make up for this fact? Thank you eyes for informing me!
03/07/2012 at 13:38 db1331 says:
This drives me crazy. They run up to you full speed, all 28 Days Later-style, but then when they get within biting range, they just stand there and stare at you. What a damn joke.
03/07/2012 at 12:34 Moni says:
Staring glint?
03/07/2012 at 12:48 Inglourious Badger says:
And this is a section they wanted to show off?
My favourite bit was when they showed off the menu system. I don’t understand Japanese but can only assume they were saying “Look! Using the menu makes Leon get out his smartphone!”. That’s pioneering immersion right there. Shame about the QTE cutscene every time you open a door.
03/07/2012 at 13:11 DrScuttles says:
When did Resident Evil jump the shark?
I’m thinking possibly Code: Veronica. While I enjoyed that game, bringing Wesker back from the dead seemed to mark the beginning of Resident Evil’s overall decent from enjoyable B-movie fun to absolute ridiculousness.
Or maybe I’m being too harsh on it, and Resident Evil actually jumped the shark in #4. The game starts off with incredibly tense and atmospheric gunplay and exploration, but after the first boss fight you find yourself battling half of Rasputin, being chased by a giant statue, ESCORT MISSIONS, fighting evil monks, KRAUSER, and sniping Rambo zombies.
And what was that first boss fight? A giant shark thing. Hmm.
Anyway, Resident Evil 6 is looking very uninteresting to me. Though I’d probably give co-op a shot if my housemate gets the game. It’s got co-op, right?
03/07/2012 at 13:43 lowprices says:
“Bro-in-chief”?
Oh dear.
03/07/2012 at 15:52 Makariel says:
He’s the Bro-sident, a regular Bro-metheus coming from Bro-town.
03/07/2012 at 19:02 lowprices says:
Please. Just stop. The term ‘bro’ is bad enough without people coming up with more ways to use it.
Unless… Are we reclaiming ‘Bro’? Taking the word back in the sort-of-but-not-entirely way people managed with ‘queer’?
04/07/2012 at 05:39 Deecie says:
Um, hi, sorry, but what are you talking about? The word ‘queer’ is one of the most successfully reclaimed words in Western culture. There’s a field called ‘queer studies’, the word is used as an umbrella for LGBTI as well as heterosexuals who identify in that way, people proudly use it as a label for their groups, and so on?
04/07/2012 at 06:38 lowprices says:
All that is true, but given that I and friends of mine have been called queers as an insult more than once in the last year, I’m going to have to class it as “not entirely”.
Edit: Gah, double post. How did that happen?
04/07/2012 at 06:36 Douglas says:
Who are we supposedly reclaiming ‘Bro’ from?
What kind of spineless emotionmen has an issue with the word ‘bro’? It’s a totally bro word.
Bloody Walker will be in here telling us it’s sexist in a minute “oh wuhuhuhu misogyny”.
Bro, as a term, is v bro.
04/07/2012 at 12:01 lowprices says:
Congratulations, that was an excellent impression of the spluttering rage of a Daily Mail reader.
03/07/2012 at 14:44 Jamesworkshop says:
Well to be fair it really is another day on the job, resident evil is a long running series that got stuck reusing the same characters, so actually to have him shocked by the presence of zombies would be an odd choice in this narrative.
in some ways it’s why I feel that’s why the BOW’s took more of a centre role in the series of late to compensate that to these characters Zombies just aren’t effective enough Combatants and only provide a meat shield that eats up the resources that would drop the more powerfull BOW creatures if it could be focused just on them.
03/07/2012 at 15:57 Chaz says:
Not impressed by the enemy AI. The mobs all rush towards him in that subway tunnel and then just stand there staring at him like a bunch of mindless zombies.
03/07/2012 at 15:58 Roshin says:
And what an exciting part to show off, dark subway tunnels where you can’t see shit! I guess there was no sewer level available.
Honestly, it just made me think of L4D.
03/07/2012 at 17:12 Billzor says:
The game’s dialogue is voiced only in English? I assume that since it’s a Japanese show and the game is using English with Japanese subtitles. Interesting.
05/07/2012 at 23:40 Enterprise2448 says:
delete