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Resident Evil 5 Dev Talks Demo Feedback
MTV's Multiplayer blog sat down with Jun Takeuchi, producer for Capcom's Resident Evil 5, about the feedback they've gotten from the game's demo, which has been downloaded over 4 million times. He comments on the changed control scheme, which has generated a lot of discussion and criticism, by suggesting that their decision will become clear once the full game is out. "We understand that there are many people who want to run and shoot at the same time, but it's not the right alignment for the game." He also says the finished game will have shorter loading times, and he briefly discusses the media-fueled race controversy over the fact that Africa's zombies have dark skin. Takeuchi says, "People will be able to play the game and see what it is for themselves." Kotaku recently ran a preview of Resident Evil 5.
The moron who wrote the article decided that every piece of zombie lore and the objective of every zombie game and movie suddenly is racist if the zombies are black.
"It's like they're all dangerous; they all need to be killed. It's not even like one cute African -- or Haitian or Caribbean -- child could be saved. They're all dangerous men, women and children. They all have to be killed." - like all the other zombie games where you try to save the zombies. Or most modern FPS. Or space invaders. Killing everything has a long tradition in video games.
"this dark, dangerous continent filled with people who only want to do you harm goes back a long, long way." - yeah, the first zombie movies used it, and so did King Kong, the Odyssey, "here there be sea monsters", etc.
"he doesn't really interact with them, he sort of walks through this thing and it's sort of, "Is he there? Is he not?" It's a very strange thing, and it taps into sort of this very racist iconography" - Noninteractive characters in video games are now racist?
"The music that they're using in the trailer is very reminiscent of the music used in Black Hawk Down which was set in Africa -- Somalia" - Oh just give me a fucking break already. You're really stretching this stuff.
This next quote rams my point home:
"The imagery is not the same. It doesn't carry the same history, it doesn't carry the same weight." - So, since the zombies are black, and there's a different history, shooting a black zombie has much more weight than killing a white one. Under this standard, RE4 is full of racism if you look at Spanish history.
Sorry, but the arguments claiming racism were pathetic. Especially the first one:
"Wow, clearly no one black worked on this game." - The only truly racist thing I found in the whole article, because it:
a. creates a stereotype ("all black people think like me, no non-black could possibly think like me")
b. makes a wildly inaccurate assumption based on personal prejudice (see above)
c. is wrong factually (anyone want to make a bet that no Capcom employees working on RE5 are black? Anyone?)
d. is wrong morally (I hope I don't have to explain this)
Could the game be racist? It's possible, I haven't played it yet. Is anything in the trailer that this guy talked about racist? No.
This sentence no verb.
Resident Evil does not and never has played like an FPS. Ever. Resident Evil plays like a survival horror game. That's the whole point.
Resident Evil 5 uses the over the shoulder control scheme as RE 4 (In fact, the exact same control scheme, and indeed gameplay mechanics in every way shape and form(which is not in and of itself a bad thing)), and which can be seen in Dead Space. You have a limited field of vision as enemies slowly advance. The goal is to increase tension by restricting your off-screen view. You must plan the outcome of the encounter with much less than perfect awareness of your surroundings.
Survival horror games are all about management. Enemy management, ammo management, health management. The game is a long series of encounters in which trade offs must be made. Go for the critical hit but likely to miss headshot, or the more sure body shot. Take down nearby villager or more distant las plagos? Use shotgun/rifle/grenade ammo now, or save if for a more difficult encounter? Use green herb now or wait for a red herb booster? Run or shoot? This is the bread and butter gameplay of the genre. The control scheme is a part of that.
They are not about fragging enemies in quick succession, while circle strafing or bunny hopping around the room. I would go so far as to say that survival horror games are about as far away as you can get from FPS games without getting rid of guns altogether. The controls promote split second decisions that have serious consequences. Make the ewrong move, and you're in trouble. It encourages players to make serious tactical decisions.
Resident Evil is not an FPS. It is a survival horror game and plays as such. Long may the genre endure I say.
May the Maths Be with you!