Resident Evil 5
A shining light in a veil of darkness
When Chris Redfield laced his boots to go search for the missing Bravo team nearly ten years ago, few could have imagined where he?d end up. With Umbrella?s coffin nailed firmly shut, and Leon?s battle against the Las Plagas resulting in a fairly successful conclusion, Chris? fourth outing sees him squaring off against a brand new virus deep within Africa. In an interview with Japanese mag Famitsu, Chief Producer Jun Takeuchi explained why the action?s moved to a new continent. ?We settled on the fact that we wanted to show the origins of the virus. So for the setting we thought, how about using the place where humankind was born??
The key word here is ?virus?. Although the enemies may look like Ganados, there?s no parasite to blame this time. Resident Evil 5 takes place in an anonymous country (naming it would only serve to exacerbate issues of racial controversy that arose from last year?s extended trailer) somewhere along the Eritrean/Ethiopian/Kenyan line of active volcanoes. While the beginning of Resident Evil 5 echoes 4?s startling opening there?s one major difference; when Chris enters the village its residents are uninfected. The tranquil start is quite unlike anything else in the series, as up until now we?ve only ever explored locations with hostile inhabitants. Originating deep below the surface, the virus is released due to volcanic activity and turns hosts into maniacs that, crucially, retain all their intelligence and communication skills.
Not only are these enemies more intelligent than the Ganados, there are more of them too. Chris is no pushover, but we don?t like his odds. However, something that may play in his favor is the landscape. Resident Evil 5 will expand on two features from 4?s opening level: space and verticality. The days of exploring corridors are over, and, like Carnby?s run of Central Park in Alone in the Dark, Chris is going to have gigantic areas to explore with balconies and rooftops coming in to play thanks to his heightened athleticism. Shifting focus from narrow spaces to large areas has allowed Capcom to up both the number and intelligence levels of enemies, so when you?re running up stairs and ducking in and out of buildings you?ll not only have more people chasing you but enemies who can actually pre-empt your moves and block your way too.
If Resident Evil 4?s Dr. Salvador set your pulse racing, then get ready for a heart-attack. The ante?s been upped, and Chris has two of the *******s to deal with now. While we?ve seen plenty of the ?Executioner? - the sack-headed freak with a giant makeshift axe - the first glimpse of an even more terrifying foe reveals a chainsaw-wielding psycho. This guy doesn?t need his fellow villagers to wrestle you to the ground before lopping your head off, he simply needs to charge at you and let those nickel teeth do all the bloody work. Two super-baddies means twice the panic. In the areas where you?re separated from your partner there?ll be one roaming for each player, but when you?re thrown together you?d better have more than one escape route in mind. Resident Evil 5 is far less linear than its predecessors. The open locations have multiple exits to utilize (and hence entrances for the enemies to swarm you) instead of the staple diet of ?corridor action? we?ve grown accustomed to. If you really want to stand and fight, make sure you?ve got the weapons to do so.
Thankfully an improved arsenal will help deal with everything the game will throw at you. Chris isn?t going to wield any unrealistic weapons (so don?t expect to see giganto laser cannons strapped to his back) but there will be plenty of powerful guns used for laying waste to entire crowds. New to Resident Evil 5?s combat system is the ability to lock to a wall and fire around the corner. Say goodbye to awkward shuffling in order to find a line of sight through a doorway. Strafing is still out, but factor in Chris? ability to duck and dive with the right stick too and he?s much more agile than Leon. This is just as well, because with a fragile girl in tow you need all the firepower and new skills you can get. Like 4, Resident Evil 5 will appeal to your paternal instincts by asking you to lay down your life for the young lady in need of rescue.
Or should we say maternal? It all depends on whether you?re Player Two or not. Joining Chris? fight is a new female character. Now that Chris has a partner he needs to keep in constant touch. He has both a Bluetooth headset (and phone) and a walkie-talkie; one is for chatting with the female mercenary and the other for speaking to the outside BSAA contact, Metal Gear Solid codec style. Currently nameless, the mercenary?s inclusion means that, for the first time, you?ll be able to tackle a true Resident Evil game co-operatively online. Like Gears, the entirety of Resident Evil 5 features jump in/jump out gameplay with the AI taking over the reigns of our mysterious female mercenary when you?re playing alone.
Online features aside, Takeuchi is placing huge emphasis on the power of next-gen consoles, which allow the series to push boundaries like never before. The main difference, it seems, is in the lighting. Past Resident Evil games have always handled dark situations well, but have never really tackled bright-lit areas with any conviction. Takeuchi claims that by looking at how western developers deal with less murky games he?s been able to implement light and shadow in a way which is new to the series. Translation: it?s going to be hard to see when you move from a light area to a dark one and vice-versa. Just because you can?t see anyone, certainly doesn?t mean they?re not there. Accompanying this step forward in lighting, Takeuchi also promises, in his own words, varying weather effects and different ?passages of time? - which, buried among talk of the importance of light, was taken by many to mean different times of the day. While the action will take place during both day and night, Takeuchi?s true meaning is far more startling.
Eager to live up to Shinji Mikami?s extraordinary legacy, Takeuchi is trying to give fans of the series exactly what they want on two fronts. First of all, he?s listened to everybody who believed a high-definition ?more of the same? approach would be ideal, and has created a spiritual remake of Resident Evil 4. We?ve got classic hero Chris (not Leon) who?s sent into a distant country (not Spain) by the BSAA (not the US Secret Service) to rescue a young girl (not the president?s daughter Ashley) and end up fighting a mob of angry locals (not Ganados). If it wasn?t for the new features the game would read like a massive re-skinning job, but thanks to the inclusion of God Hand?s dodging abilities and a fully integrated online co-op story there?s enough on the new features front to avoid those damning accusations of cashing in on the same idea.
Jun?s also painfully aware of Resident Evil?s massive fan following, which is why there will be plenty of familiar faces. On the character front, we know that Chris Redfield, Albert Wesker and Sherry Birkin will be returning. Persistent rumors about Billy Coen shouldn?t be ignored either; remember he was sent to Africa during a civil war to fight guerrilla forces, and ended up wrongly accused of genocide. However, it?s likely that we?ll see more than anybody thought thanks to exploration of the cryptic ?passage of time?.
?Everything he?d experienced in the past ten years, we wanted to allow the player to experience as well.? With playable flashback sequences offering the player a chance to escape from the dingy, dusty village locale, they can do just that. The ?passage? here doesn?t just refer to hours, it refers to years. Delivering fan service in this was a combined effort. Capcom is keen for both Resident Evil 5 and CG movie Resident Evil: Degeneration to delve into the stories of each individual Resident Evil character of yore. The film explores Leon and Claire?s stories seven years after the Racoon City incident, which means that there are still a few characters remaining who may crop up in Resident Evil 5?s flashback sequences. Jill? Carlos? Barry?
With all this excitement it?s easy to forget the rest of the package. Resident Evil 5 doesn?t just feature a story; there?s the returning Mercenaries minigame and a whole host of other extras that are still safely under wraps. We?ll admit to being just a wee bit concerned when it was revealed Shinji Mikami would not be heading up the production of Resident Evil 5, but in spite of this loss on the development team the game is looking like the ultimate game of the series. 2009 is going to be the year that every Resident Evil fan?s nasty, bloody and terrifying dreams come true
