Resident Evil 5 Story Suggestions
October 21st, 2008
While obviously I am no famed video game writer, I did have a few ideas which I think would work well with Resident Evil 5 that I decided to leave out of my previous article. Here’s what I have:
Length of Crisis
Resident Evil 4 had a great narrative for two core reasons. The first one being that it was conscious of its ‘lost in the woods’ horror pretense and hence avoided cliché while feeling fresh. Secondly was the gameplay itself. For one, Leon’s journey to reach that ‘just out of reach’ goal felt like an enduing one that left you hanging and the game paced itself perfectly making your experience feel instrumental to the narrative. Capcom also managed to enhance the complicated relationship going on between Leon and Eva which was well executed.
I’m hoping that Resident Evil 5 draws on these same techniques as they synergize the non-playable cut scenes and in game exploration. Along with this I hope they expand on these techniques. For example there is a lot of possibility for good ideas to be implemented in the village scene with the executioner boss and chainsaw man .
Exploitation
There was originally a bit of concern over the racial profiling of enemy characters. Capcom later confirmed that there was no bias regarding this selection, I’d be surprised if they didn’t make something out of this controversy though. The latest trailer hints at exploitation of poverty stricken countries, I think that Capcom should try to make use out of this potential to write a meaningful narrative.
Some guesses
Along with those ideas, I just wanted to add a some suggestions at clues in the last trailer. You may have noticed the Tricell logos, I’m going to chalk them up as a combination of the T-Virus, T-Veronica Virus and Las Plagas; the previous viruses in the series. I suspect that Wesker is working with this terrorist organization in which there is the guy with the bird like mask, the exotic, open chested lady and the “fireworks show” maniac.
Also at the end of the extended trailer there is the gravestone of Jill Valentine. I guess she could be related to the eyes of the person in the incubation tank at the end of another trailer from last year. I also get the feeling that she is probably some sort of virus infected monster since Wesker says “but now that your partner has arrived, I’ll leave you two to catch up” . This kinda hints at it a little right?
So Far Away…
October 20th, 2008
Last week I saw the Tokyo Game Show trailer of Resident Evil 5. If you haven’t seen it then I suggest that you take a look, only for the graphical onslaught though.
In terms of graphical prowess this game looks mind blowing, a huge leap up from previous video which already looked incredible. I didn’t expect to be saying this -for maybe for another 2-3 years – but if that was all running on in game specifications then RE5 will may even have a graphic leg up over..dare I say it..Metal Gear Solid 4 which had me confusing reality and video game far too often.
The complements end there though, and they end abruptly. No doubt you’ve already looked at the trailer after the above assertion so let’s talk about those uncomfortable issues….
Marketing Stimuli, Previews and Chicken Feathers
October 18th, 2008
It’s expo-mania! In the proximity of the past two weeks there have been no less than 5 significant game expos and conventions scattered all over the world. About a week and a half ago Nintendo held a special conference showcasing several new titles and a new(er) iteration of the DS (the third pillar’s third pillar, supposively), shortled followed by a press summit in the US. Following up on some pleasent surprises from Nintendo, the Tokyo Game Show appears to have been a great success with a barrage of new annoucements. In amongst the two titans there’s also been E for All (almost invisible this year) as well as the lesser known Virtual Worlds Forum in London.
I’m sure you’ve all got your favourite picks out of what’s been on show? Punchout, Sin and Punishment 2, Halo: Recon, Resident Evil 5? Wanna know what mine is? Metal Gear Solid 3.
Metal Gear Solid 3 (Subsistence) has to be one of the most filling game experiences I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying. The game sets a remarkaby high standard for itself and consistently hits that mark without a hitch. There’s a handcrafted quality to the play, seen in the attention to detail and organic feel that the native environment brushes onto the ‘swiss army knife’ framework of the Metal Gear Series. It’s these qualities that make the game feel so complete as a product, as though anythng more would spoil the brorth. I’m just melting thinking about playing this game when I return back to Australia in a few months.
Oh wait, Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence came out not quite 2 years ago (going by PAL release), what does this have to do with anything? I’ll tell you what, it’s a ridiculously dry way of me expressing my hatred towards ‘the preview’.
The problem with this industry is that the only time we ever talk about a game is when it is out of our hands. The “professional” games media waste our time fueling “promises” and “expectations”, second guessing pre-released games with nonsense like this. They are fiddles to the marketers, if not the same. And then we do it some more, we pretend that we’re all enthusiasts and go on messages boards to masturbate over it for a while. We throwdown the money for the rare, super deluxe, pre-order only iteration and then after two days of sinking it in, we don’t care and move onto the next piece of overbloated tripe.
We, both the enthusiast and media, throw the game in the spinner for 30 seconds (reviews) and are then done with it. From there it is all mute, the four year production has had it’s 20 seconds in the sun, now it’s time for it to move aside for the next one.
And yet throughout this process, we completely discredit the games that we “cherish” so much. Once a game has been spun in the marketing mixer, served up as a preview and then scratched around for the review, we are done, there is nothing left. There are no more PR reps or PR reps in the guise of game developers there to plug the game to us, it all comes to a halt.
These problems exist for two reasons. This industry is easily vunderable to marketing and there are professionals open to exploitation. The preview, scoop, first in game screenshots, Famitsu scan, teaser trailer are all examples of that. We eat it up without a second thoght. We all buy this nonsense and submit to the marketers by making our judgements premeptiviely. Which is why people buy those ridiculous limited edition pre-order packs.
What I find to be the most disheartening result of this vicious cycle is that once we’ve discarded a game all talk about the game stops. There is frankly no more discussion to be had. Yet the game still is burried wthin it’s own merit and remains undiscovered.
This is one of the main reasons why this blog is never bleeding edge. Except for when Metal Gear Solid 4 was released, but that was a special occasion. There is so much undiscovered treasure within our past and yet we keep walking forwards, ignoring it. Someday we will retread our path and make sense of these games that we don’t yet understand, but I’m not interested in waiting around for that. Long live the “past hit”.
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