Resident Evil 5 Hate, Really?
Resident Evil 5
“Dear IdlePixels, my name is Chris Redfield. I’m 185 cm tall and I weigh in at approximately 98 kg. As the steroidal B.S.A.A. badass that I am, I shoot as well as uppercut zombies (not really) through doors in broad daylight. I’m also a tank, a walking turret, one with an inability to ‘run-and-gun’. Four years ago I was atop the gaming scene under another name and face, Leon Kennedy, but while I have for the most part remained the same, a lot of gamers seem to have changed their opinions about me. A large percentage of my audience has grown to see me and my controls as broken and completely outdated. But am I really that much of a ‘last-gen’ mess?”
Yes Chris, when you’re gunning and slicing your mobility does revert into that of a 45 year old pedophile when confronted by Chris Hansen, but no Chris, you are not the uncontrollable train wreck that so many have recently made you out to be. While I agree that games such as Gears of War, Uncharted, and most notably Dead Space have evolved and refined that which you had given to them back in 2005 with much welcome success, I cannot help but think to myself, why is it that people are so outraged at the fact that you have apparently not been able to do the same?
I would like to address my thoughts to those people.
From what I’ve gathered, there are two major complaints coming from those of you who do not find the RE5 demo enjoyable. First off as already mentioned, a lot of people are unsatisfied about the manner in which Chris aims, turns, and eventually pops the head off of zombies (not really) like a turret. Basically, while attacking or healing with any appropriate item in hand Chris cannot move rather he can only rotate to adjust his aim, subsequently making RE5 a stop and pop sort of game. Secondly, a lot of people just seem to be turned off by the fact that the RE5 demo has presented itself as an HD version of RE4, namely by having an opening level which is quite similar to its predecessor.
Afternoon Snack
Regarding the first and largest complaint, I would just like to say this: use control Type D, adjust the sensitivity to fast, use the 180 degree quick turn and run around for more than 10 minutes at the start of the demo just to get to grips with the controls because yes they are different, and yes you will need to spend some of your precious time to get used to them. After doing this and after running through the two demo levels a few times, I found myself capable of handling every single situation the game threw at me.
People seem to feel that different must therefore be bad, but in the case of RE5 all it means is that there is a learning curve involved. But it seems that the more sophisticated gamers of today aren’t so interested in having to learn a game, rather their satisfaction arises from whether or not they can pick up a game instantly by associating it with other games.
“Hey, I can’t strafe like I can in Dead Space, WTF?!”
“What?! No run-and-gun like in Gears and Uncharted?? This game is so getting a 1/10!”
I’ll say this once. Resident Evil 5 is not Gears of Evil nor is it Resident Space. You can digest that for what it’s worth but first off take a look at the initial complaints about Killzone 2 for example. During previews the weighty controls were instantly knocked for not being similar to COD4 or Halo 3 controls which have somehow been deemed as being the “pinnacle” of all first person shooters. Yet now that reviewers have had more time to get comfortable with the game and are finally able to associate Killzone 2 controls with Killzone 2 and not with any other game, those complaints have slowly disappeared to the 9’s and 10’s that the game has been receiving as of late. Of course Killzone 2 is not for everyone and Resident Evil 5 isn’t either. Though Resident Evil 5 is not the same survival “horror” game that its predecessors were, it still is a game about surviving against brain sucking enemies with half a clip of ammo and a crate smashing knife. You’re supposed to feel claustrophobic when enemies rush at you, you’re supposed to feel uncomfortable and in harms way when taking out enemies, you’re not supposed to destroy anything and everything that moves like in Left 4 Dead, you’re not the parkour specialist from Mirror’s Edge who can outrun any and all pursuers, you do need to take your time to make every shot count, you are supposed to strategize and mix in when to fire, when to heal, when to melee, and when to slash.
Are the controls meant to be an artificial mechanism that forces you to experience all of that? Yes. So why should this be acceptable? Because whether you want to believe it or not all games are artificial by design. They are for the most part contrived funnels which are designed to push you through an experience. RE5 controls are not broken. So give it some time and patience because if RE4 should be any indication, it would be a shame to see people purposefully miss out on what should definitely be a fantastic game come March 2009 simply because they didn’t give the controls enough time and patience to click.
RE5 Co-op
All that I have mentioned also ties into the final complaint that many gamers are having. RE5 is simply RE4 HD. Firstly, what has been shown is only a snippet of the entire game, a snippet that’s probably taken from the “tutorial” level in RE5. Also, two things about RE5 already make it a different experience from RE4; online/offline co-op and the new inventory system. Both of these things work to compliment each other. While you’re no longer an individual commando amongst a sea of zombies, the developers have worked to replace that missing tension by giving you the opportunity to strategize and share spoils with your co-op partner in order to survive. And yes, you will mostly likely at one point or another be forced to do this switcheroo while enemies are at your throat. Tension removed, tension added.
If RE5 is still not your thing after reading this article, than so be it. Just remember that there’s a reason why no perfect game exists, and that’s because no perfect video game formula exists. Play games for what they are, and instead of for what they are not.
Against the sea of complainers, I for one am glad that I’m only a month away from experiencing Resident Evil 5.
Man, thank you. If I wanted it to play like Dead Space, I’d finish dead space. I haven’t finished it because I’m in the middle and it’s gotten dreadfully repetitive. So much so that I’ve gone back to RE4, and I’m playing that now. The RE4/5 controls are intuitive in their own way once you spend some quality time with them. For me, I simply can’t play the RE5 demo with the new control schemes, I HAVE to play with the RE4 type. It catches on, so much so that I actually popped Uncharted in the other day and spent a few seconds trying to figure out what was wrong with my controller.
Games shouldn’t feel like other games. Killzone shouldn’t feel like Call of Duty. Resident Evil shouldn’t feel like Dead Space. Sometimes this requires adapting to new controller layouts, like we used to, back in every other generation of consoles. How boring would games be if everything became standardized? It doesn’t have to be realistic, just fun, and RE4 is a VERY fun game. Personally, I find it more fun than Gears, Dead Space, CoD1-5 (not 2… 2 holds a special place in my heart), Resistance, Halo, whatever. Even if it’s RE4-2, it’s gonna be a BLAST, especially if the demo is any indication.