Resident Evil 4 Discussion (and the rest of the series)

Well, I haven't seen a thread on this, so I decided to start one up for all fans of this series.

It is indeed, one of my favorite series of all time. One of the few games that freak me out and gets my heart pumping.

I swear, there are times in these games where I pause and hesitate for a few moments before entering a room because it just freaks me out.

And then there are other times where I have to stop playing because I don't feel ready to venture into a certain area. For example, an underground passage or sewer because we all know that means spiders. And BIG ones. I'm terribly arachnaphobic.

But you know, I always keep going. I just get so engrossed in these games. So much so, that I can forgive its problems (controls).

Anyway, in 2004, Resident Evil 4 will be unleashed upon us only for the GameCube. And I am excited as hell.

For one thing, we finally get to play as Leon Kennedy again. Who is just a total bad ass in my opinion.

Second... the controls.

Finally, Capcom has gotten its head out of the gutter and will be giving us full 3D analog control. No more stick shift like controls. You want to go right, turn right. Want to turn around quickly and go the other way, just do it. No more "rotate, forward, rotate, forward, rotate, backward". Because lets face it, while I am used to the Resident Evil controls, they have to go. It's clunky and doesn't work in a fast paced action sequence, such as facing multiple hunters, fast enemies and certain bosses. It's a love it or hate it relationship. You either love the games that you'll put up with it... or you don't.

And as such, we can no to a certain degree control the camera when needed so we can better explore the setting and home in on a zombie because the game will be, like Code Veronica, fully in 3D. But unlike Code Veronica, the game will take advantage that it's in 3D.

Now, my biggest fear was that the game would lose its cinematic style due to this. Because it's that style that causes tension and those "freak out" moments". But, fear not, as the game will still use the fixed and static dynamic camera angles as the other games in the series. But, when need be, such as to investigate or track a monster, you can adjust the camera slightly for a better view or aim. You can't do this in every instance, as to preserve the mood of the game, but when really important. Which I'm glad. The stylish angles are what make the game for me.

And this works out pretty cool, as you're now equipped with a flashlight so you can point and get a better view.

And the visuals also look amazing. The engine is using full 3D like Code Veronica instead of the pre rendered backgrounds, yet the game doesn't look like Code Veronica at all. From the screenshots and teaser trailer, Capcom has done a bang up job because the backgrounds and settings look as if they were pre-rendered. Almost photo realistic, like Resident Evil and Resident Evil 0 for the GameCube, but it's full 3D.

To get an idea of the way the engine will run, think Devil May Cry, but following strictly the Resident Evil formula. After all, the series are slow paced survival horror games, not action fests like DMC.

Because, a little known fact, is that DMC was supposed to be Resident Evil 4 but that got scrapped when the game turned into something different and then got made into a fast paced action game.

But notice how in Resident Evil 4, shares many traits with Dante looks wise and it takes place in a castle too.

Anyway, who else is looking forward to this game?

So far, we know this:

You play as Leon

He is infected with one of the virus'

Takes place in Europe, as he is trying to infiltrate Umbrella Corporation

One of the main areas the game takes place in is a castle.

FULL 3D ANALOG CONTROL!

Anyway.

What about the other games? What are your favorites? Least favorites?

Mine (from favorite to least):

Code Veronica
Resident Evil 2
Resident Evil
Resident Evil 0
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis

Resident Evil 3 is last on my list, because while it has a great premis

 

I am a new fan to the series I have only thus far beat Resident Evil on GC, and am SLOWLY working my way through Resident Evil 0, I really gotta sit down one day and play through zero. But yes the Resident Evil series is becoming my second favorite game series (after Zelda of course).

I am excited about RE 4, and have watched the trailer for it about *realistically* 30 some times thanks to my friend who is SUPER obsessed, and a hardcore fan since the beginning. The part where the Deer head falls to the ground all bloody and rabid like is SUPER freaky seeing that I have like two deer heads in my house, that really scares me...

About the controls, I don't know what peoples problems with them are, its not supposed to be a fast paced game so why the heck are people all pissed about 'em I had no problems with them. I suppose the change is good though because I know a lot of people who are turned off by them alone, I myself never really have a problem with controls, just camera angles.

To end my post I have a question, Do you know anything about the new "spirit" like zombies or whatever they are, because I myself think that would be kinda cool, because viruses and zombies don't really scare me but when it comes to the supernatural (good example Fatal Frame).....that is freaky as heck.

Forcebewitya!

 

Resident Evil 2 was one of my first Playstaion games. Now I have them all(exept the Survivor ones, thos are dumb) and have beaten them all. I just want to know what happens to Barry. He dies and he doesnt die, and I think he is in RE3 and I want to know whats going on

 

I'm somewhat out the current 'loop' with videogames (had myself a life the past few months ). What's the latest on Resi 4? (Release, latest info, screens, etc).

 

Anyone hear of Resident Evil: Outbreak?

Seems great!

A party of a dozen ppl working together working against zombies?

Plus Online play?

Sounds good.

 

Resident Evil 4 is slated for a 2nd quater 2004 release.

For info, read my post above.

As for Outbreak... it's gotten not so hot reviews because Capcom cut out many of the scenerios and areas, reducing them to 5.

And it's online, but you can't communicate with your 3 other team members except for sending a pre-scripted message from a list.

So basically, it's like playing with sims the reviews have said. Which is a shame and defeats the purpose of online play, especially on the interactive fun you can have with friends. More so when you turn into a zombie and can kill your team members.

I was looking forward to this, but now, I will wait and see if Capcom improves it for American release and adds those needed features.

As for the controls. You're right. This isn't a fast paced game at all.

But... that's the problem. There are moments when there will be a highly fast paced sequence in the game and the shift gear like controls will get in the way. Especially in the later games, such as RE2 and especially 3, which is the only one that is survival non stop running away from Nemesis action.

Or, in other cases, you'll be faced off against a slow creature... but you'll be surrounded wall to wall in a small area with 6 of them around you.

And then the clunkiness of the controls show.

The first ResEvil is not so bad in this regard, thankfully. Although the Crimson Heads in the GC version, which are resurrected zombies who run faster than you and can open doors, are made harder than they should be cause of the controls.

 

I started a thread on this but it's obviously buried in the sand. I'm dying for more info on RE4. Unlike a lot of people, the gameplay/controls don't bother me. I love the story, the characters, the music, the atmosphere, etc. I think it's an awesome series.

 

I'm a new fan of the series. I beat Resident Evil and Resident Evil O on Gamecube. After this, I went out and bought Code: Veronica for PS2 and beat it. I'll be first in line to buy Resident Evil 4. In the future I'll look back on these games with fond memories.

 

Well, none of us here have a problem with the controls obviously.

We wouldn't be fans if we did.

The controls take getting used to and once you do, it's almost second nature.

But the controls are outdated. When ResEvil came out for PSX and Saturn, they didn't have analog controls yet. So it was made for a digital padin mind.

But that is not to say, that the controls cannot be improved upon. Especially for the fast pased action segments where you find yourself surrounded by 3 quick hunters.

 

Up!

 

Apparently CAPCOM showed the game off to the press at several events this past week or so, yet they aren't allowed to reveal anything. IGN and other sources are reporting that "the world will be in shock when they find out the truth behind RE4."

Online play perhaps?
Tie-in to RE: Apocalypse?
Completely revamped design (think RE2's incident)

Who knows. But I'm excited as all hell about this game.

 

Onlin play will be covered in Outbreak, and Apocalypse ties in to RE3. I hope RE4 mentions Barry. I want to know if he was supposed to live or not

 

I really enjoyed RE:CV on DreamCast and was considering getting the RE remake and/or RE 0 for GC. Is it worth playing them, or should I just hold out and wait for RE 4?

 

They're so worth it.

Especially the remake. It is another beast, so even if you played the original on the Sega Saturn or PSX, it won't be the same.

Graphics and amazing and a really great game.

Resident Evil 0 is also a great game. It is not as good as remake, Resident Evil 2 or Code Veronica... but it is better than the 3rd one in my opinion. You can say it is the second weakes in the series, but only because those particular 3 games were so amazing so it's hard to live up to that.

It's not up their with the rest of the series, but it's still great. The dual character play is cool and the final boss fight is just wicked awsome. And the whole train scenerio was very creepy and well thought out.

Graphics are also stunning.

The drawback to this game is that it is too short and also the lack of item boxes, instead relying on placing items anywhere on the ground. Which is cool, but backtracking can make it annoying.

Both games are greatest hits right now, being able to pick them up for 20 bucks a pop.

So for 40 bucks, you get two great games.

Granted, they're no Code Veronica (which is the best in the series so far as well as the longest and with the best and most varied ambience... in my opinion of course), but they're still great AAA games.

 

I love the RE games. I've played them all! Heck I even fought through the Gun Survivor games using just my hand controllers. Gotta get a light gun. LOL. The second one on the Cruz ship and then a island was actually really awesome.

I am pumped for RE4 on the GC. RE0 was fantastic and I loved the Remake. Code Veronica I played on my PS2 and I didn't get any of the GC ports for the ps1 games but I did play the ps1 versions and loved each one.



I am a bit worried about RE outbreak for the PS2 though. From what I've read it's more of a Multi player game. I know Online Multi player is the "future" of the biz and all but Heck, I'm 32 years old and I just want to play by myself. I don't feel like fighting 14 year olds on line in the middle of the night. No offense. I don't mind them making a multi player game but I hope the single player RPG and story games do not suffer because of it.


On a related note I also loved Dino Crisis 1 and 2. 1 was RE all the way. 2 was still fun but a bit different. I tried the Gun games for those too but they were not as fun. I have an Xbox now so I plan on giving Dino Crisis 3 a rent.

 

Behold: The never before seen RE4

Looks amazing. Now my problem is: where are the zombies? Umbrella? Not to be found, apparently. Some new details out of the magazine (Game Informer, the source of the images) state that Leon is sent to South America, on assignment from the President, to guard his daughter. She has been captured or something in this village - and the villagers are in some eerie trance, and they are the enemies of the game, not zombies. Of course, this could be all wrong - this is just what I'm hearing from several sites and message boards.

In any case, the actual game looks stunning, but again, I wonder what happened to the zombies.

edit: here are the details that are floating around:

1. RE4 takes place in 2004, 6 years after RE2.
2. Umbrella is gone and with them,...the zombies.
3. Leon is hired by the president to guard his daughter. Before he can take the job, she is kidnapped and taken to a village in south america where all the villagers hunt him down in an eerie trance.
4. The worlds are completely wide open.
5. No more door animations or pre-rendered cutscenes. Everything is done in-engine.
6. Areas feature a few very brief loadtimes.
7. Enemies will react to damage done to them in places. Shooting an enemie in the foot will make them hobble.
8. Villagers are armed with sickles, axes, pitchforks, and many more sharp objects.Which they can throw at you. These are not mindless zombies.
9. You can shoot the thrown objects out of the air. If you time it right.
10. There is an action button. For instance, you can shoot an enemie and then quickly close the gap and kick them in the chest. Also to move objects in front of doors to keep villagers from you. Also to puch a ladder full of enemies off from you and more.
11. In a later level, you are in complete darkness and unable to see anything until the moonlight illuminates the villagers.
12. The villagers are smart. In later levels they get smarter. For instance, if you shoot at one, it won't continue to go towards you. It may run away and if you follow him, it could purposefully lead you to an area where 6 more await with bow guns. They are more human.
1. They game can be played in first person or one of two new views. They are basically slight variations on a close third person camera.
2. It must be viewed in widescreen. If your tv doesn't support the 16:9 aspect ratio, the game will feature black bars on top and bottom of the screen to make sure you experience the game to its fullest on a 4:3 monitor. HDTV users, the game supports 480 progressive scan. This is needed because,...
3. In 3rd person, Leon fills the far left side of the screen. It feels like you are playing a first person shooter even withour Leon on the screen.
4. Controls are them same as before. However, health and ammo will now be onscreen.
5. Even with the old controls, the new views make it feel like an entirely different game.

 

You know the game will still be cool without the Zombies as long as the keep the same Atmosphere of game play. Mixing it up a bit will keep the zombie scenario fresh for a future use. Besides it was always the other monsters that got me. The zombies were usually just a way to keep the ammo supply low. With maybe the Exception of the Crimson heads in the re-make but then I was pretty anal about burning the bodies so I only ran into a couple of them.

I like the idea behind Dino Crisis 3 with the space ship.

It would be cool to have a RE in the far future with some new weapons like Lazers and what not. Of course SH3 you could play the second time through with a lightsaber so I guess it would be hard to top that.

 

Well, I'm thinking that the new virus (the Progenitor) is an upgraded virus that puts people in a trance-like zombie state - just not, you know, your classic flesh-rotting ones. I think that's pretty cool. It will also make the game more challenging, and it will put a new twist on the whole zombie aspect (like in 28 Days Later, how the zombies could move really fast and actually pose a threat). In any case, this looks awesome. The atmosphere seems incredible.

 

My edit time ran out, so:

"In 1997, Resident Evil shocked the video game world. It signle-handedly introduced gamers to a new type of gaming thrill, labeled "survival horror" by its creator, Shinji Mikami. Its use of cinematic camera angels, shocking surprises, and panic-inducing zombies set a standard that video game creators have been chasing ever since.

Resident Evil 4 is set to change the industry yet again. Long in development, Resident Evil 4 was first shown in the U.S. at E3 2003. At that time, the game looked to play almost exactly like its predecessors. And, truth be told, it did all the way up until about six months ago, when Mikami stepped down as the head of Capcom's fabled Production Studio 4. In an effort to get back to what he does best, the legendary game creator took over as the director of Resident Evil 4.

Why the change? Mikami simply had become tired of spending too much time managing and not enough time being creative with his team. Talking to the group of over 50 developers working on RE 4, you can sense the inspiration that Mikami brings to the project. He told us story after story of how is team was going to do anything and everything to make this Resident Evil the most yet.

Tired of where the series was going, Mikami decided to take it in a new directio. Change the perspective in a Resident Evil game? Remove the zombies? Sounds completely insane, but that's indeed what has happened.

"I remember playing [Resident Evil] Zero and saying to myself that this is just more of the same," confided Mikami. "This is why I wanted to change the system. With the new system I once again feel nervous and scared when I play it.

The new system is suprisingly like the original, but also so unique and fresh that you can't help but love the innovation that Mikami has brought to this sequel. For one, the game can now be played in either the first-person perspective or from one of the two other, better (at least in our opinion) views which are basically slight variations on a close third-person camera.

But don't think for a second that Resident Evil 4 handles like any other third-person games you have played. For example, it must be viewed in widescreen mode. If your TV doesn't support the 16:9 aspect ratio, the game will feature black bars along the top and bottom to make sure you experience the game to its fullest on a 4:3 monitor. HDTV users will be happy to know the game supports 480 progressive scan, and will fill the entire screen when played on a widescreen TV.

This window size is crucial to how the game system works. When in third-person, Leon fills the far left side of the screen, which we thought would make aiming nearly impossible until we actually got our hands on the title. The game really feels like you are playing a first-person shooter, with or without Leon on the screen.

The controls themselves are virtually the same as the classic RE configuration players are used to. All the movement is handled by the left joystick, you hold the right trigger to aim, A to fire, down and B to make a quick turnaround, and the menu screen is almost completely identical to previous iterations. However, gamers will be happy to hear that both health and ammo are now represented onscreen.

Even though the controls feel eerily familiar, they are far less clumsy with the camera fixed to the gamer's perspective. In fact, we were surprised to find that RE plays like an almost entirely different game.

Hands On

Once again, RE4 follows the story of Leon, and takes place in 2004, six years after RE2. While Mikami promised us that there would be some past characters making a surprise visit in the game, many of the familiar elements of the RE universe have changed. gone is the Umbrella Corporation, and with it, the zombies that have long been the hallmark of the series. The story opens with Leon being hired by the President to protect his daughter. But before he can get on the job she is kidnapped, which leads Leon on a strange trip to a South American village where all the villagers h

 

I admit I was slightly skeptical when I first heard about the storyline, but the more I read and think about it, the better it seems it will be.

But wasn't the earlier previews of the game suggesting something quite... different to what we have now? Reminds me of the RE 1.5/2 deal. Maybe it's just me.

Now the only problem I see with the game (for now) is the one character / one route only deal. RE1 was cool with two different characters, resulting in two different games. RE2 was awesome, with two characters, two alternate storylines resulting in four games. Nemesis unfortunatly didn't have the multi-games, although the whole game and Mercenary mode made up for it. CVX was a good long game, switching characters just as I was getting sick of Claire. 0, the new partner system was fun, but again, only one (shorter than CVX) storyline. I hope this game can at least some splitting story paths.

 

Cool report but I'll take it with a grain of salt because Capcom premiered last month in January a playable build, but the game reporters and gameing sites there were asked to sign a non disclosure agreement until March.

which could either mean lawsuit or banishment and non of the pro gaming mags and sites would risk that and I doubt Capcom would have invited fan site members.

I buy the first part, as I've heard bits and pieces before. It's the "hands on" that I'm having trouble buying yet.

Also, all reports have show the possibility that Leon might be infected and that he is in Europe infiltrating Umbrella (hence one of the castle settings already established)

 

wow. that Summary sounds awesome! I'll be getting that game for sure!

 

Well, I feel inclined to agree with Son of the Tear. Changing the plot line of the series in such a way would be totally absurd. No Umbrella? No Zombies? doesn't sound like RE to me. If they do indeed decide to go through with this whole South Africa plot line, I will be quite saddend. Also I thought it was confirmed that you would be going to Umbrella corp. headquarters in Europe, and if any of you read the novels (I don't but my friend has) the fourth book ends with Leon, Claire (I think), and some other members of STARS going to Europe. Anyway, I really dont like the African stuff, and I was nervous from the start at the ghost like apparitions in the trailor.

Forcebewitya!

 

There is a funny thing that happens when games come out with Sequels.

You get some people who hate it if it's the same.. Saying they should have changed it up..bla bla bla.. its boring... bla bla bla.
Then if they do change it you get some people complaining.. bla bla bla. it's not the same bla bla bla.



Fact is we don't know the story. The Thing that causes these people to go nuts may very well be an advanced form of the T or G virus there fore wrapping it up with the other games. Umbrella may be gone like they said but I will bet once we get to the end of that game we'll see there is some connection to them in some way or another. That connection may be found by going back to an old Umbrella headquarters in Europe as you suggested after you escape the activity in Africa.

So Do not judge. Free your mind to something new. Trust me if it bombs they?ll go back to Zombies.

Besides it sounds to me like it'll be Zombies who are just not all the way gone yet. They?ll still have some motor skills allowing them to use weapons and tools along with being able to move faster. Sounds cool to me.

 

Not true at all. I welcome change. What I'm saying, is that this hands on report seems iffy, due to the fact that all gaming press, magazine or online, had to sign a non disclosure agreement stating they cannot divulge anything until mid March.

And I doubt that the select press invited to the event would breach a contract so easily. I can see a fan site doing that, but for security purposes, i don't see Capcom inviting a fan site over.

But I dig change. That is why Code Veronica is my favorite. Code Veronica is the first and for now, the only ResEvil to be in full 3D. It took you away from Raccoon City and we got huge varied environments, such as the prison, antartica, etc, etc. And it was long and a much faster paced game.