Resident Evil 5 Dev Talks Demo Feedback 114
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.
Control Scheme (Score:4, Interesting)
In other words, everyone really hated the control scheme, but we don't really care what the customers think. We know better than them. It's not like they've played FPSs or Zombie games before and know what they like.
I played the demo. The controls were horrid. It -acts- like FPS controls, except that you can only turn very slowly, you can't move and shoot, and basically just can't deal with everything that's going on without a lot of grief.
I am by no means King of FPSs, but I know a good control scheme when I use it.
On the other hand, they're following the same tradition that has prevented me from playing every other RE game: Horrid controls.
As for the decision becoming clear once the game's out... It's already clear! Hubris, ignorance and laziness. Period.
Race (Score:5, Interesting)
Of course, nobody cared that the first 4 games featured white zombies.
Also, I'd imagine that if the game, set in Africa, featured exclusively white zombies, there would be just as much "controversy" surrounding it.
Race Issue (Score:3, Interesting)
I have not seen the trailer, but if the author is correct then this issue isn't as clear cut and it can't be dismissed as a black guy getting excessively defensive. I also wonder whether the reason the pre-zombie people are shown as dangerous is by intention, not due to racial prejudice but instead because it builds tension, or whether the developers thought showing the player character interacting with nice friendly local children and then soon after blowing their heads off wouldn't be taken well by players (sometimes it is nice to have clear good & evil although perhaps a game like RE5 would actually be better with more grey area to make players think?).
Overall I recommend that people who have skipped the race article link thinking it is a load of bollocks have a read, although the guys style annoys me and it is light on details there is more to it than you might think.
Re:Race Issue (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:Control Scheme (Score:2, Interesting)
I couldn't agree with you more. I Played through half the demo and because of the horrid controls, and my record of breaking controllers over my knee when games frustrate me, this game will be a pass for me.
The other RE games weren't nearly as bad as this. Another gripe I have is that I'd rather take care of myself in a game rather than having to babysit another AI computer player who can't shoot for beans.