Let's talk about Resident Evil/Biohazard again!

[Takumaji]

I've just completed RE5 for the second time, my first run was back when it came out, that's why the 2nd run really felt a bit like playing it for the first time again.

In short, I like it a lot, plays very smooth and graphics and music/sound-fx are great, I just miss the atmosphere and some elements of the prequel. RE4 is easily one of my favorite games of all time, I knew right from the start that it will be hard for RE5 to top it in terms of settings and the cheap 'n gothic yet very fitting atmosphere. Just take the graveyard and the church during thunderstorm for example, or all the other segments that take place at night. They slightly overdid it with Salazar and Saddler, but still, the atmosphere the storyline created worked very well for me.

I also miss RE4's merchants and the corresponding upgrade, selling/buying and inventory system. In RE4, Capcom thankfully abandoned the very strict and limited system of the previous REs in favor of one that is part of what makes it so awesome, being able to carry around and use lots of different weapon combinations and upgrade them to the max was one of the reasons why I completed RE4 dozens of times. You can still do that (at least the upgrading) in RE5 but overall, its upgrade and inventory system is more strategical and thus not as easy-going and fun than the former one. IMO, etc. On my way through RE5, I constantly ran out of inventory space... yeah I know, that was an integral gameplay element of the old REs that many people still hold in high regard... that and the early tank controls always put me off and I was glad that things got greatly improved in RE4. In this light, RE5 is a step backwards.

Then there's Sheva in 1P... sometimes she really gave me headaches with her constant using of first aid sprays if only a tiny fraction of the energy bar is missing, her ammo wasting and questionable use of weapons against larger enemies.

Haven't played the game in 2P co-op yet.

Overall, RE5 feels a lot like a military/commando shooter to me, there's something in the atmosphere of the game that doesn't seem right. RE4 took place in modern times as well but almost anything in the game except for the base of the final chapter looks old, time-worn, alarmingly rotten and evil, this is what I miss in RE5. There's too much technical stuff (oil plant, ship, Uroboro research facility, etc.) that doesn't give me that nice and creepy feeling of being part of a ghost story. The slum village at the start, the marshlands and the ruins work quite well in this regard, as well as the underground garden.

Creature-wise I would have loved to see a return of a new Regeneradores design, those guys really gave me the creeps. The reapers are crap IMO but I kinda like the lickers. The section with lots of those beasts at the monarch room entrance is very intense and great fun, that is, if you prevent Sheva from using the elevator, giving her covering fire is much more difficult IMO than battling it out with ten lickers chasing you around, except of course you have lots of rifle rounds at your disposal.

In terms of the storyline and references to former events in the RE universe, RE5 does a better job than 4 IMO. In RE4, the usual Umbrella suspects were keen on getting their hands on a first-gen plaga sample but overall, the old saga only provided a blurry background for Saddler's ridiculous world domination by infiltration plot, his own research and the Salazar family secrets concerning las plagas, while in RE5, the events surrounding the remains of Umbrella and the Tricell plaga type-3 research into the suitability for bioweapons not only brings us right back into the middle of the old storyline but also is in tune with current affairs and fears and thus slightly more plausible.

 

[Taiso]

Good, fair assessment of the experience and comparisons to RE 4.

I'd welcome a RE6 that was more like in the tone of the Lost In Nightmares DLC. That expansion proved you can still do old school survival horror and even in a co-op environment, it can work just fine. All it was missing was old school zombies.

I prefer the inventory system of RE 4 over RE 5 because it's almost like a puzzle game on its own. It's actually fun trying to maximize the space.

I think Capcom was a little TOO concerned about the co-op aspect of the game, and that's why there was less emphasis on the emotion of fear and more on the action. RE seems like an odd series to test developmental waters with (although I give them big props for taking a chance with their main cash cow,) and it's clear they were in the early stages of mandating social gameplay into their AAA titles. It works better with action games and more 'zany fun' fare like Dead Rising 2, but for the next RE, they're probably better off taking a cue from the Lost In Nightmares DLC.

I wonder how RE 5 might have come off if it would have been largely the same game but without Sheva at your side and using the RE 4 inventory system.

Also, I like the levels and cast of Mercenaries in RE 4 more than in RE 5. If you add the characters from RE 5 Mercenaries and RE 5 Mercenaries reunion, you have:

5 versions of Chris Redfield
5 versions of Sheva Aomar
2 versions of Jill Valentine
2 versions of Albert Wesker
Josh Stone
Excellia Gione
Barry Burton
Rebeca Chambers

Why the repeats when you have such a rich cast to utilize? Where are:

Jack Krause
Leon Kennedy
Ada Wong
Claire Redfield
Hunk
Carlos Oliviera
Steve Burnside
Billy Coen

It doesn't REALLY matter what characters they use, but if you're going to bother putting different characters from the series' history in Mercenaries Reunion anyway, why not bring back more of the other cast? It's not a fatal misstep or anything, but it would have been nice.

 

[Magician]

RE1
When it originally came out on PS1 I ate it up. The first survival horror I had ever played, I enjoyed the campy presentation (live-action intro) and the semi-serious scientific undertones. I never played RE1 to the max (speed run for the unlimited rocket launcher) but I played through it more than once thanks to the various ports to GC, DS, etc. But after the improvements were made to both the GC and DS versions I cannot go back to the original PS1 version, the lack of a Down+A 180-degree turn hurts too much.

RE2
After enjoyng RE1 so much I was jonesing for RE2. I bought it day one and enjoyed it enough to play through both discs. Mister X was scary as all get out. I wanted more, and so I waited for RE3.

RE3
It was good, but it was a side story and not an actual sequel. I wanted the story to move forward, not see it play out from a different angle.

RE:CV
Here's where the series started to lose me. I didn't care enough to finish.

RE4
Utter disgust, I didn't like the new direction the series was going at all. Pass.

RE5
Ate it up, mostly because of the co-op. After playing through RE5 I've come to grips with the series being more of an action game rather than a survival horror game. With that in mind I'd like to go back to RE4 one of these days should a remake or a revisit ever be made.

 

[Takumaji]

Taiso,

I also have the feeling that the focus on co-op on Capcom's part lead to concessions that are part of my problem with the atmosphere. Playing with a partner that (theoretically) is more or less on par with your abilities is very different to guiding a weak girl (Ashley in RE4) all the way through a living nightmare.

Magician,

personally I like RE:CV, maybe that's because I'm not a day-one RE fan. It was RE4 which brought me into the series, afterwards I really wanted to try out the classical ones. Started with RE0, got pissed off after a while and switched to RE:CV which I enjoyed a lot and completed twice. Then I bought REmake, but before that I played the original RE on PSX. Great experience but sometimes it felt like a chore, completed it but never felt the urge to play it again. REmake is better in many ways, still give it a spin every now and then.

RE2 and 3 are still waiting to be played.

And do yourself a favor and play RE4, preferrably on the Cube, the PS2 port is good but not as good as the original. Don't know about the enhanced Wii version, haven't played it yet.

I'd love to have a super-enhanced RE4make on 360.

EDIT:

I also want to add that the RE5 demo does not do the game justice. I remember that I felt quite disenchanted afterwards, it almost made me drop my plans to play the game. Releasing a half-assed demo like that was not a clever move IMO.

During the first few minutes of playing the full game, I couldn't cope with the new default controls at all but then I switched to RE4 control style and things went smoothly from then on.

Oh, and I HATE the real-time inventory access.

 

[daybona]

RE5 is easily my most played game of this generation. I started with campaign and played thru single player and co-op until I got to professional. Professional single player is simply not fun. I died directly at Sheva's feet too many times to mention.

Unlike campaign, Mercs is the gift that keeps on giving. I've beeing playing this for the last year and it keeps getting better. The fact that you can play it co-op makes it VERY fun. Now that I'm living together with my fiance the type of game that I play is largely based on what she likes. Fortunately, shes become quite the crack Mercs expert. We recently got over 200k on the ship level. For two people who have full time jobs and go to the gym thats quite and accomplishment IMO.

We played through campaign but she found it to be boring; long periods of nothing followed by a large assault of zombies. Granted, that IS the RE5 aesthetic, but I can understand where she's coming from. She found the steady stream of zombies to be more engaging and I have to say that I agree with her.

There is simply nothing like standing back to back holding off a horde of majinis and an executioner. Rushing to save a friend last minute or feeding them ammo while you get time is an incredible rush.

The fact that there are so many characters gives the game a great deal of longevity. I started out with shotgun characters. IMO, they take the least amount of skill to be effective with. But I've recently taken a liking to rifle and magnum characters. True, you have to be more accurate, but if you are, you can be VERY deadly. Barry Burton is one of my favorite of these types of characters.

Of the two versions of Mercs, Reunion is our favorite. My fiance likes Warrior Chris (for good reason, he's a beast) and I switch around quite a bit. I started off with Josh because of his weapon set, but stayed with him because he has the best set of taunts. A native African using 'gangsta' style taunts is simply comedy gold.

I've just recently settled into Fairy Tale Sheva. Her shotgun has sufficient damage and great capacity for crowd control and her magnum kills a base level executioner in three shots. Also, the fact that she has five gold eggs makes her nigh impossible to kill unless you get one-shotted.

As you can tell RE5 is my favorite game of this gen and for good reason. I see no signs of us getting bored and thats rare for a game thats nearly two years old. I've even considered getting a 3DS just for Mercs

 

[genjiglove]

RE4 Mercs was one of the funnest things in any game I've ever played. There was a period of about a year where, after accidentally breaking my PS2, the only "current" system I owned was a GC. I had already played the hell out of RE4, but in that time since I had nothing else to play I it was Mercs almost every day. I remember I was able to rack up some pretty high scores with Wesker in the Castle and Hunk in the Village, but nothing record breaking or anything.

But for some reason, I have barely touched RE5 Mercs. I remember being really pumped about its inclusion in the game, but I just didn't have the interest this time. Not sure why.

I'm with you on the real time inventory thing too, Tak. I hate that shit, in RE5 and in Dead Space. I can understand why they put it into RE5 though.

 

[Taiso]

personally I like RE:CV, maybe that's because I'm not a day-one RE fan.

I *AM* a day one RE fan and I like Code Veronica just fine. It's not the high point of the series, but I don't think it's a bad game at all. I've seen all the criticisms levied against CV throughout the years, but I don't agree with them.

From a narrative standpoint, I have a problem with Wesker turning into a superweapon. This game set the tone for the series right up until the end of RE 5. If you track the character's evolution, he goes from being a security chief at the Arkley research facility to some kind of cutrate version of 'Les Enfants Terrible' from MGS, complete with social conditioning and everything. There is this artifical sense of importance built up around the character that just doesn't need to be there. Even his resurrection is stretching it.

But then I thought about it. Yeah, I could break down the character's decisions and motivations and the plot contrivances required to bring him back to the story. I readily acknowledge that the monster he became is largely a retcon gone wildly beyond acceptable boundaries.

But this is RESIDENT EVIL. Hardly a narrative tour de force. If we were to honestly look at what you can suspend disbelief for, half the series' conceits are chucked out the window.

Wesker's a supervillain in a post modern sci-fi/horror pulp adventure series. Any further examination of the character or the impact of the game's events on the series is, IMO, an exercise in entropy.

A lot could be said about the Ashfords, their wacky island mansion and their deranged family relationships. But why bother? This kind of cheesy, gothic horror storytelling was bound to infect the series anyway. At one point or another, they were going to have to go in a different direction in order to try and keep it relevant to its fans. That different direction, whatever form it took, was bound to push some of those fans away. It was simply inevitable.

My only complaint about CV is that the zombie death physics seem kinda tame in the game. They don't lose limbs and their heads don't explode. Seems wierd to me.

It was RE4 which brought me into the series, afterwards I really wanted to try out the classical ones. Started with RE0, got pissed off after a while and switched to RE:CV which I enjoyed a lot and completed twice.

RE 0 was when *I* started to feel the series was getting stale and needed a change or a break. I felt the direction of the game was all wrong.

Prequel to RE 1-unnecessary
New villain and situation created for that entry in the series-unnecessary and nonsensical to the continuity (such as it is)
Rebeca Chambers as protagonist-nobdody asked for this
Billy Coen-interesting character and I understand why he needed to be a 'one and done' but ultimately pointless

See, a prequel should be about NOSTALGIA, not creating new situations and environments that seem unrelated to the series it's prefacing. If I was going to be saddled with playing Rebeca, I'd rather have played a game based on the events of the Caliban Cove novel or some other original story taking place AFTER RE 1.

The gameplay felt too familiar and even I, a hardcore RE fan at the time, just couldn't get into it. It was the first RE game I bought and didn't play immediately. It sat on the shelf for weeks. When I finally played it, I was initially underwhelmed despite the amazing GC graphics. Later, when I decided to give the game a fair chance, I discovered there were some very good things about it:

Dropping items.
Character switching system
Soundtrack
Revisiting familiar locales from older games

I found the game had some real value, but I had to distance myself from the series for a while to look at it more objectively and less like a fan hungry for another RE game. I wish they'd bring back the item dropping system, especially in a co-op situation.

Then I bought REmake, but before that I played the original RE on PSX. Great experience but sometimes it felt like a chore, completed it but never felt the urge to play it again. REmake is better in many ways, still give it a spin every now and then.

REmake is the superior game from a technical standpoint in all respects, but I was there at the very beginning and I can tell you that when I see and hear the familiar sights and sounds of the PSX version, it takes me back to the same feelings of excitement and wonder I felt back then. There is a sense of abstraction and player projection with the PSX build that I didn't feel with REmake. REmake was very concerned with its presentation, and it really showed. The PSX build, for all its foibles, felt like it was pushing boundaries, changing the way we play and interact with video games. It wasn'tthe first game to try survival horror or narrative heavy gameplay, but it's got to be the most successful one that really blew the doors open. I still feel that pioneer spirit in the PSX build when I play, even to this day.

But I recommend you play the original build of the game, or get the JP version. The Director's Cut has good alternate gameplay modes, but the soundtrack is pretty awful. The original OST adds so much flavor to the experience, honestly.

And do yourself a favor and play RE4, preferrably on the Cube, the PS2 port is good but not as good as the original. Don't know about the enhanced Wii version, haven't played it yet.

People want to case on the Wii version because of the waggle but it's got all the content of the PS2 version and I still maintain that the camera angle was made for light gun style controls. I say this, again, as an original RE fan (I bought a PSX specifically BECAUSE of my love for the original RE): The Wii build of RE 4 is the best version of that game. If I have one complaint, it's that it makes the game a little too easy. But the aiming controls and light gun mechanics are just a natural fit for the play style. I've messed around with RE 5 using the Move controls but the experience didn't capture me as much. I think I was in a lull period for RE when the Move came out. I'll have to revisit.

I also bought REmake and RE 0 for the Wii and have to say that they control and feel better than I thought they would. I think Capcom did a good job porting them over to the Wii's control scheme. I can play either version and can't say one is better than the other as an experience. It's your preference.

Oh, and I HATE the real-time inventory access.

Yeah, but it's a necessity for the game. It's either that or the other player is forced to wait while you manage inventory. Plus, it adds to the tension of exchanging items during co-op in real time, and I think this serves as an effective way of creating panic and apprehension.

I agree with you, it's tedious. But given the co-op nature of the game, it's necessary. The co-op also messes with inventory storage on other nonsensical leels that serve game balance first and logic second: so you mean to tell me an egg takes the same inventory space as a RPG? Limitation of the system, but it's still a funny notion.

 

[Takumaji]

I'm with you on the real time inventory thing too, Tak. I hate that shit, in RE5 and in Dead Space. I can understand why they put it into RE5 though.

I agree with you, it's tedious. But given the co-op nature of the game, it's necessary.

Yeah, it's cool in 2P co-op and all but they should have left it out of the 1P campaign. Ammo transfer would be possible without real-time access as well.

I also miss the RE4-style access to all info/documents and treasures. Sometimes I sat there and skimmed through various documents for a while or tried to combine treasures to make them more valuable (why did they take it out in RE5?), which was big fun and kinda relaxing.

The selling prices in RE5 are a joke, btw. In RE4, you could make a pretty Peseta with picking up stuff (ammo, weapons) you don't need and selling the lot to a merchant while in RE5, you not even get decent money for upgraded weapons.

But then I thought about it. Yeah, I could break down the character's decisions and motivations and the plot contrivances required to bring him back to the story. I readily acknowledge that the monster he became is largely a retcon gone wildly beyond acceptable boundaries.

But this is RESIDENT EVIL. Hardly a narrative tour de force. If we were to honestly look at what you can suspend disbelief for, half the series' conceits are chucked out the window.

Wesker's a supervillain in a post modern sci-fi/horror pulp adventure series. Any further examination of the character or the impact of the game's events on the series is, IMO, an exercise in entropy.

Well put, RE always followed a cheesy post-modern horror plot that doesn't exactly scream (chronological) accuracy or consistency, that's right what I miss a bit in RE5. The storybits seem too forced to make them plausible or congruent with current affairs and all that jazz, I mean, the Africa location alone is one of those ideas that feel overdone. Lacks a bit of soul.

RE 0 was when *I* started to feel the series was getting stale and needed a change or a break. I felt the direction of the game was all wrong.

I bought RE0 when I was at the height of my RE4 craze and wanted to get the bigger picture of the series. I chose Zero mainly because of the graphical and gameplay improvements (or so I thought) over the old PSX and DC games that really weren't my cup of tea at first. One of my friends was a huge day-one RE fan as well, sometimes I watched him play the game for hours on end but never spent more than a few minutes playing it myself because I couldn't cope with the tank controls, the overall high difficulty and all that puzzle/riddle and backtracking stuff.

My achievements in RE4 and the relative ease with which I breezed through all difficulty settings encouraged me to finally give the old games a try but I still had the same old problems with the controls, cameras, limited inventory, backtracking for save tapes, etc. Strangely, the very same didn't bother me at all in RE:CV. Maybe I still wasn't ready for the old-style REs at that point. After I had completed CV two times, my problems with the classic RE style were gone.

I still feel that pioneer spirit in the PSX build when I play, even to this day.

True, that's why I also played the original PSX RE, even though some of the graphics didn't age very well.

This and other problems got fixed in REmake, that's why I prefer it over the PSX game.

 

[SouthtownKid]

Okay, here's me talking about RE again.

I love the first one, still.

I like 2 & 4. Not as much as 1.

I enjoyed 3 okay. Not nearly as much as 2, but almost as much as 4.

I haven't played 5.

I hate all the other shit games in the franchise. 0 was unforgivably boring and CV was possibly the biggest disappointment in my entire video game playing career (gets an F).

 

[Dr Shroom]

I own 1-5 on various systems and CV for the Dreamcast. The only games I've finished were CV (in japanese) and 4 and 5. Kinda weird if you think about it. Oh and the inventory system in 5 was bullshit, sorry. 4 did it right. Umbrella and Darkside Chronicles were okay I guess.
Never played 0.

Oh and matrix wesker? So lame.

 

[evil wasabi]

Good discussion.

My issue with 5 is the buddy system. This is typical Japanese thinking that if it's not broke, fix it. And it's a really fucking stupid mentality and their biggest issue as a culture. Want an analogy?

The Nissan Skyline.

They make these incredible things and then fuck it all up. Occasionally they make incredible things like the Supra and then poof, disappears. I don't get those guys, but the Supra was/is a timeless design and if they minted 5000 of those right now this year with no changes to the design whatsoever, they would see like hotcakes (albeit illegally because this would require them not to put in the lame ass seatbelt warning sound).

But yeah, back to RE5. I got over how fucking stupid the buddy system was, and enjoyed RE5 a lot. Maybe more than RE4, which was saying something because RE4 was one the best game I had ever played, period. And I loved mercenaries mode. Can't say I loved mercenaries in RE5 though. Something about the layouts of the levels. I don't know. Not really into the enemies either. I'd love to get some mercenaries with zombies, you know. Not infected people hosting parasites wtf.

I wonder if RE will bring back zombies.

 

[BigFred]

RE 0 - I don't like it when companies try and tell you one story and then hope everyone forgets the facts years down the track. The Rebecca we see in RE0 is nothing like the Rebecca we saw in the original game.

It's hard to see her as being a capable member. She's an 18 year old field medic who had been with Bravo for one month, specialising in herbs and so on. She's not an assault machine like Jill. I guess Capcom just wanted us to remember the REmake

To be honest I thought RE 0 would tell Rebecca's story during the events of RE1, not before. I did like the game however, it was good just not great.

RE:CV - The most memorable part of this game is Wesker returning and pimp smacking Claire before booting her in the face. That guy is nasty...

The villain needs a face, I mean we know it's the corporation known as Umbrella, but we need someone to represent them. Wesker was a good choice, he pretty much fucked up S.T.A.R.S initially, so why not finish the job. RE 5 did not dissapoint with Wesker either.

Other than that there isn't too much to remember from the game. Will we ever see Steve again? Who knows?

RE 3 - Was my favourite out of the old style RE's. When played on normal, the game made it feel like true survival horror. Ammo was scarce, enemies were tougher and to add to the drama there's big ol' Nemmy.

The game was more action based. Similar to Onimusha it required you to press the aim button/attack button at the exact point you were about to be hit by an enemy. If successful your character would dodge the incoming attack and take no damage. This created some elegant non-choreographed action sequences between Jill and her adversaries, namely the Nemesis. It just seemed like it required more from the player, of course they have to cater for everyone and some people are hopeless which is why there's the "Easy" option.

I loved the FMV's in this game too

,

RE 4 and 5 - 4 earnt the title of game of the year. It truly was Epic. 5 is great for multiplayer purposes, but makes the single player experience incredibly frustrating.

 

[SouthtownKid]

RE 0 - I don't like it when companies try and tell you one story and then hope everyone forgets the facts years down the track.

What I don't like is when a company starts something off with a creepy, atmospheric horror movie vibe, and then in later games devolves into over-the-top jokey, schlocky Plan 9 From Outer Space-style goofiness.

 

[SonGohan]

I wonder if RE will bring back zombies.

This is my biggest complaint with RE. Zombies are way scarier than parasite hosts, and a lot more fun to kill.

 

[Takumaji]

CV was possibly the biggest disappointment in my entire video game playing career (gets an F).

What in CV did dissappoint you so much? I've read a lot of bad things about CV in the past, then finally played it myself and really enjoyed the ride, even though it turned out as a quite demanding task for me, I'm really not very good at action adventures like that.

My issue with 5 is the buddy system. This is typical Japanese thinking that if it's not broke, fix it. And it's a really fucking stupid mentality and their biggest issue as a culture.

Sometimes this mentality is a curse and sometimes a blessing, just take the Japanese car and motorcycle industry for example. From the 1950s to the early 1970s, Japanese manufacturers merely copied Western technology and tried to make something of it within the limits of their possibilites. Then they started to improve certain concepts and finally came up with a number of innovations of their own, up to a point where certain products not only were on the same technical level than our stuff but sometimes even better. This development would have been impossible without the "if it's not broke, fix it" mentality, which could also be called "if it's good, let's make it even better" mentality...

In case of RE5, they simply had the online gaming market in mind when they came up with the buddy thing, IMO it's not so much an attempt to be innovative but to cash in on millions fans who made games with options like that a huge commercial success.

This is my biggest complaint with RE. Zombies are way scarier than parasite hosts, and a lot more fun to kill.

Agreed. Then again, the plaga thing is way more flexible in terms of enemy design than grunting Zombies who wander around in order to find food. Except for an added level of aggressiveness, plaga-infected hosts can also take over more complicated tasks such as operating machinery or heavy weapons, not to mention their combat skills.

If I got the RE story right, the Zombies were an accident of a series of experiments gone wrong. In this light, they would seem quite out of place in the newer installments as the basic enemy type but I see no reason why they shouldn't be in the next game as "special guests"... give us a few Zombies to blast to pieces, Capcom!

 

[Taiso]

That scene in RE: CV X/RE: CV Complete between Wesker and Claire has always kind of bugged me.

It's a pretty cool idea to have the scene because it's a rare event where those two characters are interacting and I like seeing that, but the way in which Claire just lets Wesker walk up and grab her by the throat, without offering any resistance at all, is just dumb and makes no sense.

Claire's already proven she's pretty capable as an action heroine. She's already survived any number of threats to this point, like helicopters with machine guns, rooms full of security guards, zombies and monsters. She's never seen Wesker and anything she knows about him, she probably learned second or even third hand through various documents and electronic sources while trying to find her brother Chris, who she hasn't seen or spoken to since he disappeared shortly before Resident Evil 2. She should have no idea he's basically become evil Neo that looks like Val Kilmer when he was still cool. There's no reason she should be standing there apprehensively while he slowly approaches and gives his menacing super villain monologue.

And yet, she lets him do it. She's acting like she already knows she can't escape him even though she's made a number of amazing escapes in her life before this point. She has no idea that Wesker's anything other than a crazy man with hatred for her brother. As this is the case, she should show no fear in trying to fend him off.

Instead, she's thinking the same thing Capcom was when they conceived the ill advised extra scene: 'This is Code Veronica X, so I know you're going to be superpowered even though this is your first appearance in the now official version of the story. I have no chance to escape because I know you're superpowered even though I should have no knowledge of if, so I'll just stand here and act helpless while you choke me and threaten my brother.'

And don't say 'well, the audience already knows because of the earlier version of the game, so what's the big deal?' Even though the audience is aware of it because of having played a previous version of the game, the events should be portrayed as though this is a big surprise to them because in the new version, this is the first time we're seeing the reborn Wesker. But Claire acts like she already knows Wesker's superpowered simply because he's revealed himself. You could argue that everyone thought he was dead and they're surprised he somehow survived the mansion incident. But that surprise should be completely independent of anything else related to Wesker at that point in the story. To assume he has super powers just because he survived the mansion incident is just stupid. Chris doesn't have superpowers. Jill doesn't. Neither does Rebeca or Barry, unless you count his beard. They survived the mansion incident. Claire shouldn't act as though she knows he's become a monster. But that's exactly what she does. That's why extra scenes shouldn't be added in. Or if they're going to add them in, have them make some sense.

Here's what should have happened. Claire should have dodged Wesker's first attempt to choke her and when she goes to pull out her gun or punch him, he's already grabbing her wrist faster than she can react. Then he twists her arm and chokes her. Then, a little scared at how fast he is, she can be act scared and the scene can continue as is. Maybe she should be gasping as she asks 'What are you going to do to my brother?', rather than talking as though Wesker's just gently holding on to her. Maybe even punch or kick him to try to escape before he throws her to the ground.

I know i'm nitpicking the story, but if Capcom's going to add scenes in after the fact, they could, I don't know, have the scene make some narrative sense? Just a thought.

The scene where Chris and Wesker face off at the end of CV: X works a lot better for me and I really like it. It's action movie nonsense, but it's fun and lively and builds on the hallmark animosity between the two characters. It also shows that Wesker can be damaged by something, revealing that when he gets badly burned it makes it harder for him to fight. This was hinted at when he was fighting Alexia earlier in the story and now we see what happens when there is a lot of fire around him: he has to run because it's too dangerous for him. This gives the audience a little hope that there is something that can hurt Wesker. Why fire? I don't know. Maybe it's harder for him to regenerate from burn damage. Maybe his cells have a tough time dealing with those kinds of injuries. It doesn't really matter. He has a weakness and the hero, Chris, gets to dramatically win the fight through desperate means and force the bad guy to run away before he wants to. He doesn't get Steve's body back, and it's still unclear why they would forshadow the return of that character and then not deliver on that promise in later entries in the series, but that's not important as far as CV: X goes. At that point in the series' history, we didn't know what was coming next so it didn't matter.

 

[SouthtownKid]

What in CV did dissappoint you so much? I've read a lot of bad things about CV in the past, then finally played it myself and really enjoyed the ride, even though it turned out as a quite demanding task for me, I'm really not very good at action adventures like that.

It's just so dumb.

People claim the RE games were always schlocky, but in the first couple games, the places they might have been, it was at least unintentional. But in CV, they just went silly.

 

[genjiglove]

I like superpowered Wesker.

 

[Taiso]

I like superpowered Wesker.

For me, it's not so much the superpowers that bother me.

Even in the first game, the PSX build, Wesker's completely enamored of 'the ultimate bioweapon.' It makes sense that a character so unhinged by his own admiration for scientific abominations would be more than willing to expose himself to the dangers of viral injection if he could similarly benefit from it.

My problem with it is what I call the 'Wolverine effect.' Let me explain.

In the early days of the 'All New, All Different Uncanny X-Men,' you had a Wolverine, a habitual loner that somehow got recruited to join the X-Men. So he's part of the team and they start to add some layers to the character. He has anger issues, likes to drink and doesn't like authority. This is an archetypal character for a team based concept, and it gives him an identity among the crowd. Fans liked this. Then they went fucking overboard with the multiple origines, contrived background details, wildly fluctuating power levels and improbable universal importance.

What happened?

What happened is that he became so important to the writers and the company that they just started piling on more and more shit in order to increase awareness of the character, improve on his popularity and make a fuckton of money. That's good if you're Marvel, but what about poor old Wolverine? Now he's buried at the bottom of a literary mountain of bullshit, a weight so crushing and vast that there is no hope of ever digging the real essence of the character out, brushing him off and allowing him to be what made him so cool. He's completely and totally ruined.

With Wesker, it was the same thing. Capcom was so in love with the idea of Wesker being a boss monster that could emote, help advance the narrative as a primary character and have importance and relevance in the RE universe that they made him too important to everything. Does it make sense for Wesker to want to do this? Sure it does, but there are better ways for them to communicate the character's value as the series' main villain.

I was actually intrigued by the cutscenes in RE 5 where he has to repeatedly inject himself with the medicine to keep from losing control of his powers. It gave the character a weakness, a flaw. But this was RE 5, the character's swan song. Between RE: CV and RE 5, the 'legend of Albert Wesker' has been bloated to ridiculous lengths. Suddenly, Albert Wesker was showing up everywhere, involved in everything and secretly behind the scenes in every conceivable way. We had Wesker Reports and Wesker Children and Wesker side missions in Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles. I'm surprised he hasn't shown up as the true cause for the virus outbreak in Dead Rising, given Capcom's inability to show restraint with the character.

I like him as a rogue bioterrorist and prospective black market profiteer with superpowers. In this role, he represents a problem for the heroes to deal with, a loose cannon they are always one step behind and when they catch up to him, he's difficult to defeat because of his strength and speed. This gives the conflict a sense of tension.

But as an evil mastermind sitting in a chair in a darkened room behind a computer console, the concept gets stretched beyond the level of tolerance. I don't know. Maybe that's just me.

 

[SouthtownKid]

I like superpowered Wesker.

Not me. Like Taiso, it's not so much the powers, it's how they handled him.

He has my favorite line in the first game, maybe the entire series, possibly of all video games, ever: "You guys are all idiots."

 

[genjiglove]

I just like when he teleports around.

 

[norton9478]

The movies aren't bad...

Mostly because they try to do their own thing.

 

[Magician]

If anyone hasn't seen it yet, check out gametrailer.com's retrospective on Resident Evil.

Linky to GameTrailers retrospectives

It sums up the RE/BH series (and others) quite nicely.

 

[Taiso]

Thanks, Magician! I LOVED their retrospective on Castlevania. Looking forward to watching this when I get home.

 

[Takumaji]

If anyone hasn't seen it yet, check out gametrailer.com's retrospective on Resident Evil.

Linky to GameTrailers retrospectives

It sums up the RE/BH series (and others) quite nicely.

Thanks for the link, really good stuff there, very well executed retrospective.

After watching it and re-reading parts of Wesker's report, some of the location and design decisions in RE5 make much more sense to me now.