Note: Any passages in italics are supplemental info for Resident Evil n00bs. RE Pros need not read them.

Developer Interview

Later in 2005, the gaming magazine Famitsu Xbox featured an interview with Jun Takeuchi, a producer at Capcom, with further details on the game that was causing all the buzz. He started with a discussion of some of the work that went into the first trailer. He said that a focus on detail was at the forefront of their minds while they made it, going so far as to model every bristle on Redfield’s chin individually, his facial muscles and bones for realism in his expressions, and even his teeth. However, a lot of this detail probably won’t make it into the actual gameplay due simply to a lack of processing power. Also, it’s not exactly crucial to see your avatar’s teeth while he slaughters hordes of baddies with his trusty 9mm.

Takeuchi avoided giving any details as to the main character at this point, but did say that the developers were bringing back characters from the original Resident Evil. He went on to state that this installment would be a continuation of the main Resident Evil storyline, as opposed to Resident Evil 4, which is a side story. He also mentioned that this chapter might be the conclusion to the series, but could not say for sure. Another interesting point he mentioned was that with the graphical power of the next-gen systems, their artists would finally be able to accurately represent the age of the characters. This is demonstrated nicely in the image of the main character that we get in the first trailer. Chris Redfield appears quite young and almost innocent in Resident Evil 1. The change in his appearance from back then to his new, weathered look gives us a good sense of the progression of time in the series—a small issue perhaps, but it gives us a little more insight into the amount of attention to detail that is being put into RE5 by its developers.

Jun Takeuchi—what a guy. 

In addition to the graphical prowess of the next-gen consoles, Takeuchi says that the developers will be taking full advantage of other technical marvels that it can provide, particularly realistic physics modeling. He said that he wants any objects that you may come across to react in a real way when you shoot it. This seems to suggest a couple of things. First, that there will be a lot more interactive objects in the game’s environment. Remember how much random junk there was to break in games like Max Payne 2 and Half-Life 2? I think that it’s within the realm of reason to hope for similar things from Resident Evil 5. And second, I think that this suggests ragdoll physics for enemies. The developers of the RE series has always used elaborate custom death animations for enemies, but, now that the hardware potential exists to do ragdoll without breaking a sweat, it would seem to be the logical step forward.

Takeuchi confirmed that the revolutionary Resident Evil 4 control scheme would make a return in RE5. For anyone who has ever played the fourth game, this bit of news was manna from heaven. So, we know for certain that the over-the-shoulder camera will return, but I think that this is a pretty good sign that other features in Resident Evil 4 will make an appearance as well. Most notable among these would be the system of weapons and money that was so cool in the last game. It seems a pretty good bet that Capcom understands how cool this is and will bring it back in RE5. In RE4, players would sometimes receive piles of gold pesetas from fallen enemies as well as find treasures and gems throughout the game. This was then used whenever you bumped into the sketch-tastic shopkeeper; he sold weapons, attachments for said weapons, healing stuff, and (most importantly) weapon upgrades. Just like in Ninja Gaiden, God of War, and other games where you can upgrade weapons and obtain money, this element added a lot to the game and really got you attached to your character and his gear as you got further into it.

You'll need to upgrade your shotgun a bit to take on these blokes. 

We can also hope that they will see it in their hearts to bring back the popular Mercenaries Mode from RE4. What I call “Heart Attack Mode”, this feature dropped you into a battle as Leon Kennedy, star of the story mode. The map would start out sparsely populated, but quickly fill up with larger and larger hordes of enemies. The idea was that you were timed and received a score based on how many enemies you could kill before evac. A couple minutes into a stage would see you frantically struggling to survive the onslaught, throwing everything you had at the sea of pissed-off Spaniards. These are quite seriously the most intense battles that I have experienced in any game. And if you managed to achieve a healthy score and get out alive, you could unlock four other characters from the series, all with distinct weaponry and abilities, for use in Mercenaries.

Takeuchi stated that they plan on running the game at a full 60fps, double the frame-rate of past Resident Evil games. He went on to say that they plan on making Resident Evil 5 much more open-ended than previous games in the series. He cited Half-Life 2 as the inspiration for ditching the traditional linear style of play. We can expect this to allow the player more room to explore and to make some interesting decisions, potentially adding many hours of replay value. He ended by saying that Resident Evil 5 is the main priority of Capcom, another good bit of news, given the near-unlimited resources that this will put at their disposal.