Anyone Else Upset at Resident Evil's Abrupt Genre Change?

[Snickerd00dle]

i agree that the new ones arent like the originals, but i think the improvements made a turn for the better, and did not ruin the sh genre, but instead made changes that are more applicable to gamers now a days, which might be how they keep the games alive and relevant to new 12 year old audiences

[DCsegaDH]

I like the over-the-shoulder view aiming in RE4,but the zombies are where I had the problem what the hell is up with the fast moving zombies there suppose to be slow moving & besides that I didn't like the whole mini-game parts in it,but the rest of the game was great.I just think after Code Veronica it turned into too much of a action game instead of a survival horror game,I like how the older games play not the controls though.They should make a over-the-shoulder view older style "survival horror" RE game,anyway RE5 took a long time to make,but I'll probably buy it when it's out.

[lordofduct]

CORRECTION - Resident Evil was never scary

[Krooze L-Roy]

I don't think I'll ever understand all the hullabaloo over RE4. It's only marginally less clunky feeling than the original, so the newfound emphasis on combat seems sorta misplaced. And I'm sorry, but the thrill of enemies having location-specific animations for getting shot kind of wore off on me during Goldeneye. You can only shoot so many testicles before it starts to loose it's luster.

Not to say I want the old RE back (I don't), but the new RE seems a bit shallow for something so highly regarded. 4 had some very memorable set-pieces and the production values were out of sight, but the core gameplay just didn't do it for me.

[corn619]

CORRECTION - Resident Evil was never scary

I always thought of RE as action horror, from pt1 to present. And not really scary at all. Survival was never a problem because I almost always had plenty to equipment to choose from. I never felt helpless in a situation and never really felt helpless to defend myself. All the characters in RE were trained to fight. Survival Horror to my knowledge puts a noncombat trained person in the position to survive with minimal equipment. RE is all guns, ammo and trained military or police, survival horror is usually a normal everyday person.

[lordofduct]

CORRECTION - Resident Evil was never scary

I always thought of RE as action horror, from pt1 to present. And not really scary at all. Survival was never a problem because I almost always had plenty to equipment to choose from. I never felt helpless in a situation and never really felt helpless to defend myself. All the characters in RE were trained to fight. Survival Horror to my knowledge puts a noncombat trained person in the position to survive with minimal equipment. RE is all guns, ammo and trained military or police, survival horror is usually a normal everyday person.

Yeah like Silent Hill... you're a dad in the first with a stick of wood for the most part, part 2 you're a husband with a stick of wood, part 3 a little girl... etc

That and it's more "horror" then "gore"... nothing gory about weird manican monsters... but they are certainly horror.

[Ack]

CORRECTION - Resident Evil was never scary

I always thought of RE as action horror, from pt1 to present. And not really scary at all. Survival was never a problem because I almost always had plenty to equipment to choose from. I never felt helpless in a situation and never really felt helpless to defend myself. All the characters in RE were trained to fight. Survival Horror to my knowledge puts a noncombat trained person in the position to survive with minimal equipment. RE is all guns, ammo and trained military or police, survival horror is usually a normal everyday person.

That's actually part of the reason I preferred Resident Evil 2 to Resident Evil. You went from a special operations police troupe to a rookie cop and some biker chick off the street. They may be a bit tougher than average Joes, but not by much. And instead of a house, they've got an entire city they've got to make it through. Weaker characters and a bigger plot.

A few months ago I read a great article Simon Pegg wrote about why the zombie had to be slow and what it represented in horror in relation to your "classic" monsters. Slow moving zombies are great, and if you actually took the time to kill all of them, you'd start running through ammo real quick. Resident Evil does force you to pick your battles, to plan ahead for your situations, to attempt to survive the inevitability of death. It's gory, sure...so are many of the horror films the survival horror genre pulls from so often.

Ultimately, a successful survival horror has to tap into something, a nerve or point that disturbs or frightens us. I figure in Resident Evil, it's a fear of death, something that can be fended off temporarily, but like Umbrella it will always be there, and like the hordes of wandering undead, it's a mass inevitability that will overtake and consume all of us. Even the mighty, like well-trained police officers, don't really stand a chance. Other horror games have other ideas, such as Silent Hill and psychological torment, Fatal Frame and the supernatural, Haunting Ground with its rape connotations, Clock Tower with its fear and paranoia of other people. In Siren, it's the fear of discovery. Condemned not only built upon the fear of others, but also attempted to include the fear of what we can become.

Hey, if nothing else it makes for an interesting look at the genre and what works in it.

[corn619]

CORRECTION - Resident Evil was never scary

I always thought of RE as action horror, from pt1 to present. And not really scary at all. Survival was never a problem because I almost always had plenty to equipment to choose from. I never felt helpless in a situation and never really felt helpless to defend myself. All the characters in RE were trained to fight. Survival Horror to my knowledge puts a noncombat trained person in the position to survive with minimal equipment. RE is all guns, ammo and trained military or police, survival horror is usually a normal everyday person.

That's actually part of the reason I preferred Resident Evil 2 to Resident Evil. You went from a special operations police troupe to a rookie cop and some biker chick off the street. They may be a bit tougher than average Joes, but not by much. And instead of a house, they've got an entire city they've got to make it through. Weaker characters and a bigger plot.

A few months ago I read a great article Simon Pegg wrote about why the zombie had to be slow and what it represented in horror in relation to your "classic" monsters. Slow moving zombies are great, and if you actually took the time to kill all of them, you'd start running through ammo real quick. Resident Evil does force you to pick your battles, to plan ahead for your situations, to attempt to survive the inevitability of death. It's gory, sure...so are many of the horror films the survival horror genre pulls from so often.

Ultimately, a successful survival horror has to tap into something, a nerve or point that disturbs or frightens us. I figure in Resident Evil, it's a fear of death, something that can be fended off temporarily, but like Umbrella it will always be there, and like the hordes of wandering undead, it's a mass inevitability that will overtake and consume all of us. Even the mighty, like well-trained police officers, don't really stand a chance. Other horror games have other ideas, such as Silent Hill and psychological torment, Fatal Frame and the supernatural, Haunting Ground with its rape connotations, Clock Tower with its fear and paranoia of other people. In Siren, it's the fear of discovery. Condemned not only built upon the fear of others, but also attempted to include the fear of what we can become.

Hey, if nothing else it makes for an interesting look at the genre and what works in it.

Well said Ack.

[gradualmeltdown]

my 2 cents :

I bought a Playstation based upon the dog jumping out of the damn painting in RE1. The village scene in RE4 was intense, too bad it was too early in the game IMO. Each an example of survival and horror. The newer games do lack the scares, but I like the new intense action.

The RE 5 demo was exactly what I thought it would be. RE4 with co-op and even more action. As long as they can emulate the survival aspects by creating new action games I'll play them if they are good.

[IcKy99]

i havent been scared of a RE game since RE2, goes to show the downfall