For one, I grabbed a quick demo of the PS3 version at a press event the other night. After blowing away a bunch of parasite-infested zombies on a dusty ridge, I got to fight a nasty gigantic flying boss which emerged from the back of a truck. It seemed to be part bat and part worm with armor plating down its front and a nasty goo-spitting problem. The tactic here was to wait for the boss to charge and hit the square button when prompted to "dodge," then spin around and blast it in its fleshy backside with the AK-47, shotgun, or submachine gun I was carrying. Pretty typical of RE4's boss fights, which may or may not tickle your fancy. (It does mine.) The thing was downright hideous, I'll give it that.
I used dual analog stick controls in the demo that were virtually unchanged from the newish scheme Capcom rolled out back at Tokyo Game Show. Maybe I've been playing too much Gears 2 lately, but I was a little less impressed this time around with the revised controls. They're a definite improvement on the old RE4 style (which is still available), but not entirely in line with modern third-person conventions. I'm not sure I'm buying the RE apologists' line that being rooted to one spot while shooting is critical to preserving tension. Maybe it's just antiquated. Is it time to standardize third-person shooter controls once and for all? To be fair, I'm not passing final judgement on the update till we get retail copies in here.
You'll be able to try out the game and its controls for yourself--legitimately, without angering Capcom Japan--in "early 2009," MTV Multiplayer reports.
Kotaku's AJ Glasser played another never-before-seen level that I missed; head over there for a way more detailed report on that.
Lastly, media blitz! This new trailer shows off some action from both of those areas.
And here's the final box art for the game, as well as a handful of new screenshots from those same new areas.
Gallery
Where's your interest level at for Resident Evil 5 these days? Higher or lower given these developments?