Which is more innovative?

Which game has done more for current and future shooters?

I say RE4, I'm not sure how popular behind-the back perspective was before it but many games (even stupid ones like Bionicle Heroes) started using the same formula.

Resident Evil 4 created a formula that Gears of War perfected, but I believe Resident Evil is the more innovative one.

Gears of War, definitely. You hear so many games these days that are "Gears of War, but in [Insert gimmick here]"

Gears of War took both the perspective and the basis of the cover system from Resident Evil 4, so 4 for sure.

"Resident Evil 4 created a formula that Gears of War perfected, but I believe Resident Evil is the more innovative one."

Without RE4, Gears may not necessarily be what it was.

I hate all RE games so my vote doesn't really count

I don't think any of them was innovative at all? Now which had an impact on the industry is a different thing, and not easily measurable.

Tomb Raider did third person action, adventure and puzzle solving long before RE4, and Gears wasn't the first to add a cover mechanic to the formula. It was probably inspired by stealth games and made it more about action. Kill Switch on PS2 was similar (not great though).

Do you know why people consider RE4 innovative Alexander? It was a new way to play a shooter.

It was? Are we talking about RE4 itself, or just about what the Wii did for the game? I don't see anything new other than that port. Plenty of action games had a similar third person style. Ok so Tomb Raider feels different because the camera's further away and your character more agile, big deal. What about Splinter Cell then? Shooting mechanics are very similar, you move slowly with an over the shoulder zoomed in camera etc. There's probably other games that did it.

Okay, but the fact that those games that "probably" exist aren't brought up as often kind of answers that, doesn't it?

And I didn't think anyone cared about the port that much, did they?

Well, it sold over 1 million copies (not bad for a port that was already on 2 platforms, including the console with the largest install base)  and was hailed as the best version of the game by critics, so I'd say people cared. If you didn't mean that port, what was the new way to play then?

As for other third person games not being brought up much, it just shows how short memory gamers have, and how it's really the mainstream (casual as they like calling it nowadays) that apparently decides what's innovative and what isn't, since if everyone isn't talking about it I guess it can't be innovative, while when everyone talks about it, it's innovative even if it's been done countless times before. Meh.

Gears wins. I mean there is a gun with a friggin' chainsaw on it. Well played Cliffy B, well played.

I guess I'm arguing influence over innovation. I don't belong here.

RE4. Gears borrowed most of it's "innovations" from other games like RE4, Kill.Switch etc. It combined existing elements with a fantastic polish, but it wasn't that innovative. RE4 wasn't THAT innovative, but it was more so than Gears.

Neither were very innovative.  They simply took mechanics from previous games(like kill.switch) and made them better.

ZOMG, Gears is SICK! its my GOTY foever. its graphics beat RE4 by a mile! Look at this [completely unrelated] video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWrPPOucsQs