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Resident Evil 5 December '08 Mega-Post

New hands-on impressions, video, and box art from Capcom's upcoming survival horror opus.

Oh yeah, there are dudes with chainsaws and bags over their heads in this. Totally Resident Evil.
Oh yeah, there are dudes with chainsaws and bags over their heads in this. Totally Resident Evil.
Hey, are you looking forward to Resident Evil 5? If you clicked on this, the answer is probably "yes." I hear that last one was pretty sweet. Anyway, Capcom's on an RE5 publicity tear all of a sudden. Not surprising, since we're now inside 90 days till the game drops on both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

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.


Where's your interest level at for Resident Evil 5 these days? Higher or lower given these developments?

91 Comments

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Brad

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Edited By Brad
Oh yeah, there are dudes with chainsaws and bags over their heads in this. Totally Resident Evil.
Oh yeah, there are dudes with chainsaws and bags over their heads in this. Totally Resident Evil.
Hey, are you looking forward to Resident Evil 5? If you clicked on this, the answer is probably "yes." I hear that last one was pretty sweet. Anyway, Capcom's on an RE5 publicity tear all of a sudden. Not surprising, since we're now inside 90 days till the game drops on both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

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.


Where's your interest level at for Resident Evil 5 these days? Higher or lower given these developments?
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dtran1212

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Edited By dtran1212

that gameplay trailer did lơơk pretty swêet

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RawShark

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Edited By RawShark

Been waiting for this since that Island self-destructed inside my Gamecube in 2005 <3

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Artie

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Edited By Artie

"Here is a dude shooting zombies in a refinrey" lol

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Death_Burnout

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Edited By Death_Burnout

That would be the American box-art Brad, im not sure what the European box-art will look like, since we've had some pretty different resident evil box-arts between us in the past.

I loved RE4, never really liked the previous ones, loved to watch them! just not play for obvious reasons, still i think they were great games...that said, i played and finished outbreak, loved it, clunkiness and all.

My interest? sadly its not that high, i must say, Left 4 Dead satiated my Zombie lust to such an extreme, that im not sure RE5 will be able to top it, and yes, i know they are different games, but still.

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MrGarcia

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Edited By MrGarcia

Amped-up RES4... so what?

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dietmango

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Edited By dietmango

This game's gonna be freakin sick :D

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MasterSplinter

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Edited By MasterSplinter

My interest level is staggeringly high. I cannot wait for February.

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brundlefly

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Edited By brundlefly

If you're all willing do do some searching, the 360 demo is floating around the 'net. Once found, burn it to a disc, put it in your box, go to demo's- Ta-Da! I've played it about ten times. Basically hi-def RE4.

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Xelloss

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Edited By Xelloss

Cool video, Giantbomb logo is way to big.

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Edited By JoelTGM

I tried RE4 on the wii and it was pretty repetitive.  I don't like how you're always fighting with the controls, you can see it in that video too, it doesn't look or feel right.

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GIVEMEREPLAY

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Edited By GIVEMEREPLAY

That's a hideous watermark on this video. Can you remove the white background to blend it in a bit?

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killerkahuna

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Edited By killerkahuna

still stop and pop I see... to slow... sorry

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smokepants

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Edited By smokepants

I think RE5 is justified in having the player rooted while firing. Most of the enemies can't shoot and their only threat is when they close range. If you let the player, say, back up while firing, you completely negate the threat that the zombies pose.

Besides, I kind of like the light-tactical feel of having to contrantly decide between standing and firing or picking up and moving.

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Edited By Rayfield
SmokePants said:
"I think RE5 is justified in having the player rooted while firing. Most of the enemies can't shoot and their only threat is when they close range. If you let the player, say, back up while firing, you completely negate the threat that the zombies pose.

Besides, I kind of like the light-tactical feel of having to contrantly decide between standing and firing or picking up and moving."

Attention Australians. Please pay attention to first line of this post. :)
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godzilla_sushi

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Edited By godzilla_sushi

I can't wait!

Capcom is getting some money from me next year...geeze.

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Edited By MrKlorox

I couldn't stand RE4 on the Wii due to the awful controls. I'll definitely try RE5 before deciding whether or not it is worth a purchase. I hope it is playable now.

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President_Evil

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Edited By President_Evil

I'm buying a 360 specifically for this game.  I would also like to direct my fellow RE-heads to check out the-horor.com, updated daily with RE5 nuggets.

http://www.the-horror.com/

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arachau

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Edited By arachau

The next time anyone rocks up at Capcom to see this game, they need to lock the Devs in a room and scream at them until they capitulate and agree to scrap the "last-gen" shooting mode/can't move nonsense.

I'm not a RE zealot, but I played Dead Space. Which is the new benchmark, so deal with it Japan. 

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Willy105

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Edited By Willy105

It actually looks...............generic.

Oh well.

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giyanks22

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Edited By giyanks22

That looks amazing...

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Brackynews

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Edited By Brackynews

Giant Bomb watermark.... is giant.

Okay, serious comment: I'm really unimpressed with the basic enemy design.  The notion that "stronger" zombies have chainsaws and all look alike is silly.  If any zombie could spawn with a chainsaw, and you had no idea which zombie was the strongest in a hoard, or what weapon he had.... now that's cause to be concerned!

Can we get a little procedural randomness in here?!?!

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ArbitraryWater

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Edited By ArbitraryWater

Here's my justification Brad, The majority of your enemies don't shoot back, so you really don't need a fully mobile control scheme, unlike gears where your enemies will kill you if you aren't behind cover in 5 seconds. You need to stop whining about the controls and accept that there can be deviations from the standard formula.   Plus, the RE fanboys will massacre you if you continue.

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lamegame621

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Edited By lamegame621

pshh...racist game. lol . kidding. So looking forward to this.

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tearhead

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Edited By tearhead

Sound effects when you shoot guys sounds amazingly disgusting.  What's up with the giant white watermark Giant Bomb??  It's really obstructive.

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ImperiousRix

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Edited By ImperiousRix

Game looks great, though sadly I'm not the biggest fan of these Survival/Horror games.
I'm just too much of a pussy to keep playing them longer than an hour at a time.

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StarwindX9

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Edited By StarwindX9

I haven't played a RE since 2, might be time to jump back on the bandwagon

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Edited By Scooper

I like the Ghetto strait out of paint watermark.

I was the biggest fan of RE4, I must of gone through that game a dozen times, but seriusly, it kind of annoys me when you see a 'zombie' run towards you and it gets to within 2 feet of you then for no reason stops then decides to walk or shimmy a little to the side of something. Make it like Left 4 Dead where if they see you they go for you, they don't suddenly decide to stop and bob their head a little bit then carry on walking.

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Johanz

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Edited By Johanz

RE5 can't come sooner.

And I'm the only one who thinks it's stop n' aim action system is actually refreshing?

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deactivated-15136

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Don't they know that leg-shots are the new head-shots?  Geez.  Seriously though, this looks great.  I don't think looking at random scenes of Chris shooting zombies can really do it justice either.  As for the controls, as a previous poster noted, the enemies don't have guns.  The concepts of "cover" and circle strafing don't really apply here.  I think that the controls will suit it well.  Remember this is supposed to be essentially a survival-horror/3PS hybrid.  Also lose the giant bomb logo or at least make it smaller.

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MeatSim

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Edited By MeatSim

I don't think they could screw this game up, so it's gonna be awesome for sure.

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Zebadee

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Edited By Zebadee

After playing Left 4 Dead this just looks... boring.

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ch3burashka

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Edited By ch3burashka

Awesome trailer, but guys, ... that fucking GiantBomb logo was HUGE!!! Scale it down, put it in the bottom right corner... damn...

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Blueblur1

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Edited By Blueblur1

What's with the obtrusive watermark, Brad? This is the first time I've seen you guys do this.

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Edited By strangeling

I really enjoyed RE4, so this is my excuse to pick up my next system.  I'm just not sure yet if I want a 360 first or a PS3, but I've still three months to decide.

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killdave

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Edited By killdave

Actually got BORED watching it ... didn't even see the end.

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Edited By Sparkster

i am looking forward to this game very much, i amabout to buy a ps3 and will be getting this game at a midnight launch, i wasnt really in to the series until RE4 where they got the controls and camera right :)

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Civraz

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Edited By Civraz

What? No case? What is this world coming to?

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DarthimusPrime

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Edited By DarthimusPrime

Brad for the umpteenth time THEY'RE NOT ZOMBIES!!! RE will never be about zombies ever again.

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Edited By Rayfield

YEAH BRAD, HOW DARE YOU BRING US VIDEO GAME NEWS!!! YAAAAARRRGGHHH!!!! I HATE HARD WORKING PEOPLE MAINTAINING AWESOME WEBSITES!!!! AAAARRRRGGGHHH!!! BY GOD, YOU'VE GOT SOME NERVE!!!! I SHALL FORCE YOU TO REALISE YOU'VE MADE AN ENEMY THIS DAY BRAD SHOEMAKER!!! BLLLEEEERRGGGHHHH!!!!

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Edited By DrRandle

I'm hoping for local co-op. Anybody know if it's in there? Split screen.... it shouldn't be dead.

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AlucardaLaCarte

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Edited By AlucardaLaCarte

I declare my interest: About the same! Which is to say: rather excited!!

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Rayfield

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Edited By Rayfield

Ahem, yes. I too am excited.

I first thought, gee it looks a hell of a lot like RE4.

But then I thought, hang on RE4 was fantastic.

So yes, to reaffirm - looking forward to this one. Always curious as to what wacky old Wesker is up to.

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Edited By Rio

Im not all that excited for RE5 mainly because I have not been in the mood for a survival horror game in quite a while.  The better controls and coop gameplay are definitely helping its appeal so I may be ready for it in feb.  One thing I hope they change is the sound of the bullets hitting the zombies / infected / things.  That sound is driving me nuts just from this small demo....... its a fairly terrible sound effect that could be a number of quieter more appealing sounds.  Anyway thats my only gripe really.

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makari

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Edited By makari

I can't see why you'd want something so iconic as the RE tank controls to go away after what they did to MGS4, where 'tactical espionage action' turned into straight 'half-baked action', since no tactics or espionage were really needed to complete the game. You take away the tank controls from RE and you have make the enemies more numerous, carry guns, and move faster to compensate, but none of these things are in any way in the spirit of Resident Evil. The bottom line is, if you had great mobility in a resident evil game, you wouldn't be playing resident evil. You'd be playing a 3rd person single player Left4Dead.

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Duckbutter

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Edited By Duckbutter

know this: i've been playin some Dead Space, some freakin Left 4, and some muthafuckin Fallout lately.

i didn't find the RE5 demo to be fun. i've played all the Resident Evil games before it so i was kinda shocked that the tank controls were such a bother to me this time. the whole experience was frustrating and awkward like trying to carry a desk by myself.
Dead Space has a different way of doing things with controls but i grew accustomed to it quick and the game is still fun-tastic and challenging. Motorstorm 2 has a pretty standard control scheme but i still find it challenging and what us gangsters call "rewarding".
but no fun-ness connection with RE5 yet.

and then:
some zombies just stand next to you and do nothin like they wanna whisper rumors or sweet nothings in your ear. compensation for tank controls? dudes be wearin white T-shirts but no bullet holes show up on them. how odd. gun shots are at a low volume. why? the urge to run and shoot is just too strong to ignore.

luckily for us we have reviewers to speed through the whole game and tell us whether we'll get used to these controls or not. and these reviewers do it for free like they're our bitches. ain't life grand? so i'll wait for one of my bitches to give me the skinny but until then i've lost enthusiam for this game. sexy graphics though.

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Will

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Edited By Will

Ive played the demo from XBL marketplace by myself and with a friend HEAPS!!!! Going to love this game when it comes out, will be getting it for sure.

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TwoOneFive

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Edited By TwoOneFive

the game looks outstanding. although, i absolutely hated that survival level in the demo, but the part where you provide sniper cover was excellent. 

is that video from the PS3 version you played??
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get2sammyb

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Edited By get2sammyb

Brad I can't wait for this game but I just wondered if you could clear something up for me. In AJ Glasser's Kotaku report he suggested that the demo level on the Playstation 3 versions was "lousy" and didn't clarify until right at the end when he said the others levels he'd seen looked "almost identical" between systems.

I'm just concerned as to why he saved it right until the end before he clarified that they actually both looked great and the demo level must have been old code or something.

Do you have an opinion on this Brad? Sounds like you were playing on the PS3.