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Resident Evil has not aged well

C

CO_Andy

Member
On the subject of the older RE titles, it may be right to say now that Resident Evil's novelty has always been it's eye candy.

The gameplay is unquestionably terrible due to the limited inventory, constant need to go back to the item box (which wouldn't of been so much a problem had there been a separate inventory for key items), and the infamous tank-controls (which was remedied in the N64 version of RE2) that made dodging the living-dead an exercise in frustration.
 
dog$ said:
Didn't like it then, don't like it now.
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Agreed, I just can't deal with the control and presentation of most RE games. I love RE4, its scary as hell and actually fun, and not frustrating

Dog$ that avatar makes me weep with joy.
 
I agree. I picked up REmake a couple years ago and wondered how anyone could have fun with it. It's amazing that anyone enjoyed an RE title after Mario and Zelda provided much better controls and combat.
 
Loved them then, love them now. Took me no more then 5 minutes to get the controls down and have them feel as if second nature. Maybe I just have an easier time getting use to controls then most.
 
Beezy said:
Completely. Different. Games.
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It really doesn't matter. Poor controls and poor combat should never be used as a gameplay device. Capcom could have done much better and Nintendo's titles show that.
 
KiKaL said:
Loved them then, love them now. Took me no more then 5 minutes to get the controls down and have them feel as if second nature. Maybe I just have an easier time getting use to controls then most.
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I agree, I never really felt like the controls let me down after I got used to them. Both RE1 and RE2 are some of my favorite games.
 
CO_Andy said:
On the subject of the older RE titles, it may be right to say now that Resident Evil's novelty has always been it's eye candy.

The gameplay is unquestionably terrible due to the limited inventory, constant need to go back to the item box (which wouldn't of been so much a problem had there been a separate inventory for key items), and the infamous tank-controls (which was remedied in the N64 version of RE2) that made dodging the living-dead an exercise in frustration.
Click to expand...

I still think its great. *shrug*
 
KiKaL said:
Loved them then, love them now. Took me no more then 5 minutes to get the controls down and have them feel as if second nature. Maybe I just have an easier time getting use to controls then most.
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The controls are fine, but they plain stink when used in-conjunction with fixed camera angles.
 
CO_Andy said:
On the subject of the older RE titles, it may be right to say now that Resident Evil's novelty has always been it's eye candy.

The gameplay is unquestionably terrible due to the limited inventory, constant need to go back to the item box (which wouldn't of been so much a problem had there been a separate inventory for key items), and the infamous tank-controls (which was remedied in the N64 version of RE2) that made dodging the living-dead an exercise in frustration.
Click to expand...


I've been saying this for years and hated to series due to it's awful controls (which are a throw back to Combat on the Atari2600/VCS). I made it through the original game but just couldn't get into any of the sequels because of the awful controls. Lord knows I wanted to like Code Veronica on the Dreamcast, but I HATED those controls. Then the real stinker is that other games mimicked the piss poor control scheme. I'm so glad that Capcom got it right in RE4. I'm so glad that I had two friends that convince me to chekc out that game on the Gamecube or I would have truly missed out. Now I'm anxious for the release of RE5.

RE had always sucked, but I think that PS1 nostalgia played a huge factor in the series success.
 
Yeah, fixed camera angles are the real issue here. It takes some getting use to, but it didn't take me more then an hour to adapt. I can see how it would kill the experience for some tho.
 
The fixed camera angles are inspired by Hitchcock and other great horror movies. The reason that they were done like that is to add suspense. You can hear your enemies but you can't see them a lot of the time. Why is that so hard to grasp??
And as far as the tank controls are concerned, I never had any problems with them at all. I've always loved the way that those games controlled. Felt second nature to me right from the start. Maybe I have more hand-eye coordination than most people.


The original Resident Evil still sits in my top 5 games of all time list. Not too many games changed the landscape on console games more than the Resident Evil games.
 
Truelize said:
The fixed camera angles are inspired by Hitchcock and other great horror movies. The reason that they were done like that is to add suspense. You can hear your enemies but you can't see them a lot of the time. Why is that so hard to grasp??
And as far as the tank controls are concerned, I never had any problems with them at all. I've always loved the way that those games controlled. Felt second nature to me right from the start. Maybe I have more hand-eye coordination than most people.


The original Resident Evil still sits in my top 5 games of all time list. Not too many games changed the landscape on console games more than the Resident Evil games.
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It isn't hand-eye coordination as much as it is your ability to forgive glaring flaws. And while it may have changed the landscape of console games, it was absolutely not for the better.
 
Ok, am I completly wrong or are the controlls for RE4 the same as all the other games, its just the camera is different. I've heard people praising the death of the "tank"controls, but when I move leon, its seems the same. Forward, back, turn without moving. I thought the removal of the fixed camera just made it FEEL like different controlls, or am I wrong.
 
CO_Andy said:
The gameplay is unquestionably terrible due to the limited inventory, constant need to go back to the item box (which wouldn't of been so much a problem had there been a separate inventory for key items), and the infamous tank-controls (which was remedied in the N64 version of RE2) that made dodging the living-dead an exercise in frustration.
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meh, all of that why loved the old-fashioned REs. Although I must admit after playing RE4 it's hard to comeback and play REmake.
 
Condemned: Criminal Origins is genuinely scary, and has moments of great suspense. No fixed cameras, no tank controls.

The scary part is that Capcom made the RE games control horribly on PURPOSE, not out of some technical limitation.

Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon also has a fixed camera, but controls better than REMake.

B0002PQ87M.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg


This game has fixed cameras and good controls too.
 
Both of those statements are opinion though. The fixed camera angles were done to give it a movie feel and to create tension. Watch a Hitchcock movie and you'll see tons of examples. The most obvious one is when the camera is put above a chandelier over a stairwell so you are looking directly down onto your character.

I might have been able to overlook the games controls cause I was good at them too though. I never had any problems with them. I've actually switched to that control scheme in other games cause I've liked how they worked.
How hard is it to grasp "Up is forward"?
 
Speevy said:
Condemned: Criminal Origins is genuinely scary, and has moments of great suspense. No fixed cameras, no tank controls.

The scary part is that Capcom made the RE games control horribly on PURPOSE, not out of some technical limitation.

Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon also has a fixed camera, but controls better than REMake.
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But Condemned is a FP game. It uses reduced vision, limited inventory and sound to creat suspense. Completely different style of game.

If you can't see the positives and reasons for why Resident Evil controlled that way then there is no debate. Nothing anyone says in this thread is gonna change your views. Some poeple loved it. But full analog control in a Resident Evil changes the pace and the level of tension.
I think RE4 is the weakest of the Resident Evil games. It's more Resident Evil action adventure than a horror game now.
 
It's funny. I love RE4 and recommend it to everyone (now that it's on the PS2). But man...do people put up a fight... All they do is talk about the controls and how the whole RE thing is played out.

I blame the (poor) movies.
 
DaCocoBrova said:
It's funny. I love RE4 and recommend it to everyone (now that it's on the PS2). But man...do people put up a fight... All they do is talk about the controls and how the whole RE thing is played out.

I blame the (poor) movies.
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I still thought it was an amazing game (I finished 3 times already, probably going back for more soon) but I don't feel it's a horror game at all. It's an action game set in the Resident Evil universe.
 
Truelize said:
The fixed camera angles are inspired by Hitchcock and other great horror movies. The reason that they were done like that is to add suspense. You can hear your enemies but you can't see them a lot of the time. Why is that so hard to grasp??
And as far as the tank controls are concerned, I never had any problems with them at all. I've always loved the way that those games controlled. Felt second nature to me right from the start. Maybe I have more hand-eye coordination than most people.


The original Resident Evil still sits in my top 5 games of all time list. Not too many games changed the landscape on console games more than the Resident Evil games.
Click to expand...

I'll give you the fixed camera angle bit.

It adds a lot to the atmosphere than 'movable' camera's.

Just think to what are some of the most beautifully designed games (mostly in art design, but they also have technical merits)

REmake
God of War
Devil May Cry
Fatal Frame (1 and 2)
And I ask GAF to add to this list.

Fixed Camera angles allow the developers to give more variety to the levels. You can literally, take two identical rooms, but switch the camera positioning and it'll look totally new.

Case and point: Castlevania Lament of Innocence had fixed camera angles, this game was actually credited for having beautifully designed areas (the ones that were new, mind you, not the 10,000 repeats).

Castlevania Curse of Darkness (moveable) camera...not so much.

And then people actually said the combat in Lament was better in Curse as well, you constantly didn't have to move the camera around.
 
If the fixed camera angles were done to make the games like the Hitchcock films then Capcom failed horribly. Really, what a colossal failure that was.

And like Speevy said, you can have a fixed camera with good controls and good combat.
 
CO_Andy said:
On the subject of the older RE titles, it may be right to say now that Resident Evil's novelty has always been it's eye candy.
Click to expand...

Perhaps that is why you always liked them to begin with?

1, 2, and CV still play fine for me.

Truelize said:
I still thought it was an amazing game (I finished 3 times already, probably going back for more soon) but I don't feel it's a horror game at all. It's an action game set in the Resident Evil universe.
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Thank you.
 
Speevy said:
Fixed camera doesn't have to mean bad controls, ya know.
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Exactly. Thus why I said "I'll give you the fixed camera angle bit."

But you don't need a moveable camera to have good controls.

The Outbreak games, as much as they are hated, have fixed camera angles yet have a 2D control scheme. It works very well.
 
RE1 has aged well because of the atmosphere of the game. A really campy plot (what other game would have a live action intro to the game?) combined with lots of scary moments and tons of guns to blow up zombies with. RE2 and 3 are just more of the same so they haven't aged as well but the first one is a classic.
 
CO_Andy said:
On the subject of the older RE titles, it may be right to say now that Resident Evil's novelty has always been it's eye candy.
Click to expand...

For each titles time, the prerendered backgrounds in Resident Evil 1, 2, 3, REmake, and 0 made each title game look better. When you got to CVX and the Outbreak titles, IMHO they were even more impressive since they dumped the prendered backgrounds infavor of real-time.

CO_Andy said:
The gameplay is unquestionably terrible due to the limited inventory, constant need to go back to the item box (which wouldn't of been so much a problem had there been a separate inventory for key items), and the infamous tank-controls (which was remedied in the N64 version of RE2) that made dodging the living-dead an exercise in frustration.
Click to expand...

I agree that the inventory system has been limited and should have been increased from 4/6 spaces up to 8. I have never played the n64 version of Resident Evil 2, but the Outbreak titles on PS2 offered both classic Resident Evil tank controls and full Devil May Cry analog controls as well. As C- Warrior mentioned, the Outbreak titles may get alot of hate but offered some new ideas to the table(faster load times not one of them :-P) for the eight survivors of the Outbreak. Hated the tank controls? Use the 3d analog one. Want to dodge zombies? Play as Yoko Suzuki, Cindy Lennox, or Jim Chapman. Want to counter zombie attacks? Play as George Hamilton.
 
olimario said:
If the fixed camera angles were done to make the games like the Hitchcock films then Capcom failed horribly. Really, what a colossal failure that was.

And like Speevy said, you can have a fixed camera with good controls and good combat.
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I'm thinking you don't know Hitchcock films very well Oli. I took a university course that pretty much focused on how Hitchcock used camera angles to increase tension and for a project I was asked to find a form of media that was influenced by his movies. I got an A for using the original Resident Evil game. Played it in front of the class to show examples.

So my professor thought it was a perfect example of how Hitchcock has left his mark on the entertainment industry.
 
Truelize said:
I'm thinking you don't know Hitchcock films very well Oli. I took a university course that pretty much focused on how Hitchcock used camera angles to increase tension and for a project I was asked to find a form of media that was influenced by his movies. I got an A for using the original Resident Evil game. Played it in front of the class to show examples.

So my professor thought it was a perfect example of how Hitchcock has left his mark on the entertainment industry.
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Inspired by? Probably. Matched? Not even close.
I never said that Hitchcock didn't inspire Resident Evil, just that Capcom did a terrible job of recreating the tension and beauty of Hitchcock's films.
 
Synth_floyd said:
RE2 and 3 are just more of the same so they haven't aged as well but the first one is a classic.
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To dismiss them as simply being more of the same is taking it a bit too far. RE2 introduced a whole lot of improvements and a radically different setting. RE3 gets far too much flak. The settings are even more inspired than in RE2, and I actually prefer the gunplay to that in RE4.
 
Ceb said:
RE3 gets far too much flak.
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I actually played it again over the weekend. It was a good game, I almost like it better than 2, but it was too short and it needed two playable characters like the first two to extend the replay value. Plus the story wasn't that great.
 
olimario said:
Inspired by? Probably. Matched? Not even close.
I never said that Hitchcock didn't inspire Resident Evil, just that Capcom did a terrible job of recreating the tension and beauty of Hitchcock's films.
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But I never stated that the games were trying to recreate the films, only the tension when certain camera angles were used.

That should clear that up
 
RE4 might more of a action game but RE was never THAT scary to me..

What is it with survival horror and bad gameplay? Would good controls and actually inventive puzzles cheapen the horror? Silent Hill suffers from bad combat and dumb puzzles too..
 
Zweisy1 said:
What is it with survival horror and bad gameplay? Would good controls and actually inventive puzzles cheapen the horror? Silent Hill suffers from bad combat and dumb puzzles too..
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The "Survival Horror" genre is cult-like I think. RE2 and Silent Hill 2 were the only games in their respective series that were really popular. Me personally, I don't understand how people can play the same sports games every year with nothing but roster updates. Or racing games where you race just so you can mod your car and put phat rims on it. The RE series has spawned 2 horrible movies and a bunch of spin-off games. Same with Silent Hill (the movie anyway).
 
It's a fact that if you cannot get used to RE's controls after almost ten years, you simply aren't a flexible gamer. I figured out how to move the characters six years ago, and it's not the games' fault if you as a player aren't good enough to get used to them. The Silent Hill games used the same scheme, and it's really the only one that works.
 
The "Survival Horror" genre is cult-like I think. RE2 and Silent Hill 2 were the only games in their respective series that were really popular. Me personally, I don't understand how people can play the same sports games every year with nothing but roster updates. Or racing games where you race just so you can mod your car and put phat rims on it. The RE series has spawned 2 horrible movies and a bunch of spin-off games. Same with Silent Hill (the movie anyway).
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Weren't all the RE games on PSX million sellers? I agree with most of what you said though..


OT: Doest Fatal Frame have tank controls btw? Never played that series though I've heard a lot of good things about it.
 
Zweisy1 said:
Weren't all the RE games on PSX million sellers? I agree with most of what you said though..


OT: Doest Fatal Frame have tank controls btw? Never played that series though I've heard a lot of good things about it.
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Yeah, all the major REs thus far have broken a million, worldwide. Including RE Outbreak and RE0.

I *think* Fatal Frame Xbox had tank controls, but I can't remember since I only played it for a few hours.
 
Controls aren't nearly as bad as some of you are saying. Tank controls exist so you can back up while facing the enemy. It could have been solved by implementing the tank controls only when you are aiming, but then people would have bitched about that because that has it's own problems. No enemy moves quick enough to make the tank controls that much of a pain in the ass. It's just a control scheme to get used to, and if you can't then forget it.

Fixed cameras were a necessity to get the horror movie/feel and look. Playing Fatal Frame 3 now and they do the same thing. Helps with the atmoshpere. They have an option to not use tank controls, but when you do you can't back away while facing an enemy unless you are aiming with your camera. You always gotta run away and then manually reface because there is no lock on.
 
All this talk of the original RE reminds me... Has anyone seen any vids online of Deadly Silence for the NDS?
 
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