Why Don't You Watch 20 Minutes of Leon Gameplay from Resident Evil 6
By Joseph Christ on June 20th, 2012 (19 comments)
Roughly 20 minutes of Leon storyline gameplay from Resident Evil 6 has found its way into the wild today that I'm fairly certain was part of the E3 2012 Capcom presentation (other appointments and a terrible que process kept me from attending while I was at the convention).
Two things strike me most about this footage. The first is how Resident Evil-y a lot of it looks. Dark passages being explored, jump scares; the atmosphere is certainly there and that's a big plus for me. Second, there are a lot of CGI cutscenes this time around. And I'm not just talking about between sections. Move down a hall...cutscene, go to open a door...cutscene, move a piece of wood....cutscene. Pulling the player out of the game for a cutscene is sometimes bad enough when it happens every so often, but here I fear that it's threatening to ruin the atmosphere entirely.
Watch the footage below and let me know what you think.
Joseph Christ
Joseph Christ is the Reviews Editor and a Podcast Personality at 4Player. Specializing in reviews, editorials, drinking, and saying inappropriate things about gaming franchises that are beloved by millions, his satirical and sometimes edgy style offsets a more serious and penetrating substance lurking below the surface. He is also the host of the Cocktail Time Podcast. You'll follow his Twitter if you know what's good for you.
|
Follow Us
|
Back to the Top
|
|
|
© 2012 4Player Network All rights reserved |
Log in or sign up |
At first I was really liking the subtly but towards the end the action movie that is the new resident evil kicked in.
Link / ReplyMy problem doesn't even have to do with the constant cutscenes. My issue is with the waypoints. Waypoints in a game where you're supposed to feel lost and helpless against unspeakable horrors, doing everything you can to survive. Kind of kills the immersion when you always know exactly where to go and what to do.
Link / ReplyExactly. When news of RE6 first broke out, I was led to believe that each campaign would differ from one another with Leon's being a throwback to old school RE, but with modern control schemes. They nearly got that right. The atmosphere is there and the pacing is slow, but this campaign lacks exploration. Unlike old RE, RE6 holds your hand by guiding you from point a to point b, making the game come off as linear. Sure, there may be a few minor detours for you to find along the way, but these areas will mostly serve no greater purpose to the main game outside of finding a hidden collectible or some weapons and ammo. This type of linear pacing was not an issue for certain areas of 4 or 5 because both games preoccupied the player with enemies to kill as they progressed forward. For leon's campaign in 6, the game is attempting to recapture the survival horror elements of yore by incorporating a slow pace with a lack of enemy encounters, but that type of gameplay doesn't gel well with its 4 and 5 style of progressive exploration. Leon's campaign in 6 doesn't drop you into a large explorable area. As a result of this, it comes off as boring because as you're moving forward in a linear fashion there's nothing to kill and there's not much freedom to explore. You're moving from one area to the next, only to catch a tidbit of conversation or to watch a cutscene. What bothers me is that the last 2 minutes of the demonstration turns into a big action romp, which creates such a huge discrepancy with the previous 18 mins gameplay. It's as if Leon's campaign is having an identity crisis with both elements, pseudo survival horror and action horror, being at odds with one another and It's incapable of deciding what it wants to be. As a side note, I realize that this is just the first 20 minutes of Leon's campaign and there may be more to it than what was shown here, i.e. puzzles, segments of dread and horror, and hopefully, large explorable areas.
Link / ReplyThis is the E3 demo that I played. The other two options featured Chris and Jake (Wesker's son)
Link / ReplyI'll wait for everyone to get their hands on it because as of now I've lost all interest.
Link / ReplyHaha is that an aiming reticule I see? Better have an option to turn that off.
Link / ReplyLooks fun.
Link / ReplyYeah, I'm picking this up at the midnight launch. I've been following the Resident Evil series since I was 8 and have yet to be disappointed by a main series entry. RE is without a doubt my favorite video game franchise.
Link / ReplyI don't know what all the complaint is about I liked it. More cutscenes being a bad thing depends on the type of game it is, this game wants to focus more on story and does so through cutscenes. Sure its not necessary and other methods could be used but its still not a bad thing just look at mgs those games have tons cutscenes but are well remembered for their complex story, I doubt it would be as memorable without the cutscenes. The scripted linear sequence is done to broaden the horizon this game is trying to appeal to a wider audience rather than the "hardcore RE fans," I will admit though the zombie killing in the 2nd part ruined the demo for me, sadly it appears any shooting involved just destroys the atmosphere in this demo (and possibly the game).
Link / Reply"The scripted linear sequence is done to broaden the horizon this game is trying to appeal to a wider audience" The thing is, Chris Redfield's and Jake Muller's campaigns are already action oriented. Both are designed to appeal to a wider audience. We were originally told that each campaign would play a little differently. They would all have action-oriented combat with Chris' being reminiscent of a hollywood action movie, Jake's being something "unique", and Leon's being more in tune with traditional "hardcore RE fans". What was shown to us completely betrays that notion. Leon's campaign was nothing like traditional RE fans were expecting. I'm aware that this is only the intro to Leon's campaign, so I'm not completely writing his campaign off but as far as first impressions go, his is really weak. That was nearly 15 minutes of gameplay with you just walking towards a waypoint. Even mgs2 didn't place the player in sequences where he/she would wander about without anything significant to do or if they did it wasn't for such a long period of time. Nobody's really complaining about cutscenes. Bringing more depth to a franchise, whose story was originally told through notes strewn about the area, by incorporating character driven cutscenes is a good thing. My main gripe with this demo is when Eiichiro Sasaki, the producer of re6, explicitly stated that they were going for a horror motif older fans were familiar with, all the while retaining the action elements of 4 and 5. I just didn't see it. They didn't do a good job of showcasing how they were going to bring these two differing aspects together without segments of the game feeling incoherent. As of right now, I chalk it up to Eiichiro not wanting to give away too much and this early look being an inaccurate representation of things to come. Anyway, I was just hoping for something like re4's "hookman" beta. Not necessarily the supernatural aspects, but the modern controls, the creepy atmosphere, the sense of isolation, and the freedom of exploration.
Link / ReplyEwww
Link / ReplyWalk... and shoot? Life=complete
Link / ReplyNeeds more... Explosions.
Link / Replyso stupid how they have 3 different storylines in one game. I mean they just basically tried to cater to all the fans. The ones who want more traditional resident evil will like leon's part. The ones who like action packed res 5 will like chris's part. So basically you might like 1/3 of the game or 2/3 depending on what kind of resident evil fan u are.
Link / ReplyI love traditional RE and I don't like Leon's campaign. Or at least, from what I've seen of it so far.
Link / ReplyI'm commenting way too much, but I really wanted to mention something about the screen space when aiming. Does anyone else find it annoying that leon's body takes up nearly half the screen when aiming? They probably did this to create a sense of claustrophobia, but I find it to be really obstructive and immersion breaking. I went back to re4 to see if this issue existed and found that when aiming in re4, leon's body takes up less than a 1/4 of screen space. The same can be said for re5.
Link / ReplyNo, I think it increases the importance of a partner because you can't see a whole lot so you actually need your partner to have your back. Resident Evil 5 feels like a completely different game when playing with a reliable partner, no doubt RE6 will be the same way. Also, in response to your earlier comment on a lot of the demo involving Leon just walking around, that sort of tension build-up seems absolutely fine to me, that's something that happens in a lot of Resident Evil games(including more recent ones). I think the demo did the a great job of showcasing the melding of tension and action. I've liked just about everything I've seen of this game so far. A big part of RE for me is also the character driven story and I can't wait to see what happens to these characters in RE6.
Link / ReplyThe bit when he is actually shooting looks dreadful and to add insult to injury the zombies are bullet sponges. They don't even react. Also the camera swing about wildly whilst the character twitches about on his axis. Yeah it looks impressive, the atmosphere seems there and I cant wait to see the story but something about the whole game seems off. Unpolished in terms of gameplay.
Link / ReplyThis looks fucking dull.
Link / ReplyNew Comment