Listening to one of IGN’s podcasts (Game Scoop or Three Red Lights), and an interesting question was posed. In the move from Old-Style RE to the new mechanics, was something lost?
If I had to go Sophie’s Choice and pick one or the other, I’d say that RE4 is the best game of the series. Even saying that though, the old RE games had their specific charm.
RE4 is just the best-designed game. There’s no doubt there. Of all the games in the series, there are the fewest “YOUSTUPIDGAME” points and the most “OHHOLYSHIT” points. It’s a damn good game. It’s just so very little like the games that came before it.
The best example of the old style of Resident Evil is the REmake on the GameCube. Not only was that one of the ‘Cube’s best looking games – easy – it was the pinnacle of the Resident Evil series.
The spectacular lighting and textures raised a somewhat tired series from the grave and sent it running at you like one of those freaky-ass red zombies. It also remixed just enough stuff to keep it fresh and interesting while retaining the feel of the original.
What’s missing?
The main thing is the camera angles. The best games of the old school of survival horror really knew how to jerk a player around with weird camera angles. The angles would convince you someone was following you or watching you, or just make you straight-up uncomfortable. The limited field-of-view allowed for better use of audio and more frequent surprise elements. At the same time, it was hard to believe that an elite STARS officer couldn’t see the zombie 2 feet in front of her in the hallway. The limited inventory forced you to make some choices about what to carry with you as well.
Will we ever see a return to that? I doubt it. The new RE games sell far better and receive better scores than the old ones really ever have. They’re more userfriendly. The new school of horror games like Siren: Blood Curse give hope for modern survival horror games, but for now, RE5 isn’t survival horror – it’s just survival.
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