January 26, 2005 - The American release of Resident Evil 4 has come and gone. And for some, so has the entire adventure. After some 20 hours knee-deep in paranormal madness, gamers have emerged from the experience a little older, a little wiser. And for some, perhaps one soiled pair of boxers short of a full drawer. Still, has anyone stopped to wonder what the experience of RE4 may have been like had Capcom stuck to one of its earlier iterations of the game?
As some of you may know, Capcom went through several versions of their latest horror epic before settling on the one currently sold in stores, each of which boasted its own brand of terror. The most infamous of these is undoubtedly the iteration that showed a wildly brave Leon S. Kennedy stalking the halls of a mysterious mansion. The footage aired at the E3 2003 pre show and completely blew spectators away. Here was the same unique blend of horror and action the RE series was know for, only in full 3D with the scare factor magnified ten-fold.
Every aspect of the game reflected the utmost care and attention to detail. Paintings and table settings looked crusty and old, and drapes eerily billowed about. We could make out glimpses of what lay ahead through quick shots of bloody dolls and broken mirrors, not to mention the renewed sense of complete isolation afforded by the graphics engine. This game was going to rock. And then, just like that, Capcom pulled a decisive U-Turn and took RE4 into a bold new direction. However, this doesn't change the fact that Capcom had an entirely different game on their hands.
Even today, weeks after the release of RE4, the footage taken from this older build never fails to impress. Well, now there's a ton more of it. The release of RE4 in Japan came packed with a special DVD containing "long lost" footage of the RE4 that never made it past Capcom's labs. The last we saw of this version, Leon seemed occupied simply creeping around the mansion. This new footage shows Leon battling various adversaries, including homicidal baby dolls and lethal specters. You can also see several elements survived the transition into the current RE4, such as context-sensitive action commands used to dodge attacks.
For example, when Leon struggles against a ghost-like foe that seeps out of a painting, a player could try to overpower the ghoul by directing the Cube's thumbstick either left or right. The ghoul would then attack you with a giant hook, which you could dodge by pressing the appropriate shoulder button, just like dodging attacks in the retail version of RE4. Leon also needed to dodge the attacks from Knights who would slyly try to drop their axes on his head. The rest of the action would look familiar to any RE4 veteran. The camera pulls behind Leon's shoulder to give players a better view of the action when using weapons.
Since most of the game seemed to take place within a darkened mansion, Leon made extensive use of his trusty flashlight. The effect, along with every other lighting effect such as lightning, looked spectacular. In the same way the flashlight/ paranoia trick worked to great effect in Doom 3, there's a good chance this combination of fear would have scared the pants off anyone in a Resident Evil game.
Link:
http://cube.ign.com/articles/582/582869p1.html
As some of you may know, Capcom went through several versions of their latest horror epic before settling on the one currently sold in stores, each of which boasted its own brand of terror. The most infamous of these is undoubtedly the iteration that showed a wildly brave Leon S. Kennedy stalking the halls of a mysterious mansion. The footage aired at the E3 2003 pre show and completely blew spectators away. Here was the same unique blend of horror and action the RE series was know for, only in full 3D with the scare factor magnified ten-fold.
Every aspect of the game reflected the utmost care and attention to detail. Paintings and table settings looked crusty and old, and drapes eerily billowed about. We could make out glimpses of what lay ahead through quick shots of bloody dolls and broken mirrors, not to mention the renewed sense of complete isolation afforded by the graphics engine. This game was going to rock. And then, just like that, Capcom pulled a decisive U-Turn and took RE4 into a bold new direction. However, this doesn't change the fact that Capcom had an entirely different game on their hands.
Even today, weeks after the release of RE4, the footage taken from this older build never fails to impress. Well, now there's a ton more of it. The release of RE4 in Japan came packed with a special DVD containing "long lost" footage of the RE4 that never made it past Capcom's labs. The last we saw of this version, Leon seemed occupied simply creeping around the mansion. This new footage shows Leon battling various adversaries, including homicidal baby dolls and lethal specters. You can also see several elements survived the transition into the current RE4, such as context-sensitive action commands used to dodge attacks.
For example, when Leon struggles against a ghost-like foe that seeps out of a painting, a player could try to overpower the ghoul by directing the Cube's thumbstick either left or right. The ghoul would then attack you with a giant hook, which you could dodge by pressing the appropriate shoulder button, just like dodging attacks in the retail version of RE4. Leon also needed to dodge the attacks from Knights who would slyly try to drop their axes on his head. The rest of the action would look familiar to any RE4 veteran. The camera pulls behind Leon's shoulder to give players a better view of the action when using weapons.
Since most of the game seemed to take place within a darkened mansion, Leon made extensive use of his trusty flashlight. The effect, along with every other lighting effect such as lightning, looked spectacular. In the same way the flashlight/ paranoia trick worked to great effect in Doom 3, there's a good chance this combination of fear would have scared the pants off anyone in a Resident Evil game.
Link:
http://cube.ign.com/articles/582/582869p1.html
was the hook-ghost guy that can go through walls about? Or the dolls? (if there not machines that is). Resident Evil isn't about the Para-normal, it's about genetics and people playing [insert your god]. If they were going down the Para-normal road it would have been a baseball bat to the face of every Resident Evil fan (not to mention a writing nightmare to be able to link para-normal things with past resident evils), and thankfully they re-invented Resident Evil but stayed true to what Resident Evil is.
