Resident Evil. 6. (Both of those full stops are intentional)

HOLY CRAP. THIS LOOKS AMAZING.

I never thought I would say that about another Resident Evil game. Resident Evil 5 was utter garbage. I didn’t even bother with it after a couple of hours. I realized I was just bored and clinging on in desperation. This trailer though… if this game can live up to it at all…

Things I like:

• It looks like a genuine sequel to Resident Evil 4. Resident Evil 4 was amazing.
• It takes all the Resident Evil 4 goodness and pumps it back into an urban setting, while deliberately referring to Raccoon City. This is all gold so far.
• Some cheesy hardbit burnt out mercenary dude (I initially thought might be Wesker) as a playable character, and it looks like his blood is the antidote. He wants money. Money for his blood.
• There is cheesy looking parcourt stuff going on.
• Characters walk around woodenly in cut scenes and scream things about vendettas at each other.
• Leon and Ashley.
• The president is a zombie, apparently. Probably a dream sequence or some crap, but here’s hoping.
• It looks NUTS.

Things I do not like, so much:

• There is cheesy looking parcourt stuff going on.
• My excitement for this trailer allows me to overlook the blatantly bad cut scenes, but will I still be okay with that when this game actually comes out?
• The urban setting looks cool but there are still very Japanese-y design tics showing up here. The big example for me is the little example of Chris Redfield pushing aside a photographer. Seconds later, he clearly stops running to do another canned animation on a guy who happens to be in the way. Not very convincing.
• I loved RE:4. Absolutely loved it. But that game is seven years old now. Hopefully they’ve taken the gameplay on a bit. It looks from this trailer like they have, but I don’t know…
• Resident Evil 5 was absolute garbage. I’m just worried. What if you need a friend to call over and play as Ashley the entire time just so the game makes sense?

So, yeah… the things that I am excited about already outnumber the things I am worried about, and I had to stretch a little for that short list of negatives. This looks fantastic. I thought I was done with the Resident Evil games, but it seems Capcom still knows how to make a Resident Evil game. That in and of itself is exciting.

Say it with me…. Resident… Evil….

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SIX!

Oh, video games...

This stuff drives me crazy. All the good work being done in the industry, all the great games being produced, innovating in storytelling and technology and game theory... And there is stuff like this.

It strikes me as a weird copy of some East Asian game most likely. This stuff all reeks of a weird mix between the kind of drinking games that start up after dinner and the "racy" tv shows that air after midnight in places like Taiwan and Japan. It's just odd. Of course, the Wii market is completely to blame. The console has been so successful that the catalogue is flooded with all kinds of dross.

I just want to know one thing: how does this trailer get made? Apart from it being ridiculous, it's pretty sexist, regardless of whether or not the two dudes take their shirts off at the end (or get spanked...). I don't know, count me out anyway.