Thoughts On Resident Evil Controls - Past And Present
To those who are indecisive regarding purchasing Resident Evil 5, you may be happy to know I’m working on my video review for it. I did, however, find myself waffling on about my experience with past Resident Evil games; which ones I’ve played, and whether my inexperience with the franchise in general has an effect on how I’ve grasped the controls in the latest Resident Evil outing (compared to those who may be Resi veterans). There’s been so much controversy surrounding the controls, and I could have easily clogged up my video review by talking about it. So, I moved the majority of my control chat here.
I’ve yet to complete a Resident Evil game. Seriously, and this is coming from a self-confessed completion whore. All of them came out at a time where my love for gaming was a little more casual, more so of the ‘pick up and play’ variety. Having said that, I’ve actually owned the original Resident Evil on both the PlayStation and GameCube platform because I loved it so much, no doubt spending more time with the latter.
With the original Resident Evil, I always found the pre-determined camera to be tricky to adapt to. Even after my third attempt at completing the game, I was still struggling with growing accustomed to the camera, which was fixed in certain parts of the rooms you were exploring, leaving you with zero control over panning or rotating the view. To top it off, I always found maneuvering Jill (did anyone actually ever play as Chris?) to be fairly stiff. But that never accounted as to why I failed to complete it. The fixed camera and clunky controls did, however, frustrate me to no end.
I then bought a Resi spin-off, Resident Evil: Survivor. This was a completely different breed of Resident Evil, or so it felt. It was a first person shooter, the entirety of which could be played through using a light gun (which I did, complete with abysmal aiming). Resident Evil: Survivor had no save points, so everything had to be completed in one sitting. I doubt it took too long, but I was pretty bad at games, with a microscopic attention span to boot. I played Survivor 9 years ago, before gaming was anything other than something I did briefly after school; therefore I couldn’t distinguish a poor game from a good one. However, I thought Survivor was great fun! Game Informer, on the other hand, cites it as one of the worst horror games ever. So yeah, yet another Resident Evil game unfinished, but one I was able to get to grips with easily, unlike the original. (On another note, for anyone else who did play Survivor, watch this video on YouTube - it makes you realise how bad a game it really was).
Everyone had been raving about Resident Evil 4 even years after it came out, but I completely missed out on the last generation of gaming due to my interest in video games severely waning. I did, however, buy it for the GameCube in 2007 to see what all the fuss was about. When my first 360 joined its extended family in what must be a very bustling console hardware heaven, I decided to fill my evenings with Resident Evil 4. That didn’t last long. I managed to stomach the graphics, which weren’t actually as bad as I thought they’d be, but were obviously far from being on par with that of the 360. I managed to ninja jump from a window without feeling disappointed when an Achievement didn’t pop up. But I could not for the life of me grow accustomed to the controls, or the over-the-shoulder camera angle. I found the controls too tricky to fully master, and the character, Leon, too clunky to maneuver efficiently. I’d be backing up from enemies with my gun wielded, but I was so slow on the uptake it often resulted in premature death. I started to think I’d be much better off sticking to first person games.
When the demo of Resident Evil 5 hit, the buzz was all about the control scheme, namely people criticising it. I figured - judging by my experience with previous Resi games, more so Resident Evil 4 - I’d have to give it a miss all together. Especially as the controls and camera angle mimic that of Resi 4. But after over a month of playing Skate 2, I had a hard to ignore itch to mercilessly shoot some dudes.
In a nutshell, I’m quite surprised as to how comfortably I’ve taken to Resident Evil 5. Admittedly, I am finding Chris a bit stiff to move around, especially having him run and then change direction quickly. I find the over-the-shoulder camera angle is something I’m not quite used to, but I am slowly accepting it. However, don’t get me started on the ludicrous fact you can’t attack and move simultaneously. It feels unnecessarily too much to change from wielding your weapon to maneuvering away from the enemy, and so on, so forth. Having said that, despite finding Resi 5 to be clunky as with the original, and more so the 4th in the series, I’m much more forgiving of it. The frustrating controls aren’t going to prevent me from completing it, because it hasn’t hampered my enjoyment of the game too much. Resident Evil 5 will be the first in the series I fully complete.
How are you finding the controls in Resident Evil 5 in relation to your experience with past Resi games?
I don’t have anything derogatory to say about Alan Wake. My advice to you? Spend a night in Bright Falls and soak up the eerie atmosphere. Alan Wake excels at thrilling you psychologically. Which is why it’s called a psychological thriller, I guess…
Skar