Some of you may have heard by now -- word has gotten out that Resident Evil 5 is under development only half a year after Resident Evil 4 rocked store shelves. What's perhaps a bigger deal is the platforms that this game is being developed for -- the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. An interview with producer Jun Takeuchi in the latest issue of Famitsu magazine reveals much about the game's workings, with details from the game system to some hints about what the story for Resident Evil 5 will be about.
The plan is to incorporate the base controls of Resident Evil 4, with the camera set behind the player rather than the static camera setup found in most of the other Resident Evil games. Going along with this, the screenshots in Famitsu showcase a completely different atmosphere for the game from the haunted houses and cities of previous Resident Evil games. It appears as if the game takes place in a desert. While at first glance, this might seem to be a thematic deviation for the series, Takeuchi insists that this isn't the case. Instead, he says, the desert setting will be the background for a game that will strive to achieve a level of craziness and insanity that left such an impression on Resident Evil 4 players.
One of Takeuchi's key points is that the game will be about escaping from perilous near-death situations, a thematic element of the Resident Evil series. Don't worry about the bright, day lit atmosphere -- he plans on using the capabilities of the next-gen consoles to give the players an even more immersive experience, and yes, your palms will be sweaty playing this game. "Sure, the dark areas are pretty standard Resident Evil stuff -- you're going through them pretty slowly; the light areas will represent how Resident Evil 5 will be different from the others," says Takeuchi. Will that be from the scorching sun (shown ever more realistically on the new hardware) or the fear of undead monsters trying to turn you into some ragu sauce? Could be either, but most likely a combination of both.
On the development side, many staff members who worked on the original Resident Evil will be making a comeback for Resident Evil 5. Sure, the guy in some of Famitsu's screenshots may look like Chris, but as Takeuchi puts it, if the game developers are making a comeback from Resident Evil 1, then that might offer clues as to who the main character might be...
From what he's been saying, it seems like Takeuchi wants to bring Resident Evil back to the basics -- perhaps right now, we're looking at a game that runs like Resident Evil 4, with some thematic tastes of Resident Evil 1 and Resident Evil 4. "This isn't a side story," Takeuchi insists. "If the main character is someone from the previous Resident Evil games, then you have to understand that we [the Resident Evil team] are looking into a major turning point in the series."
Of course, with the time it will take to meet the standards set by Resident Evil 4, don't expect this to be a launch title on either console. Takeuchi has indicated that such a project would normally take three to five years to complete, though we'll leave it up to the developers to make sue that players won't have to wait that long.
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