Resident Evil 5 controls overhauled to be more Gears-like

by Justin McElroy { Sep 3rd 2008 at 10:00AM }

Just as we were complaining about a lack of innovation in the move from Resident Evil 4 to Resident Evil 5, we get word that the whole point might be moot. At a recent Microsoft Media Briefing, producer Jun Takeuchi said that players could expect a new control system, similar to Gears of War, when they hunted digital zombies at the Tokyo Game Show.

Of course, one could argue that "innovation" isn't necessarily synonymous with "cribbing the controls from another game." But hey, Gears was inspired by Resident Evil 4 in the first place, no? It is, as Sir Elton says, the circle of life.

[Via X3F]

Tags: capcom, jun-takeuchi, resident-evil-5, tgs-2008

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)

Obie @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:10AM

I didn't mind the controls of RE4 much, but it did suck that you could not move at all while aiming, or the lack of any strafing ability.

I am glad they made some tweaks.

CJLopez @ Sep 3rd 2008 12:07PM

Well, I'n in for the strafe, but out for the aim while walking

Really, the way it has been up to now, stop to shot, is the more realistic approach this game had has in awhile. I mean, walking to shot and still is something pretty hard, and on a zombie swarm almost impossible I say.

Still, let em do what they think is best

Microswirl (MKWii:1676- 4270-3674) @ Sep 3rd 2008 3:19PM

Apparently CJLopez can't walk and shoot (and chew gum) at the same time.

Fenix @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:10AM

This game just keeps getting better and better! I too was somewhat bothered about the stiff controls that Ive seen in footage but this is sure to free things up.

Jakka(Naked Peach Brigade) @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:11AM

I guess it's the Tomb Raider:Legend Paradox all over again.

Then again,this does kinda make me worried because Gears was a complete clusterfuck should any of your enemies get up close...

Fenix @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:18AM

"Gears was a complete clusterfuck should any of your enemies get up close..."

You sure you were playing Gears or Army of Two? o_O

Gears has no issues in close quarters combat.

Obie @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:27AM

Yeah, gears works great when dealing with enemies in medium range. But once they got in your personal space, the 3rd person view and slow turning speed made things very difficult.

Vidikron (FU) @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:54AM

"Gears was a complete clusterfuck should any of your enemies get up close..."

Hmmm... I never really thought that, but even so, RE has always been worse in that regard, so surely this is a step up either way. In fact, RE combat has always been a cluster fuck anywhere. Even the much improved RE4 was still stiff and the lack of being able to move and shoot at the same times was simply absurd.

chimp o death @ Sep 3rd 2008 11:22AM

Yeah, I'll second and third the dissent to that comment. Even though RE4 was light years ahead control-wise for the series, almost every action could be smoother to perform, more "western" if you like. If your game is asking me to shoot dynamite out of the air while I'm being assailed from all sides...a little help, please?

And as far as close quarters in Gears, I always found the melee attack quite effective, even forgiving (every weapon except the Lancer). I'll grant you that most firearms can get a little janky at close range, but I still found the ability to MOVE AND SHOOT AT THE SAME TIME worth the trade off.

Vcize @ Sep 3rd 2008 11:33AM

Huh? Gears of War (multiplayer in particular) was built for up close, in your face combat. It has the best up close controls of any game I've played...ever.

I'm not sure what game you two were playing (like Fenix said, maybe it was Army of Two), but if you couldn't handle up close action in Gears then you can't handle up close action in anything.

Fenix @ Sep 3rd 2008 11:54AM

Vcize

I think we have some frauds in Teh Joystiq Commentz section :( Thats one thing I cant stand. Up close combat in Gears is so well done that I was baffled when jakka said that. Army of Two is a prime example of up close wonky controls and melee action.

Haggard @ Sep 3rd 2008 12:03PM

Agreed with Jakka here. When they got close you could sort of shoot them but they'd just kill you before you got them.

Obie @ Sep 3rd 2008 12:03PM

To say there is NOTHING wrong with the up close combat is Gears is foolish. Blizinski even said so in interviews. The "invincible chainsaw melee" and the broken shotty mechanics eventually made me move on when COD4 came out.

But hey, maybe it's just me. ;)

Fenix @ Sep 3rd 2008 12:24PM

Obie

You're talking about online MP (which have since been fixed) bugs . The actual CONTROLS (which is what we're all talking about here) are just fine. The controls work very smoothly in SP compared to RE4's gimped controls.

Obie @ Sep 3rd 2008 12:28PM

@fenix, agreed. When you compare the two, Gears is more polished. But I would not say it doesn't have issues. In the end I am looking forward to the new controls in RE5 and the tweaks in Gears 2.

TWiNKiE @ Sep 3rd 2008 1:11PM

Obie, you could just raise the sensitivity you know.
I had that same thing happen to me. People were moving to fast for my crosshair, and I kept on moving. A friend told me playing on Medium was useless, and to move on to High.

Next round, I got all 4 kills. No joke.

Metal_Gear @ Sep 3rd 2008 2:04PM

Mention one little thing that could have been better and you get a huge quote tree telling you your wrong, it was perfect, perfect perfection in a perfectionists eye...

No game is perfect, even MGS4 as hard as that is to believe :P

Vcize @ Sep 3rd 2008 2:14PM

You guys are talking about glitches in the game in multiplayer and strength of the enemies in single player, not about the controls.

The controls themselves are astonishingly good up close. 80% of multiplayer combat takes place up close, and a big reason for that is that the up close controls are so good.

Vcize @ Sep 3rd 2008 2:18PM

Metal_gear, there's a difference between picking out something that you didn't like aobut a game and picking out something that a game did better than almost any other game out there and is one of the reasons for the games immense success and saying that it was done poorly.

To use your MGS4 example, that would be like saying MGS4 had poor presentation values in its cinematics, or that MGS4 does stealth gameplay poorly, or that MGS4 had a weak cookie cutter story. Sure, MGS4 had some problems, but those things listed are all big strengths that it does better than most other games, so to say that THOSE in particular were the weakpoints of the game would draw a response out of you.

Fenix @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:15AM

A Horde online co-op mode over LIVE where you blast waves of zombies would be nice. :)

Oh wait...

:P

Well...it would!

xGeneral DEATHx @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:33AM

I'm with ya on that one, especially since no one else will be doing such a th--wait a minute...

Wiinterfang @ Sep 3rd 2008 11:20AM

Murderface murderface murderface murderface!!!

xGeneral DEATHx @ Sep 3rd 2008 2:02PM

DETH-KLOK! DETH-KLOK! DETH-KLOK! DETH-KLOK!

Arturo @ Sep 3rd 2008 3:40PM

RE4's mercenary mode was similar to that concept, only with a time limit and without an online component. That sounds like it'd make a nice addition to RE5 though.

samfish @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:16AM

I'm so glad they ruined the controls.

Now instead of a survival horror game that creates a sense of tension and drama, it's a typical run 'n' gun action game with zombies. Now they just need to bolt on a cover system and it'll be complete.

yay.

Fenix @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:27AM

Write a letter Sammy, I'm sure they would rather calm YOUR concerns than that of hundreds of thousands others that complained. =/

snarfoogle @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:27AM

Yeah, screw good controls, the horrible ones make the game so much scarier!

samfish @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:30AM

Me and the hundreds of thousands who DIDN'T want to controls changed will do just that, Fenix.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:31AM

It's funny since Giant Bomb was talking about the same exact thing in their last podcast. You know your game is doing something wrong where the only source of tension in the game is because of the horrible controls.

Fenix @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:36AM

I dont see why your concerned, there will be NO Wii-like controls for it anyway. Oh and there will be no Wii version either.

Just a friendly FYI. ;)

xGeneral DEATHx @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:40AM

Although I agree with RE purists who say that the No-Movement aiming controls added to the tension of RE4, it just doesn't seem very practical that someone well-trained in the use of firearms (Redfield) couldn't move at least a little while firing...so long as the movement affects the accuracy of your aiming (a la every shooter made in the last 7 years or so), I think it's a fair trade-off, especially since you'll still have to be sparing in your use of ammo.

In summary, my opinion is that this change to a Gears-like movement system is a good thing, but RE purists should definitely get the option to switch it back, one way or another, the gameplay mechanics will change at least a bit because of this alteration, but that doesn't mean it will be a bad thing.

Chris @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:41AM

Maybe I'm alone in this but since when was Resident evils tension and drama dependent on its controls. The Run and gun controls of Gears are great and may well add to the tension and drama. Seeing how theres no aiming cursor on Gears you'll waste tons of the already Ammo you have trying to kill waves of infected. Then if you do wanna aim it decreases your speed tremendously which will leave you open for infected attacks when they attack in great numbers. That already sounds more drama filled with good controls. Its a win/win

xGeneral DEATHx @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:43AM

@ Chris:

Get outta my head, dude!

modifiedbears @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:47AM

Have you even played Gears of War? You can only move very slowly while you are aiming.

Fenix @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:51AM

xGenDeathx and Chris +1

Excellent points.

DangerMouse @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:52AM

I hated the controls in RE4. It was so stiff and sluggish, and it was difficult getting out of a tough situation, since i couldn't see a damn thing to the left of me. Yeah, i know the right stick could see left, but they didn't take advantage of the analog function very well. RE's always had knack of having shitty controls and hard to see camera angles to make up for the shitty AI. Gears of War took what RE4 did and perfected it. If RE5 is more like GoW, then awesome.

Vidikron (FU) @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:55AM

What kind of bullshit reasoning is this? You like tension created by shitty controls? Fuck that. Did you like the blinding static camera angles of the early games too?

samfish @ Sep 3rd 2008 11:05AM

I don't disagree with the sentiment that RE4 has crappy controls (Wii version excluded, where the crappy controls worked fantastically).
I simply object to the game apparently turning into a faster paced action series and inevitably less of a tension filled horror game.

Duke @ Sep 3rd 2008 11:08AM

Seems to me the tension should come through things such as less firearm usage and scary atmosphere. Not through controls that don't make your character feel or act human. We all know a person doesn't freeze and wait to be killed when they fire a pistol, so why the hell do we see that in the RE games? It doesn't make it scary - it makes it frustrating.

I guarantee that if a real life mob of zombies came at you in a room and you could shoot while trying to get away, climbing the walls and stuff - you would be scared shitless still!

DangerMouse @ Sep 3rd 2008 11:13AM

There's other elements in the game already that can make it creepy and scary. It's not as big a jump as RE4 was to RE1/2/3, and it went through a major overhaul, for the better too. I don't see this as that big of deal, it still has the same look and feel, imo.

Anam @ Sep 3rd 2008 11:14AM

First, just to clarify Chris, Resident Evil 4 didn't have a aiming reticle either, except in the Wii edition, which was only put there for the perpose of the Wiimote. In other versions of the game, you had to aim by the laser sight, with the exception of sniper rifles.

Second, and this is just my opinion, but the reason why being able to move and aim at the same time is bad is because it either requires double analog stick controls (shit) or use Goldeneye-style stick to move and use buttons to aim (sluggish and uses up four face buttons just to aim).

Finally, the reason why there should not be an option for control schemes (I'd rather have dual-analog controls than an option) is because game designers *should* build their game with the control scheme in mind.

For example, Resident Evil 4 was designed fantastically, where the lack of strafe is very minor because the level design made it where strafe really wasn't that relevant. The places where I said to myself "I wish I could strafe right now" are few and far between, which is a testament to the designers building the levels with the control scheme in mind.

If you allow two control schemes, it means the designers either need to take into consideration both (increases time to design a level and/or makes levels feel generic) or build the game focusing on one control scheme (making the other feel broken).

343 Guilty Fart @ Sep 3rd 2008 1:25PM

I gotta agree with Samfish. The only thing I would add onto the RE4 controls would be the ability to strafe, other than that I'm fine. If I can get through the whole game multiple times without much of a problem then I really can't call the controls "broken".

Microswirl (MKWii:1676- 4270-3674) @ Sep 3rd 2008 3:49PM

Samfish's argument seems to be hinged on the assumption that giving RE5 action-game controls would automatically make it a fast-paced action game, but Sam I'm telling you this will not happen! If you had played through Gears' single-player campaign then you would know that there are some very slow-paced RE-inspired moments of suspense involving a mansion where little creepy "Wretches" keep popping out from around corners. Controls do not define the personality of a game.

vidGuy @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:16AM

I would die for remote aiming ala RE4:Wii Edition, but since THAT isn't going to happen I hope these controls work out. I never really had a problem with RE4's controls. Having to stop to shoot made it so... Resident Evil. I DON'T want a RE-themed FPS.