New Famitsu Images and Umbrella's Death

[Skunky]

Outbreak in theory was an excellent idea, however, I feel it was just executed incorrectly. Perhaps, it is better to say that it was ahead of it's time. That kind of game would have worked much better on the online networks that are established today like the Playstation Network or the X-Box Live network. If Capcom would ever consider bringing back the Outbreak series it would probably do much better

I totally agree!!!
I love my PS2 and I love both Outbreak games but I never went online with them. Back then, going online with a PS2 wasn't so simple. But now with the PS3, wireless connections and the easier availability of broadband, I'm sure participation would be MUCH greater. Hopefully it will eventually come to the PSN (I know some would rather see the Outbreaks on 360 but the fact is, it's a lot easier to port a PS2 game to PS3 than 360).

Why is Umbrella's death news to anyone? Haven't we known this for a while?

That's pretty much what I was thinking...

[Alzaire]

Why? Because it portrays what Resident Evil was always about? War?
Resident Evil was NEVER about zombies. It was about Umbrella wanting super soldiers. It was about armies. About Military. About WAR.

Resident Evil's theme, it's main focal point, was ALWAYS Bio-Organic Weapons.
It was never zombies.

What is now, in Resident Evil 5?
Still Bio-Organic Weapons.
Resident Evil is still true to it's theme.
As such, it's still Resident Evil.
It's not as if it has completely derived itself away from the main point, the actual theme, and went into a main character infilitrating a building and killing actual 100% humans like they are themselves.
It's not as if it became a Max Payne, or Syphon Filter, or even 007.
It's still dealing with BOWs, thus, it's still Resident Evil.
All it's doing is now, with the power of current-generation consoles allowing more action, space, environments and enemies on-screen, the fight is taking place on a open fields. It's the actual war now, it was always war, only now it's taking place on the battle-field itself.

It was always Umbrella wanting to create super-soldiers, and things just went wrong. It was never "zombie incidents", it was about BOWs, and it still is.


I've repeated many things there, and I've actually typed statements in line-formats, rather paragraphs. Maybe this way it'll be easy to understand the mere fact:

"RE is NOT about zombies. Never was, never will be."

I will respectfully disagree on a few points. You have no real idea exactly what the series was about from the very beginning. It progresses to the idea of what you say, but not fully true I believe.

The series was never about zombies is true. Zombies were a focal point though because it was zombie movies that influenced the original.

However, to say the theme is about "war and BOW" for the most part I feel is a bit wrong. It's always been about survival, and horror. Those elements make up war, yes. The backstory broadened into what feels like war over time though. But that's not the main theme from the beginning.

This is because in the beginning, the story and gameplay were different. The original's main story was not about war, or bio-terrorism. It was about the police of a mid-western town trying to solve bizarre murder cases and finding themselves involved in something unexpected. Only in the end was it revealed the source of the isolated incident was the company Umbrella working on a Bioweapon project. The story itself, while containing the future-progressive element of the Umbrella BOW story, did not match the gameplay. The gameplay was cold, slow, horror. It was not about action. It was about a fear, a horror, survival and death. RE1 is also the only game that created identified characters that were well known and friends to the main characters to die and cause grief for their emotions.

The second and third game was similar, though slightly different. It broadened the incident, taking over a full city. But again, despite the backstory furthering the Umbrella arc and being technical, the gameplay was still the slow creeping death of zombies and mutated creatures. I wouldn't argue that Raccoon City became a warzone, but playing new characters in the story emphasized a survival, horror aspect. Leon and Claire did not know what was going on, nor did they understand anything about Umbrella till later. Theirs wasn't a war, yet. For 3, again the backstory is detailing more about the progress of BOW and Umbrella's involvement, but Jill's immediate concern in gameplay is not about that. It's about her survival and escaping the city.

CV progresses a little further, then takes a step back in itself. Claire, Leon, and earlier cast are just now beginning the "war". This is also where Umbrella itself is more understood as a much larger and powerful corporation. But the gameplay still didn't fully match.

RE4, ironically, goes backwards. The main story means very little, with the real important stuff not emphasized much, speculated, or later revealed in a bonus mission added on later. But the gameplay starts fitting the action story that BOW terrorism "war" being prepared by the Umbrella arc fits.

RE5 is when the series is really starting to feel like an actual war. It's only now that really looking at the bigger picture, the gameplay, ect. that it becomes the kind of thing you say it is. Which is why I said in the post before this that the series either has to end, or it really has to go large scale.

Not because it's "supposed to be about zombies" or that it's different from the old stuff, but where can it keep going that will make it even seem worthwhile from anything BUT a gameplay standpoint. How many more semi-isolated incidents can we take? Sure RE2/3 was in a large city, and RE4/5 are in decent sized villages/areas. But the size of the areas aren't the thing, it's the idea behind it. The continually growing broad scope of BOW terrorism that was only rooted in the background and gently nursed in the first few games is possibly going to become too broad to sustain itself, or become generic within itself (which was something pro-re4/5 people complain plagued the first 1-3/CV).

Thinking about it, I feel a good way to describe it was the first few games were about playing a game with a story behind it. Whereas now we're playing a story with a game behind it. Despite a couple of points that are constant within the series, it is a fact that it has continued to mutate (albeit slowly at first) and it is not the same as it was.

The series has to end, or find a way to sustain itself that it doesn't become generic within itself. It will happen eventually, as it did with the Umbrella/Zombie arc. Even if you were to really believe the series is about War, military, and armies then I'd have to say it is about a -specific- kind that gives it it's focus. If you remove the kind of specifics behind the "war", then the series will definitely lose itself and no longer be it's identity.

Hell, if Biohazard actually has any real theme, it's "mutation". Everything changed over time, and will need to change to keep going. Think of it like Birkin. First he's recognizable then his mutations keep changing him until he reaches a final blob of mass and is ultimately defeated. The entire time, he was still Birkin, but it didn't stop him from being generally different every time nor did it stop his demise.

[The Ekamp]

Hell, if Biohazard actually has any real theme, it's "mutation". Everything changed over time, and will need to change to keep going. Think of it like Birkin. First he's recognizable then his mutations keep changing him until he reaches a final blob of mass and is ultimately defeated. The entire time, he was still Birkin, but it didn't stop him from being generally different every time nor did it stop his demise.

Wow =D

I like yer way of thinking!

[RetroRain]

Hey check this out.

TOMB RAIDER EVIL: WORLD AT WAR

[Archelon]

Was that really necessary?

[Bertha]

I just think the whole "handing off" of viruses/parasites to different organizations is rather dumb. What's next after TriCell? We're already 6 games into the main story plot with several side stories dealing with varying focal but loosely connected themes and that is Umbrella = evil. I always thought that the end of Umbrella and Wesker's death should mark the end of the series.

I've said it before...stringing the game out for another 10 years and turning it into another sort of Final Fantasy would, to me, make the series lose its charm. The characters can't keep doing the same exact thing every game.

[Archelon]

Honestly, I'd be surprised if we even see any returning characters in the next game (not counting any new characters introduced in RE5 who might replace Wesker as the main villain).

[Bertha]

We probably might get Chris again....and to many people's dismay Leon. But as far as any of the others...I doubt it too. And I hope Excella is killed in 5...from what I've seen I doubt she'll make a good main villain. Now that I think about it...Wesker (Nicholai depending on your stance on if he lives or dies in 3) is the only villain to make repeat appearences. I guess that's why I link the end of the series with his death. It only seems fitting.

[MeganGrass]

Capcom's Chris Kramer has confirmed that the Umbrella Corporation, the primary villains of the RE series, are no longer going to be the primary focus from here on out.

... uh, ok?

Weren't we basically told this in BioHazard 4's opening cutscene, four years ago?

[Bertha]

... uh, ok?

Weren't we basically told this in BioHazard 4's opening cutscene, four years ago?

Yes but there was always the undertone that Umbrella was still functioning behind the scenes. And I think Krauser's "All for Umbrella" line also fueled that thought.

[Archelon]

We probably might get Chris again....and to many people's dismay Leon. But as far as any of the others...I doubt it too. And I hope Excella is killed in 5...from what I've seen I doubt she'll make a good main villain. Now that I think about it...Wesker (Nicholai depending on your stance on if he lives or dies in 3) is the only villain to make repeat appearences. I guess that's why I link the end of the series with his death. It only seems fitting.

I don't know. Unless they plan on bringing Chris back to finish the job, I think all signs are pointing to RE5 being the final battle between Chris and Wesker, and Chris will, in all likelihood, win. I would be really surprised if Wesker ended up surviving, or, even more so, if he actually killed Chris.

It would be a ballsy move on Capcom's part, to be sure, but I think it's pretty obvious they've been trying to really hammer home that the only one who can and will (or perhaps it would be better to say the only one who should) defeat Wesker is Chris. I don't even want to think about what the fan uproar would be like if some brand new character ended up being the one to finish Wesker off.

[Rock it.]

Here's another one thinking that every known character should die a painful death alongside Umbrella. Seriously, I liked it more when the focus was just that whole "w00t!! Trapped in with demonic bio-organic crap. Gotta find a helipad!" thing. Capcom is trying to get milk out of a stone with that stupid story of theirs. Just take the focus back to common people trying to survive whatever is out to kill them. That's what RE was all about for me.

[Archelon]

Just take the focus back to common people trying to survive whatever is out to kill them. That's what RE was all about for me.

Not sure an elite, antiterrorist tactical unit constitutes "common people."

[Rock it.]

Not sure an elite, antiterrorist tactical unit constitutes "common people."

I meant that more as believable people. The kind you can actually see on the street, or hell, TV. Not one-liners-back-flipping-handgun-snipers-falcon-punchers out to rescue president daughters, exterminate villages and prevent world-scale bio-terrorist assaults all by themselves.

[Borman]

Such good journalism

More of a poor editor. Stupid sounding mistakes are made quite a bit in journalism, at least in my experience, but the editor should really catch things like that ><