Massively Multiplayer: Gaming In The New Millennium
- Thread starter RySenkari
- Start date
- Status
WHY DO YOU NEED TO REMIND ME I DON'T LIVE THERE!? I WANT TO LIVE THERE!
Thing that sucks is, it's probably too late for a game like this to come out IOTL. People are too set in their ways with how social media works and AAA studios who could fund this would destroy it with microtransactions.
That's enough sadness. Back to pestering Obsidian employees why they should make Necrocracy.
SimSocieties would have firmly fell into "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY" territory for me ITTL.
Instead IOTL we got Sim City Societies. I bought that game, and I actually liked it, however given how radically different it was from all the other Sim City games up to that point, I can see why longtime fans of the franchise were disappointed by the game.
The less said about SimCity 2013, the better though. Seriously, why do I need to be connected to the internet to play a single-player game with no online features?
(I didn't buy the game specifically because of this. The always-online requirement was of course rescinded later, but the damage to the game and the franchise's reputation and prestige was already done.)I know you aren't writing a utopia, but things like this always make me wish that I was living in this version of our world instead.
Fall 2008 (Part 2) - Frenzied Development At Retro Studios
Frenzy
Frenzy is a hack and slash title developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo exclusively for the Sapphire. While developed by Retro, it was only worked on by a fairly small portion of their full team, with much of the studio's development focused on Apollyon 3 and Arcadia. Frenzy was developed by a team that primarily worked on the Play Action Football series, which ended when EA's Madden won NFL exclusivity in 2008. It's a game that focuses somewhat more on style than on substance, differentiating itself from games such as Devil May Cry, with extremely fast paced combat action to balance out a fairly shallow movepool of combos. The game's protagonist is a gifted martial artist named Kouga with the ability to focus his chi into superhuman bursts of strength. It's set in a crime infested city called Yakuden, and has a somewhat open-world style, though the missions themselves are fairly linear, with the open city mostly used for grinding resources. Kouga fights extremely fast, with movement and punches and kicks taking place at incredible speed, giving the player the opportunity to land blow after blow on enemies without wearing down. This is the key to the game's combat: as enemies and the environment are damaged, power-up orbs fly around and are collected, giving Kouga a fleeting enhancement to his skills. These boosts usually last under a second, meaning the player has to be constantly damaging enemies and racking up combos, lest their power-ups disappear and leave Kouga vulnerable. This gives the game its name: the player is encouraged to fight in a relentless frenzy, never giving enemies the chance to breath and never stopping to refocus one's efforts: instead, the player must attack, attack, attack, leading to battles that consist of huge combos and flurries of activity. Inbetween missions, the player can explore the city, getting into fights and collecting Kiko, the game's currency, which can be cashed in for new attacks and permanent power-ups. It's a fairly straight forward hack and slash game, with characters that don't really have complex motivations. The game's focus is on its fighting, with the plot being more window dressing than anything else. The plot itself involves Kouga, who has become the star pupil at his master's dojo, and who has fallen in love with Sakuya, the daughter of the dojo master and a fellow warrior. One day, gangsters seeking to collect on an old debt held by Kouga's master, burst into the dojo and kidnap Sakuya (though she puts up a hell of a fight, and continues to angrily fight and resist throughout her captivity). From there, it's the typical "rescue the girl" story, with Kouga wandering the city to seek out the gangsters and rescue Sakuya. The gangsters fight back with increasing numbers and increasingly powerful individuals, starting out with fairly easy bosses and graduating to much more powerful enemies who can easily give Kouga a run for his money. The plot never really has any twists and turns, though there are still some exciting moments, as Kouga makes a few allies, including some former members of the gang he's been fighting. Sakuya, though a damsel in distress, doesn't just sit around waiting for help, she actively resists, fighting her captors and constantly trying to escape, though she's never completely successful. Kouga's master is a somewhat compelling character, feeling some guilt that Kouga has to fight his battles and that his daughter is being held hostage, and we do get to see some of his past in the closest thing this game has to major character development. Ultimately, Kouga confronts the leader of the rival gang, defeats him, saves Sakuya, and settles his master's old debts. He is finally given the title of Grand Master of Martial Arts, and the game ends with Kouga asking Sakuya out on a date and Sakuya refusing, telling Kouga that she'll be too busy training so she can surpass him and become a grand master herself.
Frenzy is released on October 7, 2008, the same day as SimSociety (though because SimSociety is a PC game and Frenzy is a console game, it doesn't hurt Frenzy too terribly badly, apart from of course the attention of the gaming press). Critical reviews for the game are generally good, though critics have some quibbles: the characters, while generally fun, are still seen as one dimensional, the combat does get fairly repetitive after a while, and the game's plot is too simplistic for such a fun game. However, the game's combat, while repetitive, is also seen as being intuitive and fun during boss fights, the graphics are seen as some of the Sapphire's best to date, the voice acting (particularly Kyle Hebert as Kouga and Keiko Agena as Sakuya) is highly praised, and the music, composed by Chad Seiter, is considered excellent. Despite being one of the lesser hyped titles to come out of Retro during their time developing for Nintendo, the game is still a success, garnering just over a million sales worldwide by the end of the year and becoming one of the stronger new IPs on the Nintendo Sapphire. The success of Frenzy would lead to Nintendo devoting more resources to Retro Studios, not only to help them develop their highly anticipated new titles Arcadia and Apollyon 3, but also to develop a successor to Frenzy, which became a surprise hit and proved that once again, a Nintendo second party studio was delivering for the company.
-
"We got a bit of new Arcadia footage today at PAX West. After replaying the E3 trailer, some gameplay footage was revealed that shows a world truly styled like an old school arcade title, with pixels galore amidst a beautiful 3-D landscape, and the four main characters battling enemies with a variety of weapons and abilities. Every time an enemy was defeated, a large point number would light up on the screen, shining like a rainbow. Arcadia is looking like the perfect cross between a modern action game and an arcade throwback, and just before the presentation was ended, a new bombshell was dropped: the game would have a four player focus, with both local and online multiplayer available. You won't just be exploring this world on your own, you'll have three friends alongside you, not only cooperating with you to progress, but competing with you to gain a high score, creating some very interesting dynamics. Retro also announced that Apollyon 3 has entered the early stages of development, but that it won't be completed until after Arcadia. Despite that disappointing bit of news for Apollyon fans, Retro Studios has shown that it's rising in stature as a second party development company, and that it could be Nintendo's secret weapon as we enter the next generation of the console wars."
-from Alex Stansfield's PAX West report, posted to Games Over Matter on October 18, 2008
Frenzy is a hack and slash title developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo exclusively for the Sapphire. While developed by Retro, it was only worked on by a fairly small portion of their full team, with much of the studio's development focused on Apollyon 3 and Arcadia. Frenzy was developed by a team that primarily worked on the Play Action Football series, which ended when EA's Madden won NFL exclusivity in 2008. It's a game that focuses somewhat more on style than on substance, differentiating itself from games such as Devil May Cry, with extremely fast paced combat action to balance out a fairly shallow movepool of combos. The game's protagonist is a gifted martial artist named Kouga with the ability to focus his chi into superhuman bursts of strength. It's set in a crime infested city called Yakuden, and has a somewhat open-world style, though the missions themselves are fairly linear, with the open city mostly used for grinding resources. Kouga fights extremely fast, with movement and punches and kicks taking place at incredible speed, giving the player the opportunity to land blow after blow on enemies without wearing down. This is the key to the game's combat: as enemies and the environment are damaged, power-up orbs fly around and are collected, giving Kouga a fleeting enhancement to his skills. These boosts usually last under a second, meaning the player has to be constantly damaging enemies and racking up combos, lest their power-ups disappear and leave Kouga vulnerable. This gives the game its name: the player is encouraged to fight in a relentless frenzy, never giving enemies the chance to breath and never stopping to refocus one's efforts: instead, the player must attack, attack, attack, leading to battles that consist of huge combos and flurries of activity. Inbetween missions, the player can explore the city, getting into fights and collecting Kiko, the game's currency, which can be cashed in for new attacks and permanent power-ups. It's a fairly straight forward hack and slash game, with characters that don't really have complex motivations. The game's focus is on its fighting, with the plot being more window dressing than anything else. The plot itself involves Kouga, who has become the star pupil at his master's dojo, and who has fallen in love with Sakuya, the daughter of the dojo master and a fellow warrior. One day, gangsters seeking to collect on an old debt held by Kouga's master, burst into the dojo and kidnap Sakuya (though she puts up a hell of a fight, and continues to angrily fight and resist throughout her captivity). From there, it's the typical "rescue the girl" story, with Kouga wandering the city to seek out the gangsters and rescue Sakuya. The gangsters fight back with increasing numbers and increasingly powerful individuals, starting out with fairly easy bosses and graduating to much more powerful enemies who can easily give Kouga a run for his money. The plot never really has any twists and turns, though there are still some exciting moments, as Kouga makes a few allies, including some former members of the gang he's been fighting. Sakuya, though a damsel in distress, doesn't just sit around waiting for help, she actively resists, fighting her captors and constantly trying to escape, though she's never completely successful. Kouga's master is a somewhat compelling character, feeling some guilt that Kouga has to fight his battles and that his daughter is being held hostage, and we do get to see some of his past in the closest thing this game has to major character development. Ultimately, Kouga confronts the leader of the rival gang, defeats him, saves Sakuya, and settles his master's old debts. He is finally given the title of Grand Master of Martial Arts, and the game ends with Kouga asking Sakuya out on a date and Sakuya refusing, telling Kouga that she'll be too busy training so she can surpass him and become a grand master herself.
Frenzy is released on October 7, 2008, the same day as SimSociety (though because SimSociety is a PC game and Frenzy is a console game, it doesn't hurt Frenzy too terribly badly, apart from of course the attention of the gaming press). Critical reviews for the game are generally good, though critics have some quibbles: the characters, while generally fun, are still seen as one dimensional, the combat does get fairly repetitive after a while, and the game's plot is too simplistic for such a fun game. However, the game's combat, while repetitive, is also seen as being intuitive and fun during boss fights, the graphics are seen as some of the Sapphire's best to date, the voice acting (particularly Kyle Hebert as Kouga and Keiko Agena as Sakuya) is highly praised, and the music, composed by Chad Seiter, is considered excellent. Despite being one of the lesser hyped titles to come out of Retro during their time developing for Nintendo, the game is still a success, garnering just over a million sales worldwide by the end of the year and becoming one of the stronger new IPs on the Nintendo Sapphire. The success of Frenzy would lead to Nintendo devoting more resources to Retro Studios, not only to help them develop their highly anticipated new titles Arcadia and Apollyon 3, but also to develop a successor to Frenzy, which became a surprise hit and proved that once again, a Nintendo second party studio was delivering for the company.
-
"We got a bit of new Arcadia footage today at PAX West. After replaying the E3 trailer, some gameplay footage was revealed that shows a world truly styled like an old school arcade title, with pixels galore amidst a beautiful 3-D landscape, and the four main characters battling enemies with a variety of weapons and abilities. Every time an enemy was defeated, a large point number would light up on the screen, shining like a rainbow. Arcadia is looking like the perfect cross between a modern action game and an arcade throwback, and just before the presentation was ended, a new bombshell was dropped: the game would have a four player focus, with both local and online multiplayer available. You won't just be exploring this world on your own, you'll have three friends alongside you, not only cooperating with you to progress, but competing with you to gain a high score, creating some very interesting dynamics. Retro also announced that Apollyon 3 has entered the early stages of development, but that it won't be completed until after Arcadia. Despite that disappointing bit of news for Apollyon fans, Retro Studios has shown that it's rising in stature as a second party development company, and that it could be Nintendo's secret weapon as we enter the next generation of the console wars."
-from Alex Stansfield's PAX West report, posted to Games Over Matter on October 18, 2008
So now that Obsidian is owned by Microsoft they have the funding to make Necrocracy a reality right? I can have some kind of hope it will happen?
@RySenkari I keep forgetting to ask, are all SimSocieties that are posted online publicly viewable, or can they be locked to "invite only?"
So for example if someone wanted to make one that would definitely offend people out of context, but appeal to a niche audience (like for example one based the dystopian TL What Madness Is This?!), could that one be set so that only people who are linked to it could get to it?
Also are NPCs called "SimCitizens"?
So for example if someone wanted to make one that would definitely offend people out of context, but appeal to a niche audience (like for example one based the dystopian TL What Madness Is This?!), could that one be set so that only people who are linked to it could get to it?
Also are NPCs called "SimCitizens"?
Fall 2008 (Part 3) - A Bit Of Ultraviolence On The iTwin
MadWorld
MadWorld is a hack and slash action game for the iTwin, very similar to its OTL Wii incarnation, but with better graphics and slightly more comic book inspiration. While developed by many of the same people as OTL's game, it's not PlatinumGames that's credited with developing it, but instead, the same development studio that creates the Star Siren titles is credited with the development, and Capcom is credited as the publisher. Because of the connection to the Star Siren games, it has a bit more of a linear style to it and is slightly more ridiculous than OTL's game (which was already fairly ridiculous), but is no less violent or controversial. Its protagonist is still a chainsaw-armed man named Jack, but the game also prominently features a woman named Lucille (voiced by Jennifer Hale), who is sort of a parody of Star Siren characters in that she has a slight magical girl aesthetic, but is dark and cold and has a gigantic spinning shuriken weapon. The plot of the game, which OTL was the result of a city being infected by a virus that forced people to kill, is ITTL a city where everyone fighting is a volunteer and the city has been populated by criminals, sadists, and bounty hunters hoping to achieve fame and riches by killing each other in the city's blood drenched streets. The gameplay itself is fairly similar to OTL's game, featuring hack and slash gameplay in a black and white environment colored red by the occasionally splatter of blood. Jack can use his chainsaw to great effect to kill enemies, and in another Star Siren-esque twist, the player has a meter that can be charged to perform special attacks that are similar to Mortal Kombat fatalities. Comic book sound effects appear all over the screen, especially when Jack is on a major killing spree, and many major characters are inspired by classic comic book heroes and villains, with a Joker-esque character and a Spiderman-esque character among the more prominent to appear. The plot has notable differences from OTL's plot since there's no virus in play. Instead, protagonist Jack, a former cop, is a man on a mission, attempting to hunt down a man known as Renegade Al, a motorcycle gangster who brutally murdered Jack's partner and left him for dead. Lucille's mission is totally unrelated to Jack's, she's a disillusioned martial arts master who was forced to train for 20 years by her father, and considers violence to be her only purpose in life. Though Lucille seems cold and heartless at first, she has a hidden good side, only killing villains and criminals and sparing those who aren't completely evil. Jack and Lucille's paths cross numerous times as they carve their way through the game's slate of gangsters and bosses, eventually coming together in the end to battle Renegade Al. MadWorld gets a decent critical reception: its visual style and unique plot are praised, though the game's combat, which gives players the option to use traditional controls or iTwin motion controls, is seen as somewhat lacking in either control scheme, not taking full use of the iTwin's capabilities. Ultimately, MadWorld is considered a good game, not quite as highly rated as IOTL. It's released in mid-October to a small amount of hype, but is somewhat overshadowed by its fellow ultraviolent iTwin game released just a week later.
-
No More Heroes
Created by Suda51 and nearly identical to OTL's game in terms of plot and gameplay, No More Heroes is an iTwin exclusive action hack and slash title starring an otaku hero named Travis Touchdown who becomes an assassin and must battle other assassins in the city of Santa Destroy. The game has a traditional control scheme, but the optional motion controls take much better advantage of the iTwin's capabilities, enabling the player to swing the two controls as if they were real blades in some of the best translational motion control yet seen in a video game, with almost perfect mimickry of the player's motions. The player is able to wield a sword in one hand and a gun in the other, using one controller like a light-gun and swinging the other to fend off enemies and dispatch them in brutal fashion. The graphics are also significantly better than OTL's game thanks to the iTwin being a far more powerful system than OTL's Wii. Travis Touchdown and his bloody antics are captured in full HD glory, and the game also features an expanded soundtrack featuring dozens of anime-inspired songs. The parody anime shows featured in the game are vastly expanded as well, with fully seventeen fake anime shows featured, with some of them riffing on games as well, including a Beyond Good And Evil parody anime and a Thrillseekers parody. One of the assassins Travis must face off against is a seiyuu who voices the main character of one of the parody anime shows, and in the Japanese version of the game, that character is voiced by a popular seiyuu essentially doing a brilliant self-deprecating parody of herself (the US version includes the option to hear the Japanese voices, though the US version has the character dubbed by Mary Elizabeth McGlynn who also does an excellent humorous dub of the character, so not much is lost in translation). The game is even MORE violent than OTL's, pushing the boundary of the M-rating and generating a massive amount of controversy thanks to both the violent moves Travis can do and his humorous reactions to them. Out of the two games, MadWorld and No More Heroes, the latter gets a bit more of a promotional push from Apple. Ultimately, it's a slightly better critical success and a significantly better commercial success than the OTL Wii game. While not a blockbuster, No More Heroes is still welcomed by iTwin fans, and a sign that Apple is ready, willing, and able to put plenty of mature content on the iTwin, which was getting a bit of a reputation for being the kids' console. Even Steve Jobs weighs in on the game, stating in an interview soon after its release that it's one of his favorite iTwin games and one of the few he's had time to play through to completion. Travis Touchdown becomes somewhat of a new Apple mascot, probably their most popular iTwin character introduced in 2008, and the success of No More Heroes helps to draw more adult fans to the iTwin. While the perception of the iTwin as a kiddy console hasn't been as bad for the iTwin as it was for the OTL Wii, No More Heroes ensures that the iTwin won't even gain that reputation that the Wii did, and strikes a crucial blow amongst older players as the console heads into its second holiday season.
MadWorld is a hack and slash action game for the iTwin, very similar to its OTL Wii incarnation, but with better graphics and slightly more comic book inspiration. While developed by many of the same people as OTL's game, it's not PlatinumGames that's credited with developing it, but instead, the same development studio that creates the Star Siren titles is credited with the development, and Capcom is credited as the publisher. Because of the connection to the Star Siren games, it has a bit more of a linear style to it and is slightly more ridiculous than OTL's game (which was already fairly ridiculous), but is no less violent or controversial. Its protagonist is still a chainsaw-armed man named Jack, but the game also prominently features a woman named Lucille (voiced by Jennifer Hale), who is sort of a parody of Star Siren characters in that she has a slight magical girl aesthetic, but is dark and cold and has a gigantic spinning shuriken weapon. The plot of the game, which OTL was the result of a city being infected by a virus that forced people to kill, is ITTL a city where everyone fighting is a volunteer and the city has been populated by criminals, sadists, and bounty hunters hoping to achieve fame and riches by killing each other in the city's blood drenched streets. The gameplay itself is fairly similar to OTL's game, featuring hack and slash gameplay in a black and white environment colored red by the occasionally splatter of blood. Jack can use his chainsaw to great effect to kill enemies, and in another Star Siren-esque twist, the player has a meter that can be charged to perform special attacks that are similar to Mortal Kombat fatalities. Comic book sound effects appear all over the screen, especially when Jack is on a major killing spree, and many major characters are inspired by classic comic book heroes and villains, with a Joker-esque character and a Spiderman-esque character among the more prominent to appear. The plot has notable differences from OTL's plot since there's no virus in play. Instead, protagonist Jack, a former cop, is a man on a mission, attempting to hunt down a man known as Renegade Al, a motorcycle gangster who brutally murdered Jack's partner and left him for dead. Lucille's mission is totally unrelated to Jack's, she's a disillusioned martial arts master who was forced to train for 20 years by her father, and considers violence to be her only purpose in life. Though Lucille seems cold and heartless at first, she has a hidden good side, only killing villains and criminals and sparing those who aren't completely evil. Jack and Lucille's paths cross numerous times as they carve their way through the game's slate of gangsters and bosses, eventually coming together in the end to battle Renegade Al. MadWorld gets a decent critical reception: its visual style and unique plot are praised, though the game's combat, which gives players the option to use traditional controls or iTwin motion controls, is seen as somewhat lacking in either control scheme, not taking full use of the iTwin's capabilities. Ultimately, MadWorld is considered a good game, not quite as highly rated as IOTL. It's released in mid-October to a small amount of hype, but is somewhat overshadowed by its fellow ultraviolent iTwin game released just a week later.
-
No More Heroes
Created by Suda51 and nearly identical to OTL's game in terms of plot and gameplay, No More Heroes is an iTwin exclusive action hack and slash title starring an otaku hero named Travis Touchdown who becomes an assassin and must battle other assassins in the city of Santa Destroy. The game has a traditional control scheme, but the optional motion controls take much better advantage of the iTwin's capabilities, enabling the player to swing the two controls as if they were real blades in some of the best translational motion control yet seen in a video game, with almost perfect mimickry of the player's motions. The player is able to wield a sword in one hand and a gun in the other, using one controller like a light-gun and swinging the other to fend off enemies and dispatch them in brutal fashion. The graphics are also significantly better than OTL's game thanks to the iTwin being a far more powerful system than OTL's Wii. Travis Touchdown and his bloody antics are captured in full HD glory, and the game also features an expanded soundtrack featuring dozens of anime-inspired songs. The parody anime shows featured in the game are vastly expanded as well, with fully seventeen fake anime shows featured, with some of them riffing on games as well, including a Beyond Good And Evil parody anime and a Thrillseekers parody. One of the assassins Travis must face off against is a seiyuu who voices the main character of one of the parody anime shows, and in the Japanese version of the game, that character is voiced by a popular seiyuu essentially doing a brilliant self-deprecating parody of herself (the US version includes the option to hear the Japanese voices, though the US version has the character dubbed by Mary Elizabeth McGlynn who also does an excellent humorous dub of the character, so not much is lost in translation). The game is even MORE violent than OTL's, pushing the boundary of the M-rating and generating a massive amount of controversy thanks to both the violent moves Travis can do and his humorous reactions to them. Out of the two games, MadWorld and No More Heroes, the latter gets a bit more of a promotional push from Apple. Ultimately, it's a slightly better critical success and a significantly better commercial success than the OTL Wii game. While not a blockbuster, No More Heroes is still welcomed by iTwin fans, and a sign that Apple is ready, willing, and able to put plenty of mature content on the iTwin, which was getting a bit of a reputation for being the kids' console. Even Steve Jobs weighs in on the game, stating in an interview soon after its release that it's one of his favorite iTwin games and one of the few he's had time to play through to completion. Travis Touchdown becomes somewhat of a new Apple mascot, probably their most popular iTwin character introduced in 2008, and the success of No More Heroes helps to draw more adult fans to the iTwin. While the perception of the iTwin as a kiddy console hasn't been as bad for the iTwin as it was for the OTL Wii, No More Heroes ensures that the iTwin won't even gain that reputation that the Wii did, and strikes a crucial blow amongst older players as the console heads into its second holiday season.
Does Travis still have the same voice actor as OTL? Call me crazy but I would love to see Steve Blum have a crack at it.
Mmm, Steve Blum plays Travis Touchdown ITTL, but he's not in MadWorld ITTL.
Well oddly enough I don't know anything about Madworld and didn't realize that Steve Blum was in that lol.
I want to hate the fact that the Zuck is at EA... but I just can't. If this was OTL then that combo would be the most hilarious meme in retrospect, but as is both now have a second chance here to prove themselves to not be the same controversial topics that they are in OTL.
Ninja edit: This is Kieran, just different username
Ninja edit: This is Kieran, just different username
Yep, Heero boards his Gundam and launches an all out blitz on the enemy for his ultimate.
Probably not, but the guy who did that creepy Magnasanti city in OTL SimCity 3 has his own society in this game....
Well, Necrocracy is Bioware... I do need to update on what Obsidian's up to!
Yes, it's possible to have a private SimSociety.
Yep!
(Authors' Note: No update today, it was a rough day for me. Hopefully I can do the update tomorrow and then if I can, something on the weekend too.)
Oh sure, but we all know with the state of current Bioware, they're not going to make anything like that soon. Plus Obsidian's did Kotor 2 and Neverwinter Nights 2 so they're the closest thing. Looking forward to your update on them! And hope you get better soon.
Given how they're teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, how are Sears and Kmart doing in this timeline? Did they ever merge? And did Eddie Lampert not take them over (hoping in this timeline he got shot by those guys in 2003 who took him hostage)?
Fall 2008 (Part 4) - Resident Evil Comes Full Circle
Resident Evil 5
Resident Evil 5 is a survival horror/action title for the iTwin, Sapphire, and Xbox 2. It features much of the same shooter gameplay as Resident Evil 4 and as OTL's Resident Evil 5, but includes more open world gameplay and a greater level of physical action, while differentiating the control schemes for Chris and Claire Redfield (who are both playable). The game takes place in the Pacific Northwestern town of Vesery Pine, Washington, a town surrounded by beautiful forests and bordering Lake Vesery, with a small college located nearby. The game takes place within the town, the university, and their surrounding areas as a mysterious virus descends upon the area, mutating the plants and wildlife and eventually spreading to humans. The game features mostly wildlife as the game's enemies, including large mutated insects and flowers, along with coyotes and wolves. There are very few humanoid enemies in the game, and when they do show up, it's usually a big deal, as they show up late in the game or very rarely early on. The game has a wide variety of weapons that Chris and Claire have at their disposal. Ammo is plentiful, for the most part, but there are a few areas of the game where the player's equipment is limited, these moments are carefully placed to ramp up the game's tension levels. The game also sees the chemical mixture system return from Phytogenesis, with an expanded number of chemicals and recipes for Claire (and eventually Chris, who doesn't learn how to mix chemicals until about halfway through the game. Unlike OTL's game, Resident Evil 5 doesn't feature two-person co-op. In fact, Chris and Claire are only together rarely, for about a fifth of the story. Instead, the game presents four chapters, which are broken up into a few missions a piece, and the player will usually control one or the other during a mission, depending on what's happening in the game's story. Chris and Claire both control somewhat differently: Chris is a more effective melee fighter and better with guns in general, while Claire is more agile and flexible and able to reach places Chris can't (some missions will see Chris visiting an area Claire has already been, or vice-versa). Claire is also faster, able to flee from certain enemies while Chris is sometimes forced to either hide or stand his ground and fight. As the first HD Resident Evil, Resident Evil 5 features significantly improved graphics over its predecessor. The Sapphire version looks the best, even better than the Xbox 2 version, while the iTwin version definitely looks good but lacks a few advanced graphical features that the Sapphire and Xbox 2 versions possess. Alyson Court returns as the voice actress of Claire, while Chris is played by a new voice actor, Ian Sinclair.
Resident Evil 5 sees Chris and Claire visiting Vesery Pine together. They're STARS agents, and investigating a strange viral outbreak, though Claire also wants to catch up with an old friend of hers named Mia Sartre who is attending the university nearby. Vesery Pine is still a normal town, and though there are whispers of strange things going on, most of the residents are still leading normal lives (though they've heard rumors of terrifying things happening in the nearby forests. While Claire meets up with Mia, Chris goes right into the forest to check on things. He finds a dead forest ranger, some scary giant wasps, and a mutated plant creature. He barely returns to town with his life. Meanwhile, Claire and Mia visit a coffee shop together, only to be attacked by the proprietor after hours. Claire fights off the mutated proprietor, while Mia seems to know more about the virus than she's letting on. Chris and Claire beg the officials to evacuate the town, but the officials don't want to start a panic. The two go to the lake together, where they split up and are attacked by more things, eventually working together to kill a lake monster similar to OTL's Del Lago. Chris is injured in the fight, and Claire, despite Chris' warnings, goes back to the college alone to do some research. While she's there, she's attacked by a horde of mutated bugs, and eventually flees to the basement, where she finds an entire chamber of horrors, including classic puzzles, more mutated humans, and a freaky giant flower boss. Finally, she follows the clues to Mia, who is working in a small laboratory deep in the basement. Mia reveals that she's the one who brought the P-Virus to Vesery Pine, doing so in order to conduct research in a "sterile" location. Mia attacks Claire using the power of her mutations, and Claire wounds Mia but isn't able to finish her off, barely making it out alive. She's saved at the last moment by Chris, who kills a plant creature that tripped Claire up. This leads into the third chapter of the game, in which the town is slowly overrun by the mutated creatures, and we see the first callback to Resident Evil: Liquefaction, with the same melting human zombies and acid-spewing creatures (but instead of being wolves, in this game it's giant hornets). Chapter 3 mostly consists of Claire and Chris fighting their way across Vesery Pine as horrors slowly close in on them. Midway through the chapter, Shini Marakami, the protagonist of Phytogenesis who turned into a villain after stealing the last remaining P-Virus sample at the end of that game, returns and it's revealed that Mia is working with her. The chapter ends with the town deserted (as all of its residents are either evacuated or dead) and Chris taking on Mia in a climactic boss fight. It seems that Mia plans to betray Shini and steal the virus, just as Shini did with her mentor at the end of Phytogenesis, but Shini easily gets the jump on her, shooting her through the back and killing her before injecting Chris with the virus and leaving. Chapter 4 begins with Claire taking Chris back to the deserted university, promising she'll find a cure for him as mutants and monsters overrun her location. She manages to put together the components for a cure, but is unable to administer it before Chris, struggling with his mutations, fights off a monster that was going to kill Claire. The two decide they have to escape the town together, and battle their way to an airfield, where a helicopter awaits... as does Shini, who unleashes a ferocious hybrid of plant and insect on the two. With Chris' powers, he's able to help Claire defeat the beast, before collapsing and starting to mutate into a hideous monster. Claire catches Shini and starts to torture her for a way to save Chris, threatening to inject Shini with the virus if she doesn't help. Shini just laughs and tells Claire that she's immune... then breaks free and injects Claire. Claire is horrified, before Shini looks into Claire's eyes and says "we both are", then kicks Claire off of her. Claire tries to go after Shini but is suddenly pulled back and attacked by Chris, who has been consumed by the mutations. The final boss of the game is a mutated Chris Redfield, who Claire is forced to fight to save herself. Throughout the battle, fires consume the town of Vesery Pine, eventually consuming the entire area around Claire and Chris as Claire tearfully delivers the killing blow. Sobbing, Claire holds Chris, who in his last moments of life regains his lucidity and tells Claire to finish what he started and protect the world. As Claire mourns her brother, she runs after Shini, who boards a helicopter, the last helicopter, and escapes the inferno. With flames rising around her and her brother dead, all Claire can do is scream at the helicopter as Shini smirks and waves her goodbye. Claire collapses to her knees, prepared to die along with her brother, only for another helicopter to show up. It's Leon Kennedy, and he drops Claire a ladder, saving her life. Claire goes up into the helicopter and collapses in Leon's arms, sobbing and mourning her brother Chris. Leon tells Claire that the best way to honor Chris is to kill the people responsible for his death, and Claire, a determined look in her eyes, says "I know." Chris is given a hero's funeral, and the credits roll. After the credits, Shini is shown meeting with Albert Wesker, a sample of P-Virus in a box she holds in her hands. Wesker himself has a sample of the T-Virus, and needs Shini's help to combine the two into a mutagen that will allow him to reshape the world however he sees fit. It appears that Wesker is going to kill Shini and take the virus from her, but when he shoots her, it's revealed that it's a hologram, and the real Shini appears on a monitor, telling Wesker that if he wants her sample of the P-Virus, the bidding starts at a billion dollars. Wesker can't help but smirk, and the cutscene ends.
Resident Evil 5 is released on October 28, 2008, to a slightly better critical reception than OTL's game and a similar reception to TTL's Resident Evil 4, with reviews averaging in the high 8s. Critics praise the graphical improvements and frantic action of the game compared to its predecessor, but they do criticize the repetitiveness of some missions and areas. With TTL's Resident Evil 4 not setting the bar quite so high, Resident Evil 5 isn't seen as a disappointment, but another excellent modern action game that's debateably better than the original. Series fans would lament Chris' death for quite some time, and the decision to kill him off would prove a controversial one, but would instantly elevate Shini into a villain comparable to Wesker in the series' mythology, and players would be itching to take her down whenever she reared her head next. Resident Evil 5 proves to be one of the strongest selling games of the holiday season, keeping the series well within the forefront of the gaming universe. Now, all attention would shift to the next three games, all exclusive to Apple consoles: One for the iPhone/iPod Play, and then a pair of upcoming games for the iTwin. While it seemed likely that Capcom would keep at least the main series multiplatform, the fact that the next few games would be Apple exclusive made fans uneasy, but it also generated even more buzz around the iTwin and just how Capcom would be able to make the series work as an exclusive to the least technologically capable of the three current consoles.
-
"Remember, when this series started, it was exclusive to the Sega Saturn for more than a year, and it did quite well. In fact, I think it was Resident Evil that really helped the Saturn gain a lot of footing! So now, in a way, it's sort of like the series is coming full circle. We started with Sega, Apple bought Sega, and now Apple will be getting some Resident Evil games of its own. I'm so excited about these next few games. One of them is fairly far along in development, though the other one is still in its earliest stages. But they'll both be for the iTwin and I think they will stay there."
-Shinji Mikami, discussing his latest Resident Evil games in an October 29, 2008 interview on a Japanese television program
Resident Evil 5 is a survival horror/action title for the iTwin, Sapphire, and Xbox 2. It features much of the same shooter gameplay as Resident Evil 4 and as OTL's Resident Evil 5, but includes more open world gameplay and a greater level of physical action, while differentiating the control schemes for Chris and Claire Redfield (who are both playable). The game takes place in the Pacific Northwestern town of Vesery Pine, Washington, a town surrounded by beautiful forests and bordering Lake Vesery, with a small college located nearby. The game takes place within the town, the university, and their surrounding areas as a mysterious virus descends upon the area, mutating the plants and wildlife and eventually spreading to humans. The game features mostly wildlife as the game's enemies, including large mutated insects and flowers, along with coyotes and wolves. There are very few humanoid enemies in the game, and when they do show up, it's usually a big deal, as they show up late in the game or very rarely early on. The game has a wide variety of weapons that Chris and Claire have at their disposal. Ammo is plentiful, for the most part, but there are a few areas of the game where the player's equipment is limited, these moments are carefully placed to ramp up the game's tension levels. The game also sees the chemical mixture system return from Phytogenesis, with an expanded number of chemicals and recipes for Claire (and eventually Chris, who doesn't learn how to mix chemicals until about halfway through the game. Unlike OTL's game, Resident Evil 5 doesn't feature two-person co-op. In fact, Chris and Claire are only together rarely, for about a fifth of the story. Instead, the game presents four chapters, which are broken up into a few missions a piece, and the player will usually control one or the other during a mission, depending on what's happening in the game's story. Chris and Claire both control somewhat differently: Chris is a more effective melee fighter and better with guns in general, while Claire is more agile and flexible and able to reach places Chris can't (some missions will see Chris visiting an area Claire has already been, or vice-versa). Claire is also faster, able to flee from certain enemies while Chris is sometimes forced to either hide or stand his ground and fight. As the first HD Resident Evil, Resident Evil 5 features significantly improved graphics over its predecessor. The Sapphire version looks the best, even better than the Xbox 2 version, while the iTwin version definitely looks good but lacks a few advanced graphical features that the Sapphire and Xbox 2 versions possess. Alyson Court returns as the voice actress of Claire, while Chris is played by a new voice actor, Ian Sinclair.
Resident Evil 5 sees Chris and Claire visiting Vesery Pine together. They're STARS agents, and investigating a strange viral outbreak, though Claire also wants to catch up with an old friend of hers named Mia Sartre who is attending the university nearby. Vesery Pine is still a normal town, and though there are whispers of strange things going on, most of the residents are still leading normal lives (though they've heard rumors of terrifying things happening in the nearby forests. While Claire meets up with Mia, Chris goes right into the forest to check on things. He finds a dead forest ranger, some scary giant wasps, and a mutated plant creature. He barely returns to town with his life. Meanwhile, Claire and Mia visit a coffee shop together, only to be attacked by the proprietor after hours. Claire fights off the mutated proprietor, while Mia seems to know more about the virus than she's letting on. Chris and Claire beg the officials to evacuate the town, but the officials don't want to start a panic. The two go to the lake together, where they split up and are attacked by more things, eventually working together to kill a lake monster similar to OTL's Del Lago. Chris is injured in the fight, and Claire, despite Chris' warnings, goes back to the college alone to do some research. While she's there, she's attacked by a horde of mutated bugs, and eventually flees to the basement, where she finds an entire chamber of horrors, including classic puzzles, more mutated humans, and a freaky giant flower boss. Finally, she follows the clues to Mia, who is working in a small laboratory deep in the basement. Mia reveals that she's the one who brought the P-Virus to Vesery Pine, doing so in order to conduct research in a "sterile" location. Mia attacks Claire using the power of her mutations, and Claire wounds Mia but isn't able to finish her off, barely making it out alive. She's saved at the last moment by Chris, who kills a plant creature that tripped Claire up. This leads into the third chapter of the game, in which the town is slowly overrun by the mutated creatures, and we see the first callback to Resident Evil: Liquefaction, with the same melting human zombies and acid-spewing creatures (but instead of being wolves, in this game it's giant hornets). Chapter 3 mostly consists of Claire and Chris fighting their way across Vesery Pine as horrors slowly close in on them. Midway through the chapter, Shini Marakami, the protagonist of Phytogenesis who turned into a villain after stealing the last remaining P-Virus sample at the end of that game, returns and it's revealed that Mia is working with her. The chapter ends with the town deserted (as all of its residents are either evacuated or dead) and Chris taking on Mia in a climactic boss fight. It seems that Mia plans to betray Shini and steal the virus, just as Shini did with her mentor at the end of Phytogenesis, but Shini easily gets the jump on her, shooting her through the back and killing her before injecting Chris with the virus and leaving. Chapter 4 begins with Claire taking Chris back to the deserted university, promising she'll find a cure for him as mutants and monsters overrun her location. She manages to put together the components for a cure, but is unable to administer it before Chris, struggling with his mutations, fights off a monster that was going to kill Claire. The two decide they have to escape the town together, and battle their way to an airfield, where a helicopter awaits... as does Shini, who unleashes a ferocious hybrid of plant and insect on the two. With Chris' powers, he's able to help Claire defeat the beast, before collapsing and starting to mutate into a hideous monster. Claire catches Shini and starts to torture her for a way to save Chris, threatening to inject Shini with the virus if she doesn't help. Shini just laughs and tells Claire that she's immune... then breaks free and injects Claire. Claire is horrified, before Shini looks into Claire's eyes and says "we both are", then kicks Claire off of her. Claire tries to go after Shini but is suddenly pulled back and attacked by Chris, who has been consumed by the mutations. The final boss of the game is a mutated Chris Redfield, who Claire is forced to fight to save herself. Throughout the battle, fires consume the town of Vesery Pine, eventually consuming the entire area around Claire and Chris as Claire tearfully delivers the killing blow. Sobbing, Claire holds Chris, who in his last moments of life regains his lucidity and tells Claire to finish what he started and protect the world. As Claire mourns her brother, she runs after Shini, who boards a helicopter, the last helicopter, and escapes the inferno. With flames rising around her and her brother dead, all Claire can do is scream at the helicopter as Shini smirks and waves her goodbye. Claire collapses to her knees, prepared to die along with her brother, only for another helicopter to show up. It's Leon Kennedy, and he drops Claire a ladder, saving her life. Claire goes up into the helicopter and collapses in Leon's arms, sobbing and mourning her brother Chris. Leon tells Claire that the best way to honor Chris is to kill the people responsible for his death, and Claire, a determined look in her eyes, says "I know." Chris is given a hero's funeral, and the credits roll. After the credits, Shini is shown meeting with Albert Wesker, a sample of P-Virus in a box she holds in her hands. Wesker himself has a sample of the T-Virus, and needs Shini's help to combine the two into a mutagen that will allow him to reshape the world however he sees fit. It appears that Wesker is going to kill Shini and take the virus from her, but when he shoots her, it's revealed that it's a hologram, and the real Shini appears on a monitor, telling Wesker that if he wants her sample of the P-Virus, the bidding starts at a billion dollars. Wesker can't help but smirk, and the cutscene ends.
Resident Evil 5 is released on October 28, 2008, to a slightly better critical reception than OTL's game and a similar reception to TTL's Resident Evil 4, with reviews averaging in the high 8s. Critics praise the graphical improvements and frantic action of the game compared to its predecessor, but they do criticize the repetitiveness of some missions and areas. With TTL's Resident Evil 4 not setting the bar quite so high, Resident Evil 5 isn't seen as a disappointment, but another excellent modern action game that's debateably better than the original. Series fans would lament Chris' death for quite some time, and the decision to kill him off would prove a controversial one, but would instantly elevate Shini into a villain comparable to Wesker in the series' mythology, and players would be itching to take her down whenever she reared her head next. Resident Evil 5 proves to be one of the strongest selling games of the holiday season, keeping the series well within the forefront of the gaming universe. Now, all attention would shift to the next three games, all exclusive to Apple consoles: One for the iPhone/iPod Play, and then a pair of upcoming games for the iTwin. While it seemed likely that Capcom would keep at least the main series multiplatform, the fact that the next few games would be Apple exclusive made fans uneasy, but it also generated even more buzz around the iTwin and just how Capcom would be able to make the series work as an exclusive to the least technologically capable of the three current consoles.
-
"Remember, when this series started, it was exclusive to the Sega Saturn for more than a year, and it did quite well. In fact, I think it was Resident Evil that really helped the Saturn gain a lot of footing! So now, in a way, it's sort of like the series is coming full circle. We started with Sega, Apple bought Sega, and now Apple will be getting some Resident Evil games of its own. I'm so excited about these next few games. One of them is fairly far along in development, though the other one is still in its earliest stages. But they'll both be for the iTwin and I think they will stay there."
-Shinji Mikami, discussing his latest Resident Evil games in an October 29, 2008 interview on a Japanese television program
- Status