Ever since Resident Evil 6 was first announced, longtime franchise fans have been debating whether or not the latest installment would choose to prioritize big explosions over big scares. For years, Resident Evil has slowly been incorporating an increasing number of “action” genre game elements, melee attacks and over-the-shoulder aiming, in place of “horror” staples, tank controls and resource scarcity, which originally helped up the tension (by limiting the player).
However, with the inclusion of a cover system, rolling dodges, and over-the-top quicktime events, Resident Evil 6 is easily the most action-oriented entry in the series – which, according to game director Hiroyuki Kobayashi and producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi, was a very intentional decision.
Speaking with 1Up, Kobayashi asserts that Capcom wanted to find a balance between core Resident Evil fans – and untapped potential in the casual market.
“With Resident Evil, we’re trying to be as inclusive as possible. We’re trying to reach as many people as possible [...] That makes it hard to maintain a horror feel to it when you’re trying to be inclusive. It is a challenge. I’m not afraid to admit that. We’re trying to see what kind of action we can include in the game and still maintain the horror sensibilities. Trying to blend those together is not an easy thing to do.”
As we’ve mentioned in the past, despite high-profile recognizability of the Resident Evil franchise, gamers might be surprised to discover that series sales are far below similarly well-known offerings. Since its release in March 2009, Resident Evil 5 sold around 5.8 million copies in its first 2 years on the market. 5.8 million is nothing to scoff at but, when comparing the number to other fan-favorite titles, it’s easy to see why Capcom has wanted to position the series as a more “inclusive” offering. Assassin’s Creed 2, for example, which launched months later (in November of 2009) nearly doubled the two-year RE5 numbers, racking up 9 million copies sold, in only three months.
In an attempt to snag some of that action market money, Capcom significantly expanded the scope of the BioHazard world to deliver the biggest Resident Evil title yet while retooling every core mechanic (from the inventory system, enemy mechanics, to flexible movement) in an effort to bring the experience in-line with fan-favorite third-person shooter franchises like Gears of War and Uncharted. Of course, the team still wanted to retain the RE fan base – so they also made sure the experience also included plenty of horror elements.
Hirabayashi describes the balance as a Venn diagram:
You can make a horror game with mass appeal. But you’re looking at a sort of Venn diagram of people who really like horror and people who really like video games or Resident Evil. Where that comes together… I think you can create a really great form of horror entertainment, but if this were the quintessential horror entertainment, it might not have mass appeal. It’ll have very niche appeal, unfortunately.
We’re making games and we need to have mass-market appeal in order to survive. It becomes an issue of tracking one way or the other. How far do we go into horror before we lose the support of the average player? How far are we going to lessen the horror elements at the risk of losing core fans, including Resident Evil fans? Where’s the Venn diagram that shows the happy medium of those things? The challenge is trying to push it as close to the edge either way, so that we can satisfy both groups of people. I think we can do it. personally speaking, I really do like horror. I like it as a genre. I’m fine with pushing it up to 11 in terms of horror. But maybe that’s not what we can do and still be saleable.
For instance, if you have multiple scary stages, just one right after another, and you give that to a Resident Evil fan, they’ll be happy with it at first. But they’ll get inured to it after a while. It won’t be scary for them anymore. I think they would lose interest at that point. It’s the same with casual players. They play this and it’s just too scary and they don’t want to keep going. It’s too much. It overwhelms them. In order to make and experience something that these two groups find enjoyable, you have to take a step back from that. You can’t just bombard them with these horror elements. You have to mix in some stages that are more entertaining and fun than pure horror. That breaks it up, and by breaking it up, it really strengthens the horror elements in the other stages that have them.
Of course, some gamers will argue that attempting to strike for that middle ground where the horror and casual markets overlap, ultimately results in an uninspired and, worst of all, middle-of-the-road experience that doesn’t serve either extreme. There’s definitely opportunity for overlap in the horror and action genres – for many the Dead Space series has, so far, struck a pretty satisfying balance (though Dead Space 3 looks to up the action ante). However, not all franchises and genres can successfully appeal to the “mass-market” without undercutting the very elements and experiences that made them standout in the first place. For many, Resident Evil isn’t enjoyable because of the characters, creatures, or the (arguably) over-complicated storyline, it’s about the atmosphere and scares.
Whether or not players get behind the shift toward action experiences in Resident Evil 6, Kobayashi claims the team always started with a focus on fans – and then tweaked the various set pieces for casual gamers:
My personal philosophy, as the director… as Hirabayashi-san said, where do you get that balance? For me, I think the way to do that is that first you focus on the core fans and say, “This is what they want. This is what would be scary for them.” And then you create it in such a way that the casual players… That draws their interest.
Resident Evil 6 is shaping up to be a pretty divisive title – judging by early post-launch reactions. Plenty of gamers are pleased with the effort and already eager for future installments – meanwhile others are decrying the major franchise changes and asserting that they’re done with the franchise altogether. That said, it’ll be some time before we know whether that middle ground, the intersection of the action/horror Venn diagram, helps to boost Resident Evil software sales – and, as a result, whether Capcom’s biggest RE title is also the most profitable.
Of course, some fans have yet to be able to weigh-in on the controversy as the Resident Evil 6 launch was marred by a game-breaking bug on the PS3 – for gamers who purchased the title digitally through the PSN in certain markets. Retail copies were unaffected and Sony has corrected the problem – tweeting that a faulty launch patch was at fault: “If you’ve had a problem downloading Resident Evil 6, please delete and re-download. There was an issue with the patch that is now fixed.”
Affected gamers should simply delete the Resident Evil 6 digital file and redownload a fresh copy – then let us know what you think of the game in the comments below!
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Follow me on Twitter @benkendrick.
Resident Evil 6 is available now for PS3 and Xbox 360.
Source: 1Up
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The game industry could possibly be going overboard with this “casual” approach. They have multiple IP’s, maybe they could have their casual games and hardcore games. This casual crap has turned me away from games like Ghost Recon, Resident Evil, Splinter Cell, and more. I suppose from a business stand point it makes sense to lose a few but gain more, too bad nobody’s cracked getting the best of both worlds.
Resident Evil 6 sucks by the way IMO.
Correction, many may disagree but, I believe Call of Duty has found the best of both worlds. Casuals can hop in and play right away, vets can have that deeper customization and record to show for.
In my opinion Resident Evil 6 is a combination of the two. I found it very entertaining. I’m a fan of it from the start. From the scary Resident Evil 1 to the latest Resident Evil series I thought that there are nothing to be worried about. The story is there. The entertainment is there. The development is there. If you want the scary Resident Evil then go pull your PS1 and aim your joystick on head, stomach and knees. This game is enjoyable.
@Aljohn M. Mangaya
I played the demo, it’s just not for me.
Good news, folks! Miyamoto says that they’re taking the same approach with the next Zelda.
Pretty soon, we’ll have so many games in an identity crisis over who they want to appeal to that nobody will want to play ANY of them!
Personally, I appreciate their honesty. People need to realize that they are a buisiness and as much as we hate to admit it sometimes, they need to bring in more profits from new customers to pay for blockbuusters like RE6. I love the old ones, and the new ones for what they are. Theyre great games either way. Yea, I would love a true new spin on real survival horror (RE, RE2), but I realize its not 1998 anymore and Capcom needs to do new things to keep their business going.
I’m not a hardcore RE fan so the action over horror focus doesn’t bother me. The gameplay however, is a mess either way you look at it. The camera and movement and over-complicated controls just ruin the fun.
I thought it ran very smoothly and i also thought that the game was alot of funny
fun not funny
Well, I bought the game at launch in the U.S., and I can understand the mixed reviews to an extent. Whilst I do not fully condone CAPCOM’s heavy hand in using “uninspired set-pieces and quicktime events”, I cannot abolish them either. Citing that CAPCOM is not to blame for the current trends in gaming any more than their competitors. If you wanna blame any games for this, blame God of War. Blame Assassins creed. Don’t blame any company that HASN’T been subsiding with such lack of variety. You can’t hate CAPCOM for trying something new because that’s called evolution. All-be-it that this is the third evolution I wish they hadn’t made. Secondly, don’t trust Gamespot’s review of the game. The game is genuinly scary at times (to the less pretentious), and it is not all setpieces and quicktime events. Obviously the nitwit they put in charge of this game at Gamespot rage quit and set it down before it got to the better parts of the game. Oh well. His loss.
I don’t understand your argument. Why should I blame God of War and other alike? When I want to go on a full rampage and reaping everything in sight, I play God of War. That not the experience I am looking for when playing Resident Evil. The developers miss it all by trying to achieve there ‘’balance’’. RE 6 is an ok game, but the worst of the series. I don’t see why bother trying to please the casual gamer. It not like were buy only one game a year.
He is pinpointing that because there are companies that publish games with superior qualities than the others then that qualities of a game become the standard of the successors. Since everyone has seen the best of God of War and Assassins Creed that they can’t find in Resident Evil Series, they are an overwhelming complaints regarding the game. Yet I know that it is not healthy. I believe in Baron Von Tee’s argument that this is what we call evolution
P.S. Capcom: I for one am NEVER buying another Resident Evil after this one that isn’t 110% zombie horror, and I’m sure America agrees. (Atleast not the paste-eating short-bus America who genuinly thinks Assassins’ Creed was “innovative and original” and had “diverse gameplay”.) So keep that in mind when you’re making 7 CAPCOM. No ganados, no j’uavos, no bulls**t! Because if that’s what’s on the drawing board, nuke before it spreads.
Dear Felix, good question. I chose to pick on GoW for that instance because GoW is the monster that, alongside Resident Evil 4, birthed the quick time events that we know now. They are equally both to blame, but while even a sleeper hit like Resident Evil 4 caused quick time events to come around, GoW is what had quick time events enter every 5 seconds, to the point where you couldn’t exit a battle without one. Thus causing the current trend of uninspired shovelware that only serves the purpose of making you think you’re playing a video game. Resident Evil 6 is just another casualty of that trend.
Hey everyone! Don’t watch Resident Evil Retribution. Initial private screenings of Resident Evil Retribution early September indicated that the invited guests, Mila Jovavich, and even the movies director (who she’s sleeping with) were not pleased with the finished result. Some were even paid to not speak of the movie after leaving the event. The source of this information however did not accept the bribe stating “I don’t know how they made this movie worse than the last one.” So spread the word people. Tell your friends the difficult truth to stay as far away from that Hollywood moneypit as possible.
What in the world…
“who she’s sleeping with” this is important how? And “I don’t know how they made this movie worse than the last one.” So someone that sounds like they didn’t like the last didn’t enjoy this one? How are we surprised by this?
so basically capcom said “videogames should always be casual never try to be original and never stick to one genre because people don’t play video games like that”.
I’ve always wanted to make videogames for a living, but if this is what it boils down too, i am done -.-
Hey I heard about that though. Daytona talk radio was talking about premiers getting cancelled and fans tearing down a screen in Oklahoma. I kinda wanna find out how bad it is now…
There were never any news reports about angry fans tearing down screens. That’s ridiculous. People know what to expect when it comes to Resident Evil movies by now.
That’s what they said about Batman…
Finally we are at the latest follow up, and the objective you are learning this in the first place, Resident Evil: Retribution. I would say that I won’t damage anything, but really, there isn’t much to damage. I think I should start with the history of “new” numbers. First off, there is Kevin Durand (Lost, X:Men Origins: Wolverine) as John Burton.
And the point about Resident Evil 6 is ?
Okay so maybe Chris’s section is pretty stupid and more explosives ridden than Michael Bay’s career. Take it for what it is. They could’a just sold us Leon’s story for $60, or Jake’s. Fact of the matter is; CAPCOM wasn’t caught being lazy for once, they’ve just been caught missing the point. Which isn’t the end of the damn world. It’s still more fun than any game this year besides Borderlands 2.
The last resident evil game that actually scared me was resident evil 2 im glad they when the action root because action sells more than survival horror
All right. Having now played every facet of the game I can give it a proper review for anyone still on the fence. (PRESENTATION:10/10) While occasionally hindered by obscure camera angles, the graphics and music in RE6 represent some of CAPCOM’s best. In addition, RE6 has proven to be far scarier than any RE since 4 atleast. (GAMEPLAY:8/10) The overhauled controls in this game are a breath of fresh air. Harder to pick up than previous titles but much easier to master. The drawback being a few too many button prompts where they shouldn’t be that break up the action. Also some under-polished vehicle segments. (STORY:9/10) For what little the story lacks in making sence, it makes right up for it with the gory, over-the-top drama we’ve all come to know and love over the years. (REPLAY VALUE:7.5/10) I can say without hesitation that RE6 is worth atleast 2-3 solid playthroughs. Once for the story, then again with infinite ammo, but then you can also dare to beat professional. (SUMMARY:8.7/10) Good show CAPCOM.