Monday, February 20, 2006
Resident Evil Family Tree
As mentioned in my previous blog, there are various predecessors that use the conventions and mechanics in Resident Evil 4.
As mentioned before, the genre itself has been coined as 'survival horror', survival in that yourcharacter is required to escape from their situation, and horror mainly due to the theme , storyline and overall atmosphere involved.
3d Isometrics
I refer to the 11th Hour as there are various plot similarities, the unexplained location and the erry/creepy environment. There is little similarity in terms of game mechanics, so i will leave that till later. However it should be noted that the 11th Hour and its predecessor the 7th Guest where the first to produce true 3d isometric viewpoints, though they served mainly as a backdrop. These games were purely puzzle based i.e. you are moved to a location and you have to solve a puzzle literally, i.e. re-arrange books in a certain order or win a game of chess. There is no actual character on-screen except for the frequent FMW cutscenes.
3D static rendered images have commonly been used in games for dialogue screens and FMV cutscenes, as aforementioned, but only since the Resident Evil games were they used for in-game activities.
Gun-Fighting
I refer to gunfighting here, as in warding off attacking enemies through the use of fire-arms. The pioneer of shooting game is un-doubtedly Space Invaders, but in this context i submit that the most influential game for Resident Evil 4 (being decidedly different from its predecessors) is probably Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell. Being a variant of the stealth-based game aside, the appearance of the character on screen (apart from more restrictive camera angles in RE4) and particularly the way the gun is aimed and fired are very similar between these two games, as pictured below
(ABOVE LEFT) Resident Evil 4 on GameCube (ABOVE RIGHT) Splinter Cell on the PS2
This is decidedly different from all the other Resident Evil series (aside from various 'rail-based shooters like Resident Evil:Dead Aim), in which the aiming of any firearms are based on judgement and angle alone. This method was appropriate I felt as the camera angles mentioned early made this method fairly user friendly. However the gun-fighting mechanic has been completely overhauled for Resident Evil in this instalment and therefore the camera angles have changed too.
The way you maintain your primary weapons in Resident Evil 4 has a more arcade-style feel to it, in that destroying enemies will reward you with ammunition (as well as health and money) Also destroying containers such as pots, barrels and crates will reward you with the above, and you do find them lying around as well. In all previous Resident Evil games you have to investigate various cupboards and drawers only, and lack of ammunition can quickly become an issue.
This issue is present in RE4, but i find that the main reason you run out of ammunition is due to lack of aiming skill, whereas in all prior installments it was due to the onslaught of enemies and tactics. This moves on to our next mechanic;
Item Collection and Management
Collecting items is equally important in this game as it is with so many different genres. However it is important to note that the items you collect have no 'power-up' abilities instilled in them - the items you collect in Resident Evil 4 are there to bolster you stocks only (ammunition and health particularly).
Various keys can also be picked up and used, from traditional everyday keys, to strange objects that are to be positioned in a certain place to activate a door or a switch. You can also upgrade your weapons, through the previously mentioned 'merchant'. This merchant is more or less your only means of getting better weapons - finding them in the various parts of the game you adventure through only happens on a couple of occasions. Better weapons are available as a reward for completing the game itself and its various 'extras' too. These weapons all need ammunition though, and you have to pick them up as you go along, they cannot be bought.
I feel the item acquisition in this game takes a back seat in the gameplay when compared to games such as Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for example. In Resident Evil 4 the items don't increase your abilities as such, they are just necesaary to survive. Therefore the general term of 'item collection' doesn't really apply. This type of item collection is that of developing an arsenal only. The keys you collect and trinkets you sell are arbitrary and therefore serve little (but necessary) purpose. This type of item collection shows similarities to 'run'n'gun' games like Metal Slug, with the exception of the various powerups, in that your gun is your only realistic form of offense and defence and therefore it has to be maintained in order to survive. The Legend of Zelda was one of the first games which allowed you to 'keep' items you have collected such as energy in an inventroy.
Many games before or since will only let you collect them if you actually need the energy at the time. Legend of Zelda was probably one of the first games that encouraged the player to stock a (limited) array of weapons, instead of relying on a single weapon throughout the game.
(ABOVE LEFT) RE4 Inventory Screen (ABOVE RIGHT) LEgend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Inventory Screen
The collection of ammunition borrows a lot from First Person Shooters such as the famous Doom and Wolfenstein series. These games pioneered the first person shooter genre, but also allowed other genres involving weapons some inspiration as well and i feel that this is where the idea of relying on your weapons comes from, as well as the importance of being well-stocked.
