RE4 announced for PS2.

[passerby]

Horror movies should be watched in theatres for maximum impact. The squirming/screaming audience tend to add immensely to the experience.

Also the FF series and Siren were quite scary, although i never finished them. Or played them extensively.

Both are good horror games. FF2 was really, really good with imagery - genuinly conveys the feel of 'things from the other side'. For example, take a look at the room with the hanging dolls, or the video of Chitose. But it still uses the 'boo!' effect extensively - a minus point.

Siren is also great on the horror scale, but the game itself is quite difficult.

 

[cthellis42]

Series I personally find scarier than RE:

Silent Hill...
Fatal Frame...
Clock Tower...
Yanni

Basically, just about everything. I'm sure it had a lot more impact when it was new and leading things off, but I came to Resident Evil late anyway (#2 and beyond) and just found it to be "interesting" and "action-y" and with "shocking surprise" moments (things jumping through windows, etc) more than things that I associate with "horror" (which to me is more mood, atmostphere, and other lingering effects, or horrific imagery, evil forboding... etc). I got that more from Eternal Darkness as well, though not as much as in other games. But ED had a much more clever interwoven story and presentation than most other games, so that left its own impact.

RE games I usually play because... well... they're RE games! Hehe. But from a "horror" standpoint I usually rank them below most others. They still tend to have excellent presentation, good combat, and an enjoyable-enough story on their own right. RE2 I enjoyed more because it was one of the first I played, but I haven't gotten caught up overly in the others. Interestingly, I'm more a fan of their "alternative style" games--I found Dead Aim to be a very interesting presentation for their format (and worthy of more exploration, though I doubt it will get it) since RE's tend to be more combat-heavy anyway, and it made me feel much more "into the world" by weaving through it 1st person and shooting at zombies personally. (Mmm... zombie shooting...) And Outbreak looks like it could be an interesting take as well--though I haven't had personal experience with it yet.

That's just my experience thus far. RE4 looks like it should be good, but I'm not sure yet if it's going to be... different.

 

[jarrod]

The only thing frightening about Resident Evil is the archaic controls and game design. Then again, no survival horror game really shines in that department.... Silent Hill, Eternal Darkness, Fatal Frame, they all play like crap. Luigi's Mansion looks brilliant by comparison. :?

 

[Farid]

The only thing frightening about Resident Evil is the archaic controls and game design. Then again, no survival horror game really shines in that department.... Silent Hill, Eternal Darkness, Fatal Frame, they all play like crap.

Nuff' said! The tank controls in RE were OK-ish considering the times this game was released (And considering the fact that this is a Alone in the Dark rip off, too. BTW it's always funny to read here and there that RE "created" the survival horror theme...).

But by today standards, RE tank controsl are simply ungodly awful. That's why i always see the irony with this Nintendo obsession from Mikami. Nintendo games could have all the problems in the world, in the technical departement, but bad control scheme would, really, be the last problem they'd have.

If Mikami goes working with Nintendo i'm not even sure Miyamoto would let Mikami do whatever he wants. At least, let's say that I hope he wouldn't let him do...

 

[PC-Engine]

A lot of people complain about the controls, but then there are a lot of people that have no problem with them too. I have no problem getting used to the controls. I think people who complain are just amatuers and get frustrated easily. Capcom alread said the controls were a design choice. I remember a thread awhile back someone here talked about making the controls similar to Ninja Gaiden..um...some people just have no clue.

 

[cthellis42]

I had no problems getting used to them, but they're certainly still lackluster. I hope RE4 updates the control system to not be as unwieldy.

 

[Inane_Dork]

I think people who complain are just amatuers and get frustrated easily.

Now there's a surprise.

 

[Farid]

No need to call for amateurism, or frustration here.
I too can get used to the controls, i got used to the controls since Alone in the Dark.
The problem is that the controls are crap, the problem is not about people not able to get use to the controls, getting used to crap is not impossible task. Yes, even amateur gamers can. If such thing as a professional RE gamer does exist...

 

[PC-Engine]

Sure but why do people go through the trouble of getting used to crap controls?

If they're crap then people would not play it let alone buy it.

Do you buy and wear crappy close? Bought and drive a crappy car?

Why do you think Capcom continued to use it for the 2D games.

 

[Farid]

Sure but why do people go through the trouble of getting used to crap controls?

Because the game appears to be interesting? Because people love the serie? Because people want to shoot zombies?

If they're crap then people would not play it or buy it.

True, in Utopialand, but the real world is sadly and coldly different.

Look, i'm not arguing about the fact that the game itself is horrible or something, i just think the controls scheme is really too constraining,
it's limiting the fun a player could have with the game, imo.
I wholeheartedly agree when people say that the game can't have the controls of a fast paced action game, that's true.
But the game is still an action game, especially RE4, and therefore must have the controls of an action game, a slow paced one to help the "stress factor", maybe. But not the actual "tank controls" they just kill the fun, IMO, since you have to fight with control and the monsters... Only one of those two is a fun thing to do.

 

[PC-Engine]

Constraining yes (it's supposed to be), crappy? That's kinda stretching it.

Just out of curiousity how would you change the controls for the RE games that had 2D backdrops? I'd like to hear it...

From what I heard RE4 controls basically the same as the old games. Only difference is it's full 3D now with the camera behind the character's back.

 

[Farid]

Just out of curiousity how would you change the controls for the RE games that had 2D backdrops? I'd like to hear it..

They just have to forget about the tank based controls, and choose a control scheme that use the camera as "reference", which is more "natural", for me.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

RE controls used to be horrible. Whereas all other 2D games have your character controlling relative to your point of view. ie. move right on the pad to move your character right. for some reason Crapcom didn't do this for RE. It was horrible.

 

[Rodéric]

RE controls used to be horrible. Whereas all other 2D games have your character controlling relative to your point of view. ie. move right on the pad to move your character right. for some reason Crapcom didn't do this for RE. It was horrible.

Fighting the controls instead of trying to beat the game.
I think they wanted you to 'fear', knowing how clumsy you were with the control scheme, any zombie rising or suddenly coming into the view was a real threat...

About the "Camera Indexed" control scheme, it can be VERY annoying at time, when the camera rotates/viewpoint change, you don't end up where you expected.
That would be a real problem in RE with fixed camera viewpoints, you would change camera and all of a sudden you need to go up instead of down to go further, and you end up back at the previous place... (Happened in some games, don't remember which.)

The best is yet a regular third person camera following the character and getting closer to it when there's a wall, or using transparency to remove whatever gets in the way, plus a control of the camera relative to your character.
(A bit like Outcast, Mario, Zelda...)

 

[London Geezer]

Fighting the controls instead of trying to beat the game.
I think they wanted you to 'fear', knowing how clumsy you were with the control scheme, any zombie rising or suddenly coming into the view was a real threat...

:| ....... Riiiiight....... If believing that makes you feel better, cool.

 

[max-pain]

 

[London Geezer]

Thanks for that. Made my day....






(or am i the only one not to see anything?)

 

[max-pain]

or am i the only one not to see anything?

Try this link:

http://planetgamecube.com/news.cfm?action=item&id=5818

 

[London Geezer]

GOOD GOD!

 

[cthellis42]

<laughs> Amazing!