Resident Evil 4 and Killer 7 video (Famitsu Wave DVD)

[GameCat]

I'm actually less impressed by the graphics after watching the trailer. The fire looked good but the rest was fairly dissapointing compared to the older videos. Essentially it looks like vertex lighting with blob shadows or simple projector shadows in certain scenes like when the villagers attack Leon at night with torches.

Lighting has very little contrast in the day scenes and looks a bit too flat for my taste. This is probably a concious decision since it seems to be primarily outdoor scenes, but even when Leon is inside things look washed out.

I'll buy it and am excited by the game (the scene with the shotgun blasts blowing holes in the door was way cool), but the graphics look much worse now than they did in the earlier trailers. Partly this is because of better IQ and resolution but I just don't like the low contrast lighting in some of the scenes and the animation is so-so.

 

[Teasy]

Since when did you ever see a high contrast when lighting strikes during the day? Light on light won't give you high contrasts.. obviously..

Honestly some of the complaints I'm hearing here are quite unbelievable.

 

[Guden Oden]

Um...

It's A VIDEO of the game, alright? It's not the game itself. So complaints about poor contrast, washed-out Leon etc aren't the least bit valid. Again: it's A VIDEO, and a highly compressed one at that.

Personally from what I can decipher from said highly compressed video, the game seems to be the best-looking GC game to date, and quite possibly one of the most good-looking console titles ever released so far. What I worry about isn't graphics, it's gameplay.

Do you still drive the main character like a tank? That works in MP and such games because it's first-person and has a lock-on mode, but tank driving in third person with no lock-on is just horrible. If RE4 plays like that I doubt I even want to try it, no matter how good the graphics are.

 

[marconelly!]

Guden Oden, it is my understanding that the game controls like Tomb Raiders of old (TRs on PS1) When you press left/right, Leon rotates left/right, camera follows automatically. When you press up, Leon moves forward.

Now, when you want to shoot, it becomes similar to first person mode in MGS2 - camera gets close to him (above the shoulder), and then you move your aim by moving the same stick you used for walking. It is not possible to move Leon around while in the shooting mode.

 

[Guden Oden]

Oh my gosh, that sounds just sucky-sucky a$$. Tank driving is SO mid-90s it's not even funny. At least tell me there's a strafe button! Jesus, couldn't they at least have ripped off MPs control scheme? Why isn't it possible to move while shooting??? That's just stupidity made reality!

 

[maskrider]

maskrider

Resident Evil 4 is about as far from a standard survival horror game as you can get before turning into a first/third person shooter AFAICS.

Apart from the context sensitive control (which many games have some forms of it), I didn't see anything really new for gameplay in RE4.

I thought the opposite about the games animation. So I suppose its not even worth us discussing that aspect since our opinions are obvious so far appart.

Yes, so far apart. Animations on too many action games are now pretty robotic after playing Ninja Gaiden.

What do you mean exactly by saying that the boat part of Res Evil 4 controls like Mario Kart? I mean you've only seen sveral seconds of it, how can you know how it controls or criticise those controls?

You didn't see that the boat flips left and right ?

 

[maskrider]

Oh my gosh, that sounds just sucky-sucky a$$. Tank driving is SO mid-90s it's not even funny. At least tell me there's a strafe button! Jesus, couldn't they at least have ripped off MPs control scheme? Why isn't it possible to move while shooting??? That's just stupidity made reality!

Let's check it out again when the game is released or some demo is available. But I don't have much hope for a Capcom game to have good control. Played far too many Capcom games and the control has been like that.

 

[PC-Engine]

PC-Engine

If you just want to see the 4 minute Res Evil 4 trailer here's a link to the DivX version but with Killer 7 and the wierd PS2 game cut out. So its only 22MB:

http://members.chello.nl/~j.peereboom1/mothervirus/bio4/

Teasy thanks for the link, however, I eventually got the full 70MB file...sigh.

RE4 looks amazing. Like I said in another thread, best fire I've ever seen in a console game. I also like the fog, smoke, particle effects, etc. Lighting is pretty nice too.

However, I'm curious as to how scary the game will be when you're actually playing it since most of the fights are outdoors. In the old style play, what partially made it scary was the enclosed areas. Also the boat scene doesn't look Mario Kartish at all.

BTW I heard that K7 was initially planned for the PS2 but now the PS2 version will not be released. Anyway I have to commend Nintendo for allowing an extremely bloody and violent game like K7 on GCN.

 

[Li Mu Bai]

I am just curious what they have done to the previous work they did on Resident Evil 4 (mansion, castle and underground facility footage). Did they threw it all away, or are they recycling it into a game that we'll see somewhere in the near future?

No they didn't. The engine & tech. still survives (from the initial demo)although modified for the larger wide open environments. Completely indoor environments are preserved as well. Remember, we've seen 3+minutes of compressed video, & primarily a single environment. (not counting the 2 boss fights) And Guden Oden its strange that virtually every media source that actually got hands-on with the game said that despite the digital control, it felt much more intuitive than past REs. Due to the camera orientation.

 

[Deepak]

....but I doubt you'll see anything that will match the quality of those particle effects from RE4. Those torches, fires and water are really crazy good looking.....

Isn't PS2 strong in particle effects??

 

[Deepak]

...It is not possible to move Leon around while in the shooting mode.

That reminded me that after playing MGS2 for more than 1 year I came to know that Snake can shoot while moving.....

 

[Ooh-videogames]

I'll never understand how anyone could judge a game based on a 4 minute video and a compressed one at that. Some have even posted comments that would make it seem like they have played the game. I think in many people minds this game is on the wrong console.

 

[marconelly!]

Isn't PS2 strong in particle effects??

It absolutely is, but SH games never really utilized that aspect of visuals much, beyond their fog. SH4 trailer doesn't seem to suggest otherwise, either. KCEJ's games (MGS2, ZOE2, and now MGS3) are very heavy on particle utilization though.

Snake can shoot while moving.....

True that, but you can't move while in first person view mode.

BTW I heard that K7 was initially planned for the PS2 but now the PS2 version will not be released.

It's quite the opposite, actually. It was announced as a Gamecube exclusive, but now it's coming to PS2 as well. USA release is still uncertain, but there's rumor Capcom 'was asked' (probably by Nintendo) to delay the announcement of this game as well as Viewtiful Joe port. Then, there's another rumor that SCEA rejected both games. K7 is coming on PS2 in Europe and Japan for sure though, as you can see from an official announcement issued last month. As for the USA release, here's what Kobayashi had to say:

IGN: Was a US version of the PS2 build postponed due to an agreement with Nintendo?

Kobayashi: No, it's not exclusive. We will. I'm pretty sure you guys know the reasons that we haven't announced it yet. In the US the GameCube is a kiddy platform so it might be difficult for a title like Killer 7, which is appealing to mature players, to succeed on that platform alone. That's why we're thinking about releasing it on PlayStation 2, too. Of course, if more mature US customers purchase the GameCube version then we might have to just concentrate on GameCube and forget about the PlayStation 2. But that's not going to happen.

 

[Deepak]

Snake can shoot while moving.....

True that, but you can't move while in first person view mode.

Otherwise everyone would play it in fpvm. KCEJ should give a serious thought to creating a FPS game with MGS2 engine.

 

[Li Mu Bai]

...It is not possible to move Leon around while in the shooting mode.

That reminded me that after playing MGS2 for more than 1 year I came to know that Snake can shoot while moving.....

Conversely, you've never been able to shoot while running in an RE game. A staple of the series FYI. And why mention SOL in the 1st place?

 

[Bohdy]

Heh, reading this topic makes it clear that everyone has their particular niche of graphical effects that wow them, while others barely leave a mark. Some like realistic lighting, others like smooth animation.. its like with girls really

Anyway, the game looks very nice IMO. The polygons are plentiful and the textures are fairly sharp. I said a while back that I thought that the GC could handle the basic core of Half Life 2 (ie, just the geometry and physics, stripped of most shaders) and that is pretty much what this game is! The span and detail of locales, the incredible particle system, the believable ragdolling (very similar looking to HL2's imo) and the apparently advanced AI all attest to this. I am however disappointed with the lack accurate realtime shadowing though, since most of the shadows seem placed by the artist, and also I think that they should have used at least a few key surface shaders for some things.. so I think that Capcom could do better still (and maybe they will before release, although I doubt it).

As for the animation.. it may not be very "smooth" (Leon's) but I think that is mostly for responsive character movements. Most of the creature animations though are far and away ahead of almost all games these days with their realism and detail. Just look at the "ogre" for a demonstration of this: you can *see* his muscular bulk shift with every step as his massive belly flexes and his jaw slavers. Incredible!

I think that many people here are just getting a bit too jaded to not notice the good points and potential of this game along with the flaws ;-)

 

[Phil]

I just recently watched the trailer - if I am not mistaken, the 70 MB one, but I'd have to check to be sure (Ahhh, the love of having 2Mbps D/L in Switzerland)!

Anyway, I have mixed feelings so far. Personally, I am not too impressed by the day time graphics... maybe I was just expecting something darker, more a long the lines of the very first footage we saw of the game (I remember being floored upon seeing that footage with Leon in the rain, the lightning etc). After seeing the last footage though, I came off a little disappointed, though mighty impressed with some of the other things, such as fire and the attention to detail (like being able to shoot into a door that breaks).

BTW; I nearly got a Cube the other day. Some store was selling them for insane prices, but they were all sold out already.

 

[London Geezer]

BTW; I nearly got a Cube the other day. Some store was selling them for insane prices, but they were all sold out already.

Teasers...
I've been *this close* to getting a GC for months, just never got round to reach my pocket for the credit card... I'm gonna have to, i'm missing too many great games this generation. I might have to get a GC and the best games later on when the next gen consoles are close to release or have been released - by then current gen material will be cheap enough for me to do something about it.

 

[Evil_Cloud]

BTW; I nearly got a Cube the other day. Some store was selling them for insane prices, but they were all sold out already.

Teasers...
I've been *this close* to getting a GC for months, just never got round to reach my pocket for the credit card... I'm gonna have to, i'm missing too many great games this generation. I might have to get a GC and the best games later on when the next gen consoles are close to release or have been released - by then current gen material will be cheap enough for me to do something about it.

You'll miss out the moment, I promise you that.
Nothing is as good as playing something new, instead of something that has been out for a few years.

 

[London Geezer]

You'll miss out the moment, I promise you that.
Nothing is as good as playing something new, instead of something that has been out for a few years.

Heh, i know, but unless u (or anyone else) finance me, sadly that's how it's gonna be for me...