Resident Evil has been one of my favourite franchises in my young gaming history. I remember playing the second game on my Playstation 1 and being scared sh*tless of the ‘licker’ enemy. Even now when I go back to play the Resident Evil games there is a sense of isolation and fear that is missing from modern games. The confined spaces, fixed cameras and dreary music always put me slightly on edge. The game was never anything to have nightmares over, but it still had scares in it.

Things have changed over years and the latest trailer for Resident Evil 6 seems to have taken the series down the action route. So what exactly has happened to Resident Evil then? Simple, it has been westernised. Resident Evil was never made solely for the Japanese audience but the ante has been upped by other blockbuster games lapping up the cash. The biggest games are the blockbuster, action-packed affairs such as Call of Duty. If you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em right? Games such as Hitman and Splinter Cell have sacrificed some of their gameplay mechanics in order to appeal to new audiences and it seems Resident Evil is doing the same.

Let’s look at Resident Evil 5, one of the series’ worst games. Don’t get me wrong the game is fun, especially with a friend on board, but this is where part of the problem stems from: co-op. By forcing the game to allow for a companion you lost the sense of isolation and fear that you once had. It also made the developers look at the environment, keeping it more open than in previous games. By doing this and setting it in Africa you were pretty much on a zombie slaying holiday, lapping up the sun with your mistress Sheva.

Even Capcom UK’s head of marketing, Dave Turner said that: ”We’ve seen the popularity of Resident Evil increase massively as the series became more action oriented – Resident Evil 5 is the biggest seller in the series. So, it makes sense for us to follow this action area more fully.”

Resident Evil 5 was not the only decent survival horror series to move down the action route. Dead Space started life as a pants-wetting video game. The whole thing worked on the idea of scaring you silly. The first game sold OK for the marketing campaign by EA, but it was hardly a runaway success, so something was needed to get more money. Dead Space 2 pandered to the main segment of the market, creating a poor multiplayer  mode and upping the high octane action. Dead Space 2 didn’t kill the series, it was just a step backwards from the first game.

Resident Evil 1 had dogs jumping through windows. Resident Evil 2 had the ‘licker’. Resident Evil 3 had the ominous boss figure Nemesis that haunted you throughout the game. Resident Evil 4 had the Regenerador which I will still scares me today. When I think of the fifth game in the series there is nothing that comes to mind. Resident Evil was known as a survival-horror game, but the same cannot be said now.

Clearly action games are here to stay and this is something developers will need to blend into their game if they want the payoff. So far only one game has got the crossover between action and horror correct: Resident Evil 4. Released on the Gamecube in 2005 the game was universally praised for revolutionising the ageing series. By this time I was 15 years old and I wasn’t scared as easily as my days on the early Resident Evil games. That didn’t stop the game from giving me an eery sense of panic. The first town you enter has villagers burning a huge fire with bodies in the center of town. After holing up in a small shack I suddenly hear a chainsaw revving up. As much as I want to see what it is I daren’t open the door. I quickly blocked the doors and prepped all my ammo an awaited the oncoming horde. After defending the house against a group of enemies I turned round only to have a weirdo with a potatoe sack on his head, named El Salvador, tear through my neck with a chainsaw. Resident Evil’s signature ‘You Died’ screen appears and I’m raring to go again.

See in the example above you can see a clear sense of panic, fear of the unknown and action all perfectly merged into what is one of the best set pieces in modern gaming. This is something that Resident Evil 5 seemed to lack. You were never really scared of what was round the corner because you could see it. The only time you panicked because of the lacklustre controls. The situation  was more about whether you could escape, or if your gun was loaded and ready than thinking: ‘What the hell is coming for me?!’

So what can Resident Evil 6 do to stop itself from falling into the same category as the last game?  Well it’s simple. In the trailer we’ve mainly seen Leon working on his own, Chris in groups and various other characters in mixed scenarios. How about splitting the game up. So the story will be told from different perspectives. Leon is your special agent doing the creepy solo work. Chris is the big action hero with team-based fighting. Finally the last person would be suited to the co-op scenario. By splitting up the story you’d get variation and keep both fans of the series and newcomers happy.

Unfortunately it doesn’t seem that this will be the case. Today xbox.com listings let slip that Resident Evil 6 would be buffering up the multiplayer elements of the game. When you link that to the action packed trailer you can only see Resident Evil 6 following the market leaders.

I’m not saying that Resident Evil 6 will be bad. In fact I am still quite excited by it. The problem is that it wont really feel like a Resident Evil game. I like survival horror games and it is a shame to see a series as reputable as Capcom’s being forced down a route it doesn’t suit. For now, I’ll cross my fingers and hope that Resident Evil 6 makes me crap my pants, even if it is just a little.

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