[E3 2010] Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition Move Hands-On
Oh boy oh boy oh boy, we got to take Move for a spin in an actual third-party game. Impressions inside.
Published: June 25, 2010
If there was one thing we took away from this year's E3 showcase, it was that Sony was serious about supporting the hardcore crowd with its motion controller, taking the innate advantages of an entirely new control scheme that has been a bit underserved on the Wii and planting it front and center with a more precise and potential-packed method for trying out new things.
The issue thus far, however, has been the relative lack of examples of core-friendly games beyond some basic bullet point lists. Capcom was one of the first to jump on board, announcing at last year's Tokyo Game Show that they'd be patching Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition for free with an update to allow Move controls.
Needless to say, we were dying to see how things would play out after the deservedly strong praise for motion controls with the Wii version of Resident Evil 4. No, this wasn't using the 3D aspects and augmented reality that actually differentiates Move from the Wii, but it would at least give us a chance to see how pointer-style controls could be mapped to HD graphics, and the results were... Well, they were interesting to say the least.
We'll get some of the more puzzling aspects of things out of the way first: the control scheme, letting you use a DualShock 3 or the Navigation Controller to actually move Chris and Sheva around not-zombie-infested Africa had a few quirks; using the sniper rifle moved the controls from pointing with the Move controller to the analog stick in your left hand (apparently for reasons of "precision") and that Navigation Controller's L3 button could be hit way too often, resulting in a taunt rather than, say a quick 180 degree turn -- something Capcom was apparently well aware of and would be tuning before release.
That said, when we jumped into the level that split up Sheva and Chris moving into the claustrophobic corridor that would eventually end in a showdown with the chainsaw-wielding baddie that first terrorized us when the game shipped. Apparently only three other editors during the whole of the show had actually finished things, so with a lot of time and patience (and the use of as many explosive barrels and generators as we could muster), plus the liberal use of hooks and uppercuts after stunning the baddie, we eventually prevailed... something like 10 minutes later.
The controls, as one would expect, are pretty simple: the analog stick still controls movement and flicking the Navigation Controller will do a quick knife swipe (it auto-locks on crates and other breakables, though things can be aimed by holding the shoulder button), while flicking the Move controller reloads the equipped weapon. Actually shooting requires holding the T button underneath the Move, then using the big action button to fire. We couldn’t help but feel this was a little backwards, but we quickly adjusted.
In all honestly, the experience was new enough that we were eager to check things out again -- we'd never actually delved into the add-on content like the Lost in Nightmares and Desperate Escape single-player expansions, so if nothing else this gives us the chance to do so when the game ships alongside the Move in September. We'll have more soon, so check back often.
The issue thus far, however, has been the relative lack of examples of core-friendly games beyond some basic bullet point lists. Capcom was one of the first to jump on board, announcing at last year's Tokyo Game Show that they'd be patching Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition for free with an update to allow Move controls.
Needless to say, we were dying to see how things would play out after the deservedly strong praise for motion controls with the Wii version of Resident Evil 4. No, this wasn't using the 3D aspects and augmented reality that actually differentiates Move from the Wii, but it would at least give us a chance to see how pointer-style controls could be mapped to HD graphics, and the results were... Well, they were interesting to say the least.
We'll get some of the more puzzling aspects of things out of the way first: the control scheme, letting you use a DualShock 3 or the Navigation Controller to actually move Chris and Sheva around not-zombie-infested Africa had a few quirks; using the sniper rifle moved the controls from pointing with the Move controller to the analog stick in your left hand (apparently for reasons of "precision") and that Navigation Controller's L3 button could be hit way too often, resulting in a taunt rather than, say a quick 180 degree turn -- something Capcom was apparently well aware of and would be tuning before release.
That said, when we jumped into the level that split up Sheva and Chris moving into the claustrophobic corridor that would eventually end in a showdown with the chainsaw-wielding baddie that first terrorized us when the game shipped. Apparently only three other editors during the whole of the show had actually finished things, so with a lot of time and patience (and the use of as many explosive barrels and generators as we could muster), plus the liberal use of hooks and uppercuts after stunning the baddie, we eventually prevailed... something like 10 minutes later.
The controls, as one would expect, are pretty simple: the analog stick still controls movement and flicking the Navigation Controller will do a quick knife swipe (it auto-locks on crates and other breakables, though things can be aimed by holding the shoulder button), while flicking the Move controller reloads the equipped weapon. Actually shooting requires holding the T button underneath the Move, then using the big action button to fire. We couldn’t help but feel this was a little backwards, but we quickly adjusted.
In all honestly, the experience was new enough that we were eager to check things out again -- we'd never actually delved into the add-on content like the Lost in Nightmares and Desperate Escape single-player expansions, so if nothing else this gives us the chance to do so when the game ships alongside the Move in September. We'll have more soon, so check back often.
