Thank the good undead lord above. It’s only taken the developer 14 years, but now it seems Capcom is finally giving players the ability to move and shoot simultaneously in a Resi game. But upcoming 3DS game Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D won’t only let you shuffle your feet while unloading a clip. No, you’ll also be able to play the entire game in first person if you so wish.
In an interview published in this week’s Famitsu several members of the Mercenaries 3D team spoke about the title, which seems to be far further along in development than its 3DS sibling Revelations.
Above: Don't expect a full-fat Resi on Nintendo's handheld for quite a while
Speaking to the granddaddy of Japanese games mags, director Kazuhisa Inoue explained that you can now move while firing your gun. When you take out your zombie-slaughtering weapons, the view will automatically switch to first person. And apparently, you’ll be able to play the entire game like this if you want. He also elaborated on the 3DS screen: “The touch screen is a really great input device, so we definitely want to get the most out of that we can.”
Above: Dead Space - doing moving and shooting things in the evil face since 2008
He also elaborated on the title’s new RPG-like elements: "You can give them skills and adjust their weaponry that lets you adjust them for your own play style while levelling up their skills. Each character has varying heal and defense abilities, and some skills let them unlock particular weapon features or defeat certain mid-bosses more easily. Taking advantage of these skills will make the game quicker to play and allow you to raise your characters' levels more easily."
Considering the Mercenaries mode has always been a glorified (though still ace) minigame in previous Resi titles, it should come as no surprise that the new handheld game won’t have much of a story. Inoue explains: “"It's tailored to be a pure action game, so there is no story aspect to it at all," Inoue said. Instead of that, we're implementing a lot of new gameplay into the action."
Above: Don't expect War & Peace, then
Expect to be able to take on the clock in zombie-filled playgrounds with Chris and Claire Redfield, Hunk and Resi 4 wrong ‘un Jack Krauser. The game is allegedly around 70% complete. So we fully expect this to be a launch game when Nintendo’s megaton handheld launches early next year.
But what to do you think about these pretty radical control changes? Will the ability to move and shoot rob the game of its trademark tension? Or do you think it’ll be perfectly suited for this more action-orientated slice of Resi? Also, with the first-person revelations, are you at all worried Resi might be about to go down the FPS route? Whatever your thoughts, unload them in our comments section down yonder page.
Dec 8, 2010
