JBoc924What a week it’s been for Resident Evil fans. Going into this week, we already had a concrete release date for Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City and news of its retailer-exclusive pre-order bonuses and its special edition. And things only got better from there.
We received two big trailers on Monday from last week’s Gamers Day, held by Capcom: one for the aforementioned squad-based shooter and the other for Resident Evil Revelations. So, as always, I’m going to be dissecting and breaking down both new trailers as much as I can. Granted, some of the things I’m going to be noting below may have already been spotted by the eyes of many a die hard Resident Evil fan. So, if anything, consider this a neat recap of all the juicy details we can pick out from this new pair of trailers.
Let’s start with Revelations’ brand new trailer. (My analysis of Operation Raccoon City’s trailer will go live tomorrow, so stay tuned!)
Things start off with a neat throwback (the first of three) to the series’ classic days, specifically Resident Evil 2. Yeah, this may not instantly confirm the involvement of the G-Virus in the game’s plot, but it’s still a neat reference nonetheless. And hell, for all we know, the G-Virus may end up actually having a role in the development of the T-Abyss virus. Because who’s to say Veltro hasn’t been able to obtain a sample, or perhaps they’ve succeeded in almost replicating it with their new water-based virus.
Or all of the above could be wrong and this just serves to give us an awesome cover…
Well would you look at that! My God, there’s so much going on in this scene! Okay, not really, but if you’ve been a fan of the series since the beginning, then you definitely know this famous phrase (and if you don’t then you deserve to be strangled by a Licker, or hugged by a Hunter, pick your poison).
It’s no mystery that Capcom has their eyes set on giving fans what they’ve been asking for since they got a bitter taste left in their mouths after Resident Evil 5: a return to form, or rather, a return to the world of survival horror. Rejoice, friends, with Resident Evil Revelations we’re going to get that traditional survival horror experience we’ve been clamoring for. (And if we don’t then you can hunt me down and force me to listen to fairy tales voiced by Alfred Ashford for hours on end.)
Uh oh, Jill. I wouldn’t do that if I were you. I mean, remember what happened to the last guy who tried to “pull” something like that off; a guy who just so happened to be Jill’s own partner, Joseph Frost.
Yes, yet another throwback and thoughtful nod for all us hardcore fans. Don’t fret, though. I’m quite sure the end results of this particular scene won’t end like it did for Joseph back in the original game’s intro, where he innocently tried to steal a gun from a severed hand… And plus, Revelations’ mutts are too busy chasing after Chris and Jessica. So, Jill’s safe. It’s the Ooze she has to be worry about…
“No one’s saying Chris is dead” Parker tells Jill, pushing them ever onwards in their search for Chris, naturally– it is their mission afterall. This may not seem all that revelatory at all, but it continues to make me spend sleepless nights (okay, not really) wondering about how this search for Chris is actually going to play out.
With Parker saying something like that to his partner, it’s strongly suggested that they’re having a hard time finding Chris and Jessica aboard the luxury cruise ship, which is where their last known coordinates puts them. Have the coordinates somehow been forged by Veltro? Or perhaps by the Organization? Another intriguing query is: when exactly do Chris and Jessica actually arrive at the ship? And, of course, I just have to bring up the “Chris” that’s tied down to the chair, being held captive by the Veltro leader whose real name we’ll momentarily find out. Could said “Chris” end up being a clone of some sort? Basically, figuring out the actual time-line of events in this game is proving to be quite difficult, which is something I’m truly happy about actually, since, you know, we wouldn’t want to know how everything’s going to exactly play out a few months before the game actually hits. So, yeah, I’m enjoying this mystery.
Also, keep a mental picture in your head of the room we see Parker in here, when he’s talking to Jill. It seems to be a game room of some sort, what with slot machines being present behind him. This particular room seemingly serves as a backdrop to another scene later on in this trailer. But we’ll get to that. Also, this won’t be the first time we’ll be able to explore a game room in a Resident Evil title, since one was also featured in the Ashford Palace in CODE Veronica.
We’re then introduced to two more members of the BSAA: Keith Lumley and Quint Cetcham. Under the orders of O’Brian, Keith and Quint are sent off to an area which may or may not be the same one Chris and Jessica have already been seen traversing. It’s also been confirmed that both these new characters will be playable, meaning that the story now has another scenario under its belt to help flesh out the overall plot even more (Capcom is claiming this as being the best Resident Evil story to date after all.)
We already know that one of the main threats these two buddies will be facing are cloaking Hunters. Yes, Hunters that make themselves invisible to the bare eye, needing a scan by the Genesis scanner, which Quint just so happened to have created, in order to be visible. These confrontations should prove to be extremely tense and unnerving, because as you know, the Hunters are already a force to be reckoned with sans any additional enhancements, but now they can pull a Vector!
The scene then shifts to Quint who tells O’Brian that him and Keith have obtained the ship’s coordinates. Or are they directly contacting Chris? It would make more sense for O’Brian to be told this first, since he is overseeing the entire operation, with Chris then being the recipient of the coordinates, leading him and Jessica to the luxury cruise ship Jill and Parker are already busy looking for Chris in. And I must say that I find Quint worthy enough to join Mr. Ashford and Mr. Burnside in the annoying voice club.
Things then shift to Chris and Jessica’s scenario. We get a look at them in the snowy European mountain range, then in the confines of the luxury cruise ship. Now, I may be completely wrong here, but the room we see Jessica in here, pictured above, looks like it may be the game room Parker and Jill were in before. My reasoning for this? Well, that, to me at least, looks like a game wheel or board of some kind behind Jessica. Again, I may be wrong.
Regardless, it’ll be very interesting to see how both Jill and Chris’ (along with their new partners) scenarios aboard the ship will unfold. Will they run parallel to each other? Or will they be occurring at a different time altogether. Judging by this image, if it does turn out being in the same game room from before, then we could have either or happening before, or after, the other. That seems most likely at this point anyway. With perhaps Chris ending up getting captured at the end of his and Jessica’s trek through the ship, leading to Jill and Parker getting the coordinates. That would actually make the most sense, but, twists are abound in Revelations’ yarn so…anything could happen.
“What’s so important with this image?” I hear you ask. Well, a couple of things actually. Firstly, you got the coordinates for the ship that Keith and Quint were talking about earlier. I’m sure this is being sent from O’Brian straight to Chris and Jessica. Oh, and this also happens to be the coordinates for Chris’ location too– so it could actually be Jill and Parker looking at it in this shot.
The second thing is something that I noticed after observing this image longer than I should have (okay, it didn’t really take that long before I made this observation). The ship’s coordinates puts it right in the Mediterranean Sea (which is something we already know), but interestingly enough, it also puts it right in between Europe and Africa– which are Resident Evil 4 and 5’s main settings, respectively. Taking into consideration how this game serves as a narrative bridge between Resident Evil 4 and 5, it’s even more cool to see that the game will even be locationally taking place (for the most part) between its precursor’s and successor’s settings.
These two shots are taken from what I believe is the highlight of this new trailer: the attack on Terragrigia, which seems to be not unlike Raccoon City, the only difference being Hunters taking care of all the killing, instead of a government-approved missile attack.
Joking aside, it seems that this European city might end up being wiped off the face the Earth, a la Raccoon City. This is a full-scale attack by possibly Veltro (or could it be the Organization as the following image suggests?), with some heavy use of the ever so friendly BOWs, the Hunters. Yeah, things aren’t going to bode well for that poor guy in the second image, and for everyone else in that city for that matter. I mean, it’s RAINING HUNTERS!!!
This is a continuation of the attack on Terragrigia scene. This time we get to see some of the passengers aboard one of the choppers. Notice the red-haired man on the right? Yeah, I’m more than sure that that’s Raymond Vester, who’s already been revealed as being part of the Organization. So, what’s he doing here? And what’s up with the red band around his arm?
Another query this sprouts into my head is regarding the actual time period this attack is taking place in. Could it serve to be the catalyst for the events of Revelations, or will this happen sometime during which the actual plot is unfolding? If the former then Chris and Jessica being sent to the mountains in search of the terrorist organization, Veltro, makes perfect sense. They want to infiltrate their base and hit them where it hurts, after they attacked a city, taking the lives of innocent people. If this attack takes place sometime in the middle of the game’s plot then it’ll be quite awesome to traverse a city in ruins, under heavy attack by BOWs. But we’ve already seen many explosions, so there may not be any actual city left to explore once the smoke clears (and once the Hunters call it a day, unless they get killed in the explosions…).
But what of Raymond? Is he serving Veltro, while secretly still retaining his utmost loyalty towards the Organization? Hey, that makes me think of another, notable, Organization member that was a spy. I wonder who…Oh, yeah: Ada! Raymond could be playing a similar role: put up a false front and let Veltro think he’s exclusively serving them and then retrieve the T-Abyss virus and return to his Organization superiors. I’m personally leaning more towards this being the event that sets everything into motion, both in Revelations’ self-contained plot and in setting the stage for Resident Evil 5– in which the world is already in constant fear of the evils of bioterrorism (as the title card aptly puts it).
Why, hello again! Here’s another shot of Raymond, this time being confronted by Jill and Parker. Obviously, Raymond doesn’t want to let the cat out of the bag. He’s not going to give in and tell Jill and her Barry stand-in partner what they want to know.
Just what exactly is he up to? Obtaining a sample of the T-Abyss virus is definitely something I strongly believe is in his agenda. But all this Raymond stuff just makes me stop and wonder: what the hell happens to him post-Revelations? He’s certainly not even referenced in Resident Evil 5, so, what will become of him? Resident Evil 6 may see his return perhaps. But, it’s too early to tell.
Poor guy. He’s definitely had a taste of the T-Abyss virus. Now he’s in the process of possibly become one of the Ooze, or he’s probably just going to die (again). Here’s yet another showing of the new virus’ ability to reanimate dead bodies, because this poor soul may have already been offed in some fashion prior to his bioorganically enhanced Gene Simmons impersonation.
Hail Veltro! For quite a while, this gas-masked, demonic, individual has been called HUNK by some, and “wannabe HUNK” by others. Well, it turns out he’s not HUNK, but he could still be a wannabe. We already know this man is the leader of the new terrorist organization debuting with this game’s story, Veltro. And now we know his name. Drumroll please…His name is Il Veltro. It’s very fitting no?
Il Veltro is once again rambling on in this shot, like he always does whenever we see him in these trailers. I don’t know about you, but I’m more than willing to see Chris boulder-punch this guy. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I find him to be quite an awesome villain, and I really, really hope we get to fight him at the end in some form of mutated form, but I think it’ll be awesome to see Chris knock his lights out– after all, he does have the series STAR tied up, if that really is him…
Another thing worth mentioning is the existence of his gas-mask. Yeah, I know, it looks cool, giving him that USS/ HUNK look, but still, does he really need it? Maybe there’s some sort of virus flowing through Il Veltro’s bloodstream and his true goals are to not only spread his T-Abyss virus to the world’s seas, but also to find some sort of cure for himself. Perhaps he truly needs that mask on to survive? Maybe he has a deformity underneath? Or, which may end up being the ultimate reason, it’s just for aesthetic purposes…
It wouldn’t be a Resident Evil game without something going boom. What exactly will blow in this particular scene? Guess away!
One thing’s for sure: Il Veltro probably has something to do with this. And it’s worth noting the way video game trailers are constructed, sometimes we unknowingly get some late-game snippets thrown into the mix of rapidly cut scenes. Perhaps this is one of them, right before the luxury cruise ship explodes.
I don’t know why, but the first thing that comes to mind when viewing this shot is the scenes in Resident Evil 2 where Mr. X bursts through walls. Even after beating the game, and all four of its scenarios, countless times, that moment still makes me jump a bit.
Stop looking at Jill’s behind, stop looking at Jill’s behind. Okay! Here we see a new form of Ooze. We’ve already seen the standard humanoid, regenerator-looking ones, but now this seems to be one of the stronger variations of it. I’m not sure what appendage that is, but it sure is strong, and it should be a tense fight, or chase-sequence in which Jill has to run for her life after she (and the player) is met with a classic jump-scare.
This could also lead to this particular area getting flooded, leading to some of the confirmed underwater gameplay segments, a mini-boss fight perhaps?
Oh, what’s wrong? Now you’re having second thoughts about criticizing Rachel, aren’t you? No more ridiculous “oh she’s only in it for sex appeal” and “she’s all boobs and no face” complaints now, right? Rachel’s coming for all of you who were previously crying foul at her, and she’s not happy. She’s not exactly alive anymore either.
Yeah, Rachel wasn’t exactly received warmly when she got revealed via the game’s official Japanese site, and later when she was quite central in the game’s TGS 2011 trailer (including the extended cut). We saw Rachel get brutally killed by the Ooze in said trailer(s). And right before her death we saw the Ooze that was holding her seemingly insert something into her mouth. That “something” may have led to her BOW return we see displayed in this shot. And if you recall, Jill was watching the whole thing unfold right before her very (beautiful) eyes.
Jill will regret that, as we’ll soon see…
Not only does this show us that the Ooze can come out of nowhere to attack the player, but that the game truly is focusing strongly on partnership. Here we see it illustrated suitably with Parker holding onto Jill after he’s been hurt, in what’s sure to be another dread-inducing moment as you’re not only trying to survive yourself, but also looking out for your partner.
It’s things like this that go a long way to enhance the overall experience, which in the case of Revelations is a return to survival horror. Another similar moment is when Chris is down after falling off a ledge and with rabid infected wolves coming at him in full force, where the player still has control of his aiming and shooting. We even saw a similar thing happen to Jill prior to this scene where she was knocked down, still shooting at the Ooze in front of her.
I don’t think Jill will stand idle while watching someone get brutalized by the Ooze anymore. She’s definitely going to learn after this little encounter with a mutated Rachel. “Why didn’t you save me?!” I can hear Rachel saying in a distorted voice as she’s frantically trying to down Jill.
This should prove to be a tense confrontation, even if it doesn’t exactly play out like a traditional boss fight. I certainly hope it does, though. Because honestly, we really haven’t seen much from the game as far as boss fights are concerned. Yeah, the classic Resident Evil titles weren’t exactly filled to the brim with boss battles, but still, with a game as expansive as Revelations, it’ll be quite welcome to be met with a healthy selection of memorable boss encounters. Rachel could be one of them.
The three images above all show us that Capcom is quite serious about returning the series back to its roots with this game. Yeah, these puzzles don’t seem to be on the head-scratching levels some of the more notable ones in the series’ past are, but still, it’s nice to see that there will be a good dose of puzzles (including some environmental hazards) to tackle. It’s also neat to see how the touch-screen will be used for puzzle-solving.
Oh, and I think that Jill should definitelly give Leon a call to get some help in how to go through those red lasers.
February 7 can’t get here soon enough. I’m truly looking forward to taking off from school and work to play this on Jill Valentine’s Day! And you know what’s even better? Operation Raccoon City hits one month later! It’s truly going to be yet another good year for Resident Evil fans in 2012 by the looks of it. And speaking of Operation Raccoon City, my Gamers Day trailer analysis for the game is coming tomorrow night, so stay tuned!
What did you guys think of Revelations’ Gamers Day 2011 trailer? Did I miss anything in my analysis? Hit up the comments section below!
