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This week saw Capcom’s Captivate 2011 event kick off in Miama, but all of the information that is currently being released has been embargoed until next Tuesday. That’s quite unfortunate but it isn’t stopping us from speculating about what Resident Evil-related news we’ll be getting once the embargo lifts early next week. Let’s get this out of the way first: we’re not expecting any new game announcements and you shouldn’t as well. We already got a good amount of Resident Evil titles hitting from this summer up until 2012 all in celebration of Resident Evil’s 15th anniversary. So let’s get started with our list of what we think Captivate 2011 will be giving Resident Evil fans.
Resident Evil: Raccoon City trailer
Capcom has already released the teaser trailer for Slant Six’s upcoming Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City and it has been received with mixed reactions at best. While the prospect of playing through a spiritual successor to the Outbreak series is a very promising and satisfying one, what offsets this is the fact that the developer isn’t aiming for a true survival-horror experience, instead they’re going all out with the shooting and squad-based gameplay mechanics.
Despite those issues it’s still looking pretty awesome, especially the bits that show off Leon in remade scenes from Resident Evil 2. That right there may be this game’s biggest hook for fans, the fact that it’ll have heavy inspirations from what many consider the greatest entry in the classic series. We wouldn’t be surprised if Capcom rolls out the full trailer for this title at Captivate. And in regards to a playable demo for attendees, we think Capcom is saving that for this year’s E3 in June.
Footage from a near-final build of Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D
With only a few months left before Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D hits Nintendo’s glasses-free 3D handheld this summer, there should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that Capcom will have a booth including a near-final build of the game; possibly even including the announced demo for next year’s Resident Evil: Revelations.
The Mercs 3D demo may include a good amount of the game’s announced 30 missions spread across the game’s 12 maps taken from Resident Evil 4 and 5’s respective mercenaries modes. And obviously, seeing as how this might me a near-final build of the game, there will be a bigger selection of characters to play as (of which there’s a total of 8). This leads to the next treat we think RE fans will be getting next week…
Mercenaries 3D character reveal trailer for Rebecca and Barry
We recently received a character reveal trailer for Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D which showed off Wesker and Jill in all their glory. With 6 out of the game’s default 8 characters already announced and shown in playable form (Chris, Wesker, HUNK, Krauser, Jill, Claire) that leaves us with the remaining 2 characters to be shown off. And we already know that they’re Rebecca Chambers and Barry “ The Family Man” Burton.
For those who have already played the hell out of Resident Evil 5’s Mercenaries Reunion mode, the gameplay shown in this potential trailer shouldn’t really be new considering the fact that both Rebecca and Barry will be carrying over their same move-sets from said mode to the 3DS title. What will be interesting , though, is the dialogue we get from good ol’ Barry, because whatever comes out of that guy’s mouth is always pure gold.
Footage from an updated Resident Evil: Revelations demo
Compared to Mercenaries 3D, we really haven’t seen too much from this game, both in terms of actual plot details (besides the official summary) and gameplay. Captivate 2011 would be the perfect venue for Capcom to offer a new updated look of the game which can then be expanded upon once E3 comes along. This demo would probably feature Chris seeing as how so far everything we’ve been seeing, in terms of gameplay, has been Jill-oriented. Captivate might probably offer attendees a piece of Chris’ scenario in the game.
Or we could end up with footage of the actual demo that will be packed in with Mercenaries 3D. If that’s the case then Mercenaries 3D might end up being the 3DS RE title with the most focus at the show, seeing as how the Revelations demo is composed of what we’ve seen from the Jill-centric demo that was available at Nintendo World 2011 earlier this year (which you can see above). Regardless, we’re sure Revelations will have a good amount of presence at Captivate with the best being saved for its E3 showing perhaps.
Resident Evil 4 HD/ Code Veronica X HD demo footage
We already got a glimpse of what Resident Evil 4 and Code Veronica X will look like in their upcoming HD versions coming out this fall thanks to screens and the just released 15th anniversary trailer, but Captivate might offer playable demos for both titles on its showfloor. We might be able to expect some footage from these demos if they do indeed end up being present at the event. We really don’t see why not because chances are that at E3, those roaming the showfloor will be more interested in playing Operation Raccoon City, Revelations and Mercenaries 3D rather than these HD ports.
Fans have been comparing the released screens of both HD releases to their original versions and the results have been absurd at best. There’s no denying that both titles look more polished thanks to the HD visual-revamp but the side-by-side comparisons Capcom have released make the original versions of these games look much worse than they really do, just take the image above for example. Pop in your copy of Resident Evil 4 and get up to the pictured scene with Leon fighting Krauser and then you’ll see how much Capcom has exaggerated the original version’s “graphical flaws” that come about when compared to the upcoming HD ports.
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So what do you guys think? What are you expecting from Captivate 2011 in terms of Resident Evil? Make sure to sound off in the comments below.
