A trailer for Capcom's upcoming Resident Evil 5 debuted at the Tokyo Game Show, and--fortunately for you--watching it is now mandatory. Note to Capcom: if you're going to introduce a female character by first showing us her butt, you might as well go all the way and throw in a cartoony thumping bass drum for full effect.
This is the most story we've seen out of RE5 yet, which may be why this preview reminds me so much of Metal Gear Solid (mainly when the stirring music kicks in). And the real return of longtime series villain Wesker should delight all of the RE fans who poo-pooed 4 for essentially being a side-story. Yes; there are seriously people who didn't like RE4 because it was only tangentially related to the series' tortured, ludicrous continuity--and they walk among us, so watch out for that.
If you really need to see how awful and nonsensical the connections are between the first four games in the series, head on over to the Let's Play Archive and check out The Dark Id's annotated playthroughs of the Resident Evil series. You'll be glad you did.
Back to the trailer: really, no big surprises here--but the RE series has never been full of unpredictable twists and turn. Duh moment #1: Wesker is behind all of this (he became even more evil when he picked up a British accent at some point during the series); duh moment #2: This whole mess is once again caused by his God complex--seriously, getting impaled by a bio-weapon was the best thing that could happen to the guy. This time around, it looks like he has a sexy British (or vaguely European) sidekick, who, for some reason, is giving me flashbacks to season 2 of Dexter. I guess that's a good thing.
It looks like RE5 isn't going to miss its March 13 release date, and I really hope it doesn't; four years is far too long to wait for a game that appears to be of Resident Evil 4's caliber.
Related Links:
Games to Film to Games to Film: Resident Evil Degeneration
Interview Round Up: Suda 51, Shinji Mikami, and Mikami’s Replacements on Resident Evil
Rumors, Rumors, Riz-u-mors: Resident Evil 2 Wii and The Glory of Speculation