The problem was that RE4 wasn' t really a RE game. Even the creator himself said in an interview that he didn' t really make it for the fans but for a more action-centered public. It' s mainly that which is a bit disappointing to me.
I know what you mean, and I noticed that every time I played RE4, however, it didn' t bother me too much. I had already played the first 3 in the traditional way, and I really didn' t mind a change.
Resident Evil 4 was the only Resident Evil game I replayed multiple times after completing it. Why? Because the game kicked so much a$$!! The other games in the series, once I completed them I threw them on the shelf never to bother with them again.
What Terry says has a lot of merit. The only Resident Evil I played over again was RE2, once on ps1, and once on PC.
Yeah the gameplay looked very similar to the old Resi games. After playing 4 I don' t think I can go back to the old clunky gameplay of the previous games.
I
could, but I don' t want to. I think with the ps2 and previous consoles, the static camera and cinematic presentation of the game worked well with the technology available. It let the makers present a very interesting world, that made you see it from the story and suspense driven direction they want. That said, the ps3 and xbox360 (sorry Wii) will allow a lot more detail and scale that the old consoles couldn' t take. This said, I think a free camera and smooth controls is necessary when playing in such fully fleshed out worlds with seamless environments.
I know that a lot of Japanese developers like to use static cameras so they can make the player see the world they made the way they want it to be seen, and to draw attention to their work, but IMO a free camera can make a player pay even more attention to the designers work. For instance, in Resistance: Fall of Man, the backgrounds, and amount of detail in buildings and terrain way off in the distance is lovely. I have yet to see it in any other game, and it really helped build a mood no matter where you went. I found myself stopping after firefights just to admire the view and the detail in my surroundings. In fact, I tend to do that in many well made games, especially those with physics engines(I like to see what damage I have done
).
That said, Resident Evil has always been one of the series that I payed a lot of attention to my surroundings, and for me, I would love freedom of movement to look at every detail I found interesting. Which leads me to a solution to the fear game makers may have that involves players rushing through the world if they arent limited by camera' s and movements. If designers make intriguing surroundings that are incorporated into the story, and must be payed attention to in order to find items to progress, or learn things about the story, they can control the pace of the game through that, without ever making a player feel constrained or restricted.
I know the post is long, and I don' t know if it makes much sense to some of you, but hopefully you understand what I mean.