Resident Evil 5 rumors stay rumors

Producer of Resident Evil 5 Jun Takeuchi has refused to confirm any truth in the recent barrage of rumors thrown at him in attempts to get confirmation.

An article at Games Radar that was quickly taken off the net, had reported that the game was to include a drop-in online co-op mode and a new cover system. Takeuchi, at Capcom’s Las Vegas showcase, would not confirm or deny any of these reports. He did, however, confirm that there’s a new female character, who is actually featured in the video that came out with the opening of the conference.

When asked about the controls, Takeuchi would only divulge with the news that it’s “very similar to Resident Evil 4”, with one “very, very big difference”. “But we’re not quite ready to talk about that just yet,” he stated, “so hold on and we’ll be happy to tell you all about it.” Asked whether it was a cover system, he said: “If I told you that now, you wouldn’t have anything to look forward to at E3!”

Takeuchi was happy to confirm that the classic Resident Evil approach to shooting  still applies; this means there’s no moving while you’re firing. “One of the things that distinguishes Resident Evil from other games is the sense of fear and foreboding, and we feel that system itself is one of the biggest differences between us and other first-person shooters and third-person shooters,” he said.

“If you were able to move around and run away from the enemies and shoot them while you’re running, it would result in a game that’s not the game we’re trying to make. It is taking one ability away from the player, but we feel it results in a better game.”

We don’t know much about the new lady in the game, though we were told she might be a mercenary at some point, and she does mention that she “knows how to handle a gun”.

The game is apparently “60 percent complete”, Takeuchi explained, and is set to be over 20 hours long.

There wasn’t a chance to play the game at the conference but the level featured in the previous Famitsu magazine was played through by a developer.

Resident Evil 5 is due to come out some time before March 2009 and will be available on the PS3 and 360, check our RE5 game hub for updates as they arrive.