Resident Evil 6: Another Bloody Trailer Analysis


Is there anything more lazy and uninteresting than a detailed analysis of a launch trailer? With the possible exception of an unboxing video, it marks the lowest point of video game journalism and makes me cringe each time I see one on the front page of a major gaming website.

Last week's Resident Evil 6 reveal trailer had the big sites scrambling to dissect what was a rather interesting and well put together three minutes of Resi. Roundtable discussions, podcasts and editorials wasted untold words on what the images within may suggest. One high profile website even went so far as to produce an exhaustive and thoroughly pointless breakdown of the trailer, with a shot-by-agonizing-shot accompaniment of stills that totalled 101 in all. It must have been a slow news day.

To celebrate this mammoth waste of time, and not to be outdone in stupidity, I thought I would turn my hand to unravelling the mysteries of Resident Evil 6.

WARNING: In the highly likely event that my reading of the trailer is accurate, then the following may very well spoil the entirety of the game for you. You have been warned.


The trailer opens with Leon Kennedy pointing a gun at the screen. From this we may deduce that Leon will appear in the game, though it is possible that this "Leon" is in fact an evil double created by arch-villain Wesker, in an attempt to throw us off the scent of the true protagonist. The opening shot also implies that guns will be featured. It is later revealed that they will be fired into flesh, air and walls.

Earlier in the week, I predicted that there would be zombies or some manner of infected humanoid creatures in the next Resident Evil. I don't wish to blow my own trumpet, but it would seem that I'm bang on the money. Leon quickly unloads into one of these "zombies", who he refers to as "Mr President" - either the real President or a nickname shared between friends. Either way, Leon does not savour shooting this particular "zombie". This early dose of saccharine suggests that emotions and being reluctant to shoot friends could be key themes in RE6.

Before long we are introduced to an infected city, which is clearly nothing like Raccoon city. It’s all a bit dark - horror works best without lighting - as Leon and his accomplice have to fight their way out of a number of difficult situations by way of guns - as mentioned earlier - and roundhouse kicks - not yet mentioned. If you pause at 1.07 it is possible to make out the silhouette of a full beard, which can only mean one thing: Barry Burton's back (this is meant as alliteration and not the back of Barry Burton). This is great news for fans of the series, and of beards in general, and is the first of seventeen cryptic clues that hint at Barry's involvement.

Shots of Leon walking slowly through darkness reflect Capcom's willingness to listen to fans by going back to basics and re-introducing the elements that made the first three Resident Evil games so great: darkness and walking slowly. At one point we even see a burning car, a blatant nod to Resident Evil 2 that the fans are sure to enjoy. Shortly after this homage, the music acquires a certain degree of beardy timbre. Again, Barry is likely to feature prominently.

Barry: the fourth protagonist

All of a sudden there is a change in setting and pace. We see a sign written in kanji, which can only mean one of two things: that we are now in an Asian city, or in one of hundreds of China/Japan towns found in major cities across the world. The kanji, loosely translated, reads "beard of justice". Read into that what you will. With the setting nailed down, we are introduced to the mountain of muscle that is Chris Redfield. This section looks a lot more like RE5 and Chris appears reinvigorated, having discovered a new ethnicity to shoot in the face. I'll say that the run and cover system is reminiscent of Gears of War, as I'm too lazy to name-check any of the countless other games that feature this gameplay style.

At one point Chris brushes aside a fully-human cameraman, proof that not everyone will be a zombie freak (it is well-known that zombie’s struggle to operate film equipment). If I were to describe the appearance of this cameraman, I'd say a Chinese Barry. There is also some fire (a recurring theme?) and some beefcakes speaking gruffly.

Next we switch to our third protagonist, a scar-faced mercenary accompanied by a younger, blonder lady who seems to be very interested in his blood. She has no scars. At first I thought he was diabetic and she his nurse. However, after further consideration and a dozen unanswered emails to Capcom, I have decided that her interest in blood points to only one thing: the T-virus strain has mutated into a vampire-creating juice. This should help Capcom appeal to the Twilight crowd and guarantee sales well into the millions. It has been speculated that the mercenary who is being stalked by the blonde blood thief is in fact an unmasked Hunk, a character that first appeared in RE2 where he was outshone by tofu. However, I should like to propose that he is none other than an un-bearded Barry, replete with shaving scar.

The trailer closes with a collection of action scenes. Flashlights, fire, bombs, goo, monsters, scarves, tanks and crashing helicopters (a RE staple) are shown, and I think it is fair to presume that all will be featured in the finished game. Finally, the Resident Evil 6 logo appears, confirming what we have long suspected: this is a trailer for Resident Evil 6. A voice-over further confirms this for the visually impaired - overkill for those of us with adequate visual skills. Finally, we are shown a set of digits, 11.20.2012, though there are no hints as to the significance of these mysterious numbers.

The End

Comments

  1. Funny blog. I thought the Leon section looked the best. Chris seemed to be taking a bit too much cover.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Daydream Drooler24 January 2012 at 07:15

    lol, very funny. I dont get why game sites do some of the news they do, I guess they do need more to talk about. I think gaming journelism has alot of growing to do but it only seems to regress sadly.
    as for the RE6 trailer, I was so disappointed by RE5 I may pass on this one even though it looks pretty interesting. you think you'll be getting this one?

    ReplyDelete
  3. @ Trip - I'm not sure why, but Leon has always struck me as a much more interesting character than Chris. RE2 and 4 - both Leon lead games - are my favourites.

    @ Daydream - This trailer seems to have brought out the worst in game sites. The 101 picture analysis at a site called CVG was the main reason i wrote this piss-take. Badly written and just a complete waste of editorial space.

    Although it wasn't my favourite of the series, I still really enjoyed RE5, especially the co-op. I'll definitely be on-board for RE6.

    ReplyDelete
  4. i am just hoping that 6 will have the same background and theme (survival horror- PS1 days) than the current ones that e have been getting

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  5. A good analysis, I was getting the Barry vibe too. I find these analyses essential, as I find watching moving images and thinking for myself a chore.
    On a less sarcastic note, i guess the problem that many videogame sites have is the same you get with 'rolling news'. They generally publish articles every day and end up running out of things to say. When something like a trailer comes out it allows them to easily publish a whole article on what is ostensibly a news item. It would be nice if, instead of a load of journalists chatting about something, instead they had experts talking about it - such as the guys who made the game. I also agree with Daydream, videogame journalism can seem amateurish at times. This seems to be less the case with print magazines though - and maybe due to monthly issues, so they aren't as quick as internet magazines but you don't get crap like trailer analysis.

    ReplyDelete
  6. @ mark - Looks like we will be getting a fair mix of old and new. Will be great if it works, but pacing may be difficult & transiotioning from one style to another.

    @ Joe - Ha, I'm glad someone else struggles to find meaning in trailers without help. Good to see that you are also tuned into Barry.

    I can appreciate that game sites may run out of things to write about, but as you say there are far more interesting ways to report on a trailer than collecting 100 stills and churning out 1500 words of pure speculation. Cheers

    ReplyDelete

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