Three Player Co-Op 2.11.09: Resident Evil 5, Dead Space (Wii), More

Posted by Drew Robbins on 02.11.2009

This week, with guests Derek Robbins and Jacob Lopez, Three Player Co-Op takes a look at EA's troublesome Holiday quarter, Dead Space making its way to the Wii, and the Resident Evil 5 demo.



Hello, chumps and chumpettes, and welcome to 411's grandest column which features three writers discussing video games that isn't named ‘What if?' It has been quite the week, hasn't it? Resident Evil 5 saw its demo release on PSN, meaning practically everyone has had a chance to play one of this year's most highly anticipated games. And EA seems to be faltering in the wake of economic crisis. To wrap up the insanity of the industry, I am joined this week by two writers, to join me in the quest to, as Jack Thompson would put it, fight for truth, justice, and the American way.

Player One – Drew Robbins - I, your esteemed host, am a beacon of awesomeness among the 411 staff who puts aside a few minutes, really several hours of my day to delight you readers with Three Player Co-Op. Last week we didn't get much reader feedback, but I know you are reading and withholding your opinions lest you be destroyed by me in an argument.

Player Two – Derek Robbins - Derek Robbins is my brother, and despite sharing similar genes, he lacks the awesome that I so proudly carry. Now don't take that wrong, he is a pretty cool guy, he writes the weekly hits-monster known as The 10th Hour. Alongside that he puts together the column most likely to say terrible things about Microsoft, B3yond the Report. Other contributions include poking fun at my fascination with Madden, being obsessed with Persona 4 music, and hyping Street Fighter IV to the moon.

Player Three – Jacob Lopez - Jay is renowned among staff members for making hefty contributions to the news section. He also reviews games, and more recently, took over for Fact or Fiction during Ramon's absence.

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Three Player Co-Op – Week 2

Topic #1: Now that Resident Evil 5 demo has made its way to the Playstation Network, everybody who is anybody has probably gotten the chance to play it. What are your impressions on the follow-up to the phenomenal Resident Evil 4?

Drew Robbins - I've had a strange relationship with Resident Evil 5, because as of late I had become disinterested in the idea of shooting through hordes of undead as a strangely muscular Chris Redfield. Now with this demo under my belt all I can say is…what the heck was I thinking? To begin with, the graphics are just outstanding, certainly the best "grey and brown" that I've seen all generation. Gameplay-wise not much has changed since Resident Evil 4, but considering how much I loved that game, this isn't too much of a problem. It does; however, seem to be quicker-paced, ramping up the difficulty just a tad.

Now onto the most important subject, the co-op play. This is going the mode which single-handedly validates your purchase of Resident Evil 5, because nothing is quite as exciting as teaming up with a friend to take down a crazy man with a chainsaw.

Derek Robbins - Well, being a big fan of Resident Evil 4, I was pretty hopeful things would remain largely the same and...they have. How wonderful is that? A lot of people seem to be complaining about the game's controls, but Capcom tends to be very good when it comes to editing controls to fit you better. If you look at Street Fighter II: Turbo HD Remix, you have the ability to assign your buttons to wherever they want. The thing is, this was a demo. Capcom wanted to demonstrate something new, and that "new thing" was the more gears-like control scheme. I fully expect those of us who want to re-experience RE 4 controls will be able to, especially considering Capcom has said they wouldn't force the new controls down our throats.

Now, as for the game impressions. I can tell you right now that the game's co-op will be an amazing experience. I can see myself wasting hours of my life teaming up with friends and taking on the campaign. It's a good move by Capcom to introduce this because it can probably lure in some players that it may not have been able to before. The only thing that I was worried about is that, and maybe it's just the demo, the gore seemed trimmed down. Drew was getting his head cut-off and it seemed to fade down instead of show his character get decapitated. Seemed weird. I also didn't really like how buff Chris Redfield was (dude's been borrowing from A-Rod I guess), especially considering he was a pretty standard looking guy in Code Veronica and the original Resident Evil.

I fully expect this game to have the same ridiculous story that I've come to know and love from the franchise. Something so moronic you can't help but love it. This probably won't be a hit with the older school RE fans, but for those of us who just want a no-frills FUN game, well, I really can't wait for it.

Jacob Lopez - I am actually currently working on my demo impressions for this game. For the sake of this column, I will briefly touch on my feelings about what I have played so far. The controls actually feel a bit archaic compared to what is currently out there. I know I am going to get blasted for this, but why can't I run and shoot yet? I understand that the game is supposed to be "intense", but I just don't buy the whole, "It makes the game more challenging" defense. It just makes it frustrating, and more challenging for the wrong reasons. I was given zero periphieral vision. You really have no sense of what is around you. It worked a bit better in RE4 because everything felt fresh at the time.

Co-op is where it's at with this game. Rather than sit around shooting random enemies like the computer ally, a real player can watch your back while you watch theirs. I had tons of fun playing co-op as long as the other person knew what they were doing. I would say a bit more, but I do need something to talk about on my demo impressions. Keep in mind that this is only based on the demo and I will reserve full judgment for the completed version of the game next month.


- Chris Redfield trying his best to audition for Gears of War 3: This Time Its Serious!

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Topic #2: In the almighty year of 2008, EA saved its reputation among critics by indulging in brand new IPs, with great games like Dead Space and Mirror's Edge. While these games may have delighted critics (well…some), they didn't seem to delight the general audience, with EA seeing a loss of $641 Million in the holiday quarter of 2008. In the aftermath they were forced to delay future big titles such as The Godfather 2 and The Sims 3. Your thoughts?

Drew Robbins - The first thought that comes to mind is disappointment; EA finally makes a turn for quality and is instantly punished for it. Much like a lab rat which is shocked in a maze, this serves as a shock to EA's system, perhaps they were wrong when they cast aside the endless rehashes. My other thought is that I'm most certainly part of the problem. Not only did I ignore Dead Space, I passed up on Mirror's Edge after hyping its release for months.

The delays, however, have me puzzled. Sims 3 and Godfather 2 were set to release this month. So you are just now delaying them? It seems kind of cruel, like when Smash Bros. Brawl was a matter of weeks from being released and Nintendo pulled it back to March.

Derek Robbins - Mirror's Edge was great? What? No, but seriously, I don't think this is a huge deal. A matter of fact, I could have easily told you that EA was going to lose some money last year. You see, the economy is down right putrid at the point in time. When people look to purchase video games, they go to the stores with less disposable income. While the allure of playing a new IP may seem nice to some people, the over-whelming majority would rather stick with something they know they'll enjoy. For as good of a game as Dead Space is, the average gamer who runs into a store to buy something probably hasn't heard a ton about it. While there, they also see Grand Theft Auto 4. A game that, well, everyone has heard of. What in the world are they going to choose? Right now it really pays to be a first-person shooter, casual, or a sequel.

This is coming from me, just some guy who writes columns. I'm almost positive that the people at EA know this as well and won't just stop releasing these new things. When the economy turns around, the new IPs will most likely find buyers. Look, as much as some of us like to shit on EA, they are a brand that a lot of people have come to trust for quality. Someone is more apt to buy an EA IP than say...a Media Molecule one. It's just how it is. So, really, I'm not terribly worried about this news.

Also, in regard to the delayed games: I hope Sims 3 gets delayed forever and I hope Godfather 2 is as interesting as it looks.

Jacob Lopez - EA tried their damnedest to introduce new IPs, and it backfired. Maybe they will sell over time. Who knows? Boom Blox is getting a sequel, and just 7 months ago on Fact or Fiction we talked about how poorly the game was selling at first. I think some of the problem with Mirror's Edge and Dead Space was timing. Two brand new properties launching at the same time as several other AAA titles: Fallout 3, Little Big Planet, Fable 2, Resistance 2 are only a few of the handful of releases this holiday season. And they were all competing for the top spot.

Now that I have danced around your question a bit, I will give you my thoughts on the whole thing. EA has to do what they have to do. I hate falling back onto the subject of the economy EA is trying to cut costs and narrowing its product portfolio. If you are a fan, look at the bright side, at least the game didn't get canned.


- Still have to rent this…

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Topic #3: Staying on the subject of EA, they also unveiled that Dead Space will be seeing a port to the Wii later this year. How do you feel about the latest big-time game to get the Wii port treatment?

Drew Robbins - Oh boy, another chance for me to ignore Dead Space, but now on a different console! No, but seriously, this is somewhat great news. On one hand, Dead Space was a pretty well-received game, and it is good to see that at least one company is trying to bring big titles to the Wii. That being said, remember when another company did this very same thing? Everyone seemed so excited when Capcom decided to bring Dead Rising to the Wii. Now though, saying Dead Rising: Wii is just another way to make a Nintendo stalwart cry.

Derek Robbins - This can go one of two ways. I could see it being an absolute disaster like the Dead Rising Wii port or I could just see it being like it is on the other consoles, but with lesser graphics. I've read some things from the guys responsible for the port and it looks like it's going to be less "Dead Rising" and more along the lines of a proper port. This also seems to place the writing on the wall for another game to land on the Wii at some point. You see, since EA is apparently dead set on getting its two big new IPs of last year off the ground, a Mirror's Edge for the wii seems likely at some point. A friend of mine told me, after I had mused on the idea, that it wouldn't work very well, but I'm not entirely sold on that. If you make good use of the wii's gimmicks, that game has a lot of potential. Plus, Mirror's Edge relies much more on style than on "great graphics", so down-scaling that to work on the Wii seems like a good idea.

A lot of developers seem to be making these Wii ports. I expect a Street Fighter IV one to happen eventually (with C vs. Tatsunoko graphics),. I would clump Resident Evil into that Capcom bunch, but the makers of RE 5 seemed pretty anti-Wii in interviews, so I guess it's a good idea to just drop it. I'm liking that major developers are taking the Wii more seriously. Could this upgrade the wii in the eyes of hardcore gamers from simply being a casual system? Time will tell, but this is very good news in my opinion.

Jacob Lopez - Can anyone really blame EA for shifting that much support to Nintendo at this point? Electrtonic Arts is currently shifting much of their support to the Wii. In fact, in that recent conference call they talked about how 50% of their upcoming games are for the Wii. Production is cheaper on the Wii, and according to NPD data, more 3rd party units sold for the Wii than any other console in December for the second month in a row, and over 132 million games sold on Nintendo systems in 2008. EA wants a cut, can't blame 'em for that.


- This column is just full of games I still need to rent...

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Topic #4: Alternate costumes are great, right? Now paying for them on the other hand, that is less great. But that is exactly what you will be doing this February when Street Fighter IV lands on store shelves. Allegedly, Capcom is going to charge $4 for packs of alternate costumes, each containing one for four different characters. This isn't surprising with Capcom's recent Mega Man 9 DLC, but I'm sure you writers have something to say about this announcement.

Drew Robbins - Capcom, what is this? I give you my unconditional love, and then you go behind my back and do this?! It was bad enough with Mega Man 9, charging me to play endless mode, hard mode, and various other modes that should've came with the game. The information isn't completely clear, but right now I've interpreted this story as charging for the costumes which were displayed in a recent trailer. You want me to pay $4 to play as Blanka in safari gear? Seriously? You should pay me $4 for even playing as Blanka, who likes that guy, honestly?

Derek Robbins - As good of a job that Capcom has done with releasing games, they've done an equally splendid job of nickle and diming the ever-loving hell out of their fans. As cool as the MM 9 DLC was, did that really need to be DLC? That probably should have been in the final package. I realize that it was supposed to be a direct homage to the NES games of glory, but we've come so far. I figure if you've planned those features, they should be in the game. You can have DLC if you want, but keep it to stuff that people will actually believe wasn't on the disk. This bit of news does not have me happy because I was loving the alternate costumes that they showed in an IGN video. If those are the ones you have to pay for, well, that's a crying shame. That is without a doubt on-disc content and there's no reason why they shouldn't be in the game.

I would actually be fine with this if we got the alternate costumes they showed on video with the game and just wanted to charge people money for other extra outfits. That would be fine because, you know, it wasn't hyped along with the game release. When I saw the costumes, I assumed they would be WITH the game on launch, and it got me pretty happy. If that turns out not to be the case, well, that sucks. Also, four dollars for a four character pack of costumes seems like a LOT of money. A *dollar* for an alternate character costume? Are you freaking insane? Those packs better include like three different outfits for each person to use. If Chun-Li doesn't wear stuff that I'd expect a Dead or Alive character to wear, I would be disappointed. I just hope that this isn't how I perceive it, and it's just Capcom wanting us to spend money on different, un-revealed alternate costumes.

Jacob Lopez - I am a cheap bastard. While Bethesda and Rockstar are adding hours worth of DLC at $10 and $20 dollars respectively, Capcom is charging for extra costumes. In the days before downloadable content, you got this stuff for beating the game, or kicking the boss's ass on 'hard' or whatever. We called them unlockables, and they as part of the game you paid for, rewarding you for playing.
I understand that publishers need new ways to make a bit more from their games to combat used games sales, but please at least try to come up with something that will make me fork over the dough. It just isn't worth my four bucks to put Guile, and a few other fighters, in a different costume.

One of our guest commenters, who went by the name "Dude", seemed to feel the same way: "As much as I love extras, there is no way I am gonna spend 20 bucks on extra costumes, unless there are like 5 alternates and 1 of them is Ryu in a Hello Kitty costume."

Now, should Capcom be doing this? That's for them to decide. If they can sell it, good for them, but I won't be paying for extra costumes after buying a $60 game.

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Topic #5: This news is about a week old, but is extremely relevant to anyone that grew up in the 90's. Ubisoft is resurrecting the Ninja Turtles franchise by means of a Smash Bros-esque fighting game. Are you ready to KICK. SOME. SHELL?!

Drew Robbins - As you can tell from the font colors and banner of Three Player Co-Op, the Ninja Turtles are near and dear to my heart. Being a child, my days were spent thinking about Ninja Turtles, playing with Ninja Turtles actions figures, playing the Ninja Turtles game on my Genesis, and then eating the Turtle's favorite food, pizza. Ah yes, those were the days!

Now I may not be a kid anymore, but darn it, I still love me some Ninja Turtles. And you know what else is near and dear to my heart? Smash Bros. These are two things that belong together, much like peanut butter and chocolate. If Ubisoft screws this one up, I'm never buying another game from them again…besides Prince of Persia games…and Assassin's Creed 2…and Beyond Good & Evil 2.

Derek Robbins - Given that some of the people behind Smash Brothers are working on this title, I wouldn't call it Smash Brothers esque. I would call it: "SMASH BROTHERS TURTLE EDITION." Given how I feel about Smash Brothers, it's pretty much needless to say that I couldn't be any more excited about this game. You see, when I was growing up, I was probably the biggest TMNT fan in the world. I had these giant Turtle stickers (similar to Fat Heads) on my wall, I had a Leonardo cake seemingly every year, I was in the theater for all three turtles movies, I probably had every damn turtle action figure that money could buy, and I even had a technodrome! It was, without a doubt, the best thing ever. Nostalgia absolutely cripples me in some ways and I'll admit, this is one of those. I'm unable to see the turtles in a crappy light. I saw the recent 3D-animation movie TMNT and thought that it was amazing and wanted to stand up and cheer when Leonardo fought Raphael. Was the movie amazing? No, of course not. But dude! It's the turtles! It felt like a kid again!

Now I can finally play another turtle game that looks good. I haven't played a newer one in quite some time, mostly due to the fact that they have been awful. This one is going to play like smash brothers though, and since Smash Brothers is without a doubt one of my favorite franchises ever made...there's very little chance that I will come away from this game with anything less than a positive disposition. Please, let me re-experience Tournament Fighters. Err...the SNES version.

Jacob Lopez - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was one of my favorite cartoons while growing up, but at first I wasn't all that excited about TMNT: Smash-Up. Once I heard about the development team (Some of the Smash Bros. guys and others who were formerly of Team Ninja) I became interested. The game is not one of my most anticipated games of the year, but I will no doubt rent it once it's available. Depending on how big the stages are, I think the little glow is really going to help gameplay. Many times, the action in Brawl got small and hard to follow on my small cheap TV, and that was because most of the characters looked very different.

I am also looking forward to that online mode, which is promised to be a lot better than Brawl's.


- Heck yeah.

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Topic #6: Got any reviews on the way you wish to discuss, or perhaps the games that have been taking up your valuable free time?

Drew Robbins - Tucked away in the depths of my e-mail inbox was a review code for NHL 3-on-3 Arcade, which instantly made me run for the Playstation 3 in order to download that sucker. As a multiplayer arcade experience I find the game to be very enjoyable, despite one gaping flaw. For a game called "NHL 3-on-3 Arcade," it lacks in the "NHL." Sure you have a wide variety of players from the league, but no licensed teams. Every game is between red and blue, and from that point you pick three main players and one of four goalies to round out the team. The game boasts an online mode which I have yet to delve into (at the time of writing), but I'm sure as with all EA games it will be ‘solid.' Don't see myself playing this online all that much, but as a local multiplayer experience it is a blast.

If you read last week's column and were disgusted with my obsession with Madden, then you might want to skip down below to the more-than-likely RPG games that Derek is playing. Yes, Madden has once again managed to captivate me in my free time. After winning the Super Bowl (which is where I left off last time), star QB Byron Leftwich (yeah…) retired and I was left with Brady Quinn and some faceless rookie. At the beginning of the season everything was fine, Quinn was putting up decent numbers, but suddenly I decided that throwing it to the other team was a more noble pursuit. Being the honorable man I am, I pointed the finger at Quinn and he is now out of St. Louis, leaving me with faceless rookie.

Still playing Rock Band 2 as well and I've been patiently waiting each week for Harmonix to release the new DLC on the Wii. Come on, now, where in the world are my Foo Fighters songs? You said there would be Foo Fighters!

Derek Robbins - Well lately an urge hit me like a ton of bricks. I had to excuse myself to take care of them. That urge, my friends, was the desire to replay Final Fantasy IX. For those of you who were wondering, no, Final Fantasy did not stop after the number seven. Also, no, RVD does not make a one-shot guest appearance in this game. It's a more old-school flavored RPG than the previous two Playstation-era Final Fantasies. Gone are the "deeper and darker" characters. Replacing them are light and super likable leads. Many of which are among my favorite characters in gaming today. There isn't a super crazy plot that you won't believe what happens - that's right, they didn't all grow up in the same orphanage and forget - it's just a seemingly simple game with an easy to grasp yet clever story and lovable characters.

How this game gets shunned by Final Fantasy fans is a bit of a mystery to me. It is as close a call-back to the older school Final Fantasies as Square Enix is ever going to get. It has a lot of mini-games and an ever-so addictive card game. It may not be particularly long, but compared with the mess of an ending that both FF VII and FF VIII had, the finale of FF IX will leave you pretty happy. Honestly, FF IX's finale may very well be the greatest in video game history. That's saying quite a lot. I just think that if a game can make a grown man feel emotions of sorrow, they've done a really good job. I just wish Final Fantasy fans were more open-minded. It seems there's just two camps of them. You have the one camp who says anything post-SNES sucks. They're wrong. You have the other camp which can't seem to stop raving about FF VII. There just doesn't seem to be that same kind of loyalty for FF IX and that's really a shame.

If more people liked it, this would totally be a better world. No joke!

Jacob Lopez - Aside from the RE5 demo, I have been having fun with Resistance 2's chaotic multiplayer. I have been looking forward to Retro Game Challenge. I am not sure how many of you have been following this game, but it looks farkin' awesome. It is loosely based on Japanese TV series, Game Center, in which the host tries to play through different classic games.

Basically, you are some kid in the 80s and you must play your way through a variety of ol' school game challenges. Within the game, you play old Famicom/Nintendo style games, and you can actually refer to gaming magazines for tips and info on some of these games. It will definitely be a throwback to my second and third grade days of flipping through Gamepro and excitedly reading about games thinking you now had the power to conquer them all.

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Until Next Time…

And thus concludes another exciting week of Three Player Co-Op action! Make sure to give your opinions on this week's topics in the comments section, or even submit a reader question to be answered next week.