What Happens If, When You Close Your Eyes, You Can’t Even Begin to Shake What You’ve Seen?

Chris Redfield’s eye

Capcom is ridiculously turning up heat on what promises to be one of spring’s most devastating videogame releases: Resident Evil 5. The burn comes from the first in their series of viral videos, “Ceremony,” and it’s bananas.

Chris Redfield, Resident Evil 5In the brand-new live-action short, which takes place after the action within the game, leader Chris Redfield, right, part of the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA), is receiving a medal for services duly rendered.

Four-star general, Resident Evil 5What strikes you, though, as you watch the proceedings, is the gut feeling that, as opposed to rewarding men who’ve done honorably, this event, crammed in an old bunker under sallow light, is the last nail in a coffin of dirty deeds; a payoff designed to keep mouths shut and reports sealed. Some four-star general, above, who knows where the bodies are buried, rattles off an empty speech about “bravery,” “sacrifice,” and “valor” as Redfield looks nervously around, intoning, “It’s amazing how far you can get in life by destroyng the lives of others.” Sheva Alomar, Redfield’s mission partner, below, looks on, concerned.

Sheva Alomar looks onWhich is what you should be, and then some: As Redfield steps up to receive the award and read his acceptance speech, he’s fine…only briefly, before he starts to completely break down mentally. He sputters, sweating, unable to focus his eyes. Looking down at his acceptance text, it’s suddely covered with violent scrawls. Then, he sees himself running, running, back in Kijuju, the site of everything he’s tried desperately to repress, but that is now coming out of him like a foul loam.

In other words, he’s back in the game. Or, rather, you are, and it’s wild. The first time I watched the trailer, I soon realized that I had unconsciously clamped my hand over my open mouth. I said it before, in my post about the racial controversy around RE5: Love it or hate it, this game is going to be the one to beat in March. That is…I think you’re gonna have a hard time getting it out of your system.

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1 comment so far ↓

#1 Jayson Gegner on 04.22.09 at 7:46 pm

Hello Mr. Allen,

We met a few weeks ago, in Donald McLeese’s class at the University of Iowa. I followed you after class to ask you thoughts on RE 5, but writing for classes and the gaming Web site I mentioned has kept me from commenting on these posts.

Now that I’ve read both of your RE 5 articles twice, I was curious about what you thought of the game since, I’m assuming, you’ve finished it.

I followed N’Gai’s comments on RE 5 since last fall and I’ve got to say, now that everything is said and done… I mostly agree. You make a good point as well and I feel that in your first post, the comparison to the Darkie-Darlie toothpaste fits really well for me. Especially concerning the first teaser, the degree of racial insensitivity is frustrating, but like you said, it’s still a hot title.

I just wanted to stay in touch and to let you know that I am reading your blog, I just haven’t had time to comment. Here is the link to my review of RE 5, I hope you enjoy: http://tinyurl.com/tgnre5

You can find other reviews I’ve done on the TGN front page along the right side (e.g. Fallout 3, Operation Anchorage, Prince of Persia, to name a few). I’ve also followed you on Twitter (eldri, same as my TGN handle).

Thanks again for your visit to UI,

Jayson

PS- What are you playing now? Are you a PC, 360, or PS3 guy?

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