Is The Survival Horror Genre Dead?

by Danny Mercado, COMMUNITY WRITER

Friday, January 13, 2012

I couldn't help but think this while recently playing Amy on the Xbox Live Arcad. A survival horror game where you try to protect a little girl with powers, while making your way through a zombie filled city. Honestly I never got up to the part where I find the little girl. Amy's sluggish controls and camera turn me off immediately, did this game come from PS1 era of survival horror games?

Back in the day games like Resident Evil and Silent hill, had these sluggish problems as a way to set up tension while playing. "Oh I can't see what's around the corner" then boom you walk right into a monsters deadly arms. I've played survival horror games with great controls and camera work yet still got scared silly, the Condemned series achieved this brilliantly.

Played entirety through a first person and you rarely have guns, instead a great melee system helps you fight off crazy homeless people, crack heads and other weirdos. Its atmosphere gets to you, when you hear things from behind only to turn around and see a shadow run by. I definitely recommend this to any survival horror fan , please give this series a play through, and hope one day soon it gets another sequel.

Is a first person view the best way to experience true horror?

No, recent games like Alan Wake and Dead Space. Still give you the spooks from a third person view, honestly Dead Space was the last great survival horror game I played. Amazing tension through out, I never knew what kind of horror was lurking around the corner. Your thrown into crazy situations, where you either got to button smash your way through a sequence or fight of a horde of monsters while dangling upside helplessly. Inventory management with your items and weapons, lets you decide how you like to fight of these monsters. You earn credits which help buy more ammo or upgrade your equipment.

What makes a survival horror game?

Does having limited inventory, odd controls, sluggish movement and hordes of the undead, define a survival horror game to you? Even some of the franchises that defined the genre back of the day are changing there ways. Resident Evil 5 played more like Army of Two, The upcoming Resident Evil:Operation Racoon City plays like a war shooter with zombies now. I hear Dead Space 3 is going to have co-op and have more action then scares, is there something wrong with setting tension in a game? I look to Silent Hill Downpour and hope it maintains its roots but it doesn't look good when series composer Akira Yamaoka isn't involved any more. His music defined Silent Hill to me and many fans, it would be like making a Star wars movie without John Williams.

Is there a future for this genre of gaming?

I'd like to think there is, sure some franchises take it down a more action route like Resident Evil and Left 4 dead. Games like Alan Wake, Dead Space and Condemned give me hope. I really would like to see this genre evolve whether it be bigger worlds or choices, or even more online integration. Dead Island sounded promising on paper with its multiple quests, RPG elements and open world. Yet its technical problems hurt its vision, I really would like to see an open world online survival horror game. Almost MMO like, where your in a zombie apocalypse. You start off alone, with one place to call home, you need to find supplies like food, weapons and etc to survive. An interesting feature would be that other players could stumble into your world, they can help you or try to kill you for your supplies. The goals of the game could be to escape to a safe haven, find a solution to this epidemic or just build a new empire in this lawless world. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only gamer to think of this idea and I hope I'm not I would to love to see someone out there make this.

Resident Evil: Outbreak was an interesting experiment that I hope Capcom revisits again, hopefully this time communication isn't limited. As our gaming hardware gets more advance. So will our gaming genres, just play one of your favorite game genre's from the past and compare it to now. The survival horror genre isn't dead more like undead, it shambles onward looking for its next victim. As we enter a new year of gaming I am hopeful to see some new and exciting things to come from this genre and maybe one day I will get my giant open world survival horror zombie apocalypse game....well it's looking like maybe I finally will.

Check this out http://undeadlabs.com/

Tags: Alan Wake, Resident Evil 5, Dead Space 2, Resident Evil, Condemned: Criminal Origins, Silent Hill: Downpour

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Graeme Arkell

January 13, 2012

This is a really great article Danny. I especially agree with your point that Capcom should revisit the Resident Evil Outbreak series again. I am a huge Resident Evil Outbreak fan, in fact, I am a senior member of the Support Resident Evil Outbreak Campaign.

If you are interested, I will provide you with some details about our campaign. We are a loyal group of over seven hundred Resident Evil Outbreak fans trying to convince Capcom to port the original Resident Evil Outbreak game and Resident Evil Outbreak File 2 to consoles such as the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. We are also asking Capcom to develop a new game in the series - Resident Evil Outbreak File 3.

Our campaign started back in 2007, but we have made a lot of progress since then so let me give you an update: The total number of signatures on our Support Outbreak petition increases every single day. We currently have over 8000 signatures of support from Resident Evil Outbreak fans. The incredible number of signatures on our petition prove that fans of Resident Evil Outbreak refuse to give up hope. We are closer than ever before to achieving our goal of 10,000 signatures. Once we do reach 10,000 signatures, we will be sending the petition to Capcom's headquarters. http://www.petitiononline.com/042690/petition.html

It is an exciting time for our Support Resident Evil Outbreak campaign. A few months ago, in the "Ask Capcom" section of the Capcom-Unity forums, a head Capcom administrator listed the Resident Evil Outbreak series as one of the most popular fan requested series. Capcom's Vice President of Strategic Planning & Business Development - Christian Svensson, has commented: "I know that there are some fans who want old Outbreak to come back or a new title in the series. Very vocal ones at that. It comes up in planning discussions from time to time but it hasn't yet made it over the hump. Maybe someday it will." "There have been some extrodinary lengths some folks internally have gone to try and help those Outbreak stalwarts that unfortunately didn't come good. Unfortunately, I can't talk about those things but just know there are people internally, especially in our office, supporting your desires."

With a few more Outbreak fans voicing support for the series, we might just be successful. So if you enjoyed playing Resident Evil Outbreak, please consider signing the petition and joining our discussion on the Capcom forum: http://www.capcom-unity.com/resident_evil/go/thread/view/7391/18679115/Resident_Evil_Outbreak_Discussion&sort_order=ASC

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Danny Mercado

January 15, 2012

Thanks for checking out my article and its awesome to hear what you guys are doing. I totatlly support it and not only have I signed your petition, I posted a link to it on my blog and facebook. I hope one day very soon Capcom brings us back some sweet Resident Evil Outbreak action again.

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AJ Sablan

January 14, 2012

I was introduced to survival-horror by Resident Evil on the original Playstation and fell in love with it. It was the first time in my life that a video game scared the crap out of me. When that damn mutt broke through the window I thought my heart was going to stop! It was then that I realized it was game on.

I played the next two installments and enjoyed both of them as well. I even got to experience Code: Veronica on the Sega Dreamcast and I loved that one as well. They were all great games in their standard, but at times, unique way. They all provided the scare factor that I yearned for.

Then Resident Evil 4 was released and things changed. It was not a bad change though. The game switched over to be more action-like and the idea worked. Gamers (including myself) responded well to the new style of gameplay and the producers were rewarded with critical acclaim and financial success.

But something was missing for me. I wasn’t scared playing RE4. I did not experience the similar frightful moments like I did in the previous games. I was too occupied shooting my way towards the goal of discovering what the hell was going on. And you know what? I was having a blast doing it too. I wished there were more freak me out moments within the game though. I think I would have enjoyed it even more.

I was hoping that Resident Evil 5 would bring back the tension that was present in the earlier games, but it didn’t turn out that way. RE5 was a straight up action title. It was a good game, but I didn’t enjoy it as much. My brother and I played co-op together and while he was running and gunning, I was more blah. I lost interest and then I DIED.

I think Resident Evil 6 (or whatever it gets called) should return to the roots of the franchise. Incorporate all that has been learned in developing the games, but please oh please, lets get some scare factor in there. Hell, lets go back to the mansion. I liked it there, so lock me up and throw away the keys why don’t you.

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Danny Mercado

January 15, 2012

I totally agree with you AJ, Resident Evil really needs to return some fear to its franchise. I feel like co-op should be left out because how are you going afraid of anything when you constantly have a partner with you?

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Graeme Arkell

January 17, 2012

It is always a pleasure discussing the Resident Evil Outbreak series with fans like you who are as passionate about the games as I am. Thank you for posting an article in support of our campaign to bring back Resident Evil Outbreak: http://lastrespawn.com/post/15861290053/attention-resident-evil-fans

Our campaign is really making a lot of progress in our attempt to convince Capcom to give the Outbreak series a second chance on modern consoles. The headquarters for our campaign is on the Capcom forum: http://www.capcom-unity.com/resident_evil/go/thread/view/7391/18679115/Resident_Evil_Outbreak_Discussion&sort_order=ASC

My friend, I would be happy to have you on our team. I invite you to join our discussion on the Capcom forum. My user name on the Capcom forum is Zombie_Professor and I would be glad to introduce you to our members.

But if you just want to follow us on facebook, here is the link: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=109687256087#!/group.php?gid=109687256087&v=wall