I have to admit - even though I've no real room to speak considering the last game in the series I played was RE2 - that some of the story developments that where born out of the original game (case-in-point: how Wesker is even still alive) scream Hollywood and fall so far from the realm/degree of believability the series seemed to adhere to in the beginning. I won't say it's bad or good, put I can see your point.

Weren't the decaps taken out for a certain territory in RE4?

I don't think the controversial subject matter did that much to sell the game.

A) It's RE
B) It's the next game after RE4, which was awesome, so there are high expectations
C) EVERYTHING sells with hype. EVERYTHING. This is nothing new or exclusive to video games.

If i heard correctly, the Japanese version of re4 was censored (the European ver. too)

It's really-really weird and a complete opposite of 1996-1997 when the US opening and First Zombie Encounter FMV were edited in the first release and DIRECTOR'S CUT.

Ah, the ever-changing cultural climates never cease to confuse me!

I suppose, but it's still disappointing to see this game make more money than it deserves to.

It's like in CODE VERONICA when they took out the ability to blow off the zombie's heads with the shotgun.

And then in the REmake of the first game for 'Cube, they made zombie decaps a random occurance instead of happening every single time like they do in the PlayStation version.

Then ZERO came along and they reinstated the guaranteed decaps but took out the flying chunks of zombie-heads.

..But then re4 came out and put back in all the violent aspects (US version) except for being able to blow off individual zombie legs and arms or torso-separation.

Capcom just can't seem to make up its mind when it comes to violence standards.

I'd assume that the REmake had less frequent decaps to make way for the Crimsons, and since they were reintroduced in RE0 I'd say that seems like a solid explanation.

I don't know, even if the game makes more money and sells more than RE4, I think RE4 is going to have more of a legacy - and history - at the end of the day. Think about it, even though there have been several metroidvania's since SotN it is still quite revered - if not the most revered.

As far as RE4, I think it's because it pioneered a lot more than RE5. I don't think anybody truly knew what to expect from RE4, and it ended up blowing everyone away. RE5, you knew from the get-go that it was more of the same, so it doesn't have that same effect, even though, at least on a technical level, it might be a better game. Not just Symphony of the Night (which I never played, crucify me later), but also for bigger name series, like Mario 64 (when contrasted against, I dunno, Sunshine), or Ocarina pitted against Twilight Princess.

Ok, it's later - *crucify"

j/k - like I said, seen a lot of RE4 in action but I've never played it so I have my own sins

OW! My hands! I needed those!

I meant the guaranteed decaps in terms of 'shotgun or Magnum to the zombie's head', not the random Beretta decaps.

Making shotgun and Magnum decapitations a random occurence in the REmake was akin to changing the basic rules of a game of Monopoly.

I understand where you're coming from, and agree with you to a point, but I kinda also felt the random element to that made it feel real rewarding to bust a head open. Like eating a delicious ice cream, and then in one of the scoops, discovering gooey caramel.

LoL at 'gooey brain caramel'

Just like the 'Brain Food Lunch' item in EarthBound.

If you buy a copy of it on ebay, i'd recommend you go with the GameCube version because it lets you skip the cutscenes with the Start button, unlike the two ps1 editions.

I'll stand by the PS1 version, the cut scenes aren't a huge real. It's not like where talking about Xenosaga. Still, you can probably pick up a Cube copy for less.

It DOES make it more realistic.

Look no further for examples than like in Metal Gear Solid, when Snake tells Meryl that she has a 'nice butt' instead of 'nice ass'.
It's absolutely cringe-worthy and childish-sounding to hear these toned-down phrases in a so-called 'Mature' game.

I've never understood the double-standard of these violent games developed in Japan.
It's okay to show buckets of blood and people getting dismembered and decapitated, but they have to say "That witch!" instead of "That bitch!"??
It makes absolutely no sense and sounds just as ridiculous as something like 'Master of Unlocking'.

I've never been in the military, but do you honestly think any soldiers in the real world ever watch their language when they're out on the fields of combat with their lives in danger?
I really doubt it.

If you have a violent and bloody game, the tone of the language and dialogue should definitely reflect the environment. Otherwise, it just comes off cheesy and really fake.

I realize that Japanese culture tries to be more 'civilized' and 'refined' than a lot of American culture, but it's just embarrasing when they script these games that are set in war-torn locations without the realistic language to go along with it.

I completely agree with Shoe here. While having swears simply for the sake of swearing (Yakuza on PS2 comes to mind. Check it out, it gets f---ing hilarious at times) is a bit dumb, I think that in an appropriate place, they make it a bit more enjoyable.

All the times in RE4 when shit hit the fan? I kept expecting Leon to say something like, "Darn!" And when he busted out a legitimately frustrated-sounding "Shit!", it really made my day.

Most of the games they put swears in are for mature audiences anyways, so there's really no excuse to not have them in there, instead opting for, as Shoe put it, "nice butt" or a "darn" here and there.

I figure, why not, huh?

Since when did saying "butt" become childish speech? It sounds less sleazy to me. When I was a kid the word "butt" was actually considered to be a bit rude (in my circles). Guess that makes me a fuddy-duddy.
I do agree with mature language matching an M-rated game though. It only makes sense. Still, not everyone in the real world uses swear words, and a game hero doesn't necessarily need to cuss to be manly.

"Curses! I'll get you, rapscallion!"

There, doesn't that sound better?

I'd have to beat my own ass if I ever said that.

Only if you're either Mr. Burns from The Simpsons or BlackBeard the Pirate.

( :

What I don't understand is that there are double standards even when it comes to the violence alone.
Why was No More Heroes censored for everywhere but the US, including Japan, even though it was made there!?

I think Japan had a new violence law passed within the past couple of years because of some murder incident involving minors in the late Spring of 2004 (just a little while before SNK Playmore/ Yuki Enterprises tried to lock out the fatalities in the AES release of Samurai Shodown Zero SPECIAL).

Thankfully, the UNIBIOS 2.0 was able to bypass the "Cruelty Level" lockout.

'Cruelty Level', LoL

Ahh, memories..

It depends on which edition you buy (regular version, DUAL-SHOCK ver., Greatest Hits, non-Greatest Hits).

I have no idea if the Cube version went Player's Choice or not, though (those yellow stripes at the top of the cases were hideous!).

I honestly can't think of a "Greatest Hits" style variant for any system that was aesthetically pleasing.

Ditto. I avoid them like the plauge.

I'm at around Chapter 4-3 at this point.  Question: what weapons have you guys chosen to upgrade on your first playthrough?  I've only looked at the Piggyback Strategy Guide briefly for fear of spoilers (it is an INCREDIBLE guide, by the way), and their Weaponry section strongly veers toward upgrading the M92F Handgun's Critical % for install kill headshots, and the M3 Shotgun's firepower capability.  I honestly haven't used the sniper rifle much at this point, so I'm wondering if I should bother upgrading the Dragunov SVD or not.

In RE4, I kept handguns, shotguns and rifles on hand, and each one had a specialized role. Handgun was the workhourse, while shotgun was for crowds and tough enemies, while rifle was for long distance fights.

I scrapped my handgun in RE5 in favour of the shotgun, and for tough enemies and long distance combat, I just use the sniper rifle (or "Doomcock" as I call it). I've gotten tremendously good with it, even at mid-range. So I maxed those two and ignored everything else. Even the magnums, which I saved up ammo in previous RE games for boss fights, started rusting from disuse.

I recently finished Chapter 4-1.  So far, I've been upgrading the Berretta, the bolt-action sniper rife (it's more powerful than the SVD), the automatic shotgun, and the Magnum (power only -- like in RE4, I save up the ammo for tough bosses).  I also gave a few pithy upgrades to Sheva's MP5.

I finished the game on amateur (I admit I'm not as hardcore as the rest of you) in about a week.  It was a fun romp overall.  Strangely, I ended up maxing out a machine gun.  I totally avoided machine guns in RE4.

Interestingly, Capcom released a Vs. mode yesterday on Xbox Live where you can play up to 4 players in a deathmatch or compete as teams to eliminate zombies (like Mercenaries).

It's to my understanding that VS. mode was on the disc all along.  That's backed up by the fact that the already-released Piggyback Guide has a full section of strategy on the mode, so we can likely conclude that Capcom yanked the mode at the last moment for the sake of funneling more DLC revenue out of the consumer.

Guess that's no real surprise anymore after the SFIV alternate costume fiasco.

Oh, I didn't know the Vs. mode was already on the disc.  So, Capcom is selling unlock codes.  Great...

Capcom denies that it is selling unlock codes:

http://kotaku.com/5207966/capcom-re5-ve … ot-on-disc

I guess one of the more technical sites will have to actually hack the disc to find the truth.

So I went ahead and finished up RE5 last night -- which, coincidentally, makes it exactly one month since the game was released.  And that's pretty cool.  Sort of.

My feelings on RE5 haven't changed much from my initial impressions, and RE4, to me, is still unequivocally the better game.  RE5 does try hard to be like RE4, but in the end, it just feels like it's going through the same motions with a lot less inspiration.  As Yahtzee's review states: "The game I loved is in here, but the creative spark has gone out.  The stuff they added just pours sand onto the wick."  Indeed, there's a lot of de-evolutionizing here, from the poorly structured marriage of controls and action, the awkward real-time inventory system, and your spotty AI partner.  But really, my biggest beef with the game, as I've said before, is the skewered pacing.  I think what really sets RE4 apart is the fact that it went through such a vigorous building/stripping out/re-building process in development.  We're not just talking about the preliminary builds of the game, this was something Mikami and Kobayashi labored over for the entire project, and as a result, it really shows.  Gameplay, enemy placement, bosses, and just the general flow of the title feels so much better.  RE5, by comparison, feels a lot less thought out, cultivating into its clumsy shortcomings.   

It's not all bad with 5.  There are some terrific setpiece environments toward the latter half of the game, and the cutscenes are all gorgeously rendered and well-shot; the one-on-one duels (and in some cases, two-on-one and two-on-two) are impressively choreographed.  With some surprise, I've grown to actually enjoy the inventory system for what it is.  It's no attaché case, but forcing you to micromanage again was kind of fun.  The traditional story-based documents and memos you can find scattered about are even more detailed and interesting than ever, and it's nice to finally see this series' thirteen year saga come to a resolution.

All the same, I don't feel entirely compelled to play through the game again.  Not like with RE4, which I've done countless times already - and still get the urge to do so to this day.  Still need to give Mercenaries a try, and co-op might be interesting, but boy does playing as southpaw Sheva feel weird as hell.

The funny thing about re4 is that the controls are still Exactly The Same as they've always been, Up is still forward, Down is still backward, Left and Right turn left and right, etc.

Yet a lot of people don't seem to realize this and exclaim that 'The control is so much better!' when the only thing that's actually changed is the graphical viewpoint.

I'd argue that in the context of Resident Evil, that makes all the difference.