Resident Evil

Survival horror games aren't what they used to be. Once upon a time, they were about survival and horror. It makes sense. It's what the genre is called, after all. These titles would encompass qualities of mystery and exploration as the player fought to stay alive with every step. Over the years, they've increasingly become about action, gunfights, and an overload of cheap jump scares. I prefer the former, despite a plethora of the latter.

Jake Muller: Zombie Puncher

HIGH Watching a chrysalis hatch, dreading what's going to crawl out from inside of it.

LOW Struggling to get the cover system to work while surrounded by snipers.

WTF Okay, that is definitely larger than a conventional house fly.

Welcome to the World of Shooting Gallery Horror

HIGH The triumphant return of Hunter Gammas!

LOW Instant-death QTEs in a rail shooter.

WTF It is impossible to decapitate a zombie with a shotgun. Make of that what you will.

Capcom released the demo for Resident Evil 6 today. What's that? You didn't know, and didn't play it? That's pretty understandable... it's exclusive to Xbox 360 owners at the moment, and of that group, only to people who bought a new copy of Dragon's Dogma.

Fission Mailed

HIGH Seeing the Raccoon Police station rendered in gorgeous HD for the first time ever.

LOW Firing a full clip of assault rounds into a hunter as it yawns indifferently.

WTF There's a "special" vision mode designed to make zombies invisible to the player.

Although Raccoon City is getting hammered all over the Internet, I have to say that I did enjoy certain parts of it. The idea of playing as an Umbrella strike team member is pretty cool to me, and shifting the dynamic of power from being a solo hero to being part of a full assault squad struck me as quite interesting and full of promise. Unfortunately, the title's problems far outweigh the good bits.

Game circles have been buzzing about Capcom's recent decision to release their new 3DS Resident Evil title without the ability to reset data. Confused? Essentially, when a player buys it new and starts progressing through the various modes, all of those stats and unlocks are hard-saved to the cartridge. That's all well and good, except for the fact that if the player wants to wipe the data and start fresh for any reason, it's not possible.

Nintendo has finally unveiled details for the upcoming release of their new handheld, the Nintendo 3DS. The company revealed their pricing plans and launch strategy for the system at an event held today in New York City. Reggie Fils-Aime assures us there'll be 30 games available for the 3DS by June, but the one that has horror geeks most intrigued has to be Capcom's Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D. The Japanese developer released a new teaser trailer for the game today and my reaction is mostly mixed.

I'm not the biggest fan of the Resident Evil films—I liked the first two well enough, but I'd never put them on a list of my favorite films (regardless of genre distinctions). That doesn't mean I don't appreciate them as campy and braindead fun, though. I hate when people say "turn off your brain", but that's kinda the best ways to watch the Resident Evil films.

The trailer for the latest is now online. Resident Evil: Afterlife looks like your typical entry in the series—stylish and filled with elaborate action set-pieces—but this time it comes with an added bonus: 3D. Milla Jovovich is once again back to take on the nefarious Umbrella Corporation, presumably in the equally retardedly named Raccoon City. Check out the new clip and see what you think.

Resident Evil: Afterlife is due out later this year.

Things seem to be moving along quickly on the newest Resident Evil film (this one's subtitled Afterlife). We've gotten a lot of casting announcements over the past few weeks, and now Sony Screen Gems brings us a few more–as well as the official synopsis for the Paul WS Anderson film.

First, the casting. We already knew Milla Jovovich and Ali Larter were returning (and being joined by Wentworth Miller and Boris Kodjoe, amongst others), but now you can add Norman Yeung and Kacey Barnfield to the list if you're keeping score at home.