Dead Rising: Chop till You Drop was an interesting experience, mostly because we had no idea what to make of it. I always thought the original’s hook lied in the sheer number of zombies on screen, a feature which the Wii would have considerable trouble replicating. For the most part our fears were justified, because this new iteration lacked the tenacity of its previous version. The format of the demo may have been to blame, but it felt significantly different from its 360 counterpart. The mall had blockades that kept us on a path, the zombies were limited to five or six at a time, and the goal of each mission was to subvert a seemingly randomly placed boss. Again, this may have been a temporary format to familiarize us with how combat would work out on the Wii, but it felt lacking.
Resident Evil 5 showcased one of the same levels from E3, but with the added bonus of a new control scheme and true co-op play. Unfortunately due to a communication mix-up (basically I’m an idiot), I failed to sample the new controls, but the co-op went over quite smoothly. At E3, the AI controlled Sheva usually knew what she was doing in the context of the game, but, outside of providing cover fire on a few select occasions, she was usually fine on her own. Actually playing with another person was an entirely different experience; neither one of us were familiar with the territory, and the sense of desperation associated with figuring out where to go, what to do, and how to stay was an exhilarating test of skill and patience. We were constantly trading items and ammo, debating on where to go and what to cross, and tag teaming hoards of zombies (or whatever) whilst traversing the sultry wasteland. Resident Evil 5 was unquestionably Capcom’s ace of the show.
Street Fighter IV, running on a 360 as opposed to an Arcade cabinet, was as mesmerizing as usual. Seeing Vega, Bison, and Balrog with the ‘correct’ names gave us an interesting sense of time and place, but catching a glimpse of Akuma in the lineup made us smile like giddy fanboys. I still got the snot kicked out of me by some guys from a European publication, but it was glorious the whole way through. We missed getting a chance to actually play Bionic Commando: Rearmed, but the level we saw someone else play through looked par for the course; somewhat difficult to get used to, but incredibly rewarding once you got you head around the controls.
