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Scared Stiff: Why should we care about Resident Evil 5?
Okay, it's confession time. This article series, as much as we hope you've enjoyed it, was originally set out to only discuss those titles of the survival horror persuasion that have been cemented into the 2008 release calendar. However, there is an ordnance that says something to the effect that you can't talk about survival horror games without devoting some face time to Capcom's seminal Resident Evil franchise. Or at least there should be. And while a date for when we can expect to continue slaughtering zombies -- or some derivative thereof -- hasn't been announced, we fully expected Resident Evil 5 to ship sometime in 2009. That said, we nonetheless felt the game would make an appropriate end cap on our week long look at the genre Capcom helped not only create, but perfect, so we ended our week by speaking with producer Jun Takeuchi, and asked him why we should care about Resident Evil 5.%Gallery-24222%
Scared stiff: Why should we care about Project Origin?
If Silent Hill taught us to be afraid of fog and Fatal Frame was quite clear in its mandate that ghosts are not to be screwed with, Monolith proved with a little acronym called F.E.A.R. that little girls are truly freaky. The much vaunted PC shooter married run-and-gun gameplay with survival horror in a way that, while not being terribly unique, still managed to achieve a synergy wholly uncommon in video games. However, shortly after F.E.A.R. landed on retail shelves in 2005, Monolith parted ways with BFF publisher Vivendi, a move that left all but the game's name in the hands of the developer, forcing the studio to re-brand its IP. And in 2007, Monolith turned to the gamer community, asking for creative types to submit ideas for what the sequel should be called. The result, as it turned out, was Project Origin. But even with a name for its new baby, the question remained, and admittedly still lingers, as to if Monolith can recapture the lightning in a bottle that was F.E.A.R. To this end, we recently cornered designers Craig Hubbard and John Mulkey to ask them both why we should care about their latest offering. %Gallery-26247%
Scared stiff: Why should we care about Silent Hill: Homecoming?
Konami's Silent Hill franchise has forgotten more about keeping us hiding beneath our covers than most games will ever know. Even EA's own Glen Schofield tips his hat to the series, telling us earlier this week that he considers the 1999 PlayStation original to be among his favorite survival horror games ever. But after nearly a decade of stumbling through the fog, it's easy to feel that the dilapidated burg of Silent Hill has gotten a bit too long in the tooth. For the series' sixth installment, Konami has handed the blood-soaked baton over to external developer Double Helix Games, a recent mash-up of The Collective and Shiny Entertainment. The result is this fall's upcoming release, Silent Hill: Homecoming, and we recently puzzled our way out of mist long enough to ask the game's lead designer, Jason Allen, just why we should care about this latest return trip to Silent Hill. Gallery: Silent Hill: Homecoming
Scared stiff: Why should we care about Alone in the Dark?
The survival horror genre is set to get a shot in the arm in 2008 with a number of high profile, not to mention highly anticipated entries all vying for the opportunity to keep us jumping at shadows and screaming like little girls. Or, for those gamers who are, in fact, little girls, just keep them screaming. But as all of us know, build-up seldom equals pay-off, leaving us to look upon these titles with what could be described as a mixture of cautious excitement and malaise. However, rather than simply sit and wait to see what the games have in store for us, we decided to corner the teams working on this year's more notable survival horror titles, and pick their brains in true survival horror fashion -- with an ice pick. But having left the ice pick at the office (my bad!), we opted to simply ask those working on these titles why we should keep their games on our collective radar. This week we'll be talking with people working on such games as Dead Space, Silent Hill: Homecoming and Project Origin, and kick things off today by asking Eden Games' producer Nour Polloni about her studio's re-imagining of survival horror architect Alone in the Dark, particularly, why should we care?%Gallery-14429%
