Resi 5 boss explains African setting

By Robert Purchese Published 11 April, 2008

Wanted to show the origins of the virus.

Jun Takeuchi has explained that the controversial African setting for Resident Evil 5 came from a desire to show you the origins of the virus you were battling.

"We settled on the fact that we really wanted to show the origins of the virus. So for the setting we thought, how about the place where humankind was born?" Takeuchi told Famitsu.

"Well, I'm not a scientist, so I don't know how things might change in the future, but we thought we would use Africa, which is now called the birthplace of humanity, as the model."

Resident Evil 5 has come a long way in the six months since it was last shown, apparently, with Takeuchi and his team exploring all sorts of weather conditions and passages of time to mix things up.

The sun-drenched desert village setting also gave the team a chance to capitalise on the lighting system that imitates your eyes; taking a while to adjust to bright areas when stepping out of the dark and vice versa.

"I've seen a lot of Western developers who've used light as a motif in their games, and I'm always keeping my eye on many different games, but I still believe that we at Capcom are the best," said Takeuchi.

"The fact that you can't see into the shadow is nothing major for a Biohazard title, but for any other game it would make creating the [gameplay] itself very difficult; you can't see your enemies, you can't see any items, you can't see your surroundings.

"But for a Biohazard game that is a quintessential part of the game itself. By focusing on that element we're able to escalate the player's fear of the darkness."

Takeuchi went on to reveal that the game system used is very similar to Resident Evil 4, but with added frills, although he was coy about exactly what those were.

There will be plenty more weaponry this time around as well. The original "Biohazard plan" was to limit your weaponry to make you think about what you were shooting, but the sheer amount of baddies in Resident Evil 5 means your arsenal will have to expand to cope.

The hand-to-hand fighting system from Resi 4 will be returning, too, but with more variations.

You will also get the chance to learn more about main character Chris Redfield and what he has been doing in the ten years since STARS disbanded.

"Everything he'd experienced in the past ten years we wanted to be able to allow the player to experience as well, so we're preparing a few ways to encourage the player to do just that," added Takeuchi.

The characters are to be explored in a Biohazard CG movie as well, we're told.

Pop over to our Resident Evil 5 gamepage for more.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (77) Latest comment 4 years ago

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  • bad09 #1 4 years ago

    At least they explained it hopefully that should calm people down - but I doubt it.....

  • Les #2 4 years ago

    "At least they explained it hopefully that should calm people down - but I doubt it....."

    No, probably not. Arguments only work if the other party is open to them.

  • Setaro #3 4 years ago

    Africa? I thought it was revealed to be Haiti?

  • Ryze #4 4 years ago

    Hooray - someone sensible bringing some context!

    edit: Hooray spelling /pedant
    Edited by 2 at 12/04/08 @ 16:32

  • Ryze #5 4 years ago

    It would be dreadful if it was Haiti - really.

  • Ryze #6 4 years ago

    I'm gonna love this game - I hope that M$ make that motion pointer being rumoured.

  • ASHBERY76 #7 4 years ago

    Why dont they just have an africa with white honkeys.That way we can still kill honkeys.

  • TrevSkyline #8 4 years ago

    I bet some idiot complains that it's wrong that a virus could come from Africa and it is degrading!!!!!

    Hell, you really can't please people that have nothing better in their life than to bitch and moan all day over "nothing" issues.

  • Brogan #9 4 years ago

    doesn't really change the fact that all the black people in the trailer look like the cartoon black people of a early 20th century tobacco advert does it? you know the racists ones that was the imagery that that people are moaning about and it's totally invent by the games designer and bears little resemblance to rteal black people anyway.

  • DonnieDarko333 #10 4 years ago

    Whens it out?!!!! March 2009 is my guess!

  • Ryze #11 4 years ago

    ^PS3 version

  • Muddtallica #12 4 years ago

    That's a great explanation that perfectly explains and justifies the choice of setting, and makes me really quite excited about the game; it really does sound like a fresh new direction for the series. Providing they can find a way of conveying this sort of explanatory context in future trailers and ad campaigns, future controversies ought to be able to be avoided, leaving us to focus on what's shaping up to be a damn good game.

  • Ryze #13 4 years ago

    Jesus, some people in here have got a chip on their shoulders.

    Oh we should have kept the empire...that kept them in their place... etc.

    Chill and enjoy the fucking game.

  • brommers #14 4 years ago

    I don't find it at all racist. "Imagine that. BLACK people. In Africa!?" What is the world coming to?

  • The_Inquisitor #15 4 years ago

    The light and shadow environment sounds very interesting (like when you exit a tunnel in a racing game, all you can see is light so unless you know the track you don't know if a turn is coming up) and the African setting makes sense from that perspective.

    I hope the racist issue doesn't escalate too much nearer release, I'd welcome an open debate on its context but we all know politicians and the press are like.

  • Sigma0 #16 4 years ago

    @TrevSkyLine
    "I bet some idiot complains that it's wrong that a virus could come from Africa and it is degrading!!!!! "

    Ha! I'm going to get some popcorn and wait. Once it to explodes after the first HIV comparisons is made- that's entertainment.

    Good luck Capcom!

  • steoc4 #17 4 years ago

    I'd have said that the main reason it looks racist is the big white musclebound hero who completely stands out from everything else as he saves the day by shooting all the black people.

    If all the zombies are black because it's in Africa fair enough,but why not have a black African hero or at least some black characters on the player's side (which will probably be the case in the full game)

    I'm not sensitive to these things in the slightest but I can see how Resi 5 does kind of push it.

  • the_dudefather #18 4 years ago

    "also, I hate those darkies (laughs)"

  • Golgo #19 4 years ago

    Maybe in the end there will be some African heroes in the games as well, just as there was in that other racist/anti-Spanish game Resi 4 with the heroic Spaniard who fought to the death alongside you.

  • djed #20 4 years ago

    AFRICA?! i thought it was set in South Central LA. :(

    edit: but i can totally see where the critics are coming from. It's not like it has a completely fictional plot/storyline like for instance Call of Duty 4 (where you kill around two million arabs)
    Edited by 1 at 11/04/08 @ 20:10

  • besteman #21 4 years ago

    it's horrible that they feel the need to justify the setting.

    it sad to see some people feel attacked every time some color or creed gets mentioned or used in games, movies, literature or art. don't take everything so personel ;/

  • AllenSpawn #22 4 years ago

    A virus originating in africa, is obviously a thinnly veiled metaphor for aids.So they're not just racist, but possibly homophobic as well.
    Do you know...i just checked capcoms website,and even though its in japanese, i swear they called my mum a whore.........in fact all your mums.

    ......or they could just be making a damned fine game.

  • Ryze #23 4 years ago

    Exactly.

  • Ryze #24 4 years ago

    A fine game, and I expect that there'll be black heroes.

  • r3n #25 4 years ago

    @djed

    that's a good comparison actually. it's ok to shoot up literally thousands of middle eastern people with your British and Yank compadres in CoD who are all _obviously_ following some mentalist with a nuke (isn't everyone in the middle east?), but as soon as it's black people who are after you (after being infected by a virus) that's a completely different matter! double standards or what.

  • GordonJ #26 4 years ago

    @r3n

    What do you think, set resi 6 in 1940s Germany, and have the zombies be all jewish with a blonde haired, blue eyed hero. No problem, right?

  • PanStre #27 4 years ago

    @ GordonJ

    Yeah, parrot one of the more retarded comments on the MTV RE5 blog feature. Way to go!

  • mash the x button #28 4 years ago

    Got to wriggle out of sticky situation shocker!!!

  • Kami #29 4 years ago

    Resident Evil 4... hell, the whole Resi franchise hasn't been any less racist, let's be honest about it here.

    People will find controversy in everything, Resi 5 just makes it easy for them is all...

  • Kryon #30 4 years ago

    The real racist thing is that Chris made sure to park his jeep (with new hub caps on) away from the village, that's why he's walking. To be fair though, I don't think they're zombies at all, just stoned. Chris is only there trying to score some green innit.

  • Kill_Crazy #31 4 years ago

    And isn't saying Africa the place of the "birth of humanity" implying they're primitive.


    No, it's saying they've been around the longest and, therefore, the most evolved. So, in fact, it's calling everyone else primitive in comparison ;)

  • belziah #32 4 years ago

    They 22's bro and they spinners

  • Bartacus #33 4 years ago

    In the German version all of the enemies will be green.

  • dirtysteve #34 4 years ago

    Kill_Crazy , no, evolution doesn't work like that. There's a common root for all of humanity, for one people to have evolved more, they would have literally have to be a seperate human race.


    also my memory is a bit fuzzy, but wasn't the virus origin given by that tranny mentalist in code veronica?

  • The-Bodybuilder #35 4 years ago

    I heard initially capcon wanted chris to have a sidekick called kunta.
    But after a focus group, they decided to call the sidekick "toby".

  • MAX99 #36 4 years ago

    seriously, the black community in america need to stop being the victim. i'd say it was a compliment rather than a slur for capcom to be setting the latest resident evil in africa, a location seldom explored in videogames.

    most people, apart from those with severe chips n their shoulders, wouldnt see this as rascist in any way.
    Edited by 1 at 12/04/08 @ 02:00

  • GordonJ #37 4 years ago

    @MAX99

    That's the point though, when you first saw the trailer didn't you think it would be a problem in the states? Remember the uproar the european psp white ad campaign caused over there, and it wasn't ever used in the states.

  • GordonJ #38 4 years ago

    PanStre: "Yeah, parrot one of the more retarded comments on the MTV RE5 blog feature. Way to go!"

    Why was it retarded? Because you're white and you don't think the two situations equate?

  • Razorus #39 4 years ago

    Jesus, some of you are retarded. This game is only racist to some because of your own views. You subconsciously look down on black people and so you think you pity them. They are normal people like everyone else. Nobody batted an eyelid when we slaughtered thousands of Spaniards in RE4, why should this be any different?

    I think the new setting is an inspired choice. Someone here said that the black characters look like the stereotypical cartoony golliwogs and minstrels from those old cartoons. What are you bloody talking about? They look VERY realistic to me. Apart from when they attack and get zombified. In the trailer, there's one bit with a guy just staring at the camera, sitting down, chilling. It looked exactly like footage from a news reel in Africa.

    Get over yourselves. This game is gonna rock, and I don't care who's a zombie and what colour they are. The undead are going down either way, brother! Gaaaaarrr!!!

  • PanStre #40 4 years ago

    @ GordonJ

    No, because the quip about !940s Germany and hook nosed enemies was a flat-out ridiculous stretch, hence, the comparison doesn't hold up, hence, it was retarded.

    You should try to develop a sense of what's a bullshit argument and what isn't.

  • RandomTerrain #41 4 years ago

    I can't see any other companies basing their games in Africa after this little outburst.
    Well done Capcom for having the guts to go through with it.

  • Freek #42 4 years ago

    Shooting american zombies: OK
    Shooting european zombies (who are technicly not even zombies): OK
    Shooting african zombies: not OK.

    It makes no sense what so ever, no matter how you spin it, the debate is insane.

  • hrodelbert #43 4 years ago

    I think it should be based in slough

  • septimus #44 4 years ago

    People who generally complain about this sort of thing are racist themselves. It is shown by colour being the first thing they see and comment on. Whether they think they are 'defending' whatever poor little ethnicity they think they are protecting from the big bad computer game/film/etc.

  • bionutz #45 4 years ago

    well, bring it to Wii please!!!
    /anticipates fighting with the knife

  • mcbain23 #46 4 years ago

    Well looking forward to this. I'm glad to hear they are sticking with the RE4 control set, I found it refreshingly accurate.

    oh and ps3_version++ ..

  • m0thr4 #47 4 years ago

    Err... did anyone actually mention racism or did you guys all just invent these supposed critics?

    Anyway...

    Shooting american zombies: OK
    Shooting european zombies (who are technically not even zombies): OK
    Shooting african zombies: yep, that's OK too in my opinion
    Setting a game about a killer virus in the continent with the biggest AIDS problem: fucking insensitive

    Edited by 1 at 12/04/08 @ 12:20

  • PanStre #48 4 years ago

    @ m0thr4

    Yes, that's right, N'Gai Croal did not exist before we invented him

  • vegard #49 4 years ago

    here's hoping you can off babies and throw women into bonfires.

  • macmurphy #50 4 years ago

    I'm really not convinced about this racism thing. They've been shooting white folk for years, it's just a new setting. And also, since they've already shown white zombies acting like dickheads isn't this just equality? Surely ignoring black characters and Africa is just as insular. I think someone pointed out in the week a character like Cole Train is a little bit more insensitive and prejudiced. Those characters are good to have for comedy value, and you wouldn't bat an eyelid if he was white, but I think it needs to be balanced by some strong black protagonists which we don't always see. This isn't even liberal arty farty bollocks, you often do see a lot of black stereotyping. And I can't really remember any strong Asian characters - as in from the Indian subcontinent.

    If you want latent racism get out some old Tarzan films on DVD:
    Moon faced black man smiling and acting like child: Tea Bwana?
    Athletic white hunter next to aryan woman: Yes boy, then run along and get Tarzan, the natives are restless.

    Good times (the movies, not the racism).I'm sorry they don't show them any more, though in fairness you can see why. And yeah, like I said I think it's better to be inclusive and involve African settings than to pretend it's not there - especially if your plot is just and extension of a scenario in which you happily shot a lot of white people in the suburbs. What are you supposed to do, ignore Africa let everyone who lives there imagine that their country doesn't exist to the rest of the world.

  • Ryze #51 4 years ago

    @belziah

    They spinnin n*gga, they spinnin!!!!

    /rolls head
    Edited by 1 at 12/04/08 @ 14:50

  • Ryze #52 4 years ago

    The issue isn't teh shooting of black folks.

    Blast away!

  • Ryze #53 4 years ago

    Who the fuck are 'the black community' anyway?

  • Ryze #54 4 years ago

    13% of the USA - then.

  • Kryon #55 4 years ago

    I think the funniest slightly racist thing I've seen recently in a game is in Tekken 5 on PS3 in the 'hood' background, there's a load of black people hanging from scaffolding and jumping up and down chanting "Ooga-Booga" "Ooga-Booga" or something similar, quite bizarre because the last time me and my homies visited the hood, the people there didn't do that at all, I was rather disappointed tbh :(

    Edited by 2 at 12/04/08 @ 16:02

  • Moz #56 4 years ago

    @ hrodelbert I think it should be based in slough

    +1

    Sounds like a great plan to me.

  • SwedBear #57 4 years ago

    FWIW - there are more viruses than HIV. This could just as well be another name of Ebola, a virus and pretty scary sickness that originated in Africa and mainly have had outbreaks there. In fact, to me the Resi virus more feels like a Ebola-type of virus than a HIV-type of virus.

    Somehow the whole debate is quite odd though. I've shot tons of Americans (both white and black) in Dead Rising and no-one complained. We've been shooting tons of people of all races/colours/genders in a number of games and no-one has cared. So why is this even an issue? The main character is white because this is the next game in a series of games and Capcom want the story to continue. Are we seriously saying that a game cannot be set in Africa anymore if the main character is white?

  • Waffleaber #58 4 years ago

    Aha!! I've got it, set it in South Africa!! Still set in the Africa so capcom can still have their "cradle of life" stuff and there's plenty of white people live there too. Re-skin a couple of the characters and you're away.

  • The-Bodybuilder #59 4 years ago

    >"People who generally complain about this sort of thing are racist themselves."

    Some of you people really do need to learn what racism really is.
    Do people who complain about RE5s setting ignorant? Yes. Stupid? a few (like all people)
    But racist?

  • The-Bodybuilder #60 4 years ago

    >"I am sure the majority of black people of that imagined 'community' have no problem with the game whatsoever"

    It's funny isn't it?
    People here are countering ignorance......with ignorance. O_o

  • AphoticCosmos #61 4 years ago

    Set it in Zimbabwe. Plenty of whites the--!

    Oh wait.

  • Canyarion #62 4 years ago

    Somehow that piece of text got me hyped. But of course I don't have a 360 or PS3. And I don't expect it on the Wii, even though it could handle a downgraded version.

    Oh and Ryze, why the quadruple post? Your first post shows that you are no stranger to the edit button. :-)
    Edited by 1 at 12/04/08 @ 22:29

  • Inspirius #63 4 years ago

    African zombies have rights you know. They were just minding their own business thinking about eating brains when you showed up and started blowing them away. Won't somebody think of the little zombie children?

  • RedPanda #64 4 years ago

    Post deleted at 14:31:59 28-01-2012

  • patchbox360 #65 4 years ago



    think the issue isn't who is being shot,it is more about who is doing the shooting - if it was a black or asian male shooting white zombies it in the city would that game sell? why??

  • RedPanda #66 4 years ago

    Post deleted at 14:31:59 28-01-2012

  • Ryze #67 4 years ago

    /yawn

    As mentioned countless times before:

    The debate was about the TRAILER. Where without CONTEXT, the IMAGERY, is OFFENSIVE - to many people who don't (yet) know what Resident Evil 5 is.

    {cut/paste:}

    It's very obvious that decisions and creativity have all taken place in Japan.

    The Euro / America / Asia / Africa culture divide is very apparent in the way that this has come about - and how it's being debated.

    /takes 'rags' outfit out of massive wardrobe

    /heads back to poor village called 'Africa' (in Golf TDI)

    /bangs bongo drums and starves self while chanting in vowel sounds

  • bloodflowers #68 4 years ago

    It's only racist to those who want to find racism.

    To me it made perfect sense, without this bullshit explanaton from Capcom. Zombie game - nobody has done one in Africa yet, so why not? It's an interesting change of scene. And guess what colour the people who live there are? Correct! Black people! This is not racism, this is the dominant colour in Africa - that's how it is. If you go there right now, those are the people you will see. Putting a mix in for the sake of political correctness would be -stupid-. And the hero is white? Well since the hero is Chris Redfield from a previous game, who was white, it would seem unlikely for him to be anything else.

    Cry me a river, seriously.

    The people claiming racism just -want- to see it, they're looking for an excuse to feel persecuted in this case, go and find real examples please and stop whining about this non-issue.

  • Wayne #69 4 years ago

    I have an 8 foot erection for Resident Evil 5!

  • FenderMaster #70 4 years ago

    what they should do right? is make Chris Redfeild a black man, then everything would be cool!!

    black on black violence is ok now apparently...

  • 3william56 #71 4 years ago

    Jeez - lucky this Croal bloke hasn't played Uncharted! There's not even the excuse that they're zombies there - just a bunch of black/asian blokes, working for nasty [rich] colonial white bloke, hence acceptable cannon fodder for wisecracking whitey with gun.

    I've got to admit, it seemed just a little creepy in Uncharted at first (half because they are so well animated and drawn - up close, the effect is very unsettling), but it's basically consistent with the back story and location/setting, so no worse than any other game violence.

    m0thr4 - so where would you set it? Malaria kills more in Asia than AIDS does in Africa. UK - whoops - CJD/mad cow disease? Hell, you could call it an allegory for Down's syndrom and get *really* upset if you wanted to stretch the point. It's a fiction about a disease set in an exotic locale. That's all. No political statements intended.

    Personally, though, reckon Haiti would be a great setting, if they mixed it in with the original voodoo zombie myths.

  • Ryze #72 4 years ago

    doh! read the news. People are already being slaughtered by teh police in Haiti.

    Black / white, zombies or not - it wouldn't be happening in Israel, so shouldn't happen in Haiti right now.

  • spongebob #73 4 years ago

    Resident Evil 6 has to take place in Japan, then it's all good :)

  • penhalion #74 4 years ago

    The clincher in my opinion, will be if you go through the game and don't find any black hero characters. If that is the case then any non-racist defence of capcom simply evaporates.

  • Blockhead #75 4 years ago

    When "Call of Duty 5: Herzegovina" comes out, I don't want anyone ruining my fun by complaining about the setting or anything. What? Rape and massacre? It's just a game, motherfuckers!!1! And seriously, if I want to raid a African village, I should be allowed to do so! Don't spoil this for me. They're zombies! It happens every single day, in real life! But this is just a game. It's entertainment to me.

  • Ryze #76 4 years ago

    Hold on...

    I missed the part where having a white guy killing black guys in the game was actually deemed racist.

    Jeez, some people in here have a massive chip on their shoulders!

  • Ryze #77 4 years ago

    I think some people put words in mouths to give themselves a reason to vent.

    Others throw around teh word racist (improperly), for arguments that suit them, and ignore/commit racism that doesn't offend them.