Resident Evil 4 iPhone confirmed for West News

Controls look a bit cumbersome from the video but it certainly looks the part!

Why did I not hear about this before...?

Graphics wise the game looks really well. The gameplay seems a good bit slower than with the original version, probably an effort to accommodate a slightly more awkward control scheme, which in some respects makes it seem closer to the original games than the more arcade styles of IV and V.

I might actualy have to get an iPhone now. Resi: Degeneration is one of my favourite mobile games ever, so I'll certainly love this too. Not totally convinced about the controls, but I'd have it in a heartbeat if I had an iPhone.

Nice to see Capcom support both iPhone and even the admittedly significantly less popular n-gage platfrom, and even some java games so everyone can get in on the Capcom fun :)

Edited for spelling, months and months after I actually made the mistakes. It was bothering me!

That frankly looks terrible. The controls are bad enough on 360 and PS3. Whoever is playing in that YouTube video can barely shoot anything, and any attempt at headshots just looks like a waste of time.

The population count of zombie town has clearly taken a hit in the move too. What was that, 4 zombies onscreen at once?


Wow, I think this might be my first genuine troll post. I feel bad, a little.

Now I think on it, why on earth make the player aim a cross hair. ITS A TOUCH SCREEN. What is wrong with turning using tilt (perhaps) and then poking the zombie where you want the shot to land? Placing a touch sensitive control pad in the corner of the screen has to be the most unimaginative approach for any iPhone game.

I have yet to come across any touch control pad on the iphone that wasnt complete pants

@kangarootoo

It seems to be the same control system they had in Resident Evil Degeneration on the iPhone, and that actually worked surprisingly well. It was quite easy to get head-shots in it, I think the guy in the video probably just needs some practice. I'm actually quite excited about this assuming the whole of RE4 is in there and it's not just a cut down game with only the village areas.

I've got Doom Resurrection which uses tilt to aim and personally I find it a pain to use, particularly when lights start reflecting off the screen when tilting. The other alternative I've seen is dragging a crosshair over the screen which usually obscures the screen and makes it hard to see what you're shooting.

"That frankly looks terrible. The controls are bad enough on 360 and PS3. "

Funny, I tried playing Resi 4 on my 360 and it was having none of it. I tried the Wii version, the PS2 one, the Gamecube one, even the PC one, but my 360 wouldn't run any of them! Sorry to nitpick I know you really meant Resi 5, and I can see your point. There's a lot of controls to worry about, I'm concerned it might not feel totally intuitive.

I'd still give it a shot though. The prospect of shooting zombies in a town I know well is quite tempting. How much of the original game map is it though?

"Funny, I tried playing Resi 4 on my 360 and it was having none of it. I tried the Wii version, the PS2 one, the Gamecube one, even the PC one, but my 360 wouldn't run any of them!"

Oops. Well spotted sherlock :)


@photoboy

So I played Doom on a friend's iPhone bare moments ago, to inform myself as to the alternatives. I only played it for a minute or so, but it seemed ok. I can understand the light reflection being an issue, and I am indoors in a lit office so that wasn't a problem here. I'm not saying it is perfect, but based on what I saw of the Res4 controls (which I have admittedly not laid my hands on), it seemed better.

I just figure that given a system that has tilt and a touch screen, creating a control system that says loudly "I wish this thing had buttons" just seems a bit weak. Aiming an alaogue system with a digital pad is naff at the best of times (just ask GUN on the PSP), so to replicate the digital pad on a touch screen will surely add a further level of abstraction that could be avoided with a bit more time and thought.

Anyway, I'm being far too negative about this so I'll stop droning on.

I'd bet cash money this will be a really simplified shooter where you just move from area to area shooting zombies. I can't imagine there's much room in there for the complex level design/puzzles/set pieces etc that was in the full game.

@kangarootoo, you are right, but tbh both control systems are rubbish. I find the tilty way to be far too floaty and erratic to be accurate. I think the iPhone is just not well suited to this type of game.

Really makes you think what could have been if the iPhone / iPod Touch had just a few buttons on the front.

@GreyScale

I really think it depends how broad we want to be with the term "this type of game".

You know those sections in House of the Dead and the Jurrasic Park arcade game, where the player has to shoot a number of targets? That sort of thing would work a treat on a touch screen. Zombies appear, targets appear (less intrusive targets than in my example), player pokes targets to shoot them and zombie falls over. Another comparison might be the targetting mechanics seen in Red Dead Revolver...

Obviously this is just off the top of my head, and problems would occur that would need developing out, but the concept seems stronger to me because it is BUILT on having a touch screen rather than trying to ACCOMMODATE having a touch screen.


.... but then I would say that, 'cos it was my idea :)

I might actualy have to get an iPhone now. Resi: Degeneration is none of my favourite mobile games ever, so I'll certainly love this too.

TYPOLOL

Really makes you think what could have been if the iPhone / iPod Touch had just a few buttons on the front.

Ugly, and not the device Apple wanted to design. What, you think they should have foreseen the future of gaming on the iPhone and designed it with that in mind, 3 or 4 years before the App Store even launched?

I can see your point, but it's also sort of not the point, if you see what I mean. Perhaps developers should stop trying to shoehorn 'traditional' control schemes onto a device that clearly won't really support them well. Plenty of innovative original iPhone games do an incredible job of control, but they tend not to be 'traditional' games.

This looks a really frustrating game to play, the best bit about resi 4 on the PS2 were the headshots & tight, fast control system.. This just looks horrible, & a real tangable example of why a gaming device should always have some sort of button based control system.

There's absolutely no reason why a gaming device should be 'button based' , however developers have to not shoe-horn control mechanisms from one platform into another without due care and consideration. There are plenty of games on the iPhone that work brilliantly without buttons: I'm currently playing Let's Golf, Peggle, WordFu, Fieldrunners and Ragdoll Blast and all fit the form of the iPhone.

To be honest, I actually find that traditional games work perfectly fine on the iphone, without buttons.

Examples: Isotope and Dropship both use dual-stick, Geometry Wars style controls, using virtual analog sticks, and apart from the occasional mishap, they work perfectly.

Same thing goes for Wolfenstein 3D... and to be honest, the Resi Evil Degeneration iphone game controlled like that RE4 video does, and that actually worked pretty well too. Try the demo, it's free.

Sounds good! Looking forward to trying the on-screen analogue stick.