Resident Evil 4 is almost universally adored. If not, its respective band of naysayers are divided as to why they didn’t enjoy it. One school can’t get past the fact that it’s a foray into more action-oriented gameplay, forgoing the survival horror label. The others simply complain that it was a bad game, and that they’d never slap the Resident Evil name on it. While we all know gamers will come up with any reason to talk down about a title they may enjoy otherwise, good game or not, the jury is still out on whether you could classify Resident Evil 4 as a “classic” RE title. However, whether you’re a fan of the game or not, it might be of note that it didn’t always start out the same as the end product.
You may be surprised to learn that there were entire versions of what would ultimately be Resident Evil 4 scrapped in favor of the more action-oriented gameplay. Having officially annnounced the game way back in 2001, Resident Evil 4 spent 4 years in production. During these three years, the game took at least three different forms before the retail game we know and love (or despise) was released to the public.
Tokyo Game Show 2002 saw the very first build of what was to become Resident Evil 4. This venture was affectionately dubbed the “Fog” version, for the obtrusive black fog in Leon’s field of vision. This prompted comparisons to Silent Hill. In fact, a good portion of the gameplay and look of the entire project seemed to draw heavily from the popular survival horror series. Leon was presented in his traditional garb, heading through the infamous Umbrella’s main location while under the influence of the Progenitor Virus. Rather than fighting the zombies expected from the masses, Leon was seen fighting off creatures that wouldn’t look out of place in Ico. Though the footage was short, it seemed as if Resident Evil was already headed in a new direction. The short, but interesting trailer even featured an airship, which was quite out of left field for the series.
However, this version never came to fruition, as we already know. It was swept under the rug and left to rot. That was the last anyone heard of Resident Evil 4, until two years later at E3. It was then that yet another version of the impending RE4 was revealed to the public, affectionately titled the “Hooked Man” attempt. If the previous version seemed as it were inspired more than just a bit by Silent Hill, then the “Hooked Man” version is a loving homage.
In this version, Leon encounters the Hooked Man in a series of scenes, who was intended to take the role of a Nemesis-like antagonist. The footage of the early build painted the Hooked Man in the light of Silent Hill 4-esque ghosts, and added an incredible amount of tension to just the small bit of gameplay that had been released. Sudden, jumpy scares and a keenly-orchestrated score were in place to put the emphasis on “horror” out of “survival horror”.
Traversing the hallways of a seemingly haunted mansion, all the typical Resident Evil conventions were present, such as apparent controls that carried over from the earlier games in the series, as well as the “pausing” of the action when there is on-screen text to read. Though it took a more familiar path than the Fog version, it still contained many elements that would later carry over to the retail version of RE4. These included a laser sight for Leon, the implementation of a flashlight into Leon’s outfit rather than to be used as an item, and an over-the-shoulder view when Leon aims. Though in the video we see a few instances where Leon aims just as in the past RE titles, this was obviously meant to be a bigger part than it ended up.
The Hooked Man build presented what looked to be an interesting turn for the series, introducing more terrifying themes than any of the previous games had to offer, as well as the conventional scares games like Silent Hill or Alone in the Dark tend to bring. Even Shinji Mikami, father of the franchise, warned patrons of E3 to not “pee their pants” during the game’s reveal. Though the game obviously isn’t that terrifying from the available footage, it could have had some real potential, even if it were introduced as a title parallel to the Resident Evil canon.
Ultimately, this version was scrapped as well as the developers felt it was a bit too paranormal for a typical RE game. I surmise that this was the complaint of the layman as well, since it ceased staying true to its roots. Imagine their surprise, then, when the final version of what would be the Resident Evil 4 we know today was unveiled. It was new, different, and strange. Oh no! Nothing like what RE should have been. And yet, its success has been an earmark that perhaps it is time for Resident Evil to branch out into new territory. However, deviating from the norm is Always Bad, as we have learned from overzealous gamers over the years - at least, that seems to be the “in” thing to believe these days.
Taking a look back on these scrapped versions has made me realize one thing: change is good, and the RE series should not be immune to progression. The videos hold great potential, but how happy with RE4 would you have really been had it kept the same archaic control scheme and worked from there? The argument would then arise that it wasn’t “next-gen” enough, or that it was “the same.” You can’t please everyone, but with Resident Evil 5 just around the corner, we should brace ourselves for imminent complaints and accusations that the change is not welcome. Having witnessed the early Resident Evil 4 concepts, what’s your take? Can you appreciate change or would you rather Resident Evil stick to its guns?
Whatever your opinion may be, one thing we can all likely agree on is the fact that RE will likely see another metamorphosis as the years wear on. I’m ready to see whatever is conceived. Are you?
March 12th, 2009 at 11:17 am
It’s quite impressive how Capcom is willing to throw away WIPs and start over from scratch. There’s a playable alternate version of Resident Evil 2 as well that was scrapped for a number of reasons.
Most developers would just push ahead and release an unworthy game rather than eat the time and cost.
March 12th, 2009 at 11:44 am
Nice. KUDOS.
March 12th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
They’ve done this several times. Resident Evil 1.5 actually looked fun, luckily we got the amazing RE2 anyway.
March 12th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
I always heard rumors that Devil May Cry was supposed to be RE4. That would have been weird.
Good article.
March 12th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Despite the huge differences between RE4 and the previous Resident Evil games, I was very pleased with the final result. I enjoyed the over-the-shoulder aiming and found it a lot less cumbersome than the previous aiming system. It was always so frustrating in the first Resident Evil games when I’d be slowly backing away from a zombie, then the camera angle would shift because I stepped back too far… then I couldn’t see my target anymore, and it would be all bad. RE4 made it so I wouldn’t have to deal with this issue.
While I do wish RE4 had a bit more survival horror and a little less action, I still thought it was enjoyable overall. I probably would have preferred a darker story with more creepy moments (though I will admit the Zealots were pretty damned creepy), but that doesn’t take away from the game being great overall, even if it did stray a bit from its survival horror roots.
After playing the demo, a lot of people have complained about RE5’s controls and the way Chris and Shiva are unable to move while aiming. Some people claim that Capcom made this decision to enhance the horror aspect of the game and like that it prevents the game from becoming a run-and-gun sort of deal. Others think the inability to at least walk while aiming makes the aiming controls outdated, and, since playing the demo, no longer plan on purchasing the game. I’m still on the fence about it all, but I love Resident Evil in general, so I’ll probably give it a shot anyway.
March 12th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Shit, sorry that was so long! I didn’t intend to ramble that much. Oops.
March 12th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
Omg yes! This would have been so awesome, Molotov. I wish RE4 was really like this (sans the ghosts in the fog one) — it would have been way creepier, almost Silent Hill-like as you mentioned. Maybe that’s why they changed their minds though. Wanting to stay away from blurring the lines between these franchises at all.
March 12th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
I kind of forgot how good the GameCube’s graphics were….well…it’s basicly Wii graphics, but still… lol.
March 12th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
I love the turn RE4 took, but I can’t help but want to see what a proper “survivor horror” game would be like. Dead Rising however satisfies me, and a game like that would be my perfect version of one with a huge virtual city to board up. Not like the linear Left4Dead. With that being said I’m still really excited for RE5. Good read.
March 12th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
I’ve never played the RE series, but I have to say I really like the hooked man footage and would probably play a game in that vein. Thanks for the interesting article.
March 12th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
Those look like some interesting directions that the series could of went to. While I think the controls and story were great in 4, I can see why some people prefer the survival horror stuff to the actiony stuff. But that doesn’t mean they can’t go back to that at some point, right? Now we have better controls for it!
It’s not like they put a platforming bird and bear duo who fans adored for their amazing platforming adventures and put them in vehicles and make a racing game, right? This is NOT a drastic stupid change, it’s a good one.
March 12th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
I’ve really only played the first RE and I was scared shitless. And I was like, 7. So I really haven’t crawled from beneath my blanket to go play again. But this was a great read!
March 12th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
You made a lot of valid points about various things, and it was a good read despite the fact that I’ve never been a fan of RE. Nothing against the series at all, I just scare -way- too easily.
March 12th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
I’m really happy those two ideas never actually became RE4 - the first just didn’t really feel like a resident evil game.
The hooked man version would have been good (since I think a lot of people liked the nemesis idead) BUT, the whole ghost element took away from the “realistic” aspect of RE.
The hooked man version did seem really scary, more so than most RE games and I liked that a lot. (The baby dolls were extremely creepy!)
As long as RE stays true to its type of storyline, I don’t think they can really go wrong. If a game doesn’t have the ability to adapt and change, then its not going to survive through the change in generation.
March 12th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Great article very informative. You girls rock!
March 12th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
I kind of liked the ghost idea, to be honest. If they could have twisted that in a realistic way, it might have worked…
Regardless, though hesitant at first, I ended up loving the 4th installment.
March 13th, 2009 at 12:08 am
I was really interested in the fog idea when they announced it but when they changed it to what it eventually became I just got uninterested and never played it.
March 13th, 2009 at 8:01 am
Great article!
March 13th, 2009 at 9:20 am
While I don’t think it fits Resident Evil very well, I would have loved to have seen Capcom create a new IP with the “Hooked Man” version that would have to do with the paranormal. I had forgotten about it until I checked out the article and it all started flooding back. I can’t say much for the “Fog” version because it’s so short.
I still have yet to touch RE4. Maybe it’s time I actually go back and play it.
Good article. Thanks for the posting.
March 13th, 2009 at 9:39 am
I didn’t know about these other versions at all! Very interesting stuff. The over-the-shoulder aiming does look a bit disjointed from the normal running around mode though, I can see why they changed that to be a bit more fluid in the final version and RE5.
March 14th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
Good stuff. Like Blue Hawaiian said, Capcom really went out of their way to make sure each game was of the highest quality, even if it meant scrapping entire builds and starting over again.
March 18th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
This is fascinating! I wish I could play those alternate versions.