Resident Evil 5 to Feature Co-Op, Cover System

Resident Evil 5 will reportedly feature co-operative play and a new cover system.

A report which appeared, and then disappeared, on GamesRadar, said the latest entry in the franchise will have drop-in cooperative online play available for the campaign mode.

Furthermore, developers will integrate a cover system not unlike Gears of War that will allow players to fire around corners, as well as a new dodge mechanic.

The game will apparently feature more open environments than its predecessors.

The title is slated for release in 2009 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, with protagonist Chris Redfield accompanied by a female mercenary.

Source: Shacknews.com

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Cover systems, co-op, and dodge mechanics? Sounds kinda... Risky. I mean, this is supposed to be RE. Are they even trying to pretend it's the same series, anymore?

Cover System? That's virtually useless for RE, at least it's there, but if they turn the game into a "take cover" kind of game, then RE 5 can go **** itself.

Great, the latest in many games featuring cover-systems and drop-in co-op... in a game that's supposed to be about survival horror...

stompy:
Great, the latest in many games featuring cover-systems and drop-in co-op... in a game that's supposed to be about survival horror...

Well Resident Evil 0 pulled it off, for the most part. The co-op that is...

but seriously, cover system? I hope you get to do a "splinter cell conviction" and barricade things, other than that, the cover system is worthless.

I can see many fights over "You shot me in the back!"

This reminds me of something, I think it had Chainsaw Machine Guns and these aliens called The Grasshoppers or something.

Really though, do all games need cover and Co-op nowadays?

This honestly just stands to remind me of the latest trend in game design. We've moved on from the "Let's Be Like Halo" era, and have now moved into the "Let's Be Like Gears of War" era. While I have to say that I'm disappointed in Capcom's decision to go this route, I can't say I'm particularly surprised, as they've released not-entirely-related games in the Resident Evil series before (case in point Umbrella Chronicles) with completely different gameplay.

This "firing from cover" is the latest trend, and while it is an interesting innovation, I find it more infuriating than anything due to the way most games implement it (see Army of Two), wherein you simply sit behind some large, generic, blunt object waiting for enemies to pop their heads out, predict where they jump out, and shoot the next time they do so. Hopefully this won't be a problem in RE:5, as I have hard time imagining how it could be, considering that zombies aren't exactly smart enough to take cover. However, that having been said, if this does become the case, I'll be ready to pronounce the series as deader than a piece of roadkill and move on.

**Addendum**: Games that I'm aware of that currently feature Gears of War-style fire-from-cover: Gears of War, Army of Two, Grand Theft Auto IV (presented better), and Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

Didn't a coin-up shooter have a pedal to actually take cover, well before GoW? Time Crisis or Cop something?

It makes perfect sense in a survival horror game with guns. Even if it's a trend, it's an enjoyable one.

I'd rather see players able to stick out their gun only. Even be able to use the corner shooter appendage eventually, you know, that swivelling thing you can plug on the bore of a gun.

Then area weapons will become more useful. Using the environment as well. Finding a way around a target, same deal.
Besides, zombies are generally dumb, so they don't take cover.

Arbre:
Didn't a coin-up shooter have a pedal to actually take cover, well before GoW? Time Crisis or Cop something?

It makes perfect sense in a survival horror game with guns. Even if it's a trend, it's an enjoyable one.

I'd rather see players able to stick out their gun only. Even be able to use the corner shooter appendage eventually, you know, that swivelling thing you can plug on the bore of a gun.

Then area weapons will become more useful. Using the environment as well. Finding a way around a target, same deal.
Besides, zombies are generally dumb, so they don't take cover.

Yeah, it was Time Crisis, a game which I'm surprised to see is still releasing sequels, actually... Yet, I digress. The point that I was making in my last post was about the execution of such things. The overall feel of the 'taking cover and firing' element has been overall pretty poor, save for in GTA IV, where you could tell that they were taking a great idea and running with it, not so much blatantly ripping off something that's already been done before (case in point, yet again, Army of Two, which played damn near exactly the same as Gears of War, plus some AI partner).

In other words, to summarize: Taking cover, fine. Shooting from cover, fine. Both make sense. It's how the game executes it that matters.

What justification is there for a Cover System in a survival horror game? Especially Resident Evil. Sure, there were a few guys in RE4 that had RPG-7s or Crossbows (And throwing their melee weapon, but that's not hard to counter.) , but does two enemy types really justify a whole Cover System? Cover Systems work in Gears of War and the up coming Killzone 2 (The trailers make it look like sex on buttered toast by staying in first person view while in cover.) because the enemies have guns too. Getting shot while shooting enemies is a bad thing, that's why we take cover, Half-Life (2) you had to use corners when dealing with Soldiers or those guys with the Hornet Gun, but zombies and hound eyes you just kept your distance. Why would Resident Evil (ZOMBIES) need a cover system?

But coop is always something I look for, and Resident Evil 4 felt like coop would be fun if it was in.

Fire Daemon:

Really though, do all games need cover and Co-op nowadays?

yes, at least to the co-op part, co-op adds so many hours of gameplay it's amazing so many games opt to not have co-op even if they have multiple characters to choose from.

Arbre:
Didn't a coin-up shooter have a pedal to actually take cover, well before GoW? Time Crisis or Cop something?

Killswitch was the first to be on consoles (and PC).

TheNecroswanson:

Arbre:
Didn't a coin-up shooter have a pedal to actually take cover, well before GoW? Time Crisis or Cop something?

It makes perfect sense in a survival horror game with guns. Even if it's a trend, it's an enjoyable one.

I'd rather see players able to stick out their gun only. Even be able to use the corner shooter appendage eventually, you know, that swivelling thing you can plug on the bore of a gun.

Then area weapons will become more useful. Using the environment as well. Finding a way around a target, same deal.
Besides, zombies are generally dumb, so they don't take cover.

That was an arcade, and the enemies shot back.
Seriously, how much cover would you need from a zombie? (not very well versed in resident evil)

In Quake, zombies threw bits of themselves.
You can notice that these days, zombies are progressively upgraded. Then they're not much zombies anymore, but some sort of lethargic humans with better aptitudes, or mutant monsters, and all of them are given things to throw, shoot and spit, from axes, acid, constricting ten meters long tongues, poisonned spikes, bullets and rockets, else.

Plus, it could be possible that you'd have to fight an organization's forces, which means properly equipped humans. You could very well end caught between two fires. Which makes the cover all the more appreciated.

@Arbre:

That is a valid point... Looking back on Resident Evil 4, I found the lack of actual zombies somewhat annoying. That's the reason that I played the series; certainly not the story. Though, if my reflexes are too slow to shoot some guy attempting to chuck an axe or brick at my head without having to take cover, there may be something wrong...

Now if properly equipped humans show up, that may be just about the time this series has really moved away from the already-established storyline. The Resident Evil series has been a clusterfuck in terms of its story and various games being released for some time, making it impossible to really tell what's going on. Let's see how far they'll drive this one into confusion town...

The only type of cover system I need is the crouch button...

ElArabDeMagnifico:
Cover System? That's virtually useless for RE, at least it's there, but if they turn the game into a "take cover" kind of game, then RE 5 can go **** itself.

Actually the cover system can be extremely usefull during boss fights. And lets not forgwet that the zombie/mutants/whatever will throw stuff at you.

I dont think that we will be using the cover system as much as we think, however, i think it will make the game more flexible.

Coop might be fun, but hey we are not forced to play coop so its our choice.

Fire Daemon:
This reminds me of something, I think it had Chainsaw Machine Guns and these aliens called The Grasshoppers or something.

Really though, do all games need cover and Co-op nowadays?

Gears of War was ((not)) the first game to feature the cover system.

Taking cover is a natural thing when a mob throws stuff at u so it will only make the game more realistic.

Its like saying (Hey you can walk in this game, they stole it from alone in the dark, gasp!)

Co-op has been something I wanted to see in RE for a while, I mean co-op survivor horror game, makes sense to me. As far as the cover system...what exactly do you need to take cover from when encountering zombies!? If this goes Land of The Dead on me I am going to be pissed.

*Just if you did not know, Land of The Dead had zombies using weapons, one had a gun...*

Thegreatoz:
Co-op has been something I wanted to see in RE for a while, I mean co-op survivor horror game, makes sense to me. As far as the cover system...what exactly do you need to take cover from when encountering zombies!? If this goes Land of The Dead on me I am going to be pissed.

*Just if you did not know, Land of The Dead had zombies using weapons, one had a gun...*

The zombies will throw stuff at you so u can hide from that or u can hide so that they cant see u.

Oooohhh, now if you could use terrain and such to sneak around that would be cool, but as far as ducking for cover idk, it just seems that they would have to be a lot of them throwing a lot of stuff at me to care for some cover. RE4 u could just shoot it out of the air and they were slow enough so it didn't really pose a problem.

Thegreatoz:
Oooohhh, now if you could use terrain and such to sneak around that would be cool, but as far as ducking for cover idk, it just seems that they would have to be a lot of them throwing a lot of stuff at me to care for some cover. RE4 u could just shoot it out of the air and they were slow enough so it didn't really pose a problem.

You can do that here too, but they way I feel is that this is for cases where you are overwhelmed with people throwing stuff at you.