Resident Evil 5 is bigger than U2 - but why?

Capcom is understandably reveling in the success of its latest 'zombie' opus. Having shifted four million copies worldwide, the publisher has now issued a press release, comparing the sales of the title to the performance of current movies and music releases. Noting a recent prediction by analyst firm Verdict Research that UK videogame sales would outstrip those of music and film in 2009, the release goes onto to claim:

Resident Evil 5 outsold every item in the UK Singles Chart (Based on physical and digital sales of UK Top 200)
Resident Evil 5 outsold U2's chart-topping new album's total sales since release in one weekend (in the UK)

Resident Evil 5 grossed more than the top five movies in the UK this weekend - combined (Source: IMDB.com)

So what does all this mean?

It's an interesting situation, as the game has come in for a certain amount of criticism on forums and throughout the specialist press. There is, after all, little real sense of progression from Resident Evil 4, either in terms of the structure or the unwieldy control system. Of course, the visuals are stunning, but the Majini are Los Ganados with a different ethnic background and some motorcycle riding skills; the end-of-level bosses are the same old mutating freaks, with briefly emerging weakspots; the story is recognisable pulp conspiracy gumph, with the odd 'surprise' character return. It is the very definition of formulaic.

And yet many of us - myself very much included- are still enthralled. By contrast, compare Resident Evil with another big franchise that kicked off in 1996, Tomb Raider. It was in that game's fifth installment that the public started to lose interest; the never-changing concept of a sexy archeologist leaping about in grotty tombs seemed stretched and tired. I suppose the difference is, Tomb Raider Chronicles was a really mediocre game, slovenly wallowing in the successes of the past without coming close to replicating them. Resi 5 might not push the envelope but, hell, at least it knows what's inside it.

Of course, there are external factors influencing the comparative success of the game. The U2 album is poor, current movies aren't amazing, and ultimately, both of those media are more convenient to illegally download than games. And as for rival game releases, it's March, for heaven's sake, not much else is out. Wii Fit and Professor Layton are still skulking about in the top five, accompanied by H.A.W.X, a new flight combat sim, and Killzone 2, a PS3 exclusive. At the same time, we have an economic climate in which people are looking for value in their entertainment purchases. Although there's no multiplayer in the boxed Resi 5 (another issue entirely), there's a good twenty hours of single-player/co-op enjoyment - and that's if you're really fast and miss lots of secret stuff.

And let's face it Resident Evil is a reliable brand. Apart from the not-very-good Gun Survivor titles and some other minor atrocities, the main throughline of major titles has been excellent. Predictability is an important selling point right now - if you look at the way major consumer service providers are advertising themselves these days, it's not just on price, it's on reliability; people want to know their money is safe, because suddenly everything seems incredibly insecure and vulnerable.

So, in some ways, it's not a failing it's a selling point that Resi 5 is effectively Resi 4 on a different continent. And really, like the ultra-formulaic mainstream horror movies that Hollywood churns out every month, Resident Evil 5 is best viewed, not as an artistic statement or a creative endeavour, but as a horror machine, a device formulated to provide the requisite shocks and gross-out moments. Indeed, knowing what's going to happen, being able to predict what Chris Redfield will find behind that door, or down that mine shaft, is part of the fun. Anticipation and delayed confirmation are fundamental tropes of the horror oeuvre.

Resident Evil 5 will be grimly, but unrelentingly compelling to most gamers. It has a recipe and follows it with panache. Critics don't necessarily like that, but then that's what critics are there for - to analyse and demand more from entertainment spectacle. It'll be up to Resi 6 to fulfill that role and Capcom knows it. For now, we'll take the endlessly mutating bosses and the ludicrous plotlines, the bad acting and the painstaking inventory management. Because in a world of depressing, often horrifying change, lord help us, if we can't rely on zombies, what have we got left?