TOKYO – The new motion-controlled version of Resident Evil 5 works well, although it's not without its issues.
With the release of the PlayStation Move controller in the United States coinciding with the Tokyo Game Show, Sony's booth is chock full of titles that rely on the company's new motion peripheral. In fact, the Sony booth is dominated by a two-floor structure (described to me by the staff as an "apartment building") with over a dozen individual rooms to showcase Move games.
These rooms face the show floor and are open on one end, so that everyone passing the Sony installation gets a good look at guests swinging their Moves around. Had someone been looking in on my session of Resident Evil 5 they would have seen me killing lots of zombies with a puzzled look on my face.
Since its original release in 2009, I have played through Resident Evil 5 many times over, all of it on a standard PlayStation 3 controller. Playing it with the Move was disorienting: Even though I knew what lay in waiting around every corner, I found myself bumping into walls a lot as I walked around.
The key difference and biggest problem with Resident Evil 5 on Move is the fusing of camera and movement commands to a single stick. On a normal controller, I would use the twin analog sticks to control my character and rotate the field of view separately.
With Move, there is only one thumbstick. My character always faced straight ahead because pushing left or right meant turning my whole view. Such a limitation in an action game is a serious handicap, even one with slow-moving enemies like zombies.
Those zombies didn't stand a chance, however, because Move offers a significant advantage over traditional controls. The ability to point and shoot directly at my targets sent my accuracy rate sky high. I also enjoyed the new knife control, where a shake of the Move wand would trigger a quick knife strike.
Taking a game like Resident Evil 5 and adding a new motion-based control scheme isn't as radical as it sounds. The original game was always one of careful shot selection and ammo conservation - Move just makes that easier at the cost of some character dexterity.
I can't say Move makes me more excited about a game I've already played, or vice versa. Likewise, if you weren't already a fan of the game's stop-and-shoot combat, having motion controls won't do a thing to change your mind.
However, as an owner of the Japanese "Alternative Edition" of the game, I will have the option to use Move via a free software update before Tokyo Game Show is over. Owners of the American "Gold Edition" will have to wait until November.
Image courtesy Sony
