The Resident Evil 4 camera was an unintended success. As confirmed by survival horror legend and RE developer, Shinji Mikami.
For some, Resident Evil 4 is not only the best game in the series, but it’s also considered to be one of the best games of all time. At the very least, it was certainly one of the most influential. However, it seems much of its success was a very fortunate accident.
The devs were chatting 25 years of RE
During a video uploaded to the Biohazard YouTube channel, Shinji Mikami was joined by fellow Resident Evil developer, Jun Takeuchi. In the video, they were discussing the 25 years of the iconic Capcom franchise.
Mikami among various other RE games wrote and directed Resident Evil 4. Furthermore, while on the topic of its influential over-the-shoulder third-person camera perspective, Mikami revealed that it was never intended to be groundbreaking.
Resident Evil 4 camera just worked better
According to Mikami, the reason that RE4 opted to have the over-the-shoulder camera, was simply due to the fact that it worked better than the more traditional fixed camera. The fixed camera was a perspective used in the original Resident Evil trilogy, as well as, in some respects, Code: Veronica.
“It felt natural, oddly enough,” explained Mikami. “We weren’t planning on doing something innovative, but in the end, everyone kept saying we did. To us personally, we just thought that angle was better. We weren’t trying to do something new or groundbreaking, there was none of that.”
Following the release of RE4, many games followed its lead with its then-unique camera perspective. Video games such as Dead Space and even more recently, God of War (2018) owes a lot to RE4 heritage.
Gears of War and more were inspired
Another game that took some inspiration from Resident Evil 4, was Gears of War. Takeuchi, who was working on Lost Planet during the time of RE4s development, was approached by a member of the Gears of War team during E3.
“During the development of Lost Planet, at our first E3, we were approached by the Gears of War team,” said Takeuchi. “They were all around us, checking out the Lost Planet camera. A bunch of them were asking why we weren’t using the Resident Evil 4 camera in the game. We were like: ‘Well, it’s a completely different game.’”
Takeuchi then explained that a member of the Gears team, told him: “We based the Gears of War camera on Resident Evil 4’s. Here, check this out.”
Resident Evil 4 remake is on the way!
In related RE4 news, Resident Evil 4 is getting a remake and it releases on March 24, 2023, for PC, PlayStation 5 as well as Xbox Series X|S. Only time will tell if the remake proves to be as successful as the original.
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Featured Image Credit: Capcom/Source: VGC via YouTube