Dammit, look behind you!

It's weird to think of a zombie invasion as an anticipated event, but we've been waiting for Resident Evil 5 for way too long. The silence from Capcom has been as chilling as any too-quiet-and-well-lit-window-lined corridor. Thankfully, after several months of inactivity we have some new information on the latest installment in the iconic survival horror series.

The series returns to its roots in one way, as Chris Redfield, one of the original protagonists, steps up to the plate to track down a bioterrorism threat in Africa. This little bit of recycling worried me; after 34 million sales since the original Resident Evil in 1996, you'd think Capcom would be scratching their heads to come up with anything new, especially after the major success of Resident Evil 4. Luckily, it seems Capcom veterans and co-producers Jun Takeuchi and Masachika Kawata have scraped something off the bottom of the barrel.

One of the more interesting developments to come to light is that large portions of the came will be played, uhh, in the light. Capcom have promised the daylight adventures of our favourite shuffling foes will be just as spooky; it's great to see designers trying to create atmosphere with something besides the same old "oh no the power's out" cliches. Apparently some new lighting effects will assist in bringing to life the glare of the desert, just one of a whole host of new technologies Capcom have developed specifically for this title - no wonder they've been sitting on it so long.

There will of course be a whole new range of virus-spawned monsters to contend with, and it seems Umbrella's genius is lashing out in a more concerning direction, with enemies boasting greater speed and increased intelligence over previous incarnations, so that scream and run tactics will sometimes prove necessary even when facing down even just one mutant, let alone a pack of them. Of course, you'll have the usual selection of knives, handguns, machine guns and even a sniper rifle with which to defend the human race.


Still no definite word on when we'll have this charmer to actually play with, but here's a brand new trailer, from Captivate 08 (you may have seen this one in lower def as part of Now Playing earlier this week), which looks extremely pretty, so fingers crossed that we won't have much longer to wait.