Resi 5 boss explains African setting

Jun Takeuchi has explained that the controversial African setting for Resident Evil 5 came from a desire to show you the origins of the virus you were battling.

"We settled on the fact that we really wanted to show the origins of the virus. So for the setting we thought, how about the place where humankind was born?" Takeuchi told Famitsu.

"Well, I'm not a scientist, so I don't know how things might change in the future, but we thought we would use Africa, which is now called the birthplace of humanity, as the model."

Resident Evil 5 has come a long way in the six months since it was last shown, apparently, with Takeuchi and his team exploring all sorts of weather conditions and passages of time to mix things up.

The sun-drenched desert village setting also gave the team a chance to capitalise on the lighting system that imitates your eyes; taking a while to adjust to bright areas when stepping out of the dark and vice versa.

"I've seen a lot of Western developers who've used light as a motif in their games, and I'm always keeping my eye on many different games, but I still believe that we at Capcom are the best," said Takeuchi.

"The fact that you can't see into the shadow is nothing major for a Biohazard title, but for any other game it would make creating the [gameplay] itself very difficult; you can't see your enemies, you can't see any items, you can't see your surroundings.

"But for a Biohazard game that is a quintessential part of the game itself. By focusing on that element we're able to escalate the player's fear of the darkness."

Takeuchi went on to reveal that the game system used is very similar to Resident Evil 4, but with added frills, although he was coy about exactly what those were.

There will be plenty more weaponry this time around as well. The original "Biohazard plan" was to limit your weaponry to make you think about what you were shooting, but the sheer amount of baddies in Resident Evil 5 means your arsenal will have to expand to cope.

The hand-to-hand fighting system from Resi 4 will be returning, too, but with more variations.

You will also get the chance to learn more about main character Chris Redfield and what he has been doing in the ten years since STARS disbanded.

"Everything he'd experienced in the past ten years we wanted to be able to allow the player to experience as well, so we're preparing a few ways to encourage the player to do just that," added Takeuchi.

The characters are to be explored in a Biohazard CG movie as well, we're told.

Pop over to our Resident Evil 5 gamepage for more.