I should say NOT!
Over the past couple of days, a couple of sites/magazines who have played full or almost full copies of the game, have been reporting that they've found racist imagery in Capcoms newest game. Similar accusations first began back when screenshots of the game were revealed to the public. The game takes place in a (presumed) South African country. The game features a white protaganist (Chris Redfield), and his enemies, the infected, inherintly black members of this fictional country of Kijuju.
Actually not racist
Now, these allegation could be excused. If it wasn't for the fact that the game is set in Africa. Soon after this was fully explained to the naysayers, the idea of racism, for the most part, fell off the radar.Now, unfortunatly, certain review sites (i.e. Eurogamer) are trying to relight the still glowing embers of this debate. The man who was tasked with reviewing the game (I assume it was the reviewer anyway) claims that RE 5 features outdated ideals about African civilization. He states that one of the first things people will see upon stepping into the shoes of Chris Redfield is the brutal beating of someone or something, in a bag, by a group of non-infected African men. The men glare angrily at Chris as he goes by. While I can see why this could be seen as racist, I am more leaning towards the "not so racist side". Let me explain.
It is a sad, but known fact that many of the people in South Africa are at war. It is a troubling time for them, which would undoubtably lead to many people being raised in unideal conditions, and around constant violence. The fact that people without proper parenting and guidance will likely grow up to commit violent crimes is true everywhere. Be it Africa, or the United States. Where some people will say that I'm reading too much into this in order to find an argument, I don't think so. It doesn't take a large leap of the imagination to see that people raised on the streets, will for the most part resort to crime to get along. And while the in game scenario above may have been Capcom trying to spread racist ideals, I think it's much more likely that it is a group of troubled men.
The makers probably didn't even think that the scene would be a problem, because most people realize that in a Country that is going through what Kijuju is (fictionally) going through, (i.e. The infection of their citizens and subsequent transforming of them into violent murders) would create some civil unrest. It is here that I submit that the "thing" in the bag was in fact, probably an infected person. The group likely captured the person, and is paying them back for something they did. The subsequent glares aimed at Chris could merely be because they don't want him to come near them, for fear of him trying to rescue the infected citizen.
0Once again, I could be reading too much into this.
Uh oh! A black bad guy. Must be racism.
The only other mentioned scene is the taking of a young blonde women, by a group of presumably infected black men. Once the character reaches the women, she is infected as well, and the player is forced to kill her. The reviewer suggests that this is an "outdated notion of African sexual primality". Well... maybe if you're looking for something racist to talk about. While I could see that the disease may have been transmited to her sexually, I also am forced to believe that the men who took her were infected, or were at least being controlled by the main villian of the game in some way. Why else would the women have become infected as well? This would mean that they were not taking her of their own devices, but of someone elses, negating the allegations of racism.
Look. I haven't played the full game. I may not know the full story. But I'm almost positive that this game is not racist. Hell, after the original allegations, white and asian zombies are more prominent now than they should be in an underdeveloped African nation. They even made your partner African as if to create a "See, it's okay, I'm doing it too" vibe. While I can see where the reviewer is coming from, I don't believe that he's looking at this in the right way. But like I said, I haven't played the game, or seen the scenes, so I don't know for sure.
Got a feeling either way? Please, feel free to comment. I'd love to chat.
Also, feel free to check out my website My Secret Online Thoughts
Hunt deadly machines in tactical three-player co-op action and adapt your Hunter for intense missions.
I signed up for the closed beta. I need to see how the gameplay is first and foremost.
This looks like a MH mixed with modern Battle Royal concepts. My problem is that big studios are less and less making SP games and more are focusing on MP games with a focus on live service. I just don't care about playing with other people and thereby being 'sold' the idea that I have to keep feeding money to play with them and look cool doing it. I'll keep looking to Indies for my SP fix most of the time it seems.
The excuse here seems to be “it has a narrative so it can be played solo…you happy” and it’s like come on, this is a co-op focused game first and foremost, the solo side of it will probably be terrible and is there purely for show.
Nah, it can't. The gameplay they talked about requires multiple people and it's time limited. So you're just repeating the procedurally created scenarios with random enemies and buffs over and over. I highly doubt they're pulling off a Hades type of narrative with it. Just feeding that 15 minute MP desire with more future modes that will surely end up being rotated in on a weekly or so basis because you don't want to split the community too much between too many modes.
MonsterVine: "My Hero Academia: All’s Justice delivers explosive arena combat and a strong roster, but uneven singleplayer modes and frustrating encounters hold it back."
Valve writes: "Our goal of shipping all three products in the first half of the year has not changed. But we have work to do to land on concrete pricing and launch dates that we can confidently announce, being mindful of how quickly the circumstances around both of those things can change. We will keep you updated as much as we can as we finalize those plans as soon as possible."
wait til the game is out to do this article, we have yet to see the full product including story line. It's also bad taste to advertise our own site as well.