The Resi 5 controversy

Resident Evil 5 has been picking up press ever since it was first announced; mainly because, following the incredible Resident Evil 4 on the Gamecube, anticipation was higher than for previous entries in the rapidly-going-stale series. However, the press has been growing hostile ever since the newer trailers began to appear. Accusations of racism arose as soon as they hit the net.

Resi 5 is set in Africa (or Haiti, it's still unclear). From the trailer, it does seem that the game consists mainly of a lone white man shooting crowds of black people. Here, take a look:



Allegations of racism are being thrown at Capcom, and it's clear to see why - the trailer makes the black people seem like primitive animals, being mown down by the big white man. For the ones that are now 'zombies', this is fair enough... in Capcom's defence, if the game is set in Africa, then the zombies are going to be African. There was no allegations of racism about Resident Evil 4, despite all the enemies being Spanish. However, the worrying thing will be decided on it's portrayal of the non-infected inhabitants - for example, the citizens at the start of the trailer seem to be uninfected, yet are still made to look unusual and frightening.

For me, its going to be a hard one to call until the entire game is available. As Crystal Dynamics' producer Morgan Gray pointed out earlier this week, Japanese games are not noted for their reasonable portrayal of black people, resorting usually to a strange soul-brother stereotype that hasn't really existed in about 30 years, if ever. Trying to think of black characters in Japanese games conjures up images of Barratt in Final Fantasy VII - who says 'sucka' at the end of every sentence and has a gun for an arm - or the customary South American / Jamaican guy in beat 'em ups (see Dee Jay in Street Fighter II: The New Challengers or Eddy Gordo in Tekken).

The problem with Resi 5 lies in the fact that the usual Japanese portrayal of black characters as loveable, dancing, 'yeah mon!' brothers or Mr.T wannabes is not so much offensive as just hopelessly naive. Portraying them as packs of murderous creatures could start to cross the line. With this one, we'll have to wait and see how it turns out.