I'm pretty sure the only people who are bitching about the length of the game probably never played a RE game in their life.

If the game is very good for those 7 hours, I will not be angry.

It's not too bad. While I haven't played a Resident Evil game since abortive runs of RE2 and RE3, with a struggle to cope with the controls of RE4 Wii, 7 hours is plenty of time, especially if you intend to play it cooperatively.

@Mercurio78

They said not rushing thru the game.

I wish I could remember how long it took for me to finish #4, but I really wasn't keeping track of the time. I got a lot out of the game on top of normal gameplay (subsequent replays, extras, etc.), so if they give me a crap ton to do after beating it once, I'll be happy.

That said, I wasn't thrilled by the demo. They really do need to overhaul the controls. And I'm a huge fan of the series...just that, after playing all sorts of games in between RE4 and the demo, you are reminded how archaic they really are.

But, all that's been said before, and has started countless flame wars, so I'll leave it at that.

I'm going to hold off on picking this one up. I will eventually get it, but for now, it's on the waiting list.

....why are people bitching?

Either the people bitching haven't played RE1-3 or really didn't know that the originals could really be beaten in about 30 mins to an hour. That's without a speed run. seriously.

7 hours is really pretty lengthy if you look at the original RE games where they felt long..but were really pretty short if you know what to do.

In a world where Call of Duty 4 and Portal are revered as some of the best games ever made, I think we can approach a game with an average length campaign with this one mindset:
If those 8 hours of content are compelling, than it's a-okay.
And I guess the team is assuming that the co-operative online stuff would give the game more longevity.
Speaking as a stupid fan of Resident Evil 4, I'm actually looking forward to a shorter single player. Resident Evil 4 is one of the few games I've played that's TOO DAMN LONG. It's crazy that the first play through of that game could be 20 hours long. That's too long! If that shorter campaign is chock full of awesome content, and less obvious padding, why, that would be just peachy!

People are bitching sooooooo god damn much. Jesus christ slow and clunky game play? Its RE4 for gods sake, where were you then? Jesus, stop crying.

Well thats a DealBreaker, I know all the people making exceptions and excuses why its ok for the game to be short are fans so they wont complain even if the game is a failure (which it isnt). Anyway $60 for a 7 hour game that I wont play again is no deal, end of story.

I love short games. Long games make me stop playing ('cept HL2, that was pure awesomeness start to finish).

Good news if it's true. The only single player games I enjoyed recently are those short enough that I had time to finish them (Portal, Prince of Persia, Bioshock, COD4).

Not a big deal. I played through RE4 at least 4-5 times and the Mercenaries mode a ton. I'm still buying day one.

Definitely not buying this one after playing the demo..i don't know why they had to fuck with the RE4 control scheme..that, and i refuse to deal with buddy AI that can die so easily and randomly.

@Edarios

What are you talking about?

I'd hope it'd be short. Resident Evil 4 is fantastic, but the game is just too long. Too bad they screwed up the controls by attempting to pander to the idiots who think it needs strafing and right-stick aiming. The "tank" controls were clearly the best scheme for the old, fixed-camera games and RE4 proved that they're the best for the move to 3D as well. I blame all the idiots playing Halo on Xbox.

Having logged around 18 hours on Resident Evil 4 my first play through, this would make me incredibly upset.

This doesn't bother me at all. Especially since it is intended as a coop experience.

im with mr gilder, i prefer games to be around 10 hours. ever since i had a kid i just dont have the time or concentration complete a 40+ hour game before something else catches my interest.

oh yeah. one more thing, Portal was a short game and you dont exactly see people complaining about it's length.

I completely mastered RE4 and I'm going to do it again with RE5. This news doesn't upset me at all. I beat RE4 3 times in one day (once on professional) a couple summers back. I want to beat RE5 like 10 times on all difficulty levels and unlock EVERYTHING possible. That's how I play my games.

loquax:

"Portal was thrown in with four other full games for a budget price."



Plus Portal wasn't really that much about the story. The center of the game were the puzzles. But in Resident Evil games it has always been about the story. If we can believe the Blogpost there are 80 min of cutscenes in there in comparison to Portal's 0.

This really dissappoints me. Especially as I rember very well that Capcom originally announced that the game would be about 50% longer than RE4. The fact that I now will also have to deal with a stupid coop system just puts me off further. Which is really a shame because RE4 was and still is my favourite game of all time.
The coop with that stupid chick will just throw out any sense of tension and anxiety, because as soon as there is someone to help be it NPC or real buddy, the feeling of being alone and having all odds stacked against you (aka Resident Evil atmosphere) just goes right out the window.

We'll see what the Dtoid staff thinks of the game. I hope Jim is doing a review because I know that his thoughts about RE4 are the same as mine. I will definately not buy it until the Dtoid review and even then I'll probably only get it when the dollar/time ration seriously improves over 10/1.

I was already leaning in the direction of waiting on RE5 after the clunky controls and serious lack of RE-style scares, so this more or less cements it for me. I'll wait till I can get this game for around $40.

Its obvious that most people here have not played any of the original REs (1-3), which could generally be beat first play through in under 4-5 hours.

I Also believe that the controls need to be somewhat slow and restrictive because it adds to the suspense. When Doom3 came out and in order to equip the flashlight you had to put away your guns I was at first annoyed. Later I realized it added to the gameplay. It left you vulnerable because in order to see anything at all you had to have that flashlight out, and then have a freak-out trying to equip your gun when you spot an enemy.

Play RE4 and RE5 side by side, you'll notice how Leon's movements are a lot more fluid compared to Chris's moves, even with the aiming speed maxed, Chris still aims slower, this is one design choice that's just beyond retarded.

I'm still picking it up but I already lined up a trade in case I end up hating it.

I wouldn't mind if RE5 were a touch shorter than RE4, which went on just a bit too long for me, even though I still enjoyed it greatly. However, it's a shame that the game is this much shorter. I'm always an advocate of shorter games that are tightly-produced and strip out unnecessary filler, so if it achieves that, I'll be happy, but I'm disappointed that they couldn't come up with as much material as they had in RE4.

@ dgschrei

Actually, Portal was very much about telling a story. It just did it in the most natural way possible for a video game, avoiding any cutscenes. There is a clear sense of three acts and an organically evolving progression of the plot. Putting a story in does not mean it has to be shown through cutscenes, and I'd argue games have stronger stories when they show the story through your own gameplay and experiences.