Resident Evil 5 Beta Analysis

Resident Evil 5 Beta Analysis

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Article by yota

Resident Evil 5 was officially announced on June 2005, but it was shown for the first time to the public only two months later in a CG trailer. This video was essentially one of the concepts that the developers were working on since the release of Resident Evil 4: in what at time seemed to be the Middle East or Africa, we saw Chris exploring the alleys of a city and then being  attacked by a group of enemies.

The graphics style and the general mood were already much similar to the released game, even if Chris looked somewhat younger and less bulky.It is interesting to note that producer of the game said, in an old interview, that originally the time of the day and the weather were supposed to have a major impact on the gameplay and affect the main characters abilities. Also, Resident Evil 5 was intended to be single player. Sheva was originally a NPC and a member of a local militia.She would have meet Chris only later in the game.

Anyway, Capcom created another trailer for Resident Evil 5 in 2007. The beginning of this video was not that different from the final game:  Chris walked for a bit in the village and then suddenly all the natives seemed to vanish.  There were, however, many important differences:  Sheva and the dealer were nowhere to be found, Chris didn’t  have his safari dress, cutscenes and dialogues were shorter,  the  location where we fought for the first time was completely removed, enemies had some attacks that can’t be found in the released game, such as the headbutt, and so on.

Even in the last year of the development Capcom was still moving things around. For example, the crash site of the helicopter was originally a fully playable section, not a series of QTE’s.

2004 Beta artworks

The merchant from Re 4 was supposed to return in Resident Evil 5. There were many shops around the town and you could even stole weapons and ammo.

A desert area. The developers removed it because in a such large and open level it was impossible to find cover.

This wrecked ship had a merchant shop inside.

A removed night stage were we had to fight Lickers.

The original design of Sheva, dressed as a militia member.

Jill’s role in  RE5 was changed a few times during the concept stages. It was possible for her to die for real if the the player made the wrongs decisions in the story, and she lead a BSAA team  at a certain point in the game.

The weak point of Wesker was originally his eye, because Jill was meant to hit it with her knife during their fall at Spencer Estate.

Wesker died simply by falling into the  lava.

Another removed scene where Uroboros,which was just a normal enemy in the concept artworks, would have chased Chris in a train.

This was the original beginning of the game: Chris versus an Uroboros.

In the concept stages of Resident Evil Excella was just a secretary to Tricell CEO.

At some point of the game Sheva was kidnapped..

..and we had to save her.

Originally, there was a Tyrant in the game controlled by Wesker. Here we can see that he would have killed Excella.

2005 Trailer

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Chris seems to be younger.

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The mysterious enemies from the 2005 trailer, that were confirmed in the book “the Art of Resident evil 5” to be a quick type of T-Virus zombies. They were changed to Majini because the developers believed  group attacks and organized assaults would not have been possible with such absent-minded felons.

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Of course, the location of the trailer is nowhere to be found in the released game.

2006 Testing Location?

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This in an indoor location created only for testing purposes. The polygonal models of the zombies are very early.

2007 Trailer

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In a removed cutscene, the Majini used an hook to try to catch up with Chris.

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An aerial view of the beta village in the 2007 trailer.

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In the 2007 trailer the Majini didn’t execute the dealer.

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This is the test map where Chris fights for the first time in the 2007 trailer.  It  was completely removed in the released game.  Interestingly, this level (the Public Assembly) was remade 3 times during the development and the first version featured zombies and a much larger area.

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Another removed location from the 2007 trailer.  The assault rifle is remarkably different from the AK-47 of the final game.

2007 Testing Map

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These screenshots are from the same test map of the 2007 trailer

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A woman Majini without bandana. It seems that at the beginning there were more variations of the standard Town Majini.

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In a scripted event, the majini were supposed to overturn the bus. Note the strange pose of the Majini on the left.

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A Majini with a chair.

2008 Trailer

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A beta screenshot of the removed night area.

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A first version of Irving’s boat.  The boss is still absent.

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Beta underground garden. You don’t encounter enemies in this area in the final version. A fight against Wesker in this area was scrapped early in the development.

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A removed locations from the Marshlands.

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Another shot of Irving’s boat.

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In the 2008 trailer the crash site of the helicopter was fully playable.

Other Pics

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Beta version of the dogs.

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In the beta the hangman was the Chainsaw Majini.

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This the bridge of the chapter 2-1, but you can’t go in that place in the final game.

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An entire group of Popokarimu. This was the original cutscene of the helicopter crash, but they later changed it with  a real time one.

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In the final build “Assault” was changed to “Attack”.

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You can’t go in that balcony in the released game.

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Beta Worship Area. The enemies are still the Town Majini.

Project Umbrella Beta List

Here is a list of some of the beta informations published in the book “The Art of Resident Evil 5” (you can find the concept art of the some of these scenarios in the gallery below), courtesy of Project Umbrella Forum:

  • Excella was originally a secretary to the male CEO of Tricell. Wesker becomes intimate with her to gain access into Tricell. Thier relationship is strengthened by what they believe they can gain by manipulating each other.
  • When the male CEO idea was scrapped and Excella was put in charge, her character was changed to a more elegant celebrity type, and again the developers worked hard to ensure her breasts were always on show in the cutscenes.
  • Kijuju originally had a night level which included a large tower in the centre of town. The player could go up this and from the top could see across the whole of Kijuju.
  • Irving was originally an experiment himself and had a bar code on the back of his neck to identify him. Originally you were still in the city when you fought him.
  • The scene were Chris and Sheva were seperated in the Ndipaya kingdom was originally Chris falling down a large pit. He falls into a waste management building for the Umbrella Africa lab and had to fight his way through that alone. Sheva entered the African lab alone and found Jill’s test tube and this time she was still in it.
  • Originally when the game was 1 player it began with a battle against an Uroboros {which at this stage was just another BOW} in the streets of town. Secretary Excella and Irving are looking on from a safe distance. Cameras have been set up all over town and they are being monitored by the male Tricell CEO.
  • The CEO character was betrayed by Wesker and Excella and is murdered in cold-blood. 
  • In the first battle between Chris and Wesker, Chris is beaten to within an inch of his life until Jill rescues him.
  • When Jill fell with Wesker at the Spencer Estate, she stabbed him in the right eye with a knife. As a result, Wesker had a glass eye in his right socket which was to be his one true weakness.
  • The ruins also contained ‘an ancient BOW’ that was re-activated by the progenitor flower.
  • Chris originally fought Wesker in the sun garden. Wesker gets the upper hand then three NPCs turn up to help Chris and Wesker leaves. This triggers the ‘ancient BOW’ boss fight.
  • Other levels included an abandoned fort and a shopping district.
  • *One scene involved the players jumping off a second floor balcony onto a set of unstable pillars. Lots of zombies would be milling around on the floor below and the player had to jump from one pillar to the next while the zombies shook them trying to make the player fall.
  • There was a night level where there is a car crash and there were a lot of local NPCs trying to protect the barricades, fighting back the zombies with primitive weapons. Chris and his partner which at this stage was undecided between Jill or BARRY {!} would have to stop and help out for a predetermined amount of time.
  • One level had a set of tacked drum cans which would fall and the zombies would try and crawl over thema nd one another to get to the player.
  • There was once a massive fortress siege scene. The majini were firing bows and arrows. Chris would be assisted by 12 allies in this scene.
  • Like the scene where you have to protect Josh as he works the elevator, there was a similar one where you had to protect Jill from an El Gigante as she worked the power supply unit.
  • You had to fight 10-15 El Gigantes at the same time.
  • The zombies were changed to Majini because the developers believed another zombie-filled game might not be able to hold it’s own through to the very end.
  • {RE3.5 ALERT} One unused enemy design was a creature that attacked by creating hallucinations to confuse their pray. They would emit a fine mist of gaseous substance from their body, and if Chris were to inhale any of it, the screen would switch to a distorted thermal view. Upon review, this whole process didn’t fit into the game very well, so it was dropped.
  • The Tyrant was cut out because the staff felt it messed with the whole Wesker – Uroboros angle.

As it happened with Resident Evil 4, there could still be some unused content hidden in the game code of Resident Evil 5. We’ll try to update this article when we’ll have more beta informations. Do you have anything to add to this article? Did you find more beta screenshots or videos? Let us know! Send us an email or join our forum!

Thanks to Resident Evil Beta for some of these images!

[Article by yota]

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Images

Beta Trailers:

*Excella was originally a secretary to the male CEO of Tricell. Wesker becomes intimate with her to gain access into Tricell. Thier relationship is strengthened by what they believe they can gain by manipulating each other.
When the male CEO idea was scrapped and Excella was put in charge, her character was changed to a more elegant celebrity type, and again the developers worked hard to ensure her breasts were always on show in the cutscenes.

*Kijuju originally had a night level which included a large tower in the centre of town. The player could go up this and from the top could see across the whole of Kijuju.

*Irving was originally an experiment himself and had a bar code on the back of his neck to identify him. Originally you were still in the city when you fought him.

*The scene were Chris and Sheva were seperated in the Ndipaya kingdom was originally Chris falling down a large pit. He falls into a waste management building for the Umbrella Africa lab and had to fight his way through that alone. Sheva entered the African lab alone and found Jill’s test tube and this time she was still in it.

*Originally when the game was 1 player it began with a battle against an Uroboros {which at this stage was just another BOW} in the streets of town. Secretary Excella and Irving are looking on from a safe distance. Cameras have been set up all over town and they are being monitored by the male Tricell CEO.

*The CEO character was betrayed by Wesker and Excella and is murdered in cold-blood.

*In the first battle between Chris and Wesker, Chris is beaten to within an inch of his life until Jill rescues him.

*When Jill fell with Wesker at the Spencer Estate, she stabbed him in the right eye with a knife. As a result, Wesker had a glass eye in his right socket which was to be his one true weakness.

*The ruins also contained ‘an ancient BOW’ that was re-activated by the progenitor flower.

*Chris originally fought Wesker in the sun garden. Wesker gets the upper hand then three NPCs turn up to help Chris and Wesker leaves. This triggers the ‘ancient BOW’ boss fight.

*Other levels included an abandoned fort and a shopping district.

*One scene involved the players jumping off a second floor balcony onto a set of unstable pillars. Lots of zombies would be milling around on the floor below and the player had to jump from one pillar to the next while the zombies shook them trying to make the player fall.

*There was a night level where there is a car crash and there were a lot of local NPCs trying to protect the barricades, fighting back the zombies with primitive weapons. Chris and his partner which at this stage was undecided between Jill or BARRY {!} would have to stop and help out for a predetermined amount of time.

*One level had a set of tacked drum cans which would fall and the zombies would try and crawl over thema nd one another to get to the player.

*There was once a massive fortress siege scene. The majini were firing bows and arrows. Chris would be assisted by 12 allies in this scene.

*Like the scene where you have to protect Josh as he works the elevator, there was a similar one where you had to protect Jill from an El Gigante as she worked the power supply unit.

*You had to fight 10-15 El Gigantes at the same time.

*The zombies were changed to Majini because the developers believed another zombie-filled game might not be able to hold it’s own through to the very end.

*{RE3.5 ALERT} One unused enemy design was a creature that attacked by creating hallucinations to confuse their pray. They would emit a fine mist of gaseous substance from their body, and if Chris were to inhale any of it, the screen would switch to a distorted thermal view. Upon review, this whole process didn’t fit into the game very well, so it was dropped.

*The Tyrant was cut out because the staff felt it messed with the whole Wesker – Uroboros angle.


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monokoma




13 thoughts on “Resident Evil 5 Beta Analysis

  1. ZytM

    Some of the concept art is interesting.

    It looks like, at one point, either Sheva or Jill was supposed to die (It’s not that clear), Excella was supposed to be the one controlling Jill, Jill’s in her BSAA costume while obviously being controlled, and Chris was supposed to find her in the containment pod.

    I also think, that Jill, Chris, and Sheva were supposed to team up for much longer, Excella was meant to be killed by a tyrant, not turned into an Uroboros, The plane was to be used in the final battle, that Sheva and Chris were supposed to split up a lot more than they do in the finished game, and that Wesker wouldn’t have transformed as the final boss.

    Pretty cool finds, actually.

  2. Reon Sukotto Kenedi

    Good work, BUT it’s nice to see how other pages material is used without permission of the administrator. In this case http://www.resident-evil-beta.de.

    I have one picture as evidence. The following:
    http://www.unseen64.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/330xkpd.jpg

    And now compare with the picture of resident-evil-beta.de:
    http://www.resident-evil-beta.de/bilder/re5-beta-06.jpg

    You should clearly be able to see, that our page’s symbol and the majini at the right were cut out. Second evidence is the red arrow in the picture, that is always used by our administrator (Tyrant) to illustrate things in pictures, that are described by a related text.

    I demand that you put in the original picture, or take the picture out completely.

    Yours sincerely,
    Nero, Support-Moderator @ resident-evil-beta.de

  3. monokoma Post author

    Hi Reon! All those screens were found in another forum and then shared in the U64 forum by one of our users along with scans of the Official RE5 Strategy Guide, the original source of those images.

    http://forum.unseen64.net/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=867&p=12099I

    As you can imagine it’s not an easy task to find who originally scanned that Strategy Guide, files are easily shared in online-communities and often the original source is lost in the various passages. Anyway, dont worry, i’m already talking with Tyrant to add a link to REB.de in U64 :)

  4. yota

    sorry reon, it was my fault.. i got confused, and i thought that the screen with the arrow was from the official guide because it was together with the other scans

    anyway, Tyrant was already aware of this page.. i linked it to him because he was so kind to allow us to use his images of the beta version of Biohazard 3

  5. Killer_man

    The image from the 2007 test at the map of the trailer the weird woman at the left doesn’t have animations… so that is a ”T pose” a.k.a ”Jesus animation” so they doesn’t have all animations yet for that part of the development. I think they have the animation but they haven’t put it yet just to correct it.

  6. SezZ

    I think i found stuff from 2008 version of RE5 in released game benchmark and recorded:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWYMRNHZiAI

    Why i think its from 2008 version?
    1. More enemies, like showed in 2007 and 2008 trailers. If you think this is not from 2008 version, then why creators droped more enemies in benchamark?
    2. In video you can see Chris and Sheva using weapons what cant be found in that level. For e.g. in first part of video (public atsambly place) sheva using shotgun, chris using mp5 those weapons only can be found in later levels (intacha shotgun in 1-2, mp5 in 2-1)
    3. There is some differences between levels in benchmark and levels in released game: at 3rd part of video doors dont have padlock, game spawn some enemies behind you, no traps with explosives at stairs.
    2nd part of video: enemies enter in area not by climbing walls but by opened gates, no scene on bridge (in final realease on bridge is scene where truck tries to overrun you) no red (explosive) barrels on bridge.

  7. yota

    very interesting sesz! that video is definitely beta. The 2008 version was still different from final release, that’s for sure. There was a night level completely playable, for example. I don’t know why they removed ALL the night stages in the first chapters (well, apart from the ndesu boss battle), in the concept artworks there are many of them!

    i am currently updating this article btw. sorry for the mess and the eventual errors :)

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