10 Controversial Video Game Levels That Were Completely Misunderstood

5. Resident Evil 5 - The Village

When Capcom decided to leave America behind and set Resident Evil 5 in Africa, they walked into a lot more trouble than they probably bargained for. From the very first trailer (shown at E3 in 2007), Resident Evil 5 was criticised for seemingly featuring racist imagery; mainly the idea of a white American killing black enemies. It's an accusation that the game never managed to shake. A second trailer revealed a more ethnically diverse group of enemies, though Capcom denied that the controversy had forced them into making changes. Still, many people seem convinced that Resident Evil 5 can be interpreted as racist, especially in the earlier levels, set in an undisclosed African village, which, in some people's opinion, alludes to the idea that the African villagers are "infected" before they've even been hit by a virus. Perhaps the issue with Resident Evil 5 is that the African enemies are depicted as infected and therefore inferior. However, Resident Evil has always been a series that relies on realism to create a suitable horror environment. It's a series where viruses and infection can decimate cities in hours; surely it makes sense that poverty stricken areas of Africa would succumb quickly to the introduction of a lethal virus? It's also noted in Code Veronica that the Progenitor virus originates in Africa, making it an obvious place to set a game based around dealing with bio-organic weapons. Above all else, it simply wouldn't be acceptable for Capcom to release a game with any kind of racial prejudice. They're a huge company staffed by men and women of all racial backgrounds; while that doesn't automatically exclude them from creating racist games, it does show that any attempt to do so would come under serious scrutiny from within the company itself. Sadly, there's plenty of racist games out there (mostly garbage indie games that don't deserve a mention of any kind); even through various interpretations, it's hard to look at Resident Evil 5 and describe it as a game that's innately racist.