Racist imagery might really exist in Resident Evil 5

When the first Resident Evil 5 trailer came out there were accusations of racist imagery. This was followed by Capcom's introduction of white African zombies, but Eurogamer's hands-on with the game brings the sorry news that the racism might still remain.

There was always danger in showing a glorified white American male killing black African zombies, and by all accounts we thought Capcom had solved the issue by: one, introducing other infected races and; two, making it clear that the African's were indeed good people that had been overcome by a terrible disease that had turned them into zombies.

However, Eurogamer warns that once the game comes out, the racism debate will get even louder, since "there's imagery in [the game] that goes beyond the general air of foreign menace that caused a ruckus in the first trailers."

The problem comes from the fact that there is a negative view of uninfected Africans (their eyes are not bloodshot red), such as a gang of African men brutally beating a living thing in a sack; they menacingly stare at you walk past. Eurogamer continues:

"Since the Majini are not undead corpses, and are capable of driving vehicles, handling weapons and even using guns, it makes the line between the infected monsters and African civilians uncomfortably vague. Where Africans are concerned, the game seems to be suggesting, bloodthirsty savagery just comes with the territory."

The imagery takes a step further with one cut-scene showing a white blonde woman being dragged off by black men. When you try to rescue her she's already been zombified and must be killed. Eurogamer can't see this scene's relevance to the story and claims "it plays so blatantly into the old clichés of the dangerous "dark continent" and the primitive lust of its inhabitants that you'd swear the game was written in the 1920s."

Eurogamer even claims that the "Hollywood approved" light-skinned American black heroin Sheva doesn't absolve Capcom, but makes the problem worse - especially when there's reportedly dodgier imagery later in the game (such as having to kill tribal Africans complete with spears and shields.)

But what makes this different from the Spanish zombies in Resident Evil 4? Eurogamer argues that "the Spanish don't have the baggage of being stereotyped as subhuman animals for the past two hundred years."

Africa can tell a convincing horror story, but when "you're applying the concept of people being turned into savage monsters onto an actual ethnic group that has long been misrepresented as savage monsters, it's hard to see how elements of race weren't going to be a factor," says Eurogamer.

With this danger in step - it's only a matter of time before the media picks up on the game and pigeon-holes the imagery as racist, whether there are racist intentions behind it or not. It would most likely be correct to argue that Capcom is just naive, rather than deliberately recreating racist imagery - but what's the difference when the images are the same?

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For more on Resident Evil 5, please visit its game page after this link.