The crew of IGNcube continues to add to its impressive array of E3 interviews. Yesterday they updated with a few new interviews including one with Resident Evil 4 producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi. The game, set to debut for the GameCube excusively later this year, is a pretty heavy departure for the series. Below are a few highlights from the interview. To read the interview in its entirety click here.

Question: There are extraordinary new enemies. We've seen a giant monster that resembles an ogre. Another gargantuan-sized being picks Leon up with one hand and chokes him. There's also a giant water creature. How do these characters play into the storyline?

Kobayashi: That's also kind of a mystery of the game, but if you think back to the trailer you'll remember a scene where people are actually opening the gates to release the beast. One hint I can offer is that they had to seal that beast up in the first place. They're not necessarily on the same side. That thing was originally sealed off so that it wouldn't do any damage, but in order to stop Leon they freed it and let it loose on him. They didn't want to free it in the first place because as you saw in the video it grabbed on person and smashed another person, so obviously it was very risky to try and release it. They opened Pandora's box, so to speak, in letting that thing out.

IGN: The villagers demonstrate noticeably smarter artificial intelligence. Can you give us some examples of just how smart they are?

Kobayashi: One good example is that if you look at a zombie when it approaches somebody it walks ever so slowly directly at them. These things will try to flank you on the sides. They'll get behind and to the sides of you and they'll also try to attack in groups so that you don't have a place to escape to. If you go into a building, maybe something that has two stories, Leon may barricade the first floor, but they're smart -- they'll try to come at him from the second floor instead. They come at you from all directions. They're not just going to try one way in to get you. If they can't get in that way, they will like a smart person -- a person who can actually think -- try another way.

IGN: The Resident Evil franchise has traditionally provided gamers shock scares. A perfect example of this would be the dogs that crashed through the window in the first game. We haven't seen at lot of these elements in RE4. In contrast, it seems to emphasize action, albeit in a very eerie way. Are there old-style scary scenes in the game? Also, will there be points where Leon will simply have to run away from the oncoming villagers?

Kobayashi: When it comes to the action, sometimes you're going to be attacked by 10 or 20 villagers, so of course you're going to run. If you're talking about the jump scares from the original Resident Evil then yes, there are still those in the game. We still have scenes where things jump out and scare you, but there are not as much as the previous Resident Evil games because we really wanted to put a focus on action.

Source: IGNcube