Resident Evil 5 (PS3, Xbox360)

I was first introduced to the Resident Evil series with RE2.  Up until then all I heard about was how great the first game was.  Resident Evil 2 lived up to all of the hype and more. At this time the survival horror genre was brand spanking new, with the RE series blazing the way. The fixed camera angles that prevented you from seeing what was coming next combined with the uncertainty of whether or not you would even have enough ammo to deal with an inevitable attack created a tense video game experience like no other. After a few more sequels and spin offs, the tried and true formula was starting to show its age.  By the fourth official sequel, Resident Evil 4, the formula had been somewhat revamped, allowing for a less claustrophobic camera and a greater selection of weapons. The fifth installment seeks to build on the changes from the fourth game while adding some tweaks of its own.  So here we are with RE5. Did it live up to the hype like some of the previous games????

GRAPHICS 10/10

The first thing you will notice about this game is how amazing the graphics are. The level of detail in everything from textures to character models is just straight up impressive.  A lot of games look great but have graphical hiccups here and there or the occasional glitch. Not this game though. The graphics look unbelievable from the beginning to the end. To be honest, the in game graphics always look as good, if not better, than the cut scenes. Capcom games have always been highly polished in the graphics department, and this game is no exception. Resident Evil 5 is arguably THE best looking game on any console right now.

GAMEPLAY 8/10

In the beginning, the gameplay takes a little while to get used to. Having thoroughly played the demo, I still had to familiarize myself with RE5’s unique control scheme again once i got the final game. After a short while though, the controls become second nature and almost effortless.  While I adapted to the controls fairly easily, I can see how other people may have a difficult time adjusting. They definitely aren’t your standard FPS or 3PS controls.  Then there are those hardcore Resident Evil purists- like the Japanese kid who lives in his mom’s basement and completes the game in under an hour without using any healing items and only using the knife for a weapon ( no offense if you’re a Japanese kid reading this in your mom’s basement with the game on pause), who argue that the game is not at all like Resident Evil.

To be honest, the controls are a combination of RE and Gears of War.  You can take cover against objects and stop and pop your weapon, ala Gears.  Also, the weapon selection is much beefier as there is a variety of every weapon type from multiple handguns to shotguns. While not quite the weapon list of say Call of Duty, there are quite a few to choose from, especially for a RE game.  Between chapters you can purchase additional weapons and upgrades, but strangely you can’t buy any ammo. Even though this stays true to the scarce ammo idea from previous games, the new surplus of firepower definitely takes most of the fear out of this game.

The biggest addition to this game is that of a full time partner. You start out controlling Chris Redfield, the protagonist from the first RE game who has obviously gotten a gym membership since we saw him last. ( I must say that Chris’ guns make me want to go do some underhand pull ups to step up my own bicep game) You are immediately joined by Sheva Alomar, your trusty female sidekick. Sheva is decent as far as AI partners go. She is an excellent shot (most of the time) and even though she has a habit of grabbing health items that are left lying around, at least she is cool enough to at least share it with you 99% of the time.  Another bonus is that Sheva’s inventory is completely manageable by you. You can tell her what to pick up, have her carry things for you, and even swap items with her.

All is not perfect in sidekickville though. She has the occasional stupid moments. One part of the game, she instructed me to drive our boat while she was supposed to shoot all of the guards on the ledge so that the gate would open. After circling the gate about four times, she hadn’t fired a single shot. It then occurred to me that Sheva had no ammo.  A simple “I need ammo” sound byte would’ve really helped out there. For the most part though, she is a trusty sidekick and if anything you can simply use her as a medic/mobile storage unit.

One of the best things about Sheva is that she allows you to play through the game with a friend in co-op, either on the same system, through system link, or via x-box live.  One player controls Chris while the other takes control of Sheva.   Of the three co-op options, Live is definitely the way to go. You don’t have to share the screen with anyone, and the game seems tailor made for online co-op play.The co-op mode is an absolute blast,although it greatly reduces the difficulty of the game, even on some of the harder levels. The addition of a partner (AI or real person) definitely eliminates what little fearful moments the game may have had. There are a couple of creepy parts to be sure, but nothing to make you want to play with the lights on.

STORY 9/10

Resident Evil 5 has all of the big budget production values of the most high octane summer blockbusters. While the plot isn’t too incredibly deep and the few plot twists that are featured can be seen miles away, the story is a blast. It takes you all over, around, and under Africa and features some of the coolest locales in any game. Fans of the series will be able to predict almost immediately, who the villains are and the “secret” identities of certain characters.  Despite all of this, I found the story to be exciting and engaging enough to make me want to play through the entire game without stopping. just for the record, I did stop quite a few times, but if I had the time and lack of a life I definitely would’ve tried to play through the whole thing at once.

SOUND 10/10

The sound for this game is pretty good, although I didn’t care about it as much as I did with other RE games. In previous games, you listened to every groan and growl, anticipating what was waiting to maul you from around the corner. With this game, you are much less on edge and therefore you rely less on audo clues.  This doesn’t mean that they are not there, but I seemed to care quite a bit less about what was coming since I was packing a grenade launcher full of nitrogen rounds and my deadshot partner was covering me with a high powered sniper rifle, or maybe that is just me.

Regardless, the sound is great. Explosions go boom really loud and gunshots sound like they really hurt. Voice acting overall is pretty good and though some phrases got a bit repetitive towards the endand there is an irritating character or two, the dialogue was no where near as grating as some other recent games.  You may get the occasional moment where you want to tell Sheva to STFU, but even that is pretty rare.No sound problems here at all.

REPLAYABILITY 8/10

The game does not currently have an online versus mode of gameplay, although it is expected to be released as downloadable content in the next month or so. How they integrate this into the game is a whole other issue, so I will save my opinions for when it drops.  The campaign is highly replayable, especially with a friend. Although campaigns can only be replayed so many times before they get old, even the excellent fast paced shooter Left 4 Dead starts to wear out its campaign welcome after so many playthroughs.

OVERALL 9/10

To be perfectly fair, I barely played RE4 so I can’t really comment on improvements in this game from the previous. The last RE game I played before that was Nemesis and I have no idea what number in the sequel line that would fall under. 

For those expecting the classic old school RE style, this is not the game for you.  The heavy artillery and inclusion of a partner pretty much destroy what little scare value the game may have had. In some parts of the game, it becomes almost a straight up 3rd person shooter, which isn’t a bad thing at all, its just not RE style. For those with an open mind looking for an exciting action packed gaming experience, you’ll want to check this one out. For all the headshot fans out there, you’ll be popping zombie heads like a 7th grader popping pimples.  Overall a great game and highly recommended to anyone who likes a solid co-op campaign.