Resident Evil 5

(untitled review)

Resident Evil is one of the most historic Survival Horror franchises. It managed to provide tense gameplay and have a very deep story at the same time. Over the years we have seen titles on many consoles, have a brief online following (Outbreak), and G Con spinoff (Dead Aim) and some FPS remakes (Survivor).

RE4 was a major turning point as the game became more action orientated. This wasn’t a bad thing and the game is a classic, there was less suspense but you still couldn’t move while shooting so shots were crucial and they had to count.

Now we have RE5, set in Africa and you now have a partner. Thankfully there is on and offline co-op or you can play alone with the AI. Some may find the help reassuring but once again it shows that the emphasis isn’t on horror and it’s turning some of the original fans away. You have to treat this as a game in itself and accept it for what it is if you are going to enjoy it. You’ll have to have an interest in the characters and story and accept the gameplay. Some people complain about the controls and they do feel a bit dated but that hasn’t stopped me from ever enjoying an RE game. The story does have loose connections to previous titles so some new players may feel a little lost but it’s easy to tell the good guys from the bad guys and Gametrailers.com has a retrospective covering all titles and another episode detailing Umbrella’s history.




Sheva, your partner is useful to have around as you can swap around inventory. If playing alone you will have to be careful and manage her supplies as she can be liberal with health and ammo. It’s recommended that you play with a real person so you can co ordinate properly. However she can handle herself and will heal you if in trouble, you can also ask for ammo. I noticed that she likes to use her pistol ammo first and then switch to a better weapon.The one upside of the AI partner is that she will always be close. With friends it’s really easy to wonder off, get attacked by a horde of the plagued and die before your partner has a chance to save you. You will need to be a team during this game.

The “zombies” now attack in numbers and some of them are armed. This can provide a nice change of pace from earlier titles where the zombies were slow moving and they were easy to isolate. The only problem is that some of them will rush up to you only to slow down at the last second so you can place a bullet in them. However it’s the sheer number of hostiles that can unease you. In the first chapter you are faced with an endless horde in a very confined space and all you have are two pistols with very limited ammo. Oh, and there’s a huge man with an axe after you. It’s a sign of worse things to come.

One of the friendly mini boss encounters

Most of your ammo and money will come from drops made by the zombies but it's worth the effort to run around and search all locations for treasures to sell and weapons to pick up as it will save you money and more importatntly may even save your life.

Just like the last game you can upgrade and buy weapons with money you find throughout your adventure. You can do this at menu screens and when you die. A useful tactic would be to find one gun you like and upgrade to the max. A good combo would be a Rifle and Magnum to pull off some explosive headshots. The shotgun is also useful for taking out groups, especially the dogs.

The graphics are literally stunning. RE4 still looks great and RE5 will probably wow people years from now. Even close up you will not find any jagged edges or blotchy textures. Even the character animation is impressive. Every item in the game looks polished and adds a real sense of atmosphere. There is not a single dull moment.

So while RE5 may have strayed even further from its roots and the game has now taken a turn towards action it is still a fantastic game to play alone or with a friend. At the end you’ll unlock a mode where the objective is to take out as many hostiles as you can and some PvP modes are on the way as well as DLC. There may be no standard online modes but this game can do without. You’ll have enough fun just replaying the campaign.