REVIEW: ‘Resident Evil 5’ is infectious fun
F.March 20.Video Games.Russell
By Tim Russell
Staff Writer
Finally, masses of fans can rejoice as the sequel to the critically acclaimed “Resident Evil 4” is now on store shelves.
In 2005, “Resident Evil 4” was the pinnacle of the survival horror genre. Both fans and newcomers were blown away by its innovation and presentation. It eventually garnered several game-of-the-year awards and remakes.
Following in the large footsteps of its predecessor, “Resident Evil 5” (RE5) makes the jump to current consoles with bioterrorist agents Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar, who are investigating the origins of a deadly virus outbreak in Africa.
Can Chris and Sheva live up to the high expectations of fans? Read on as I break down the pros and cons of RE5.
Pros
Graphics – RE5 is pretty. No scratch that, RE5 is gorgeous. Everything from the environments to the character models are crisp and pleasantly stand out compared to other new releases.
Most notably, RE5’s lighting effects are easily some of the best in the industry. The lighting delivers an impressively realistic presentation of texture details and reflection.
I have no doubt in my mind that players will be saying “wow” after only 10 minutes of playing.
Co-op – When Capcom first revealed RE5 would be a cooperative experience, gamers were rightfully skeptical. Traditionally the Resident Evil series has been known for its strong single-player campaign.
Thankfully I can put all of that skepticism to rest. In fact, the cooperative modes are so well tuned it’s hard to imagine playing a future Resident Evil title without this feature.
For example, if your partner runs out of ammo, you can share a box. If a deadly mutated dog has you pinned down, your partner can kick it off.
In this way, RE5 not only compliments its own gameplay, but the survival horror genre as well.
Replay Value – The main campaign is short, clocking in at around 15 hours. However, the real substance arrives once RE5 has been completed at least once.
Players can easily spend upwards of 40 hours unlocking the massive amounts of bonus features offered. Some of the features include new game modes, screen filters, collectible figurines and outfits.
Most importantly, the bonus features aren’t just cheap gimmicks. They offer real value and in my case, even made the game more enjoyable during the second play through.
Cons
Controls – I applaud Capcom for trying to appease fans of “Resident Evil 4” by sticking to a similar control scheme, but their efforts fall short of acceptable in RE5.
The result is a bad case of “green light red light.” In order to kill any enemy, the player must first stop moving before they can shoot.
If I was Chris’ partner, I’d be yelling “Hey Chris, aren’t you going to run? There’s a freaking tentacle monster headed your way.”
But maybe it’s a good thing Chris can’t run, considering running in RE5 is such a tedious feat. No kidding, players have to either hold in the analog stick at all times or hold down “A” just to run.
Charm – If there’s one thing survival horror games are great at, it’s making people scared. Unfortunately, the only thing scary about RE5 is the complete lack of creativity in game design.
Each level is like making your way through a simplistic maze with almost no dead ends. Basically RE5 is continuously spent walking from point “A” to point “B” in an extremely linear fashion.
But the real disappointment comes from what players do in between those two points. RE5 is scattered with repetitious enemies and item collection.
“Oh look, a barrel containing monotonous items, I think I’ll smash it. Now there are only 500 more barrels to smash before the game is over.”
In the end, RE5 is a flawed yet great game. It’s not as good as “Resident Evil 4,” but the co-op modes are well executed and ridiculously fun to play with a friend.
“Resident Evil 5” was developed and published by Capcom for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and released on March 13 for $59.95 USD.
–tim.russell@aggiemail.usu.edu