The Charge:

You Don’t Have to Face Fear Alone

Opening Statement:

4 years after Resident Evil 4 re-energized the series and brought in an army of new fans, Resident Evil 5 is upon us. The name of the game this time around is co-op play, and the story is of the white-knuckle variety. There’s action, intensity and gore galore, but does it stand up to its now legendary predecessor?

Facts of the Case:

10 years have passed since Racoon City. The Umbrella Corporation lies in ruins, but their influence continues to be felt. Gripped in the fear of another worldwide biological incident, the World powers have formed the BSAA (Biological Security Assessment Alliance). With Umbrella’s stock in the toilet, and no Government bailout in sight, Chris Redfield, survivor of at least two previous Resident Evil games, joins up with the BSAA to stomp some more Zombies. His mission takes him to the fictional nation of Kijuju in Africa, where he will once again battle a horde of biological organic weapons (NOT Zombies), and he’ll hopefully tie up all the loose threads that have carried over throughout the series’ sprawling narrative. At his side is African BSAA agent Sheva Alomar, at his back is an old foe from games long past.

The Evidence:

Resident Evil 5 plays a LOT like Resident Evil 4. Most people will probably shout triumphantly at that bit of news. Those few who were hoping for the more puzzle-oriented experience of the first few games can keep moving on, it ain’t here. The gameplay is predominantly shooter-fare. You move from area to area, with a mini-map pointing you in the right direction, shooting whatever pops up in front of you. Occasionally some “on-rails” sections show up, and these are pretty great, and of course, you get some pretty creative Boss fights throughout. Where the game differs from other shooters, and indeed, one of the features that still makes this very much a Resident Evil title, is in the area of inventory management. Storage space is limited, allowing for the bare minimum of equipment to be carried. By the time you reach the third chapter, you’ll begin to realize that you can’t carry every weapon you pick up, and still manage to keep yourself in ammo and healing items. 

This is where your partner comes in. Make no bones about it, Resident Evil 5 is built entirely with co-operative play in mind. Sheva never leaves your side, whether playing split screen with another person on the couch (with the most bizarre screen setup i’ve ever seen), over the Playstation Network or Xbox Live, or with a CPU controlled partner. The Computer’s artificial intelligence is such that you won’t really have to babysit, but you will have to do a little more inventory management and item swapping to keep things running smoothly. You can also issue rudimentary commands that the computer can usually obey with little trouble. The ideal way to play is of course with a human driven partner, and the game gives you the ability to swap weaponry and items back and forth at your leisure. If one player decides to hoard all of the pick ups, you won’t get far.

The “gold for guns” and “upgrade my shootin’ iron” systems are back, though this time there’s no teleporting sexual deviant with a creepy voice hocking firearms around every corner. You get to purchase items when you load a new level, or when you perish. It works well enough, but you don’t get the same access to gear that you did in RE4, you also cannot buy ammunition for said guns, and running around bristling with small arms with no ammo to load in them definitely cramps your style. I’d also recommend using that hard earned gold for weapon upgrades rather than buying the latest and greatest, as basic weaponry does little damage, turning the vast majority of the bad dudes you’ll face into glorified bullet-sponges. Aiming for the head or neck helps, but not much. In split screen, both players share resources, while online players bring with them what they had from previous games they’ve played. 

What makes the lesser emphasis on firearms a little more confusing is the relatively high level of action present. Resident Evil 5 makes Gears of War look slow. Around every corner, over every wall, and in every room there are enemies to fillet and mutilate. And while one would think that would make the game considerably more difficult than RE4, the controls have been tweaked just enough to make things a little smoother, and the enemies are so tightly bunched for the most part that it’s impossible not to hit ‘em when you pray ‘n spray. This rapid pace carries over into the cutscenes, which also feature a ton of action, and a few scenes punctuated by extremely well implemented Quick time events . 

Resident Evil 5‘s storyline is a decent effort. It does feel like more than just an excuse to throw copious amounts of lead at zombies, but at the same time there are definitely elements shoe-horned in there to suit the co-op nature of the gameplay. It’s great to see Chris Redfield again (last seen in the underrated Dreamcast outing, Resident Evil: Code Veronica), but there’s a subplot with his former partner, Jill Valentine (Of Resident Evil and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis) that just doesn’t gel well for me, though i’m told it actually fits into the main storyline, and comes from the utter crapfest that is Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles on the Wii. Flaws aside, I admire the efforts of the team to continue with the flavor of RE4‘s gameplay while tying up the loose ends left dangling from the original series before RE4 took the narrative off the rails. This pretty much ensures that fans of both styles will get something out of Resident Evil 5. There are also some sudden, if not altogether unpredictable twists that occur and keep things moving. Sure it all boils down to cheesy melodrama, but it’s damn entertaining cheesy melodrama.

Technically, Resident Evil 5 is as good as it gets. It’s a stunning looking game on either console, with beautiful lighting and shadows, and suitably effective oversaturated colors. The character models are impeccable, the texture work is fantastic, and the environments are varied and show an insane attention to detail. The game uses the same “performance capture” technique used for Uncharted: Drake’s fortune, and the benefits of said method are easy to spot, giving the characters some amazing facial animations, and allowing for jaw-dropping cutscenes. It really doesn’t get any better than this. The sound is also solid, though it never quite reaches the same level as the graphics, fantastic orchestral score notwithstanding. 

Rebuttal Witness:

I’d love to say that Resident Evil 5 is the perfect game, but i’m a picky bastard. For one, the controls are a constant battle. Your character turns with all the speed of a water buffalo, and while you can adjust the aim speed in the menus, it never really reaches a level where you aren’t constantly correcting aim before you squeeze off a few rounds. This complaint is as old as Resident Evil 4, and is to be expected at this point. Sure it’s a stylish decision, but that doesn’t make it right. Also, the “no moving while shooting” rule has got to go! Got to! Sure it creates tension, but it creates equal amounts of frustration. There are also a few times where the camera gets a little hung up and all you can see in your field of view is Chris’s back, but these are few and far between. Then there’s the animation, which is great for the most part, but sometimes looks no better than RE4′s shambling.

Fans of the trademarked Resident Evil Boss Battle will have plenty to do, and some of the fights are pretty damn creative, but overall they lack the originality, and more importantly, the difficulty of Resident Evil 4‘s often times truly EPIC encounters. Finally the sound effects are pretty much stock, and the firearms sound weak. Some more panning on the weapons, and maybe a little more volume on the bangs and booms would have been nice (though the exploding barrels are ok). As it is, they are often overpowered by the voices and ambiance. It’s far from a huge deal, but it bears mention.

Also worth talking about is the highly touted Collector’s Edition. This much more expensive edition includes a host of extra junk that is exactly that: junk! While the documentary is somewhat entertaining, it focuses entirely on making the cinematics for the game (which are directed by the same dude responsible for Wes Craven’s Pulse re-make from a few years back) and doesn’t really cover any other ground, the “Chris Figurine” is a little over two inches tall, and may or may not be in more than one piece, the iron-on patch and medallion are, well, an iron-on patch and medallion, and the “Tri-Cell” carrying bag is a flimsy piece of rubbish that may well have been made from zombie hide for all its durability. Unless you’re the hardest of the hard core, save the extra $20 to $25 bucks you would have to throw for the CE, and stick to the regular edition. Kudos To Capcom for putting together such a lavish set, but next time how about some better made swag.

Closing Statement:

Resident Evil 5 is a fantastic effort. In some respects it falls short of Resident Evil 4, it’s about half the length, and in other areas it soundly trumps it. Whether a fan of the series or someone looking for a good co-operative experience, this is your fix, and It’s a more cerebral game than Gears of War or Army of Two. It’s an adrenaline rush, and actually tells a decent story that pulls the curtain on the convoluted Resident Evil legacy. It’s not perfect, but Resident Evil has never been about perfection. 

The Verdict:

Platform: Microsoft Xbox360/ Sony Playstation 3 (Both versions reviewed)
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Release Date: March 13th, 2009
Rated: M(17+) for Mature.