Resident Evil is the series that revolutionized the survival horror genre back on the PS1. With 4 main games (5 if you count RE: Zero) and a few spin off titles, people just can’t seem to get enough of Capcom’s zombie fest. Now thanks to Capcom’s marketing scheme, March 13th 2009 has come and gone and Resident Evil 5 has finally here, but how does it hold up against its predecessors?

To get it out of the way, Resident Evil 5 does look amazing. The big thing Capcom was hyping in terms of graphics was the lighting, and the lighting always amazes me. It always looks great seeing the lighting switch from a bright area to a dim area. One problem is that you are always fighting in bright areas outside or dim lit indoor areas. The only time you fight in the night is for about 10 minutes during a boss fight then it quickly shifts back to afternoon. Even though RE5 is basically branded as an action game, it was still a little disappointing not having an entire chapter or act devoted to a night level.

In Chapters 1-3, there is a huge emphasis on atmosphere. In chapters 1 and 2, you have a sense of wonder, because you are always in ghost towns that you know were inhabited by people maybe a week before. So you always have this question mark over your head trying to figure out what exactly is going on. Chapter 3 has the strongest horror element in it compared to the other 5. You walk through old tribal towns in a foggy setting and constantly have spears thrown at you by enemies in ritual masks and outfits. The scenery really hits the mark because you are surrounded by wooden gates, houses, and towers. Seeing these enemies and areas after seeing the regular enemies really shakes you up, and in some ways intimidates you. If you’ve seen the Peter Jackson remake of King Kong, you have an idea of what the level is like.

There are a few gripes I do have in the visuals department however. For whatever reason, Capcom punked out on decapitations. I wish I knew why, but it was upsetting not seeing any heads being chopped off, especially since we have already seen it on the Gamecube. It looks so cheesy seeing the camera quickly pan away during these sequences. Another flaw in the visuals is the use of animations from Resident Evil 4. From shooting, to running, to death animations, its all from RE4.  This was just laziness from the developers, but that isn’t too surprising nowadays anyway.

The game play has left me with mixed feelings. On one end, it is RE 4 with HD visuals. It has the same game play and controls as before but now with a twist. The biggest new feature to the game is co-op for both online and split screen. Sheva Alomar is your partner the whole way through, for better or worse. If you do happen to play alone, then I wish you good luck, because Sheva isn’t the brightest crayon on the box. Because of her, you will more often than not get the “You Are Dead” or “Your Partner Died” screens. Either she will get in your way or not be at your side at all because she is off doing her own thing. Sheva also has a problem managing inventory and ammo, so because she is so trigger happy you will have to keep giving up your ammo so she doesn’t become even more of a dead weight. You will most likely pay more attention to her cache than yours as well, because apparently the BSAA never taught her to combine items either. The only thing she is good for is knowing when to heal you in those near death situations.

From my experiences, the online co-op was pretty seamless. There was lag here and there but nothing major, so playing co-op this way is a great way to go. The stupid thing about online co-op though, is that your personal file gets overwritten with the other persons save file even when you say no to an overwrite. This happened to me when I played earlier levels with someone else, so I had to start my chapter over again. Even though chapters are broken into say 1-1 and 1-2, it is still annoying  to have to replay what you had already done.

In a few ways the games has been streamlined and made for Joe Average at times. For one, where the hell is the merchant? The merchant was replaced by a standard menu store that appears constantly. With every chance possible, the menu pops up and you are allowed to organize and buy items which makes the game a hell of a lot easier. Every time you die you are taken to the menu with all the items and treasures you just gained, and are now able to sell and buy the items that are essential for the particular situation. Does this generation of gamers really need their hand held that much? (Refer to The Don’s article: The De-evolution of Gaming for further insight on this question) The bosses are another story. They look cool and intimidating, but they are a bunch of schoolgirls and seem to die before the fight even starts. Another way our hand gets held.

I would like to end the review with a few personal notes and grievances. First off, people need to stop complaining about the controls. Nothing is wrong with them at all, and for every “problem” you may see, there is compensation for it. For example, the inability to run and gun is compensated with the fact that you can run away from enemies, and you run faster than any of the enemies as well. If you complain about the controls, you probably didn’t play any other RE game. And another thing, why was RE4 praised so much, but RE5 is getting downed when it has the same exact controls?

Another thing, which I previously asked, where the hell is the merchant? He was one of the best characters in Resident Evil 4, but was replaced by streamlining the game. And because of that, I pay my respect to him by quoting him in the title of the review. And why aren’t there weapon caches? Now it’s just 9 spots to hold items, 18 altogether because both Chris and Sheva get 9 spots. It seems so mainstream to have item spots and not caches for you to hold as many items as the cache can hold. Was it too hard for people to play Tetris and move items around and make them fit? Now it seems like you can barely hold anything anymore, and you have to sacrifice one item over another.

My last personal problem with the game is Sheva and the whole “racist” conspiracy. As I mentioned on the last Vice Weekly episode (Push the Limit), I feel co-op was added so Capcom could tell all the people shouting “RACIST!” to shut up. Remember back at E3 ‘07 we saw the first trailer of RE5, and Chris was fighting a whole bunch of Africans? Then the second trailer comes along after a trail of controversy, and all of a sudden there are white people, and even Hispanic looking people? Really? In Africa? I understand why Capcom did this, but I am still disappointed that they didn’t go headstrong with the original idea for the game. 

I am not really turned on with the idea of a co-op in a Resident Evil game, because RE is a game based on feeling alone, helpless, and deserted. Sheva is also a retard as I mentioned, and besides that, I would have enjoyed the game a lot more if it weren’t for her altogether. And don’t ask me, “Well why not just play co-op?”, because I shouldn’t have to be forced to play co-op to fully enjoy a game.

Resident Evil 5 is an average game and a decent addition to the series. While in many cases it is RE 4.5, it just doesn’t seem to surpass RE 4 at all. Yea it looks nice, but the more I played Resident Evil 5, the more I wanted to play Resident Evil 4. In the end the game is worth a rent first, and then from there you can see if it’s a buy.

Vice Verdict : Rent

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