E3 2008: Resident Evil 5 Impressions

One of the most anticipated releases for any console right now, Resident Evil 5 certainly has high expectations from fans. Thankfully, those who are looking forward to the game were given brand-new information from Capcom today when the company took to the stage at Microsoft's E3 press conference. In addition to showing a new playable demo of the game, Capcom revealed that there will be an online co-op mode, and that the game will ship in North America and Europe on Friday, March 13th, 2009.

Capcom producer Jun Takeuchi took to the stage wearing an Umbrella Corporation jacket to talk about what we can expect in the game. He started playing as Chris, the B.S.A.A. (Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance) agent who finds himself in Africa to investigate a bioterrorism incident. The game takes the same over-the-shoulder viewpoint as Resident Evil 4, and the combat seems to be very similar to its GameCube/PlayStation 2 predecessor. Chris can run around the environments quickly, but he has to stop and aim to accurately fire at the zombified enemies.

After a minute of playtime, Takeuchi-san reached what appeared to be an insurmountable gap. However, thanks to the brand-new online co-op mode, game director Kenichi Ueda was able to join in as another playable character named Sheva Alomar. She is a slightly more nimble character than Chris, and is light enough to be thrown over the gap by Chris. Once over there, she was able to use a rifle to shoot at enemies, this time with an over-the-left-shoulder view. All the while, Chris used a sniper rifle to help her out from afar.

The demo ended with a cutscene that showed a familiar chainsaw-wielding enemy who was about to attack the reunited duo. It was an infuriatingly short look at the game, but with the new co-op mode, improved graphics, and brand-new setting, our appetites were certainly whetted by the demo. We'll have a hands-on with the demo very shortly, so stay tuned for more information.