Hopefully, players will see the light in this game. It's just buried under many layers of twists and so-called "flaws".
+ Resident Evil 5's African enviroment makes an interesting plot change for the series.
+ Decent gunplay with good doses of puzzles.
+ Controls aren't as bad as most people say they are.
+ Multiplayer co-op is done so nicely.
+ Killing laughing chainsaw guys with a knife is fun.
+ Killing laughing chainsaw guys with a rocket launcher is also fun.
- The potagonists are silly and stupid.
- You can't move while attacking, even with the freaking knife.
- Gold Edition content doesn't include many interesting add-ons.
- A.I. is more like Ain't.
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I. INTRODUCTION
"Hmmm....perceptive, aren't 'cha?!?"
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It was a short spell back a few years when many Resident Evil fans didn't think that Resident Evil 5 would ever be released. Ongoing lawsuits against the idea of shooting african zombies in the game's setting chewed the game up really badly, but like most racist stories, the accusers eventually found out that the enemies are a mixture of all races and two of the story's characters (including one that you always play with) were not Cacasian. Basically, you should rest assured that Resident Evil 5 is NOT racist, at least compared to a couple games that I have had the misfortune of playing and dare not to mention by name here. Anyway, we finally get the long awaited installment in Resident Evil 5. Of course, its a little disapointing, in case you were wondering. But it takes a certain amount of horsepower to make a very unique game, and this review will let you know about it all.
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II. Story
"Chris...I think I saw you get owned on Cops one time."
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Unfourtunetely, the story in Resident Evil 5 is good only for the first half-hour. The game begins with a mission that sends you to Kijuju, Africa. The issue in subject matter is a crazed lunatic by the name of Ricardo Irving who is constructing a bio-organic weapon of some sort. The result of the terrifiying experiments that have mostly remained as rumors under the sweltering African sun have turned many of the residents of Kijuju into zombie-like parasites. These zombies, called Majini, are going to be a pain in the neck for the course of the game as the plot unfolds. Its a fine premise but as the game progresses, the story stops being surreal and starts to turn hilarious and downright silly. This might've been okay if the game didn't take itself so seriously but because of the endless extra bonus features regarding the game's plot, I'm inclined to think it does. At the very least, you'll be immersed in the slightest and with a plot so campy, you might sometimes find yourself axniously waiting for whatever goofy happens next in the game.
There is no reason to like the main potagonists of Resident Evil 5. You play as a large man named Chris Redfield, and it is obvious that he is abusing some sort of metrosexual steroids or some other drug because he's as buff as a cow and his arms are absurdly thick (not ripped). I'm not comparing him to a cool character like Duke Nukem; Chris may as well be a nasal-congested nerd who has recently finished high-school and has now decided to inject some chemical into his arms to mutate into something more horrific and horny than any enemy you will face in the game. As the player lead finally reaches the destination of his mission, the snooty in-game cinimatic camera follows the ass of Sheva (pronounced Shev-uh) Alomar who introduces herself as an agent of the BSAA (Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance). Chris and Sheva stick together during the game which effectively makes Resident Evil 5 a co-op survival. The two characters are very annoying, exhale quickly every time they perform an action, and have some of the worst voice acting ever to grace a game, but Sheva's personality can be spared due to the fact that she doesn't have a physical body disorder like Chris. The game is nice enough to let you play as either agent, so you can play as Sheva if you want.......after you unlock her by beating the game with the walking minivan.
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III. Gameplay
"I need ammo. Give me ammo! NOW!!! *decapitated*"
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Resident Evil 5 is an Adventure game through and through, so there isn't really a place for running and gunning. Your character walks by default with the left thumbstick and look around with the right. You can run by holding 'A', but this eliminates the function of the right thumbstick and makes turning while running a very sloppy feat. Backpedelling in the game in an effective manner to avoid danger is nigh impossible, so you need to think ahead. However, Capcom has taken this to the extent to where Chris (or Sheva) lacks the ability to shoot while moving. You must be completely still in order to aim and shoot. You can't even use the knife without stopping and taking the time to aim. Do you know how to aim a knife attack? For the love of squealing bush dogs, you cannot even RELOAD without stopping, aiming your gun, and pressing 'A'. This isn't saying that the controls in Resident Evil 5 are particularly bad. It's just that the game has a very slow pace to everything that does all it can to attract some tactical players and drive other fast-players to tears. Regardless, a better mechanic for reloading would have been so welcome but there isn't any. I predict you are going to die alot in this game.
When you're not blasting away zombies, mutated dogs, flying insects, or mad chainsaw-brandishing cackling lunatics, you will spend your time in Africa trying to figure out just what went wrong. The puzzles in the game are mostly lever-pulling marathons but some of them are quite clever, and those type of puzzles are when you need two people to move forward. Chris can use his insanely beefy body to lift Sheva up to high ledges or over broken bridges, and there are so many enemies that cannot be defeated by one person. Chris and Sheva can also trade items with each other that they find in their travels. First Aid Spray, new weapons, and artifacts are all things that you can hang onto until the end of the level where you can sell them for gold or use gold to buy more weapons at the store. There is no merchant featured in Resident Evil 5, so the person buying/selling you this stuff is a mystery. But it is still an interesting mechanic that will make you feel like you can take on the game in many different ways. One playthrough, you may like to take on the game with an assault rifle and a magnum; the next, you might want to cruise through with a grenade launcher.
The A.I. for Resident Evil 5, in a word, ain't. Maybe it was designed to accompany the slow pace of the game but that is hardly an excuse. Enemies will not move much while you get a chance to shoot them, even when they have their firey crossbows pointed right at you. The aforementioned laughing guy with the chainsaw and a bag on his head is content to just stand in front of you while holding his revving machine of violence in the air. Even if you are blasting shotgun slugs into his chest, the chainsaw man will just stand there until he decides its the right time to attack...slowly. If you happen to be playing Singleplayer offline, though, the A.I. that is controlling your other partner (be it Chris or Sheva). is REALLY bad. Your partner knows where to be at when a 2-person puzzle comes up but other than that, it will still give you problems. The A.I. hogs all the ammo and heath pickups that it finds; it makes a good healer but it tends to only give you ammo when you ask for it or seriously run low on it at the last minute. Sometimes.
You can control the A.I. partner breifly by issuing him/her to go into an 'Engage' or 'Cover' behavior. 'Engage' gives the A.I. the command to run straight towards enemies regardless of its ammo supply, and 'Cover' simply makes the A.I. follow you and hardly anything else. It will only shoot at some enemies like non-boss characters and there is no waypoint system. The A.I. loves to stand right behind you and block your movement, so if that same crazy-ass chainsaw guy comes running up to you in close quaters and you need to turn around and run, you're screwed. Furthermore, if your partner dies, the game forces you to go back to the last checkpoint, so the 'Engage' command is next to useless. Fortuntely, A.I. problems with your partner are blured out whenever your playing online with somebody else (who assumes the role of your partner). You can set your Singleplayer game to be private or public, but you can't trade weapons with each other like ordinary items which is cheap. However, there is one small fact about the Singleplayer that changes whenever you play online; it easily becomes an awesome thrill of fighting evil. Aas long as your partner online isn't an ammo hogger, the multiplayer for Resident Evil 5 can be validly claimed as the best part of the game.
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V. Presentation, (Graphics, Sound, etc.)
"I'm sorry...but what the hell is up with that dude's arms?"
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Africa was actually a good choice for the next Resident Evil 5 setting, in my opinion. As wrong as it sounds to say this, being surrounded in the hot daytime by death-bringing creatures feels surreal enough, although a good portion of the game takes place at night too. The game is not nearly as scary as its prodecessor but you always feel in the way of danger. The graphics are not top notch, but they look good and this may very well be the best looking game Capcom has released. The game has good bloom effects, and blood looks unrealistic but gnasty enough. There are no limits or boundaries to the developers' creativity in the monsters you face, particularly the bosses; they are nasty, huge, fantastically rendered and require certain tactics to bring them down. Resident Evil 5's music score is nothing but fanastical rock and you might not remember a whole lot of it. Voice acting is also rediculous, but in what Capcom game do you get a good script?
Gold Edition players of Resident Evil 5 get alot of new additions, although not all of them are really interesting. On one disc, Resident Evil 5 Gold offers the original Resident Evil 5 story and two episodes: Lost in Nightmares (a throwback at the last mission of Resident Evil 4), and Desperate Escape (a playable part of the actual Resident Evil 5 plotline). If you don't know a whole lot about the story of the Resident Evil series in general (like me), Lost in Nightmares won't teach you much but you can have get some fun out of playing the two episodes for their acheivements. There is an included Versus Mode (which used to be DLC) where players can kill each other endlessly on the internet in a free-for-all match. Because you have to stop completely still and aim in order to attack, this mode was not all that it could have been and it feels even cheaper for those paying MS points to experience its drudgery. Lastly, the Gold Edition offers the ordinary behind-the-scenes extras, unlockable fanasty costumes for Chris and Sheva to wear (you should see them, they are absurd), and more characters to play as in Versus. The Gold Edition of Resident Evil 5 is, of course, better. But it's not so better that it really matters what version you get.
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IV. Conclusion
"It didn't work on your giant, mutated fish zombie 'thing' either, did it?"
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I think that Resident Evil 5 is a game that is so stupid that it makes itself fun to play. For every time I killed a zombie in the game, I would sometimes imagine it was the game's creators and mumble "take that!" for making a game that is so rediculous that it's good. A lot of players may feel like the game is unbearably frustrating but the game actually doesn't try to beat you over the head with anything. All you need to know is that Resident Evil 5 has a slower pace, and you need to take that into mind if you decide to pick it up. Although it was a little painstaking to get used to this game's controls, the game pushes an agenda with the previous Resident Evil games and it is a much better improvement than some of those. So if you want a retarded game with a goofy story, cheesy characters, and a decent gameplay mechanic layout, Resident Evil 5 is a game you should keep your eye on.
(P.S.: Please don't tell Chris what I said about him. He might tear my limbs off and use them for weapons.)