I enjoyed playing through it but it's not really a survival horror game but more of a darker themed action/shooter.
I'm not saying RE5 isn't a good or fun game,because I still had lots of fun with it.Killing lots of psychotic people who swarm you due to the fact they're infected with some virus was fun.The aiming mechanics work very well(it's easy to aim)and the other mechanics such as crouching behind cover and moving around feel smooth.However,many of the enemies use guns and wear masks and are not scary at all and you'll get into Gears of War style shoots outs with them where you'll need to get behind cover and eliminate them cover shooter style and at times it felt like I was playing Gears of War and not an RE game.
Another big change RE5 adds is you have a partner whom the AI can control or another human player can control.However the AI for your partner(you can choose to play as Chris or Sheva)is horribly bad to the extent they'll waste expensive ammo such as rockets for your rocket launcher or will waste ammo or herbs(healing items).Even when your partner is nearly full health they'll use a herb and waste it! Your partner will also get themselves injured or killed when they could have very easily avoided it and if your partner dies it's instant game over.However,sometimes you can exploit the AI because the AI is very good at sniping and during sniping segments you can just get the AI partner to snipe enemies who are trying to snipe you and the fact the AI is so good with sniping means you won't need to worry about what should be tense sniping duels.
Also,the game has puzzles which are purposely created for two people to do and you'll need to think about how to use both characters when solving certain puzzles.Having a partner might take away the lonely and ''scary'' feeling from the game but it's nice to have an attractive female companion with you on your mission.
RE5 doesn't pause the game when you're selecting weapons or items to use which is a feature many people hate,but I like it because it makes the action feel more realistic because enemies don't just wait patiently for you to select another weapon or item anymore.
After your healthbar is depleted,your partner can revive you a certain number of times as long as they do it within a certain amount of time and it doesn't cost any healing items for them to do so.However,you will need to do the same for your partner when they need to be revived and sometimes it's annoying when they need to be revived after being attacked when they could have easily avoided the attack because you should be able to be focusing on shooting majini(infected,psychotic humans)instead of constantly running up to your partner and reviving them.
For about 2/3's of this 5 hour game,you'll experience majini,because for about 1/3 of the game many of the enemies you'll experience will be gunmen and people with spears who dress like people from a tribe.Killing majini is fun because the majini try to swarm you in large numbers or rush at you and try to bite your face but the gunmen and enemies with spears are boring to battle against.
Another interesting decision by this game's developers was to allow the player to replay previous missions and collect gold,gems(which can be sold for gold)ammo and helpful items and you can use them in the level you're currently on.Which means you can cheat against a boss and just buy a rocket launcher and kill it with one blast.You don't have to use this feature if you don't want to,but it's interesting to point out.Also,after you beat the game you can purchase weapons with unlimited ammo(such as shotgun or assault rifles or handguns with unlimited ammo and it's kinda fun to spray bullets everywhere at enemies for fun).For replay value,if you beat the game under a time of 5 hours you can get the unlimited ammo rocket launcher and I had fun earning many of the trophies for this game and platinuming this game.The difficulty levels for this game work in a weird way.This easiest difficulty level(I forgot what it is)is quite easy but trying to beat the game on professional difficulty level is almost impossible without the unlimited ammo rocket launcher because enemies can withstand LOTS of shotgun blasts and the enemies who carry spears seem to not be stopped very much by shotgun blasts and even if you blast them with a shotgun many times,they'll still advance towards you and will eventually trap you or attack you from multiple sides.
The story for RE5 takes you to Africa and bioterrorists who are are turning people into psychotic,zombie type people(majini)and you'll encounter hideous creatures/abomination type humanoids,some of them are very large in size(including some of the bosses)and defeating some of these bosses without cheating(using a rocket launcher or unlimited ammo)can be time consuming and an epic battle.
The African village has a very morbid feel to it and it's 3rd world,run down neighbourhood atmosphere with people fighting on the street makes it look deadly and gives an eery feeling something terrifying is going to happen soon.The other environments are nice looking from a technical standpoint but aren't scary(includes caves and on deck and below deck on ships,industrial areas,swamps with crocodiles and volanic area),with the exception of dark sections in caves but there isn't much of these.You'll also travel through beautiful,open african landscapes which was a nice experience but the game could have used more scary locations.
The graphics look smooth,realistic on cutscenes and during gameplay.
The music does a good job to match the intensity of situations,such as when you're surrounded by lots of majini or how the music speeds up when you're in shootouts.The voice acting for Chris and Sheva is great and there's thoughtful dialogue that involves morality and philosophical arguements but the voice acting for Wesker is annoying,especially when he says the same thing over and over.
Overall,I enjoyed this game,I enjoyed it enough to put 30 hours into it and to platinum it but it's not scary except for a few tiny parts of the game and is a good game as a dark themed action/shooter game but not as a survival horror game.If you were expecting an experience anywhere near as scary as RE games released before RE5 you'll be disappointed but if you can enjoy it as an action/shooter then there's fun to be had here.For replay value,the game is fun to play with another human player(whether it's online or in co-op mode)there's competitive mode available too which I have no interest in trying,but anyways it's fun playing this game in co-op,especially if they've never played the game before and you watch them get 'scared' because for some reason,when me and my stepbrother got swarmed by lots of majini in co-op mode,it made it feel more scarier than when it happened to me when I played this game alone.