Being a huge fan of RE4, I played RE5 to get a rather less stasifying experience.
Graphics: Now this is honstely the best part about the game by far and the graphics still look fantastic even today. The environments are all very detailed, the character models and the facial animations look fantastic, the guns sound and look very realistic. The voice acting from the main characters to the monsters screams are all great, the lighting can look terrific at times when the game is at its best, and the designs for the enemies and characters all look top notch. There is nothing really bad to say about the graphics so they will get a perfect score.
Gameplay: The gameplay stays largely the same since RE4 and you think that would be a good thing right? Well it is and it isn't. First let me start with the good: Everything works, the shooting, the running, the hacking with your knife, the game works. Whats different about RE5 is unlike most third person shooters you can't move and shoot at the same time, this means if there are a million enemies in front of you, you need to stop, aim, and then fire as they all pile up on top of you. This does add a good level of paranoia and suspense as you try to make every shoot count. However this can lead to a lot of frustrating deaths and it really feels kind of stupid that you can't just walk and shoot. Now the biggest problem I feel the game suffers from is that it can't decide whether it wants to be survival horror or just straight up action. While many other reviews point at it being more of an action approach, and I can see what they mean, but if they wanted to make a straight up action game, how come there is a very limited supply of ammo in each area? Often I found myself running around looking for ammo or just knifing people to death. Another problem I have is that they really messed up the inventory system. In RE4 you could carry as much as you could, granted if you had enough space in your inventory. Here you only get a dozen or so spots between you and Sheva. Speaking of which your ally AI is rather unintelligent as it just runs around and seems only there to slow you down (and yes I know you can play online, so try that out). The next topic is that there are some bosses in the game, which are either really good and creative, or just annoying. The final topic is a game mode called mercenaries mode, where you are put on a map and you have to kill as many enemies as you can in a specific time. As you level up you unlock more maps, characters, weapons etc. This mode is simple but fun. While everything works and the game can be fun to play, there are a number of problems that need to be fixed for the next RE game(s).
Over all:
Story: 8.5 While not amazing in any sense, it certainly is entertaining and interesting enough to keep you wanting to play.
Graphics: 10 Easily some of the best graphics to date on the current generation of consoles.
Gameplay: 8 While nothing is broken, it can still be frustrating and I feel like this game has an identity crisis.
Enjoyment: 7.5 I did enjoy my time with RE5 but I don't think it is any where near as good as RE4 and I hope they fix all the problems for RE6.
Final Score: 8.5