As an addition to the Resident Evil series, this game largely fails, but as an action game, it is fun and engaging.
So says a character at some point in Resident Evil 5. As I was playing the game, I was thinking the same thing, only it was about the fact that the game is essentially a third-person action game. Indeed, Resident Evil 5 strays even farther from the classic survival-horror style of gameplay than Resident Evil 4 did. There are numerous different kinds of weapons available, including assault rifles and sniper rifles, and ammo is rarely a concern. Most significant, however, is the addition of co-op play. This completely takes away the feeling of isolation and helplessness that the Resident Evil series is known for. The small sense of the classic RE gameplay that remained in Resident Evil 4 is now gone, and the fast-paced leanings of that title have been fully embraced in RE 5. While I am a little disappointed with this, the fact still remains that Resident Evil 5 is a fun game, it's just not nearly as satisfying as I had hoped it would be in terms of how it relates to the series as a whole.
There were a lot of missed opportunities to relate things back a little more to the older games in the series. Sure, I understand that its unrealistic to expect a game that relates to the older games so much that newcomers to the series can't make any sense of it, but even still, I think they could have utilized characters from the series a little better, especially with regard to Jill Valentine. The quick flashback scene towards the beginning of the game which reveals [spoiler] her apparent death is set up to be Chris' overall motivation for the events of the story, but it came up so randomly that it was difficult to really buy into the scene and feel any kind of emotion towards it. I remember immediately wondering why that moment wasn't expanded to make it feel more believable; I never really felt that Jill had actually died; it was obvious she was alive. Of course now as I write this months after the game has released, I have heard word of a "Resident Evil 5 alternative edition" which is supposed to add gameplay to this flashback. This is good to hear, but it still wouldn't fix all the problems of the story.
I could go on and on about what should have been in the game, such as an appearance by Barry Burton or really anyone from the older games, but the last disappointment I will describe is the fact that they treated the final showdown with Albert Wesker basically like the final boss of any other Resident Evil game. As he is the main villain of the series, I hoped for something more than "oh he turned into a monster." The final battle between Chris and Wesker was something I had been psyched about since Resident Evil 5 was first announced, even before it was sure that Chris was the protagonist, and I expected some kind of epic, drawn out close quarters fight, not a "hit the weak spot with your gun" scenario. I am probably showing too much love for the lore of the series; most would argue that the story isn't the only important part of the RE series, gameplay is important as well, and so with that point, yes the game is worthwhile.