Warning: Spoilers
Shinji Mikami reinvigorated the Resident Evil series when he took over the directing duties for RE4, and created a complete revolution, not only in the RE franchise, but in the gaming world entirely. He introduced the over-the-shoulder camera and free-aiming, which not only released survival horror from its cumbersome movement controls and annoying camera angles, but also enabled players to experiment with finding weak spots in enemies. There was little doubt that future installments would benefit greatly from this new type of gameplay, and RE5 did indeed follow the new path that was paved by Mikami.
We find our old friend Chris Redfield on the African continent this time, which offers a refreshing change of scenery as compared to the more traditional American/European architecture from the previous games. The desolation and poverty of the sun-scorched slums drips from the screen in all its HD glory, which is one of the more controversial but original artistic choices in the series. Like in RE0, we get a partner here in Sheva, a tough warrior who assists by providing additional firepower. She turns out to be very necessary, as an outbreak of parasites has transformed the native population into a relentless horde of freaks that is often more than Chris can handle on his own. Sheva remains a computer-controled character, meaning that she can be as much of a burden as an asset, especially when she keeps getting in the way of your shots, or refuses to put her resources to optimal use. However, her presence is predominantly helpful, as well as a good plot device for exposition.
The story, however, is actually one of the game's major weaknesses. RE games are often best when they don't get bogged down in an excess of plot, because that is where the B-movie origins of the series become painfully apparent. Shinji Mikami was a master of restraint, sticking to a minimum of plot with a maximum of effect, but of course, for all the sequels to his games, a bit of story expansion was unavoidable. With RE5 however, they unnecessarily convolute the plot and extend the length to the point where it makes the game drawn out way too long, and often nearly impossible to follow. I had a hard time finishing RE5 because I got increasingly bored with the storyline that was all over the place, and the missions which kept dragging on. It is not that the other games were exactly grounded in reality, but here they jump the Tyrant a few times too often, by stacking crazy twists on top of one another. Cut-scenes are usually the parts I look forward to in a game, but here I was dreading them because they kept providing me with endless new objectives, as well as adding confusing revelations.
The lack of an engaging story aside, as long as you can ignore the jumbled plot, the action in itself is rather exiting. The enemies offer a pleasant challenge, the bosses are appropriately difficult, and there are a couple of scenes where you can do more than running for your life, such as driving in a jeep or boat while keeping enemies at bay. I also noted some genuine improvements over RE4 in gameplay, such as the ability to use dual-stick controls (making strafing a very helpful movement), and the option to quickly equip weapons. But more often than not, the game follows its predecessor a bit too closely, to the point of rehashing. If RE4 suffered from some degree of predictability (open area, lots of ammo around, what would happen next?), then RE5 is pretty terminal with such moments where you can see the 'surprise' coming from miles away. It doesn't help that after the colorful city slums and jungle towns, the game starts to visit familiar types of scenery that we've already seen in RE4, like a castle, underground ruins, industrial areas and laboratories. Nothing but praise for the game's designers, but again, some of these areas are so big that they stopped to impress me at one point. Another ambiguous element is the presence of Quick Time Events. These were very effectively used in RE4, and they make a return here. This would be fine if the game was not overrelying on them so much. Some are well-timed, but too often you find yourself in a situation where you get only a brief time to press an impossible button configuration (PS3 controllers don't help here, admittedly), so you can only trial-and-error your way through them. Mastering them feels more like luck than a victory. I am also a bit saddened by the decision to go back to the fixed number of item slots. Although I guess it is more realistic to have to manage your items in real-time, the lack of space to store items, the cumbersome way to use and exchange them and inability to expand such item slots feels more like a nuisance than a challenge.
One final example of how this game manages to bring out both the best and worst in its elements is the presence of Albert Wesker. Our favorite series' villain makes a grand scenery-chewing return here, and although his presence muddles the plot even further, he makes for a few exiting boss fights which require your every bit of creativity and perseverance in beating him. It is a bit unfortunate that these boss fights go on for way too long and are completely over-the-top (he even gives William Burkin from RE2 a run for his money), but they do provide a sense of closure that we were long waiting for.
On the positive side, upon completion of the main game, there is a mini-game called Lost in Nightmares which features a flashback of Chris to happier times (sort of), and one called Desperate Escape featuring Jill Valentine in a 'Separate Ways' kind of side-mission that runs parallel to the main game's finale. Both of these are fun to play, challenging, and they don't go on forever.
So all in all, this is another decent game in the series that unfortunately fails to improve on the legacy of its illustrious predecessor. It occassionally brings back the thrills and is fun to play through (if you can ignore the messy storytelling), but it really feels like the hand of the master is missing too often. I doubt it has the replay value of RE4, but I guess time will tell.