Game review: Resident Evil 5 

Source: Gamefreaks

Platform: Xbox 360, PS3
Publisher: Capcom

It's one of the oldest, scariest and most awesomest franchises and it's finally reached the next generation of consoles.

Resident Evil has been capturing our hearts since 1996, and with this, the fifth named (but at least the seventh actual) title in the series, Capcom have added a bunch of new features and made it look all pretty. It's not all happiness and roses and sweet smelling joy, however, with some predictable level design and some downright rotten controls.

Resident Evil 5, essentially a spruced up, more-frills remix of Resident Evil 4, sets the scene in the African wilderness and puts you back playing the part of the be-stubbled (and very muscly) Chris Redfield, who's once again fighting a rapidly spreading evil virus with the help of an incredibly hot anti-Bio-terrrorist agent called Sheva.

The characters aren't the only things that are good looking - the environments are right tasty as well and you're often distracted from the bloody onslaught to watch the way light plays across the walls through an open window.

If you've ever played a Resident Evil title you'll feel completely at home with how the action plays out, but there are times when you can't help but smack your forehead, aghast at why Capcom haven't fixed some of the more annoying aspects of previous titles.

You can't, for instance, move and shoot simultaneously. Why? We're not sure, and unfortunately it's that kind of thing that, in our opinion, takes this from being a great game to just a mostly good one.

The addition of some great features however, have definitely lifted the fun factor. Playing in co-op mode isn't a new thing, even for the Resident Evil series. Yet somehow this time Capcom have done it right; playing the game through with a partner just feels perfect; you can heal each other when one of you isn't doing so well, give each other items and work combos together.

This is how a survival horror title should be played. It beats even the single player mode, for a very simple reason: the AI is a piece of crap. Playing co-op puts one of the players in charge of Chris, and the other in charge of Sheva.

When playing in single mode however, the computer assumes control of Sheva, and that's a hundred shades of wrong. Sure, she's damn good looking, she's a mean shot (often she'll take out enemies you can barely even see) and she'll bring you ammo when you need it but that's about where her usefulness ends.

In combat she'll always bust out her biggest guns and lets off her ammo as fast as she can when all she really needs to do is leap some barriers and strangle the enemy with her bare hands, yet when you really need her to let a grenade loose she'll just let off pot shots with her pistol.

The bulk of Resident Evil 5's enemies are known as the Majini, African mutants who will keep coming at you with any weapon they happen to find lying around, including garden implements. They'll even try taking you out when they're unarmed, and while it's mostly a simple task of waggling the stick to shake them off, get enough of them together and you'll definitely want to be armed with something more than a karate chop.

The Majini are also pretty smart; they'll try to bash the doors and windows in if they see you take cover in a house. They're not smart enough, however, to take cover themselves when there's nothing between them and certain death, so give yourself a bit of space and you'll be fine.

Inventory management, as usual, plays a big part. This time you'll spend just as much time messing with Sheva's inventory as your own; you get money throughout the levels with which you can buy new weapons and upgrade your old ones.

Between missions you're given a loadout screen where you can divvy out some much needed munitions to your partner; if you hoard them without sparing a thought for Sheva, she'll die quickly and it'll be game over, Rover.

As well as rail-shooting sequences and plenty of the now obligatory button mashing boss fighting sequences, there are also the odd puzzle moments, many of which seem just too stupid for words; it's often like you've been there before a thousand times and you're just going through the motions to get you to the next fun part of the game.

We found that at just over eight hours, the game could have been just a bit longer, especially given just how much time you're forced to sit through cut-scenes, which although fun to begin with, soon become tiresome. Despite the short length, however, once you factor in the replay value with friends and the large number of unlocks you're given once you finish the game for the first time it's fair to say you get your money's worth.

While we definitely found Resident Evil a fun, zombie-filled romp through a rather picturesque (if stereotypical to say the least) African heartland, there's just not enough here to rise it above the ranks of, say, Dead Space.

It's not scary enough to take that throne and to be honest, you're probably better off playing the Gears of War series if it's co-op mode you're after. But having said that, the Resident Evil titles will always hold a special place in our hearts and there's nothing like sitting down on a dark and stormy night with an internet based friend and getting your zombie on.

Summary
A great zombie bash, especially if you play with friends, Resident Evil 5 is unfortunately marred by lack of variety, some poor AI and poorly executed gameplay. It's good; it's just not great.

This review bought to you by Gamefreaks.