A Bit of a Step Back
(Buy Here) –> Resident Evil 5 takes place immediately after the events of 4. Kijuju, the fictitious war-torn region of Africa has experienced an outbreak of bioterrorism and infestation of a particularly vicious and violent strain of the Plagas, known as the Majini. Our favorite agent with biceps the size of Texas is called in to bring the situation under control. Along with his BSAA partner Sheva, they go on a mission of blood, guts, and gore galore.
(Buy Here) –> Resident Evil 4 single handedly saved the series from irrelevancy. There were HUGE shoes to fill in, like almost impossibly large shoes. When RE5 was announced, the hype and anticipation of this was enormous. There was so much promise and speculation for this title. I distinctly remember reading it was going to be bigger, badder, and all across the board more epic. Well RE5 came and went, the general consensus, bit of a step backwards. What was it that went wrong?
The gameplay is more or less identical to RE4. You move around in a 3rd person perspective with an over the shoulder view while firing your weapon. The inability to move and shoot in the previous game was noted. Keep in mind however, that the 3rd person shooter was still in its infancy and the rest of the game was so well received that many, including myself, were willing to overlook it. Why they wouldn’t implement move and shoot mechanics is baffling. At this point Gears of War was already well established and that style was the standard for the genre.
When Resident Evil turned into a buddy horror game
The co-op is definitely man of the hour here, when is blasting monsters while armed to the teeth with a buddy not a good time? The puzzles in this game are very basic, but still utilize the partner system. Mostly just have your friend wait in spot A while you pull a lever at spot B sort of thing. The huge complaint people have is the partner Ai. It’s admittedly a little wonky, but it’s nowhere near as broken as people make it out to be.
The AI will always shoot the enemies and come to your rescue when you are in need. The only time when it got irritating was when they would always waste healing items on you when you barely needed it.
Credit where credit is due, this game for its time looks magnificent. The city of Kijuju looks like something right out of Black Hawk Down. The presentation of the color scheme is absolutely gorgeous and is some of the best looking in the series. While this all looks great, that sadly doesn’t necessarily translate to innovation. Enemies such as the giant, the chainsaw man, the big guys with the mini-guns, the hyenas and dogs are exact carbon copies of the previous game with purely cosmetic changes.
The series got a little muddied
So what about that misdirection I mentioned early? That’s simple, while this game is still pretty fun, it sadly kind of is where the series lost its sense of identity. Resident Evil always managed to balance its horror with its action elements. Here it seems it’s VERY lopsided with action being in the forefront. The horror doesn’t even take a back seat, it’s as if the horror was wrapped in bubble wrap and put in the trunk. It honestly felt more like just a generic action shooter and really lacks anything to help it stand out in any meaningful way.
This would be amplified to the 11th level in that abomination of a sequel RE6. The bombastic set pieces, forgettable enemies, horrendous pacing and cardboard cut out characters is what almost effectively killed this series permanently.
Despite its very noticeable shortcomings, the game still has much entertainment to offer. While RE4 was quality over quantity, RE5 has more features than a space shuttle. The campaign, the couch and online co-op, the side stories and the Mercenaries mode have HOURS of content. I would dare say the Mercenaries of this title is the best up to this point.
With over a dozen characters, more maps, and online play, this is pure monster killing mayhem at its finest. I dare say I might have put more hours into this mode than the actual campaign. So is RE5 a bad game? Not at all, just a bad direction. At this point, its dirt cheap and well worth the price of admission.
Verdict: 8/10