Introduction
Resident Evil 5 can best be described as a follow-on to Resident Evil 4; not in terms of story per sé, but regarding how the game plays. Much like COD:WAW felt like COD:4.5, RE5 feels very much like RE4.5 in my book.

As such, this review is mainly a comparison of RE4 and RE5 (and yes, I will be somewhat biased as RE4 remains one of my most favourite games ever, last count was 12 times completed!)


Gameplay
Think of a dumbed-down GOW control system, and you’re 90% there.
3rd person view, various guns with which to kill the enemy, a knife for close combat and the usual spat of Resident Evil style herbs to keep you alive. Unlike other RE games, you can duck down behind walls/object for cover, but only when the game allows it, you can’t do it just anywhere.

Some elements that were in RE4 have been removed, such as the shop being available in each level. Now, you only have the option to purchase/upgrade at either the start of each level, or when you die. It makes preparing for the coming level essential, as once in the game you cannot access you stock inventory, only what you are carrying on your person, which you are limited to 9 items.

Unlike RE4 where a yellow herb would extend you health bar, RE5 has a set bar which can’t be extended. It works and doesn’t; from the off you are healthy enough to take on anything that comes your way, but it also detracts from the progression of your character into a stronger one as the game progresses. Swings and roundabouts really.



Combat
One thing that remains from RE4 is that you can’t move and aim/shoot at the same time. Ultimately, this gets extremely aggravating, resulting in every fight becoming a “shoot, quick turn, run away, turn, shoot some more as they come towards you, repeat until they are dead”.

The movement for Chris feels too heavy – the guy is supposed to be an athletic, strong, tough combat-seasoned hero, and yet he runs slowly, turns slower, and can’t even dodge left or right when being attacked. I always have this issue with action games like this; they entice us in with cut-scenes of our characters leaping in the air, doing a forward roll, shooting a head or two off while making a snappy comment. Then, you get plunged in-game and can’t even do a simple evasive forward roll when you want to.

It’s especially annoying when fighting the bigger non-boss enemies, as many of the swing huge clubs/axes at you, and you simply can’t get out of the way; if they get within a few feet of you, you are in for some pain, end of (hence the “turn and run away” comment about combat above).

That’s not to say you can’t dodge at all though…..


Dodging
Ironically, the dodging in this game is, well, dodgy.
It works via an on-screen prompt for you to press a button.
In boss fights, it works fine, as it is usually in a cut-scene of some sort or at least the boss’s animation lets you know a big attack is coming.

However, when fighting the larger normal enemies, it gets really bad.
The chance of getting a dodge prompt when being attacked seems infrequent, and when you do get one, you had better not be aiming your gun otherwise it won’t work.

Suffice to say, if you plan on staying alive, you better not go anywhere near the enemies: period.


Weapons
There is a very large arsenal to keep you happy here; 3 handguns, 3 assault rifles, machine guns, sniper rifles, grenade launcher, rocket launcher, magnum (oh yeah!), grenades, knife, and my favourite, shotguns.

Almost all of them are upgradable via the shop menu (before each level begins or when you die) but you had better only focus on 1, maybe 2 guns for the duration of the game. It would cost around 900,000 gold to upgrade all the weapons, something that would be difficult to achieve with 3, perhaps even 4 playthroughs.

The major advantage to fully upgrading a weapon is that, once you have beaten the game one time, you get unlimited ammo for that weapon, making subsequent playthroughs to upgrade other weapons easier as you can sell off all the ammo you find.


It takes two to tango….
And it makes taking down zombies easier too. At least, in theory.
The AI on this game is both good, and sucks.
It’s good because, give your partner a gun, and she’ll take down enemies that haven’t even entered your field of view yet. The bad thing is, she’ll speed her way through your ammo store faster than a fat kid eats chocolate. Oh, and she’s also a massive fan of standing directly behind you and trying to shoot an enemy through the base of your skull. It doesn’t hurt you, but it does waste an insane amount of ammo for no payoff whatsoever.

The AI won’t disseminate between enemy types either – it will use the pistol if it has ammo, and only swap to a larger gun when there is no ammo left. It’s really annoying to be plugging away at a boss with a shotgun, and your partner is using a pistol when she has grenade launcher strapped to her back.

In fact, the best way to use the AI partner is to treat her like a pack mule. Give her a cattle prod weapon (takes no ammo) and no other weapon. Give yourself a handgun, shotgun, sniper rifle and assault rifle or machine gun, then get her to carry all of your ammo and healing items. That way, you are prepared for anything that comes your way, she won’t use up all your beloved ammo, will heal you when you need it, and won’t get in your way when you are doing your thing as she’s got no real weapon to take them on; in fact sometimes she’ll get scared and hide, which is even better!

Co-op’ing with another player via Xbox Live gives this game a whole new breath of life, as planning/tactics etc. can be used and you won’t have to put up with the AI wasting ammo and getting in your way when you are trying to aim.


Look and feel
Graphically, the game is lush. Environments look good and fitting, effects on all things from wood to stone to blood feel right, and the locations range from villager’s huts to underground caves to steel-walled research laboratories – more than enough diversity to keep your from getting bored.

It has to be said though, that the enemy movements and animations quickly get old – each type of enemy all move in the same way, obviously taken from a ‘stock’ movement of character model.


Sound
Is actually used minimalistly for the most part. When not being attacked, you are left to the naturally occurring sounds of the place you are in. Machines clunking, cave walls dripping, winds blowing through seemingly deserted towns, and the screams of the enemy off in the distance, and only when you are being attacked does the tense and foreboding music begin.

Voice acting ranges from game-standard passable (Chris) to downright awful (one of the main bad guys sounds like a cross between a 12-year old Cockney wannabe and a castrated choir singer).

The one thing that the music doesn’t do, though, is make you feel scared or apprehensive; in fact, the scariest thing about this game is un un-scary it really is.



Fear factor
I remember, even on my eighth or ninth playthrough of RE4, feeling almost constantly uneased by the surroundings, the sounds, the enemies….
But this game, nothing.

Even the scariest enemy in the RE franchise (the Licker) holds no fear in this game.
Perhaps because they have dumbed down the enemies in terms of intelligence and power – at one point in chapter 5, I was ‘ambushed’ by 12 lickers – twelve!
In the older Resi Evil games, encountering just one of these things left your nerves shattered and your character barely standing; I walked away from my 12-licker fight without a scratch, mainly as they slowly crawled up to me and then sat there doing nothing but growling. The dogs, too, don’t pose much of threat when you work out that they have trouble getting near you if you do something as simple as climb a ledge.

Even the bigger, badder zombies (like the chainsaw guy and the chaingun-wielding fellow) are only made harder by the amount of bullets they take to kill them. On RE4, the chainsaw enemies were a real cause to crap yourself – they stopped at nothing, even a grenade wouldn’t slow them down; not so here. Even with the chainsaw guy, you can just shoot his knees out and then pummel him with your fists – something that you couldn’t do on RE4. Throw in the fact that even the basic Magnum will take most enemies down with 3 or 4 bullets, and that sense of fear at the “unstoppable enemy” ploughing towards you is quickly lost.

Ultimately, the enemies leave a lot to be desired – aside from the occasional chainsaw guy fight, you won’t feel like you are being really tested to stay alive (unless you a playing on the harder difficulties, of course).

continuted as too long for one post


Scores

Graphics – 9/10
Can’t fault them really, everything looks good though sometimes a little too dark (adjusting the TV doesn’t help, there’s just too much black graphic in some places)
Outside environments look better than inside ones.

Voice – 6/10
Most are OK, some are downright awful, if you could turn the voices off you wouldn’t miss them.

Music/Sound Effects – 7/10
What is there is good, this game puts a emphasis on ‘scary silence’ at many times.

Playability – 7/10
The controls feel outdated and often are annoying when in combat, but there are some new things here too that keep if from feeling annoying all the time.

Longevity – 7/10
10 to 12 hours to do a really well-explored game, it can be done in under 5 (in fact one of the unlockables requires you to do this) once you have powered up some weapons and know where you are going.

Replayability – 7/10
I can see playing this again once, maybe twice more, with the carried-over weapons it’ll be more fun than surviving and the co-op will add new life to it.

Overall – A fairly solid 7/10
Nothing about the game is bad, but don't expect anything in it to blow you away either.


Final Thought
If you are after a scary 3rd-person horror-survival, get Dead Space instead, it wipes the floor with RE5.

i didnt like the demo it lasted about 20 mins on my HDD i'm sorry i love the zombie res IE 1 and 2, i never played 4 might pick it up for pc at some point as its old now lol

i might end up playin dead space tonight now lol

I gave the demo a go the other day and the "run-stop-shoot-run some more-die" control system really put me off. I imagine they think that having to run away and then turn back to shoot some more would make it more tense and frightening, but it really didn't end up working like that...

I think this and many othe reviews I've read have confirmed my fears that the control system and AI are irritatingly dodgy. might still play it at some point though.

Great review matey. Hits the nail on the head for me, the game looks great but does not play as good as it looks.. its next gen in graphics but thats about it. they really should have made the game more scary and made the characters easier to control. Still a good game tho and worth a play through, it just wont grab you pull you in and eat you guts out like other resi games have.

hehe great review Geekster.... think i just want the red xbox that comes with it to be honest! It looks so nice! hehe the thought of the game is too scary!

Gonna give the demo a couple more chances, see how the controls grow on me. If I start to be converted, I'll buy the game off you when you buy the red XBox Lolly!