Resident Evil 5

[Trantor]

I guess I'm probably the biggest fan of Capcom's horror series here, so I of course picked the game up on the first day of its release. I've beaten it meanwhile and still play it for the unlockable stuff. Not much has changed since RE4, though, so I am a bit curious why the development of this title took so long. The main new feature is that you are not alone anymore - you have a partner that constantly travels with you. This enables coop-play, which is probably nice, but I haven't tried it yet. If you play alone, the AI of your partner works quite well, but I still miss the feeling of being all alone. The African scenario is new, but feels a bit weird. Gameplay-wise, very little has changed since RE4, and the changes are for the worse in my mind. For example, there is no more merchant, you can only buy and upgrade weapons in-between levels or whenever you die. But the game plays just fine, the controls are great, the details impressive, and the graphics are nothing short of amazing.

All in all, it's not quite as good as RE4, but since I consider RE4 the best game of the decade, that's ok. If you love action-fests with great design and presentation, you won't regret playing this.

[zoom]

Trantor, you love writing reviews now, don´t you`? ever considered working for a game test something? I find these reviews all ok, especially the resumee is good

[Trantor]

Thanks for the kind words zoom. I do indeed like writing reviews and giving out ratings, and when I got interested in games (back when I was 11 or 12), being a writer for a game magazine was actually my dream job. But I don't think I would be a good writer; I'm almost never satisfied with the reviews I write, I always feel that my thoughts don't come out right. Plus, once writing reviews would become some sort of obligation, it would stop being fun for me (I have enough deadlines to meet in my real-life job!). Last but not least, I very rarely play games anymore at all today. I might be able to write quite some reviews about classic games from the 80s or 90s, but today's games? Not so much.
(Actually, I have been thinking about having my own website from time to time, and writing reviews on classic games was my first idea for content there. I scratched the idea quickly, however, since I don't quite see the point in it. Few people are interested in old games, even less are interested how other people think about them, and those few people have enough options on the web already.)

[cowsmanaut]

I'm going to have to come in and say sorry, but I've lost almost all faith in Capcoms ability to make games beyond their appearance. The controls in the resident evil demo were akward at the very least, and I dislike sitting around doing almost nothing while my AI partner runs off and does her thang I think I have always found things about RE that just bothered me.. like back in their prerendered levels when they would shove a zombie just around the corner and you didn't see them until the camera changed angles.. but by then he was already eating my face.. Their recent revival of megaman on PS3 has provided a mind blazingly difficult run just for the demo alone which made me think twice about buying the game. and now that I have street fighter 4 thinking nothing could possibly go wrong there, they are are good games.. I get proven wrong once more..

[ian_scho]

Thanks for sharing this, Trantor!

A great review of RE5:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/ ... ent-Evil-5

Actually, I have been thinking about having my own website from time to time, and writing reviews on classic games was my first idea for content there. I scratched the idea quickly, however, since I don't quite see the point in it. Few people are interested in old games, even less are interested how other people think about them, and those few people have enough options on the web already.

I subscribe to a blog you just described!

[PadTheMad]

I guess I'm probably the biggest fan of Capcom's horror series here

Challenge Accepted Mr Trantor!

Nice review there too, and agree with you on the development length. It did take a bit of a while, especially since the assets used were very similar to those of RE4

Spoiler

A RE-hash maybe(!)

My brother and I picked it up on day 1 also, and after playing Halo 3 co-op from start to finish, I thought it a good idea to do the same here. Turns out it was a good call. The level of interaction and control when playing with another person over an computer controlled character goes without saying, but seen as though this game was designed from the ground-up to be a co-op game it results in turning a good game into a great game. And whilst the AI in this game is far from atrocious, it isn't exactly sterling either. Case in point: My brother was playing through a section this moring in single player by himself

Spoiler

(The mine section with the battery flashlight)

. Now in this part of the game, only one character can readily shoot. The co-op AI character was standing right in front of an enemy, with all the right factors to be able to shoot the enemy

Spoiler

(the flashlight was directly pointed at the enemy, the co-op character had full health, was in shooting range, had healing items and had infinite ammo for two weapons)

, but still the co-op character wouldn't shoot. My brother decided to switch roles so he could shoot but this proved to be even worse

Spoiler

(The co-op AI character was swinging the flashlight in all directions but forward)

. As he was playing it on a hard difficulty setting, he was finding it extremely arduous to progress. In the finish, I had to pick up a controller and take over in split-screen mode. Now whilst that in itself is a fantastic addition and implemented really well, I shouldn't have had to do it.

Other than those minor niggles (didn't have a problem with the controls), I thoroughly enjoyed Resident Evil 5 and I think dropping the merchant was necessary to distance itself from Resident Evil 4. The graphics were oustanding and the cutscenes were easily the best I have seen in any game - The voice acting motion capped actors shows how close games are to reaching the quality of blockbuster films.

[cowsmanaut]

I think if you've played and evolved through the version of RE then it's fine... however as soon as I opened the demo for ps3.. both my wife and I found it hard to keep track of what did what.. mainly once we ran out of bullets we were lost as to what we should do to defend ourselves.. too many controls to remember So I suppose after you've played it a while it might become easier.. but then it came to the second part of the demo where I was playing with the AI (Sandie insisted she wouldn't touch the game again) and the character runs off to the other building... I just felt it was akward and I didn't know where I was supposed to go after shooting all the zombies.. she was just running around down there.. I couldn't get down the way she did and I didn't think I was supposed to leave her behind..