Resident Evil 5 is the newest title in the long running survival/horror franchise, and pushes forward with the gameplay innovations fans of the series enjoyed in Resident Evil 4. Alongside a similar control scheme, Resident Evil 5 features many new updates to the groundwork Resident Evil 4 laid-out in 2005.
But before we get into the features of this game, we should probably get the storyline out of the way.
Resident Evil 5's storyline begins shortly after the events of Resident Evil 4 – where our protagonist, and longtime fan-favorite; Chris Redfield, begins the game by making his way to a small village in South Africa with a lead on bio-terrorists in possession of a dangerous new weapon. Accompanied by his fellow BSAA agent, the beautiful Shiva Almora, they venture deep into the punishing outback of this sunbaked land to discover what secrets they can uncover about this new conspiracy.
Its not too longer afterwards that the game reveals its only real twist – in the means of a hazy cutscene narrated by Chris. We learn during this sequence, that Chris and his ex-partner, Jill Valentine (who you may remember from past titles), were involved in a incident at a castle in Europe a few months back that left both Jill and longtime antagonist, Wesker, dead! Well its sufficient to say that Chris is distraught by this and has been diving deep into his work to avoid dealing with his feelings about that traumatic event – that is until we learn that Wesker is still alive and planning a nasty scheme involving a new strain of plagus, his two new associates, and world domination. The only glimmer of hope in it all, is a recent photo of Jill that Chris finds in some of the belongings of the enemies – which of course leads the headstrong Chris to blindly believe that Jill is still alive and that Wesker has her captive.
The big problem here is, that the storyline never quit catches on, and you never actually feel either involved in the conflict or invested in the story itself. To make matters worse; the writing is hack, bland, and uninspired. The games’ story eventually spirals down to the point in which it becomes absolutely ridiculous, and where most fans will actually feel insulted (and that’s no exaggeration). This is why Resident Evil 5's weakest point is actually its story. The weakness in its story, is most likely a result of CAPCOM trying to shed-off any ties to past Resident Evil games – and it also, doesn’t help that most of the games’ development time was spent focusing on its’ multiplayer aspects.
Resident Evil 5 introduces some new enemies as well, and a few awesome new Bosses. Sadly though, Resident Evil 5 carries on with the whole plagus (minus the ‘los’) thing from the past title (which most fans hated) – but now the plagus appear as living oil-slicks, basically they look like the symbiote (Venom) from Spider-Man. This means that there basically isn’t any variety in them, and to be blunt, they just aren’t that intimidating. If that wasn’t bad enough, the plagus in this game are man made, rather than alien-spores (like in RE4) and originate from an extremely stupid, thrown together origin. And there are only a hand full of enemies in this game to begin with (who’s A.I are extremely dumb), so the lack of plagus here is painfully evident. CAPCOM did get one thing right here though; the Mutants (Bosses) in this game are just as cool as before and are all killed in spectacular RE fashion – though there are only about 5 of them?
Graphically, Resident Evil 5 really shines, and like in past titles, this game pushes the current graphic standard a bit further. Everything in the game from the blazing African Sahara, to the cold depths of an ancient underworld, exude outrageous textures, spot-on lighting and brilliant rendering. Most noticeable is the games lighting engine which is remarkable at least, and the new standard at best – everything from sunlight to the haze of a crypt is amply light and realistically produced. The XBOX 360's version also features some of the best textures ever in a video game, in particular, the rendering of cloth textures.
Resident Evil 5's sound quality is oddly out of balance, as if it where recorded poorly. Yes, The voice acting is top-notch and the dialogue written fairly well, but VFX (like speech for example) are hollow and almost mute compared to the BGE, SFX and the Music. The sound track is also scarce and feels thrown together, and you’ll find a lot of times when there is actually no music playing at all?
Resident Evil 5 has overhauled pretty much everything, features or controls related, that was in the other games. It’s true that long time fans will find that, like in Resident Evil Zero, you can now direct you’re partner by hitting the B button (which works surprisingly well if you need assistance), and that you still can’t run and shoot, but odds are they will have to adjust to pretty much everything else. For example: There is no longer a in-game Menu, instead if you wish to store, equip a weapon or item (or even combine a Herb), you hit one of 9 Hotkey’s mapped to you’re D-Pad (yes, like in OBLIVION or Fallout 3). The Map menu is also missing in this game, and replaced with a small onscreen interface similar to the one you’ve seen in Metal Gear Solid 4; clearly (like MGS4) Resident Evil 5 has stolen a lot of aspects of other popular games in the name of improvement.
The control scheme in Resident Evil 5 has also received the old Grab’n’Nab treatment – the Default setting (Setting D) is a button-for-button ripoff of Gears of Wars 2's control preset. This inst exactly a bad thing though, as Resident Evil 5's combat feels geared in that same direction, so the control scheme actually works extremely well for the game itself. Anyone adverse to change though, can always choose ‘Setting A’ in the controller options, which is a direct port of Resident Evil 4's preset (and don’t worry, RE4's controls translate well on the XBOX 360 gamepad).
Resident Evil 5's gameplay has also taken a bit of a detour from some of the previous games. Essentially the concept for the gameplay itself, is the same as in the last game, but things have been simplified and made a bit more accessible. Everything from the interface to the objectives in the game, to even the level design – everything has been simplified. While interestingly enough the gameplay itself has been geared toward a much more action heavy experience, even the combat and the pace are blindly fast. This all comes together in the end as a non-stop linear run and gun experience, where all actions; from accessing menus, to combining items, equipping weapons or even sharing ammo are all done in real-time during the heat of combat. With this said, you can start to understand why a in-game/online partner is so invaluable when playing Resident Evil 5, and why Shiva will follow you through the entire game (beginning -to- end).
Unfortunately this presents a bit of a problem, as the constant action, linearness, and being in the company of a friend shouting on the other line of you’re headset, completely draws anything considered scary out of the game. It also doesn’t help that most the game takes place in large open areas, in broad day-light, or that the games’ level design and settings are anything but creepy. Overall, don’t even remotely expect RE5 to be anything along the lines of a scary or even creepy, alone in the dark, things that go bump, experience – even Gears of War has this game beat there.
Luckily, Resident Evil 5 is still an amazing game, due to it’s multiplayer, which is defiantly it’s best feature, and what the developers where clearly focusing on here. Wether it’s online, system-link, or even co-op – Resident Evil 5's multi-player combat is amazing and so fun, you’ll want to play through it on every difficulty. To make things better, once you’ve finished the game, you can play as Shiva, who has her own play style, comments on things, and even some different level routes. And don’t worry about Shiva’s A.I. (if you’re one of those friendless types), she’s sharp as a tack and will save you’re butt a lot. As for Chris’ A.I., well, If you’ve made it through the game already and you’re playing as Shiva now, you’ll most likely be able to handle things...even if he starts screwing around or doing weird things (which his A.I. does occasionally do).
Resident Evil 5 is really one of those titles that you pick up and play through in one go, one of those games where you get sucked in to the frantic pace and explosions and don’t stop till you’re viewing the credits and you’re friend says “hey man, I’ve got to get to bed now.” And even after finishing it, you’ll want to play through ‘Mercenaries Mode’ or back track through the game for treasures you might have left behind, or to unlock a few new weapons.
Unfortunately, the game ends too quickly, and lacks any real content to warrant any long term play – even if you do play through it all difficulties and try to unlock everything, it’ll still only take about 30- 40 hours. Resident Evil 5, is fun as hell, but a utter and complete (slap in the face) disappointment to fans, and matter how lively the action, infectious the combat is, or beautiful the graphics are, Resident Evil 5 still feels pinned under its own weight, like a big budget movie, with a story that goes nowhere. Resident Evil 5 is defiantly one of those 9.0/10.0 games that everyone should play once, but to my knowledge, it’s the only one that is, at best, left to a rental.
THE WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE WITH COLLECTOR'S EDITION?
Resident Evil 5 -- Collector's Edition, come packaged in a Metal Case and a sleave and packed with a Chris Redfield figurine, BSAA Patch and a Africa Knecklace. This collections also comes with a second disc that features a sneak peek at Resident Evil -- Degeneration, a Making-of-featurette and etc.
WHATS THE DIFFERENCE?
Resident Evil 5 was released on (PS3, XB360, PC) – and though the game is essentially the same on all three systems, there are a few differences between them.
The XBOX 360 Version features the best overall graphics of the three; with some higher resolution textures and a slightly softer lighting engine than the others -- it is also the only version that features 1080p (PS3 version supports 720p). The XBOX 360 version also has the highest framerate of the lot and features less screen tearing. On the topic of Framerate, the Playstation 3 version suffers from some nasty framerate issues, while the PC version will barely run at higher framerates unless you have an extremely powerful graphics card. Both the XBOX 360 and the PC versions feature AA, but the XBOX 360's appears to perform better. The Playstation 3 version doesn’t have any noticeable AA which gives the game a slightly harsher, more jagged look than it’s siblings.
The XBOX 360 version appears to be the best version as far as comfort and controls, most likely due to the ala’ Gears of War default control preset -- and it doesn’t hurt that the game is a third person shooter, which the XBOX 360 was literally designed for. Playstation 3 owners can always try the Resident Evil 4 control preset, which is optional, and of course makes the game a lot easier to play on the Dual Shock 3/Sixaxis. The PC version really suffers here though -- this game is extremely fast paced and doesn’t support first person, so users of this version will find making quick turns annoying, and things extremely frustrating during the heat of the combat.
As far as content differences, there are basically none. The only difference here is, that the XBOX 360 version has a small piece of downloadable content on XBOX LIVE, by means of a new Multiplayer ‘Verus Mode’ for 500 pointsv (just over 1MB).
Overall the XBOX 360 version is the better of the three, with the Playstation 3's only advantage being a slightly faster loading time, which XBOX owners can mimic by installing RE5 on their HDD. Even so the Playstation 3 version really isn’t that different than the version on the XBOX 360, and free PSN means that you’ll get to play with a buddy online for no cost to you (XBOX owners need a Gold Subscription to do this). The PC version, on the other hand, should be avoided unless a PC is all you have.
Many of you may wonder why the XBOX 360 version is the better of the three, when Resident Evil has traditionally been a Playstation thing (sorry, Nintendo). Well, this is most likely due to most of the games development time being geared towards the XBOX 360 version, likely because of the ease to design for this system. And lets not forget that there are a massively disproportionate amount of people with XBOX 360's, than there are people with Playstation 3's (or even game PC’s).
