Resident Evil 5 is coming March 13th here in the US and today we bring you a retrospective of sorts, to get you all caught up to RE5.

AS WITH THE PREVIOUS ARTICLE, THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS THAT DO NOT AFFECT THE GAMEPLAY/STORYLINE.

Before we get off to the retrospective I just want to clear up some more questions I had gotten asked about RE5:

Are there typewriters in the game to save your information?
No, the only saving is via an autosave system that save after every checkpoint and chapter end. The checkpoints are fairly well setup and save before most major battles. This is both good as bad as you know when the SAVING... CHECKPOINT message appears you know you are going to encounter some major enemy resistance, but good as that you don't need to keep track of ink rolls and what not. I did find the fact that there is only 1 save file (you cannot create multiple saves) dissapointing.

What's the deal with the new inventory:
You (and Sheva) can only carry 9 different items at once. Ammo can stack up into different amounts (you can have up to 50 handgun rounds in one slot, 5 grenades in one slot, herbs take one slot each, etc). The game does not ever allow you to expand the inventory, nor do you have to worry about large weapons taking up multiple slots (however there are some weapons that you have to fully put down in order to use anything else). To further add to the survival horror motif, the game no longer pauses when you are messing with your inventory (unless it is between chapters or after every death/restart), so you have to pick and choose when you fiddle around carefully.

Is the merchant back?
Sadly no, you can only buy items during the inventory loadout screen.

But there are treasures and stuff like that still, right?
Yes, there are, however unlike in RE4, you can no longer collect and upgrade the treasures by combining them with each other.

So now onto the retrospective!

We'll start off with the main protagonist:

Chris Redfield:

Chris Redfield was first seen in Resident Evil 1 as one of the two playable characters (the other being Jill Valentine). He is a part of the STARS Alpha team (headed up by none other than Albert Wesker) sent out to investigate what happened to the Bravo Team (who was sent out into the Arklay Mountains to investigate recent murders, which took place due to escaped animals from the Umbrella Facility that was under the Spencer Mansion). Chris fights his way through the mansion, and with some help along the way from Rebecca Chambers (the protaganist of Resident Evil 0), manages to make it through to the underground laboratory. He discovers Wesker's true intentions and is forced to defeat a Tyrant (that Wesker released; note that the Tyrant "kills" Wesker, which puts the Wesker death count at 1). The canon ending has him escaping in a helicopter with Rebecca Chambers (Jill Valentine, Albert Wesker, Barry Burton, and Brad Vickers all survive as well). - End Resident Evil 1
After the Mansion Incident, Chris is retired from STARS, but still is very active in Anti-Umbrella activities. He goes to Europe after learning of the G-Virus. After backpacking in the Alps (it's unknown to me what exactly he did over in Europe), he learns through Leon Kennedy (one of the protagonists of RE2 and RE4), his sister, Claire (the other protagonist of RE2), is being held in an Umbrella prison on Rockfort Island. Chris goes to Rockfort to free his sister, only to learn she has left to parts unknown, and encounters Wesker again. Instead of fighting Wesker, however, they are split up by a mutual enemy, Alexia Ashford, who has awoken from a 15 year cryogenic sleep after having injected herself with the T-Veronica virus. After tracking down both Claire and Steve Burnside, who was Claires secret admirer, in Antarctica. Chris and Claire manage to defeat Alexia and after a quick Wesker interaction, escape the island after an explosion that should've honestly killed both Chris and Wesker. - End Resident Evil: Code Veronica
After the Antarctica Incident, Chris and his partner Jill join the BSAA to take down the Russian Umbrella HQ. They defeat a new BOW called the T-ALOS. Umbrella's secrets are revealed and the corporation falls under a government investigation. After the investigation is complete, Umbrella is dissolved. - End Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles.
Sometime later, the two are sent on a mission to arrest Warren Spencer, the founder of Umbrella, at his mansion somewhere in Europe. By pure coincidence, Albert Wesker has also shown up, and by the time Chris and Jill arrive, has already dispatched Spencer, who by that time was old and decrepit. In a split second decision they decide to arrest Wekser instead, however they prove no match to Wesker's superhuman abilities. Wesker gets the upper hand and is about to kill Chris when Jill tackles him, throwing both of them out of the window to an almost certain doom. Neither Wesker's or Jill's bodies are found, and both are officially declared dead in 2006 (Wesker death count is at 2). Two years later, Chris is sent to West Africa, where a large bioweapons deal is about to go down involving Ricardo Irving, a Tricell employee. - Start Resident Evil 5


Sheva Alomar:

This is Sheva's first appearance in the RE series. At age eight, her parents were killed in an apparant "accident" at an Umbrella research facility in West Africa. It is only later that she learns that the accident was actually an experiment carried out by Umbrella to test out its newest BOW. She vows revenge and spends the next seven years as an anti-government guerilla (the government had essentially turned a blind eye to the Umbrella incident and covered up the whole experiment) At age 15, she took part in an undercover sting to trap an Umbrella agent. The operation was a success. With that she left for America, and later was choosen to become a BSAA agent. She is sent back to West Africa, as she is native to the area, where a large bioweapons deal is about to go down. - Start Resident Evil 5


Albert Wesker.

So as not to spoil the story, this portion of Wesker's retrospective only includes information that the player is let known up until the ending of RE4.

Albert Wesker is directly or indirectly responsible for the Mansion Incident, The Raccoon City Incident, The Rockfort Island prison invasion, the destruction of the Antarctic research facility, the destruction of the Umbrella HQ in Russia, and the kidnapping of Ashley Graham, the US President's daughter.

Wesker was the leader of the Alpha team that was sent in to discover what had happened to the Bravo team, which was sent in first to figure out what was going out in the Arklay Mountains. Enrico Marini, the leader of the Bravo team, discovers Wesker's true identity (an agent from the Umbrella Corporation), but is killed before he could relay the information to Jill or Chris. After fighting with Chris throughout the mansion, Wesker dissappears for reasons unknown. He reappears to unleash the Tyrant, one of Umbrella's BOW's to defeat Chris, however the Tyrant totally pwns Wesker by stabbing him (a non-canon event showed a decapitated Wesker in a control room). Wesker, through the use of the a virus given to him by William Birkin , is able to reanimate himself and escapes the mansion unseen by Chris or anybody of the STARS team. - End Resident Evil 1

Wesker, in an attempt to get the T-Veronica virus, invades the Rockfort Island prison. His victory is short lived as he encounters a very angry Chris Redfield. Before either of them can really do anything, Alexia Ashford appears. Wesker cuts his losses and heads to Antarctica, where he learns the T-Veronica virus is. In Antarctica, he succsessfully gets a T-Veronica virus sample by taking the dead body of Steve Burnside, who was injected previously. He doesn't get the chance to kill Chris Redfield as the destruction of the Antarctica facility results in an explosion that seperates them. - End Resident Evil Code Veronica.

Wesker, in an attempt to recover important Umbrella documents, raids the Russian Umbrella HQ. He succeeds in defeating General Vladamir, but is unable to stop the release of the information, and Umbrella is dissolved. - End Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles. Knowing that he still has T-Virus, G-Virus, and T-Veronica Virus samples, he is unphased and is willing to sell them to the highest bidder. He sends Ada Wong to retrieve a sample of Las Plagas, who succeeds in retrieving a sample from Leon Kennedy. - End Resident Evil 4. His arch enemy, Warren Spencer, was still alive however, and he needed to dispose of him. He learns of his whereabouts, a large mansion in Europe. He goes to kill Spencer, and by coincidence, Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine show up shortly after he dispatches Spencer. He gets the upperhand and is about to kill Chris when Jill sacrifices herself to kill both her and Wesker (Wesker death count 2). Their bodies are never found. - Start Resident Evil 5


The rest of the retrospective is a timeline of the Resident Evil Series up until the end of RE4. It is taken directly from RE5. There are spoilers here from the previous RE games, so don't read any further if you plan on playing the previous RE games!

1960s
Engineer Michael Warren begins the electrification of Raccoon City.

The fifth head of the Ashford family, Edward Ashford, begins his research into
what would later become known as the Progenitor virus.

1962
Ozwell E. Spencer enlists architect George Trevor to design and construct a
reclusive mansion on the outskirt of Raccoon City.

1966
(December)
Ozwell E. Spencer, James Marcus, and Edward Ashford officially establish the
Progenitor virus which reconstitutes a living organism’s DNA.

1967
(November)
The construction of the mansion and lab facilities in the Arklay Mountans is
completed.

Jessica and Lisa Trevor are injected with a variant of the Progenitor virus. The
virus fails to establish itself in Jessica, and she is subsequently disposed of.
The virus shows promise in Lisa, and as a result she is placed under close
observation.

George Trevor is closen to be a test subject; however, due to his intimate
knowledge of the Mansion Facility, he is disposed of instead.

1968
Construction of Raccoon City’s public transit trolleys begins in Europe and they
are quickly put nto use within the city.

Spencer founds the pharmaceutical company Umbrella with Marcus and Edward
Ashford. The company is established to mask their biological research.

(July)
Edward Ashford contracts the Progenitor virus and dies. Hs son, Alexander
Ashford, succeeds him as head of the Ashford family.

(August)
The Umbrella Training Facility is established in the Arklay Mountains with
Marcus appointed as director.

1969
(February)
Alexander Ashford begins to design a facility n Antarctica. He secretly makes
plans to build an underground laboratory for the purpose of the “Code:
Veronica” project.

(November)
Umbrella’s Antarctic Base and research facilities are completed.

1971
The “Code Veronica” project is successful. The twins Alfred and Alexia Ashford
are born.

1977
Albert Wesker and William Birkin join the Training Facility as prospectve
managers.

1978
(January)
Marcus successfully develops the T-Virus.

(July)
The closure of the Training Facility is finalized. Wesker and Birkin transfer
their T-Virus research to the Arklay Research Facility; Marcus continues his
own research in the closed down Training Facility.

1981
(July)
Although only ten years old, Alexia Ashford graduates at the top of her class
from a prestigious university.

Birkin begins to view Alexia as a rival.

1982

Alexia injects her father, Alexander, with the T-Veronica virus, but the
experiment ends in failure.

1983
(December)
Wesker researches secondary exposure to the T-Virus. He begins to have
reservations about Spencer’s plans.

Alexia injects herself with the T-Veronica virus and enters a fifteen-year
cyrogenc sleep. To maintain the secrecy of this plan, it is reported that she
died of accidental exposure to the virus.

1987
Michael Warren becomes major of Raccoon City.

1988
Wesker, under orders from Spencer, assassinates Marcus. Under Birkin’s
guidance, the T-Virus program begins development of the B.O.W. Tyrant.

Umbrella begins work on the “Nemesis” project at its sixth European research
facility.

1991
Umbrella begins construction of an expansive underground laboratory beneath
Raccoon City.

Spencer approves Birkin’s G-Virus projects and work begins on it.

Wesker is transferred to the Information Department.

1992
Umbrella contributes funds for the refurbishment of Cty Hall and the building
of the General Hospital. A statue of Michael Warren is erected in City Hall.

1993
Raccoon Cty Police Chief Brian Irons begins conducting negotiations with
Umbrella.

Birkin transfers to the underground ab in Raccoon City, clandestine meetings
with Irons begn.

Alfred Ashford graduates from a university in England, and becomes director of
the Antarctic facility. He rises up the ranks to eventually become an executve
of Umbrella, and then director of Rockfort Island.

(December)
A training facility for Anti-B.O.W. squad members is completed.

1994
John from the Chicago lab takes over for Birkin at the Arklay Research
Facility.

Alfred builds a private mansion and prison on Rockfort Island.

1996
Raccoon City Police Department’s S.T.A.R.S. team is founded with Wesker as
Captain.

Hunk (later of the Umbrella Special Forces) undergoes combat training at
Rockfort Island.

1998
(May)
A mysterious clone of Marcus’s appears at the Umbrella Training Facility.

There is a large scale viral leak at the Arklay mansion. The research lab
there is destroyed.

Cerberus claims its first victim: a 20-year-old woman whose body is found
dismembered.

(June)
Cerberus sightings are reported in a local Raccoon City magazine.

(July)
Two groups are send to investigate the Training Facility. The first one is
wiped out by B.O.W.s located on the premises.

There is an increase in reports of accidents and missing persons in the
Arklay Mountain. The city sends the S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team to investigate.

Bravo Team’s helicopter experiences engine trouble for unknown reasons, and
is forced to put down in the Arklay Mountains.

Bravo Team takes the Ecliptic Express to investigate the Training Facility,
which is later destroyed.

Alpha Team is send out to search for Bravo Team when communication is lost.

The occurance of the Mansion Incident.

Bravo Team leader Enrico Marini learns Wesker’s true identity. Wesker murders
Enrico.

Ravaged by the vrus, the mansion and the lab are destroyed. Four members of
Alpha Team and one member of Bravo Team escape the catastrophe. Survivors:
Chris Redfield
Jill Valentine
Barry Burton
Brad Vickers
Rebecca Chambers

Wesker escapes the Arklay Research Facility before it is destroyed.

(August)
Former S.T.A.R.S. member Chris Redfield learns of the G-Virus and heads to
Europe to investigate Umbrella.

(September)
The virus spreads throughout Raccoon City via infected mice. The city is
declared a biohazard as incidents of “cannibalism” continue to rise.

Birkin completes work on the G-Virus.

A zombie horde attacks the city’s police station.

The police station is destroyed, and Chief Irons descends into mania. Warren
escapes the city but leaves his daughter behind.

U.B.C.S. (Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service) arrives in the city to
begin rescue operations.

Rookie police officer Leon S. Kennedy arrives in the city at the same time as
Claire Redfield.

Umbrella deploys the B.O.W. Nemesis T-Type into the city, and it begins its hunt
for former S.T.A.R.S. member Jill Valentine.

Umbrella deploys mass producted Tyrants into the city.

Leon and Claire escape the city with William and Annette Birkin’s daughter,
Sherry.

With the arrival of the U.S. military the city is placed under martial law.

U.B.C.S. survivors are exploited by Umbrella’s official observer of the
situation, Nicholai Ginovaef, and they die off one by one. The hospital is
destroyed.

Ada Wong and HUNK each acquire samples of the G-Virus.

The underground lab in Raccoon City is destroyed.

(October)
The U.S. government decides to eliminate the virus threat by destroying Raccoon
City with a missile strike.

(December)
Caire infiltrates the Paris laboratory, only to be captured and imprisoned on
Rockfort Island.

Wesker attacks the island with his own private force and releases the T-Virus
onto the island.

Claire escapes from the prison and sends an e-mail to Leon asking for help. Her
location is made known to Chris.

Jill escapes Raccoon City and goes to Chris’s apartment, but he has already left
for Rockfort Island.

Alfred Ashford escapes the island.

Chris arrives at Rockfort Island and finds Wesker.

Alexia Ashford wakes up from her cryogenic sleep at the Antarctic Base. Alfred
dies shortly after.

Claire and Chris are reunited at the Antarctic Base, and togeher they defeat
Alexia.

They escape before the base is destroyed.

2002
Jack Krauser fakes his own death and joins Wesker’s secret organization.

2003
(February)
Chris and Jill take part in the mission to destroy the Umbrella Caucasus
Research
Facility in Russia. They were successful in destroying a new B.O.W. known as
T-A.L.O.S.

2004
The U.S. president’s daughter, Ashley Graham, is kidnapped by the religious
group
known as the Los Illuminados. (The actual kidnapping was carried out by
Krauser.)

Leon Kennedy was schedules to join Ashley’s Secret Servce detail, but is ordered
to find her instead.

Leon Kennedy is injected wth the Las Plagas parasite by the Los Illuminados.
After that he and Ashley, who is also infected with the same parasite, take
shelter in a church.

After escaping the village, Leon and Ashley are forced to seek refuge in an old
castle, but Ashley is once agan apprehended. This time she is taken to an
isolated island by Krauser under the orders of Ramon Salazar, the eighth head of
the Salazar family. Leon confronts Salazar and defeats him.

Leon heads to the island to find Ashley, and it is there that he defeats both
Jack Krauser and Osmund Sadder, the leader of the Los Illuminados cult. Leon and
Ashley use the faclity on the island to remove the parasites.

Ada Wong steals the Las Pagas parasite sample from Leon.

Leon and Ashley escape from the island by jet ski.

Ashley hits on Leon but Leon is like, way older than her, and refuses as he probably thinks that if he screw the President's daughter, he (the president) would most likely have him killed.