Resident Evil 5
Rated M for Mature
Reviewed on: XBOX 360
Reviewed by: Ben Brody (outstandingcoffee@yahoo.com)

Today is the day! Resident Evil 5 comes out at Midnight and I'm sure many of you are going to be picking it up later tonight. While I wrote this review as a standalone article, I do feel that you would benefit from reading the previous 3 Days of Resident Evil 5 articles. And without further ado, here's the review!

The Official Pwned.com Review:
It's been over 4 years since the last major Resident Evil release, and is one of the most anticipated games of the year. Capcom's Resident Evil 5 kicks ass and takes names, much like it's predecessors. Resident Evil 5 is certainly not as much of a departure from the norm as 4 was to 3, in fact, it plays exactly like 4 in most every way, and that's not exactly a bad thing. While I did feel that they could've made more leaps and bounds in the time that they had, Capcom has put out another excellent game in Resident Evil 5. You are put into the shoes of Chris Redfield, of whom you may have played in Resident Evil 1 and Code Veronica, a member of the BSAA (Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance) who is sent into West Africa after a tip that a major bioweapons deal is about to take place. He meets up with Sheva Alomar, also of the BSAA, who is a local contact. The two are taken on a journey that takes them from a deep underground laboratory to a large tanker ship, and everywhere in between.

The first location, a small town in Kijuji, sets the mood as you walk down the street, you will see maddened townspeople just beating a moving bag. Whether an animal or a person is in the bag isn't seen, and the locals dissappear just as quickly as you come into town. Resident Evil games aren't known for taking too long to get to the action, and this game is no different, and you will be thrown into the action in about 3 and a half minutes.

While the game is expansive in locations and settings, I still feel the game is very short. I feel that it takes about the same amount of time to fully beat RE5 on a first playthrough as it took to find Ashley in RE4 during the first playthrough. While many recent games have recently been getting shorter and shorter, I do feel that with the amount of time they had the game in development, that they could've easily made a game longer than 7 hours.

Instead of fighting the Illuminados, or the locals from RE4, you fight the Manjini, who are the locals that are infected with Las Plagas. The enemy AI isn't anything compared to FEAR 2, but then again it's not trying to be. People infected with some crazy virus simply aren't going to be as smart as the Replica forces were. They mostly attack with melee weapons and move at a slow, methodic pace. There are some runners and some of the characters later in the game do carry firearms. The creatures vary from the standard cerberus (infected dog) to large grasshopper like creatures that have the ability to one-shot kill you. There was a good balance between the two. The AI is based less on having enemies flank and outsmart you, and more on making a ton of enemies appear and all attack you at once, pummeling you til you die.

Graphics-wise, this is one of the best looking games released. The textures are clean and there is no pop-up that I noticed on two playthroughs. The models are recycled and you will notice that the Majini seem to have a lot of identical twins. That said, the models are very realistic from the "infected red" eyes to the tattered clothes, and Las Plagas looks even scarier in HD. The sound is great, and really adds to the tension. The background music is kept to a minimum and really only kicks in when action is about to happen.

The graphics are absolutely gorgeous and the sound is creepy and dead on, however neither of these matter unless the gameplay is good. Gameplay, as with RE4, is more action-based than RE0-3 but manages to keep the horror aspect as well. There aren't that many puzzles as the previous RE games and I feel that it keeps the pace up, as too many puzzles would slow the game down. Quicktime events are back and appear during both cutscenes and normal gameplay. They aren't too difficult (read: as hard as the Bourne Conspiracy) and typically have you hit only 1 or 2 buttons.

A new feature in Resident Evil 5 is a scaling difficulty level that will raise or lower the difficulty level within the one you selected (there are 4 total difficulties) as you play the game. For instance, if you are a skilled player yet you choose Easy, the game will be about even as if you had selected normal. The flip side is true as well as if you select normal and you are new to the action genre, the game will scale itself down to as if you had selected easy. I found that this worked well as it wouldn't keep throwing you into near-impossible situations if the game knew that you weren't going to be able to handle it.

Story-wise the game feels a lot like Metal Gear Solid 4. It seems to tie-up loose ends and answers a lot of questions about the background of Umbrella and Tricell. Even though it has a plot twist seen from miles away, the game is still very story driven and even though you may know the ending from the second you start playing, it is so gripping that you will play through most of the game anyhow. The story isn't too wild and crazy as past RE storylines, and manages to stay relatively plot-hole free (apart from the 'How did Wesker survive that?' plot holes that are inherent with all Resident Evil games)

The co-op was solid enough although it took some getting used to during the times that I played as Sheva (she is left handed, therefore the screen is left handed vs Chris's right handed perspective). The split screen on the 360, though hard to find at first, didn't throw any curveballs and the frame rate managed to be fairly good even with a large amount of enemies on the screen. Having a co-op partner definitely helped during some of the more intense areas of the game, however Sheva's AI can certainly handle its own.

Sheva will be your loyal partner, carrying what you don't want, giving what you need, and reviving you whenever you need help. She doesn't react as slowly as you might think, and is quick to help when you are being attacked by enemies. Treasure hunting is mostly kept to a minimum on her part, however she does actively look for items that will help you on your quest. Upon reaching an item, a choice would come up on whether I picked it up or to have Sheva pick it up, it was necessary at the latter part of the game during which inventory management became absolutely crucial.

The inventory is real time (meaning the game doesn't pause when you switch weapons or mix herbs, etc) and gives you 9 total slots. Each item fills up only one slot and you can carry multiple amounts of ammo in each slot. The slots are not expandable and you can't store items elsewhere, you either have them or you don't (you can buy items and hold them for later use, but once you give it to Sheva or Chris, they are there and can only be gotten rid of by using or selling). While the smaller inventory certainly took some getting used to, I didn't find it much of an impedence as I thought I would.

Overall the game was exceptional, and while it felt more like Resident Evil 4 than a brand new game, I didn't feel like that was a bad thing. The action/puzzle mixture was well done and the variable difficulty kept the game easy enough to beat, but challenging enough to make you plan your attacks. The audio/graphics were extremely well done and are one of the best looking games on the system

Bottom Line:
The graphics are awesome, the gameplay is solid, the sound is great, the game is amazing. 9.5/10 - Must Play

Better system?
I felt that the 360 graphics were sharper, but that the PS3 was softer and was more pleasing to the eye. The controls for the knife and gun are flipped on the dualshock/360 controller, but most people are going to only play on one system anyhow. I beat the game on both systems and I found the 360 version more enjoyable.