Resident Evil 5 Review (360)

Gruesome games have been a favorite for any type of hardcore gamer such as myself. Horror games not only have to be frightening, but need to have the right balance of gameplay and gamestyle, as well as going through the difficulties of making the story into one long game. For Capcom, this was an easy task for them because Resident Evil 5 was with no doubt, a great action, role playing game with a juicy storyline to it.

Story / Gameplay: 9 / 10

The basic plot is Chris and his partner, Sheva, are trying to stop the Evil Wesker who believes in Darwinism or survival of the fittest, and wants to get involved in a biological warfare in which a bomb is released to turn everyone into zombies. This game is debatably different from the other resident evil games in terms of storyline and gameplay, but not in the games play or style. You still feel like your playing a Resident Evil game with surprises and unique techniques being required at every corner.

Of course, just like other Resident Evil games, you have a relying partner, Sheva. Capcom did a terrific job making this a co-op game and the game is 100% co-operation. Normally, you would want to play this with a local partner or online multiplayer which is great. Communication with the other partner isn’t a problem since there are hot keys to common commands such as “wait”, “hurry up”, or a simple “Thanks”. However, when you play single player, an AI controls the other player. Now this isn’t a problem since they do come in pretty handy, but ammo is wasted by shooting unnecessarily at times, and health is wasted beyond what is needed. The only true complaint I have is the ammo count. Most of the time, I’m either using my pistol, or looking for ammo while relying on my knife for a way to kill enemies. There seems to be an excess of pistol ammo but barely any shotgun or sniper ammo. Magnums are pretty much a waste since ammo for Magnums are rare and you get so much pistol ammo that you tend to stop looking and miss the magnum ammo. However this isn’t a real problem in the long run because you can unlock infinite ammo after beating the game and relieved to have room in your inventory for other supplies such as health or armor.

Replay Value: 10 / 10

I started playing this game on veteran difficulty and couldn’t wait to play it again. With unique levels, plenty of bosses to neutralize, and loads of zombies, it just begs to be played again. Not only is it replayable because of how fun it was playing it the first time, but a new difficulty is unlocked called Professional in which almost anything that hits you in one hit will kill you. This doesn’t seem exciting at first, but using the points you gain from beating each level, you can unlock unlimited ammo for your favorite weapon such as the mighty M3 shotgun or the max damaging M500 magnum. Also, once you upgrade certain weapons, you unlock the Gatling gun for Chris, and the Crossbow for Sheva; both have unlimited ammo regardless of game settings, and both weapons do heavy damage. You can always easily join up with any player who doesn’t have the bonus rewards unlocked and help them beat the game, even if they have infinite ammo settings turned off. Unlocking new weapons and unlimited ammo gets any player who beat the game hyped and ready to play it again.

Graphics: 9 / 10

At the start of the game, the first thing you realize besides all the zombies beating innocent people up, is the graphics and they look amazing. Everything is textured, the zombies look like they’ve been infected and angry, and Sheva looks, well… pretty nice. The cut scenes looks beautiful and detailed and even show it off by Wesker’s overly patterned coat. Shooting enemies, (as well as most of the game), is very similar to the Left 4 Dead series. Shooting enemies in the foot, face, or crotch all show realistic blood squirting out and the blood effect reacts to how you kill the enemy. The bosses all look fantastically ugly or disgusting which lets distinguishes them from regular zombies.

Audio: 9 / 10

Like most frightening games, the music comes on or gets intense when there are enemies nearby, which sometimes destroys the moment and ruins suspense. When playing online, some players abuse the communication feature in which you can tell your partner to hurry up and at some point, you’re just so annoyed you might just exit the game. The sound effects for each weapon are all different and you can hear the power in each gun, which sound amazing and is very accurate relating to the damage it causes. Overall, it sounds great, and nothing major is overdone or overused.

Controls: 6 / 10

Controlling this game does take some getting used to. In fact, this is probably one of the games only major weaknesses if anything. To a player who’s new to the series, or even some players who love shooters, the controls are just plain weird. With no option to reload freely unless you hold in the zoom button, hard to control movements, and claustrophobic scenarios requiring easy controls, it’s difficult to escape some situations because it’s nearly impossible to turn around or to turn in any direction in general. The controls just feel so stiff. It’s hard to get someone locally to play with you because the first thing they’ll complain about is the controls.

Final Thoughts: 9 / 10

Overall, Resident Evil 5 is a great game and should be given a chance by everyone before making any thoughts or assumptions. You’re always feeling like you’re in a Resident Evil game and since it’s made by Capcom, it’s pretty much expected to be good and you finish the game with memories of watching zombies being blasted away from shotguns or just humorously killing each other. They could have concentrated more on making the game scarier or harder, but this is nothing compared to the overall fun of killing zombies, and getting rewarded for everything you do, and shooting the gore out of idiot zombies.