Resident Evil 5 Preview

by Tom Hardman - 2008/08/05 7:31am

You're just in time for the fireworks show!

Few series' have inspired as much as Resident Evil. The quintessential zombie horror game came to us over 12 years ago and is still going strong. Long term fans or readers of our recent series predictions feature will know that the path the franchise has taken has been far from linear, and hats have to be raised to Capcom for keeping one step ahead of the game.

Resident Evil 5 is, in short, more of a skip than a step; it’s not simply a plod forwards in the same upward-leading scale of action based gameplay than the others, it simply bounds past covered ground and lands in the metaphorical town of innovation. How so? Well, take for starters the revert back to the dual-character gameplay – it worked before, but now the developer has rekindled its interest in building a game that allows online co-operative play. We’re expecting nothing less than intriguing puzzles, doubly hard bosses and a level of teamwork that was only hinted at in their brief Resident Evil: Outbreak foray. Basically we’re awaiting an already classy game that rivals EA’s mediocre Army Of Two in the team-up department.

It’s expectations like these Capcom looks set to meet. Its design policy up to this point has actually been to steer away from the horror notion, knowing full well games such as Silent Hill and the recently-released Siren have tackled that genre head-on. Resident Evil remains true to its nature, but arguably gives a richer playing experience, extending the player's options to something beyond crawling around hallways and hitting things frantically with sticks. The weaponry limitations, sheer number of adversaries and diverse terrain will certainly be enough to invoke that panic-inducing state as your clip begins to run dry, but we’re prepared to bet you’ll be grinning at the same time.



Starring Chris Redfield, long-term players will no doubt be anxious to unravel any hints as to the previous story. No doubt as a first outing on the X360, previous events will be explained or shown to some degree to not alienate first-time gamers. The developers have already promised questions will be answered and with the two main characters this will be a more plot-orientated affair than before.

Graphically it’s hard to judge Resi 5; we’ve seen little other than the same variety of screens and videos currently available, yet there’s a feeling floating around that there will be more offered in terms of setting that Capcom has let on. Don’t expect the world cruise that Metal Gear Solid 4 took you on, but don’t be surprised if there happens to be the equivalent of the medieval castle in that desert. Failing that we'll happily settle for an abandoned mine shaft.

Getting down to the details of what we have experienced though, the lighting is by far the superior quality of the game. The difference between light and dark is a treacherous element as depicted since the first teaser trailer. Sun-bleached stone and crisp shadows haven’t looked this good before. Add to the mix the sheer volume of potential action and what looks to be a relatively safe haven can be turned into a throng of hungry enemies pretty quickly. The in-game character animations look superb and we can’t wait to see the variety of reactions we get when we start to get a little foolish with the pistol.

Atmosphere and ease of use often go hand in hand; the briefcase-style inventory system has finally gone, replaced by an on-the-fly selection menu that allows you to store up to nine items at any one time. Flicking between them is done on the D-pad, a process familiar for any WarHawk fans. The cost of this is that there’s no pausing whilst you sort through your armaments, forcing you to adopt new strategies to ensure you don’t find yourself becoming a target as you rearrange your herbs. It’s a feature that works well alongside the camera angles and twisting level designs we’ve seen so far to inspire some fantastic moments of sheer paranoia.



It looks like the key word for the game will be ‘co-op’, allowing you and a second player to aid each other in a variety of ways. Combined with lush visuals, a potentially fantastic story and just enough implied horror to keep you wary of the dark, we’re looking out for this one in eager anticipation. Be sure to check back with us regularly, as all indications point towards new information to be released later this year.