Resident Evil 5 Review
Capcom's survival horror, Resident Evil 5, was just released in Japan and will be released very soon in the rest of the world. Gamers and fans of the series have been looking forward to it's release for a very long time, but is it all it's cracked up to be? Gameplay Resident Evil 5's weakest aspect is definitely gameplay. This game takes the action features of Resident Evil 4 and expands on them. This means that the game is a lot more action-oriented than any of the previous Resident Evil games. New gamers to the series may find the controls frustrating, and rightfully so. The fact that run and gun is still not available is extremely disappointing, especially when you take into consideration that this is meant to be a next-gen game. However it doesn't take long to get used to the awkward controls, and a large amount of checkpoints allows you to play the game without many problems. Fans of the series, like me, will be disappointed with the gameplay. Not only have the controls been completely overhauled, but it also seems like the game has been severely dumbed down. It almost seems like the game shouldn't be called Resident Evil any more, but more like Gears of Evil. Everything that can be interacted with, creates a pillar of light and a large button appears on screen, which although may be useful in a game like Gears of War, is not necessarily the best thing for Resident Evil. Another aspect of Resident Evil which seems to have been lost are the puzzles. The action-oriented gameplay means that puzzles in Resident Evil 5 are very rare, to the extent that you may only remember doing one or two puzzles by the end of the game. The final and most annoying thing about the gameplay is that Resident Evil 5 is no longer part of the Survival Horror genre, in my opinion. No part of the game is scary in any way, the game has become westernised to the extent that it has lost it's horror aspect that some new IPs (e.g. Siren: Blood Curse) excel in. Fans of the series may however be happy to know that Mercenaries mode is back, which allows you to play with a large selection of characters that you unlock through playing this mode. The co-op aspect of the single player is a good idea; it works relatively well, though it is very stupid that every door or elevator needs two people to pull separate levers. The multiplayer is basically playing through the game with one friend, whether online or offline, although it seems that Capcom may be releasing future multiplayer modes via DLC. There is a large selection of weapons available throughout the game, which can also be purchased from the menu that comes up after you die or before you get into the game. This menu is a pretty cool feature, it allows you to organize, buy and upgrade your weapons before resuming the game, which comes in very handy when you're in a bad situation. (TIP: You can't buy ammo for guns except for grenade launcher, if you need bullets for your gun, make sure it is empty and upgrade the amount of bullets it can hold. This will give you one clip of full bullets free with the upgrade). Score: 6/10 Story Story is definitely the best aspect of the game. Resident Evil 5 continues with Chris Redfield's story 10 years after Resident Evil 1 on PSX. Many well-known characters of the Resident Evil series make an appearance, most notably Albert Wesker. Chris Redfield is part of the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA) sent to investigate a possible incident in Africa. The game has been getting a lot of bad press for being set in an African setting, and it really seems like it didn't need to be set in Africa, but the game had to go somewhere, so why not Africa? The Umbrella Corporation is dead in this game, and has been replaced by the equally bad Tricell Pharmaceutical Company. Tricell was also introduced in the CGI movie Resident Evil: Degeneration. Anyone wanting to know more about the background to Tricell should watch this movie, as it is considered part of the main story. There really aren't many aspects of the story that are bad, it is a very good story. One cool feature available is that you can watch all of the cutscenes in the game (approx. 42 cutscenes) when you finish it. The story will satisfy both new gamers and fans of the series. Score: 10/10 Presentation Resident Evil 5 looks great, it is not completely devoid of faults, but it looks very very good. Capcom have made it so that there is almost no difference between the Xbox 360 version and the PS3 version of the game. The only difference would probably go down to controls, the PS3 analog sticks tend to be more sensitive so it may help with the aiming. There are graphical problems, most noticeably the low-res textures and a lot of problems with 3D models clipping through each other (especially on enemies). The design of the enemies is a little irritating, as it sometimes seems like you are killing the same five characters over and over again. Maybe this was laziness on Capcom's part or could not have been solved technically, but it was more likely the former. The main bosses also tend to have very similar designs, and tend to have a yellow spot to hit, an idea Capcom must have taken from another of their games, Lost Planet. The main bosses end up looking very generic, the same wormy thing on most of the bosses is very low-poly and not very impressive to look at. The voice acting is very good, Roger Craig Smith takes the role of Chris Redfield and brings a great amount of experience to the role. As does D.C. Douglas who takes the role of Albert Wesker. The design of the game in general tends to be slightly over-brightened, again this makes the game a different genre to Survival Horror, which tends to have a dark atmosphere (or foggy in the case of Silent Hill). Score: 8/10 Capcom has definitely delivered a great game, but may have gone too far for fans of the original series. The game has become more like a Third Person Shooter, than a Survival Horror game, and if it is judged in either category it falls short. If it is judged by Survival Horror standards, it is not scary in any way, and if it is judged as a Third Person Shooter, it's controls are a big problem. This game is a must-buy for fans of the series, mainly due to it's story, but maybe this game is for a new generation of Resident Evil gamers rather than fans of the PSX Resident Evil games. Overall Score: 8/10
Play Resident Evil 5 for up to 14 days free with a rent trial.
UK/Europe coming soon
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echo 'hello';
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)
1-141457.jpg
