Resident Evil 5 sees seasoned veteran Chris Redfield, now a member of a group called the
B.S.A.A, sent into Africa to investigate terrorist activities involving bio-organic weaponry.
So, yeah the story still keeps that B-Movie sense of ridiculousness.
And yep, it's still got a nice range of scenery, that you can just imagine coming straight
out of an old black and white horror film.
From boggy marshlands, complete with human sacrifice.
To ancient tombs and temples.
But most people agree that it was this game that marked the departure of survival horror
from the Resident Evil franchise.
This game is not scary at all.
That's not to say that it's a bad game.
But just go into this one expecting a more action focused story, than you'd typically
expect from the series.
No creepy mansions, no graveyards, no Gothic castles.
Just turret sections, motorbike chases and Matrix-like superhero battles.
For me, the highlight of this game has to be the combat.
There's just something about the combat in Resident Evil that does a great job of building
up tension.
It may not be scary but that's not to say that it's not tense.
I love the fact that you're unable to move and shoot at the same time.
This means that you're constantly having to pick a spot to then fight from.
And then, as the enemy draws nearer, it's up to you to decide when's the best time to
either run.
Or fire off those final couple of shots, hoping to finish em off.
I'll be honest, it's pretty nail biting stuff.
But, let's not beat around the bush.
Let's get onto some of the problems with this game.
And unfortunately, here she is, my number one problem with Resident Evil 5 is Sheva.
Now there's nothing wrong her character, although her voice acting can be a bit dodgy at times.
No, my problem is this.
Why do we need a partner in a Resident Evil game?
It's true that in the past, most of the major characters in the series did come in pairs,
but that was mainly just to give you a reason to replay the game as someone else.
It didn't mean that they had to always stick together.
And that's the problem.
At no point in this game are you ever alone.
This kills off any chance of horror that the game might have had.
You never get that sense of eeriness or isolation, when you know that you've always got someone
running around watching your back.
Now, of course I know, the reason she's there is so that the entire game can be played through
cooperatively, either with a friend in split screen mode or online.
I get the appeal of co-op gaming, but I feel like this was franchise that just didn't need it.
Or at the very least, they could have made it so that Sheva was only there if you are
playing with someone else.
Otherwise all she does is create annoyance and to be honest sometimes actually makes
the game too easy.
Now, remember the cool attache case system from Resident Evil 4?
Well that's gone.
And so's he.
Instead they've been replaced with a simple inventory slot system.
Everything you pick up, you have to decide who will be best to hold onto it.
From weapons, to ammo, to healing items.
Your inventory is basically shared.
Even when upgrading weapons, you have to spend your money also upgrading her guns so that
she can remain effective.
It probably sounds selfish but I only really want to upgrade my weapons that I'm going
to be using- not the A.I.'s.
As every Resident Evil fan knows, half of the challenge is trying to conserve ammo.
Especially when playing in higher difficulties.
This means that the knife is just as important as any of the guns are, as you can see from
this handy graph.
You can use it to finish off a lone enemy.
Or use it after a shot to the knees to get an easy kill.
But no.
Sheva does not agree with conserving ammo, for some reason.
Even if an enemy is down and out, she will still insist on wasting precious handgun ammo
shooting them while their on the ground, when you could just knife them.
And don't forget, you have to share ammo, so that ammo she's using is also your ammo!
And her love for this handgun goes one step further.
She will always use it, so long as she has ammo for it.
Even if she's got a stronger gun, and you're fighting a gigantic boss, she'll still stick
to the handgun.
In the end I found it best to just give her all the handgun ammo, upgrade her handgun
to as powerful as possible and just let her get on with it.
At least then she can always make some contribution to a fight.
The game's got a good mix of enemy variety.
Although I do think that oily, eel-like Uroboros virus did crop up one too many times.
Especially considering it's a pretty boring enemy.
Resident Evil 4, I feel like, kind of existed as its own thing, whereas here, the game delights
in shoving the entire history of Resident Evil all over the place.
From old enemies making their return, to a timeline included in the loading screens,
to a 44 page file available from the title screen giving you the full history.
I guess it's good for newcomers to the series, but it seems a little excessive.
The game does comes with a healthy supply of DLC, which back in the day you would have
had to have paid for, but fortunately is now all included in the package.
You've got the Desperate Escape, which is... whatever.
It explores a missing chapter from the main campaign and is fine I guess.
Although it does have a great climax.
Then there's Lost In Nightmares, which is set in the past when you had to explore a
mansion.
And to be honest this DLC alone feels more like Resident Evil to me than the rest of
the game combined.
Plus there's the return of the awesome Mercenary mode, where you have to fight against the
clock to get a high score.
And a Versus mode, although, I didn't have much luck finding a match to join.
So, those are my thoughts on Resident Evil 5.
Next week, I'll take a look at a game that I've never played before- Resident Evil 6.
Thanks for watching!