ArtisticallyChill

And I thought I was pretty harsh with my review. But then again, Yahtzee’s been doing reviews longer than I have and he did touch up on some stuff that I didn’t mention (i.e. the shortness of the game) as well as gave a different perspective on stuff that I didn’t think was that bad (i.e. inventory system). At least we both agree that RE5 just isn’t as good as RE4.

~ LoneWolf

Resident Evil 5 was one of the most anticipated franchise sequels to hit both the Xbox 360 and that other console for this Spring quarter. Does it live up to the hype? Yes and no. The core gameplay remains the same: hold one button to aim then press another button to shoot (hoping that you hit something cause the accuracy in this game is shitty), conserve ammo and herbs, solve puzzles, investigate things that have no relevance to your current mission but are there to just waste your time, and battle immensely huge and grotesquely designed bosses. Play through once for the story and then speed run a second or third time to get ‘S’ rankings and unlock more stuff. There are a few changes and new additions to the gameplay that make this sequel one of the easier games to just pick up and play. These features include an inventory system where you don’t have to count squares, and easier way to bring up the inventory screen, and manage the items you and your partner are currently carrying, mapping weapons to the d-pad so you don’t have to bring up the easy to use inventory screen, a few more interesting ways to melee other than just swiping away with your knife, and having a partner to help you kick ass whether it’s controlled by the AI or another person online.

But as I played the game, finding myself immersed in the story, it slowly became apparent how un-Survival Horror-esque this game was. It was more like a 3rd-person action shooter. And boy was there a lot of action. But there were no tense moments of shock and awe, no thoughts of “Hey, it’s a little too quiet as I walked through this area.” and something jumps out at me like in the original Resident Evil. It’s cool that Capcom went to Hollywood and got an actual Hollywood director in the production of this game, but did every cutscene, environment design, and character design have to be so over the top and cliche? From the criss-cross dive by Chris and Sheva through an entrance, to Wesker’s blonde Neo look and Matrix style fighting, I found myself chuckling at how cheesy it all looked. Oh and how predictable was the story? Very predictable. I already knew that the ‘bird mask’ lady in the opening cutscene of the game was Jill. No surprises, no twists nothing to make me think “Wow, I didn’t expect that.”

I like the whole “buddy-cop” aspect of the game. But it’s more fun playing with a friend. The AI can sometimes do some really stupid things like run towards the boss so that they end up “dying” and you have to go and resuscitate them while trying to avoid getting killed yourself. Targeting sucks balls in this game and you’ll end up wasting more bullets taking down one zombie. I had far better aiming on RE4 Wii Edition. I can understand this happening when you’re weapons hasn’t been upgraded but even after maxing out on upgrades you still end up being a terrible shot. One would think that the accuracy of the weapon would improve as you upgrade it.

Resident Evil 5 is a fantastic game but after one playthrough you may feel like the game was missing something that would make it a more memorable gaming experience that you’d want to relive by replaying the game. The biggest disappointment for me was it wasn’t scary at all, making it less of a Survival Horror genre game. Now Dead Space was scary. It was “I crapped my pants.” and “That’s gonna give me nightmares.” Scary. Resident Evil 5 felt more like Gears of War without the ‘run and gun’ mentality. It was a walk in the park on a gloomy day with a slight chance you’ll end up stepping on dog shit.

Huge Success:
• Graphics – Capcom did a great job with the graphics, taking full advantage of the Xbox 360′s hardware without causing any lag or odd glitching during gameplay.
• Improved gameplay elements: d-pad mapping, inventory management, map on/off hud.
• New gameplay elements: Buddy system, online co-op, additional melee combat.
• Solid story – Even thought it was rather predictable, you feel like you didn’t miss out on anything if you haven’t played the earlier sequels.

Epic Fail:
• AI handling – I would have like to see more AI control, like commanding it to be a bit more conservative with ammo or asking it for a heal when I want to be healed and not just when I have 3/4 health left. Also target commands would be nice. Instead of me having to walk all the way to a lever or switch just to have to command the AI to use it, why don’t I just aim and command from a distance?
• Targeting Accuracy – should improve as I upgrade the weapon. What’s the point in upgrading if I’m gonna end up missing most of my shots anyway?
• Less cliche, more originality: Wesker was a blonde Neo, Jill was a psycho Trinity, the over-abundant puzzles and underground stages felt more like I was playing a Tomb Raider game.
• Only 4 control schemes and no button mapping. The control schemes did vary a lot but it would have been nice to map the buttons.
• Those little tidbits of Resident Evil’s history when the game loads are nice… if I could finish reading them. Load times are rather non-existent so why bother with the trivia if I can’t read it all in under 3 seconds?
• NOT SCARY AT ALL. I wouldn’t consider this game as part of the Survival Horror genre.
• The game did feel a bit racist… against zombies. But, like Stephen Colbert, I don’t see race.

You want a score? A (with the top letter rank being ‘S’), 4 out of 5 Stars, or 90 out of 110%. Take your pick.

Next up: Wheelman. This game is gonna be sweet! I can’t stop playing the demo!

~ LoneWolf

ZOMGICANNOTWAITFORTHISGAME!

~ LoneWolf