Developer: Capcom
Year of release: 2009
Platform: Playstation 3, xbox 360
Official website: http://www.residentevil.com/5/?fbid=U_8iHEMfsz4
RE5 is one of the games that I have been really looking forward to. I really loved RE4 and when I saw some footage of RE5 a few years ago, I was happy to see that they kept the same over the shoulder view as in RE4. Of course hoping that it would be as good or even better than RE4, which is really hard. RE4 had won multiple game of the year awards and was praised for its intense action and the first game to introduce quick time events during movies and in game (even be4 God of War). I played RE4 on the game cube and a year later again on the PS2 and I always thought if they would keep the controls the same and just add a new story, I would definitely like it.
As the release date of RE5 came closer the trailers and footage of the game became more interesting and when the demo was released 2 months before the official release, I just had to play it. And... well.. I had some mixed feelings about the demo. I played the local co-op mode with my brother. The first thing that really bothered me was not being able to move while aiming. I wasn't sure if this was also the case with RE4, at first I thought it was but later on I heard from a colleague that in the original RE4 for the GC and PS2 you could move while aiming, but they removed that in the Wii version and RE5 is probably based on the Wii version of RE4. Even if you couldn't move while aiming in the original RE4, at that time '05, the controls were new and refreshing. In '09 it's only logical that people would say that the controls are outdated.
To me that really was a bad choice. Another thing was the reload of your weapon. When reloading you character will stand still for an amount of time, depending on the reload time of your weapon. It is so annoying that you can't walk while reloading especially when you are reloading a weapon that has a slow reload speed, e.g. the shot guns or sniper rifles. It is a design choice to make the player stand still like a frozen object when reloading and keep the tension in the game, but it feels so outdated. I would have preferred slower walking when reloading or at least a little moveability.
Another small point is the 'special melee action' when an enemy is sulking by a head, arm or feet shot. It's nice to have them, but at start it felt strange that e.g. Chris can only do a right straight punch when the enemy is sulking, but he can't do it when the enemy is normal. It probably felt strange because I was used to playing Dead Space, in which you can hit and stamp your enemies whenever you want. In RE5 I would sometimes run towards an enemy expecting that I could use my 'special melee action', but realized that I first got to make it sulk. It just feels a little strange that you can only trigger melee attacks (except using your knife) when the enemy is sulking.
In overall the controls were just not as good as I had hoped for. You do get used to the controls after an hour but it just doesn't feel right for a game that is from '09.
There is also the limited inventory space for items and weapons that you can carry. I often had to make choices to drop items or ammo, which you can never pick up again because they disappear, for health items.
Enough about the bad. The good, to be able to play RE5 in co-op mode with a friend is the best feature of RE5. It definitely makes the game more fun. I haven't tried playing the game with an AI partner and what I hear from my colleagues who did, it's not bad but not good either. Sucks for those who can't find a friend to play RE5 with. Team work makes RE5 much more fun and very satisfying when teaming up on enemies especially when combining it with the 'special melee attack'.
Capcom used most of the good things from RE4 and kept them in RE5, the weapon upgrade, quick time events, treasures and selling them for money. Although in some cases I thought it was done better in RE4 than in RE5, e.g. putting treasure pieces together to make a more valuable treasure you had that in RE4 but not in RE5 or a sales man in the level where you can buy/sell items and upgrade weapons makes more sense (RE4) instead of buy/sell and upgrade every time you die or start a new chapter (RE5).
The good
- Co-op mode, to be able to play with a friend and team work is probably the best thing in any game and this definitely counts for RE5.
- Kept the good things from RE4: the weapon upgrade, quick time events, treasures and selling them for money.
- Special melee attacks, they look nice and can be chained with your partners attack.
- Controls, feel out dated and chunky.
- Not able to walk when aiming or reloading.
- Inventory system could have been better.
- Linear and small levels.
I guess I had too much expectation for RE5. To be as good as RE4 was back then is something that is very hard to accomplish. In overall RE5 is quite nice to play in co-op mode, it feels very satisfying and fun when teaming up on enemies with a friend.
8.0/10
