Resident Evil 5 Review
admin | March 13, 2009 | no comments
History has shown us that the Japanese are quite resistant to change and rarely up-to-date when it comes to popular culture. This is, of course, in sharp contrast to the Land of the Rising Sun’s thirst for cutting-edge technology. To see a micro laptop in Japan playing an episode of Columbo or a gadget-riddled Nissan pumping out the pop of Madonna—when she was still pining about being a virgin again—wouldn’t be uncommon. The same pretty much goes for video gaming in Japan. Not only are arcades still popular on the Southeast Asian island—filled with games that you’d find in a circa-1985 Chuck E. Cheese—but console video games still feature things such as turn-based combat and sprite-based visuals. Capcom’s Resident Evil series has been very resistant to change over its lifespan. Seeing as how the series is still the king of the survival/horror genre (which Resident Evil reinvented in many ways), it’s hard to want to fix what’s not broken. That’s the attitude “Mr. RE,” Jun Takeuchi, and Capcom have taken with Resident Evil 5, with the result being a fantastic game for the devout followers of everything under the, er, Umbrella.
But what about those peeps who don’t know that Jill Valentine is pushing up daisies or who think T-Virus is an up-and-coming rapper that has been signed to Interscope? Well, your relationship with Resident Evil 5 star Chris Redfield and new BSAA op Sheva Alomar will be a bit rockier than the devout.
As a regular follower of the Resident Evil series, it’s easy for me to run through the wholesale changes that Capcom has made to bring the Resident Evil series into the 21st century with this fifth installment of the series. That’ll be later, however. For now, it’s about you, the RE n00b, and why you won’t understand all the series’ hype over the years after playing Resident Evil 5.
Yes, RE5 has evolved this franchise a great dealm and in that evolutionary process is a solid video game. But being a bit too resistant to change—sticking a bit too much to its guns—keeps RE5 from being a top-tier hit for all audiences that are classified “M” for mature (at least in age).
And while I’m talking about guns and sticking to them, it’s really the perfect time to bring up the crux of RE5’s issue for the regular Joe: the gun-based combat. If you’ve ever said, “I just can’t get into Resident Evil [fill in the blank],” it’s more than likely because of the aiming and combat movement system.
We all knew that Capcom wasn’t going to radically change the can’t-move-and-shoot system for Resident Evil 5—Japanese developers being resistant to change, series popularity and all that jazz. Yes, there are obvious merits in a set-then-shoot system, especially for a game in a genre with the word “survival” in it. But really, it’s time for a change.
The inability to fire on the run and aim quickly and accurately is past the point where it brings sheer anxiety and the “should I fire or run to a safe haven?” dynamic to the gameplay. In RE5 the wonky combat system feels really out of place because the pacing of the zombies is much higher than in previous games, which makes not being able to target enemies efficiently more frustrating than intense. In RE5, retreating to a “safe’ spot to stop-and-pop is mostly futile since the speedy undead are on top of you like right now. So, yeah, there will be moments where you’ll yearn for the lawnmower from Dead Rising in your hands rather than a Beretta.
And speaking of weapons, not helping with the fossilized feel to the gun-combat system is the fact that the available munitions are on the ho-hum side. Weapons come in the common categories—handguns, rifles, machine guns and launchers—but it’s all been done ad nauseum. Laser-sighted everything, vehicle-mounted chain guns and the ability to purchase and upgrade weapons obviously helps, though. The fact that a survival/horror game shouldn’t contain weapons of mass destruction also makes the generic lineup acceptable, but a little more flair than just ripping off every popular modern military piece would have been more welcomed.
Another issue with Resident Evil 5’s antiquated gun-based combat system is that it feels that much more out of place in such a beautiful HD setting.
Hats off to Capcom and the art team for truly nailing Resident Evil 5 on the visuals side. High-end shader work, object-heavy scenes and animated bits around every corner make it an aesthetic delight. Well, the fictitious African shanty of Kijuju isn’t delightful, per se, but Capcom created a setting that will really make the user thankful for wherever they dwell.
The combat gameplay is in too stark of a contrast to the strong visuals, however; the rigidness of Chris and Sheva in aim mode just doesn’t quite jive. I know the purists are angrily sounding off in message boards right now, but keep this in mind: Even Capcom’s storied Street Fighter franchise got more with the times for its fourth installment by going polygonal. With that said, core evolution of a franchise doesn’t have to be a death warrant.
While the RE haters and those that simply can’t in any way embrace the combat system will think of RE5 as a devolution of the survival/horror series, series fans (and those willing to bend a little) will look at Resident Evil 5 as a major evolution of the RE universe. It really is a perfect progression for the series in nearly every facet. Okay, maybe the dialogue is as cheesy as ever, but the rest of RE5 is fresh, cleverly designed and oozing with the kind of features that make it seem like a logical advancement from RE4.
Although the aforementioned dialogue is Chester Cheetah and the lip-synch in-game is way off, the general plot of Resident Evil 5 is compelling. Black-market availability of biological weapons turned the ethnically diverse African region of Kijuju into a hotbed for terrorist activities. Chris Redfield—founder of the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA)—learns of the threats in Kijuju and realizes that it’s tied into the Las Plagas strain that some of you may know from Resident Evil 4. Redfield has a rendezvous with fellow West-African-based BSAA agent Shiva Alomar to investigate the outbreak in Kijuju, where the gravity of the situation is realized. There are, of course, plot twists, big, bad bosses and interesting friendly characters that you’ll encounter along the way, but going too far in would be spoiler city. Let’s just say that both causal and die-hard RE fans will be highly entertained during the 15 or so hours it will take to get through RE5.
The game’s plot was obviously built around the new concept of co-op play. Survival/horror purists may contend that, in games such as Alone in the Dark, you should actually be alone…in the dark. This may be true in certain cases, but in RE5’s case, the co-op action has been built to make it a better game in nearly every way. For instance, sometimes you will be alone in RE5, because the game has been designed to split up Chris and Sheva in order for them to accomplish separate tasks.
Users have control of the demeanor of their AI partner, too; both cover and offensive-heavy profiles can be switched on-the-fly, which definitely adds to the duality of the gameplay. The tandem has also been built as sort of a yin-yang in that one possesses sheer strength and the other sheer agility. Again, this allows RE5 to function as somewhat separate mini-games when the duo is split, while forcing teamwork when they’re reunited. It’s also worth a mention that in each other’s company, a cry for help can be issued by either character, which results in a slick mini cutscene’s worth of CQ ass-kicking. So, in essence, you’ll have to rely on your partner to get through the game—no Lone Rangers here.
It’s clear that Sheva has a way with the locals that makes her a huge plot asset in RE5 when it’s dialogue time. Capcom also tied the co-op concept into healing, which enables either player to revive the other; provided that character is still alive to do so. But truly slam-dunking this radical change for the series is the inclusion of both local and Xbox Live co-op multiplayer. Sheva actually does quite well as an AI counterpart, but playing with a human fully realizes the cooperative dynamic. Xbox Live action has been additionally sweetened with drop-in functionality, including the chance for random users to magically pop up into your game. The ability to toggle on/off friendly fire and choose Live partners from a specific list of Friends rounds out one of the more powerful cooperative games on the market.
When you’re not being saved or revived by Shiva—or using the ol’ noodle to solve co-op puzzles—you’ll be wasting hordes of zombies in graphic fashion. The zombies aren’t particularly savvy, nor should they be. But it doesn’t matter much since their strength comes in numbers. The encounters with these parasitic baddies are always adventures. Yes, the lack of aiming accuracy adds a touch of intensity, but it’s the clever design of the levels and the sheer number and relentlessness of the foes that really make the melees of Resident Evil 5 so robust.
Poorly constructed homes and buildings (and the destructibility of said structures) enables shots to be fired before the mass of mayhem is upon you. Complete collapse of an edifice is not out of the question in Capcom’s wonderful shanty’s either. There’s smart use of both light and dark in RE5—pretty much a series first and a response to those who feel all horror games need to be as black as pitch. Logically placed cans and tanks of the exploding nature are always there to lend a helping hand, too, and there always seems like the proper amount of health power-ups around the map to keep the characters barely alive; again, a sign of exemplary level design in a survival/horror game.
Even Kiijuju’s gads of context-sensitive bits—bits that I normally deplore in any game genre—are integrated well enough into the gameplay that they are actually quite enjoyable. Some of these are team-up acts: flip-flopping between Chris and Sheva for co-op flair, while others are more about simply adding a bit of activity to a nice-looking cutscene. Either way, the context moves don’t detract from the chief mode of fun in Resident Evil 5, which is popping a zombie’s head like a zit.
If you can’t deal with the combat gameplay in the RE series (there’s a demo to save you potential naysayers a few bucks), then there’s a good chance that you won’t be buying what the boxed copy of Resident Evil 5 is selling. But if there’s even the slightest amount of indifference in your brain about the aiming and gunplay of RE, then RE5 is worth your time.
On the other side, those who have followed the series for years and can’t get past the whole co-op thing, it’s same result: You’re going to have a problem with RE5. Embrace the conceptual change—just like you had to do when RE4 went over-the-shoulder—and you’ll quickly realize that Resident Evil 5 is worthy company for the rest of your survival/horror game collection.
Source: TeamXbox
Category: Xbox 360
