Rapid Review - Resident Evil 5

Let's say you were being chased by zombies. Now let's say that you have a gun. And for the hell of it, let's say that you're part of a special task force and have a long history of dealing with zombies. Now that you've put yourself in this scenario tell me, if all the above was true would you stop, take aim, fire a shot, and then slowly turn around to continue running? Of course you would because you're not a stupid fuck with a hard-wired death wish. Unfortunately, Chris Redfield is. And unfortunately in Resident Evil 5, you are Chris Redfield. And that right there is pretty much the only real problem with Resident Evil 5. Otherwise it's a good, sometimes gorgeous, looking game with a passable if a bit expected story and a fair bit of fun action and a great opportunity for some superb co-op experiences. Take out the ridiculously placed quick time events (something I loathe in general) and you'd have a fantastically fun game. Resident Evil 5 gets an 8/10, but it potential for better. For specifics, hit the jump and read on.

Resident Evil 5 (RE5) follows Chris Redfield which, aside from Code Veronica and the Umbrella Chronicles, is the first time we've really seen him since the original Resident Evil where him and now deceased partner Jill Valentine battled Albert Wesker after the outbreak of the original T-Virus (the strain of virus that first started turning people into mindless flesh connoisseurs). The story starts with Chris showing up in Africa to investigate a major weapons deal going down. Since Raccoon City has fallen and STARS is no more (the Umbrella Corporation has also since fallen), he has joined with the Bio-terrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA), and is met in Africa by fellow BSAA agent Sheva Alomar. Sheva plays your constant companion throughout the game, but is not directly playable. Not too surprisingly, the weapons deal goes sour and suddenly Chris finds himself in yet another zombie infested land with a new super virus on the loose.

The gameplay is pretty simple, or at least it should be, but Capcom has intentionally handicapped you (presumably in an effort to raise tension) by forcing your to completely stop anytime you aim your weapon. It seems with each iteration of Resident Evil, it slowly becomes closer and closer to being a straight up run-an-gun game, and the fact that you completely stop is the only thing that keeps RE5 from giving in completely. The typical throng of zombies coming after populate the world, though there is quite a variety in their looks and in the types of zombies. Not just your average brain-dead flesh followers, these zombies wield various weapons that get deadlier and more explosive as the game goes on and even attempt, though rarely succeed, in using strategic tactics. At the beginning of the game I was frantic and paranoid every time I saw a zombie and ran for high ground, but once you find your first shotgun you slowly begin to get more and more confident an less and less tense.

The weapons in RE5 are a lot more varied than in previous releases, not only offering more classes of guns, but different options within each class. Not all rifles, shotguns, and pistols are created equal. Add in the upgradable aspects, which improve damage, clip capacity, reload time and more, and you can wield massive damage in small packages. The upgrade system uses money, which you find throughout the levels and get in exchange for selling artifacts you also find, to pay for each upgrade, which gets more expensive the higher you go. The only problem is that I often invested a lot of money in a weapon I found early in the game only to later find another weapon whose base stats are better than the original weapons base stats, but don't compare to what you souped-up weapon has. The dilemma is that you have to decide if the max potential for the new weapon is worth abandoning all that money you invested in the one you have now. Often I found that I stayed with what I had and knew was a sure thing.

As I mentioned earlier, you have a new partner, Sheva, in RE5 that stays with you throughout the game. Sheva is better than most AI partners, but it's much better and much more fun to have a human in the role. The good thing is that RE5 makes it really easy to have a real partner, even if you're sad, lonely, and have no friends. When you start a game you have the option of playing a private game in which no one can join, a friends-only game where only those on your friends lists can join, or a completely open and public game where anyone came come and go throughout the game and serve as your wing man or woman. Even when you're solo, the AI Sheva does a pretty good job of drawing fire or helping in the fire fights and automatically gets out of your way when she's in your line-of-fire (Hey, Ubisoft! You taking note? I'm sick of that shit in your Tom Clancy games.). The only real drawback to the AI partner is that you end up having to do a lot of round-about resource management on her behalf. You have to make sure she's armed and well stocked with ammo. On the plus side, you can also use her as a limited pack mule to tote the stuff you don't want and she acts as a great medic, relieving you of having to shuffle through the inventory system mid-battle to heal yourself.

Visually the game can be very stunning, but it seems that you often find yourself in environments where that isn't taken advantage of as often as it should be. The locations are varied, ranging from the slummy African city to the swamped marshlands, to some pseudo-Mayan underground ruins. There are a few vehicle scenarios that aren't too involved, but also don't feel stapled on after-the-fact and seem relevant to the story. Not nearly as welcome are the ridiculous Quick Time Events that are spread throughout some of the games many in-game cut scenes. The problem with the QTE's is that you have no idea they're coming up, and sometimes the game doesn't seem to recognize that you've done what was asked of you, even though you were quick on the draw and mashed the right buttons. The surprise factor of the events are the most maddening because you will go through 4 or 5 cut scenes without anything, and then suddenly one is sprung on you leaving you fumbling for the controller or randomly mashing buttons. Cut scenes are not the time for a quick piss or to grab a drink.

Final Verdict: While the stop and go action of the game may seem counter productive, it ends up working out once you get used to it, and it seems that Capcom was very conscious of what this choice would mean to the way you play the game. In the end, Resident Evil 5 is fun, relatively low on the fear factor, but makes for some occasional tense fire fights and a story that's worth paying attention to. The opportunity and predominance of co-op in the game is welcome and loved as I'm not big on the competitive side of multiplayer but a huge fan of getting the chance to have a friend join in on the core campaign. Overall Resident Evil 5 gets an 8/10 for good fun and good action.