The Van Redd Review: Resident Evil 5

[Van Redd]

Resident Evil has always been one of my favorite franchises. I was a dedicated Nintendoite for many years until one magic night. My pals had a PlayStation and a copy of Resident Evil. They told me I had to try this out and I wound up picking up at 7:15 p.m. that night. We played that game until 6 a.m. It was the most awesome thing I had experienced at that point. It blew away anything on the N64. I read in EGM (r.i.p) that Resident Evil 2 was coming out soon and it looked glorious. Immediately I began saving $20 a week from my crappy high school grocery job. The day it came out, I went home with a PS1 and a copy of Resident Evil 2. It was the only PlayStation game I owned for two months, and it was the only one I needed.

It has been a lot of years since then and the basics of what make it a great game have changed somewhat. Resident Evil 4 introduced a new way to play and a new type of enemies to face off with. Once again you no longer are being chased by slow T-Virus zombies, though some old "friends" do show up. The main evil after you this time is Las Plagas in nature just like before.

The gameplay is basically the same as Resident Evil 4 for good and for bad. It is a rough adjustment to go from a game like Dead Space with a more liberal control scheme to the stop and pop game play of RE 5. To be honest once you play the game for about an hour you will be fine but it does detract from the immersion. I had a harder time suspending disbelief as at least Issac Clark has the good sense to back up as he shoots at crazy things trying to eat his face off. Chris Redfield fears NO face eating. I go on record with that.

You can tell the main focus of RE 5 was to take the awesome experience of RE4 and share it with a friend. In this regard the game is amazing. Nevis and I have blown though most of the difficulty levels having a great time. The only drawback is that you lose a bit of the tension RE4 had since you are never alone in your fight.

The story is your typical semi-sensical Resident Evil fare, but it serves its purpose and remains true to its internal logic. To long time fans it is nice to finally have closure as this game marks the end of the current canon of RE according to Capcom. Though the world of Resident Evil tends to work pretty well with itself. I love the backstory of a world at siege by Bio-weapons. The acting is fairly well done in this installment much as it was done (mostly being the key word) in RE4. I enjoyed playing Chris and Sheeva but I would have loved a Leon Kennedy cameo somewhere.

To be honest I loved the terrible acting in the first Resident Evil that I feel it needs to be at least a little silly. I would love an unlockable "Jill Sandwich" dialogue option with RE1 inspired lines. One of the Tenku games did this.

Final Word:
A super adventure from beginning to end. This is THE game of the spring and for me the game of the year. It comes with my highest recommendation.

[Dark DJ]

Good review, though I think it's important to talk about how freaking good this game looks.

Otherwise, nice work Vanny.

[Hellsing]

Nice review even though I disagree with your opinion.

[Soldier X25]

I agree with RE5 being game of the year. It has high replay value. If it was a tool used by insurgents it would be a high payoff target.

[Fenris, Son of Fenrir]

I think that the stop 'n pop style is supposed to up the ante. Its differentiating itself from the run and gun zombies of Left 4 Dead. Its now run OR shoot instead of run AND shoot.

[Deschain]

I think that the stop 'n pop style is supposed to up the ante. Its differentiating itself from the run and gun zombies of Left 4 Dead. Its now run OR shoot instead of run AND shoot.

Actually the other way around. The "run or shoot" question followed by the "run and shoot" response in the L4D trailer was a reference to the Resident Evil series which has never allowed you to shoot while moving.

In the "could be cool" department, modders are recreating RE2 in Left 4 Dead (discussion here).

[Dark DJ]

Yeah, Wolf, it's more that L4D was upping the ante. I think they both have places in gaming, but others seem to disagree. Dead Space blends it well, slowing you down to shoot without actually stopping you, but I don't think gamers will ever be satisfied.

[Zoyd]

Noooo!

We will not discuss the controls. That way lies blood and rage.

RE5 is perfect. We will leave it at that.

[Hellsing]

RE5 is perfect. We will leave it at that.

If by perfect you mean perfect except for the controls then yes.

[Dark DJ]

Shh...shh.

(Whispering) We don't talk about the controls of RE5...

[XBX360Dad]

I'm pretty well into this one and have to say that it's started to grow on me. Perfect, it is not. As a horror game it's not scary and as a shooter it's not going to put Call of Duty out of business. But once you get used to the fact that the controls are what they are and they're not going to get any better, Resident Evil 5 is pretty good. In fairness, I am not playing co-op and that seems to be the way to go. My wife and son went through this game together and loved it.