‘Resident Evil 5’ a controversial let-down

Shane Kaiser

Back in 1996, Capcom released Resident Evil for the Sony Playstation. This game was controversial and unlike any other game at the time. It was so unique that it spawned one of Capcom’s largest followings of series and a new genre of video games known as the “survival horror” genre.

Recently, Capcom released the seventh and newest installment to the series, Resident Evil 5.

Just like most other games in the series, Resident Evil 5 was controversial, starting with the first trailer released in the summer of 2007 that displayed the protagonist killing hoards of African zombies.

Gameplay:

Following in the footsteps of the previous games in the series, it is a simple hallway third-person shooter involving zombies and other kinds of paranormal creatures.

The game plays almost exactly like Resident Evil 4, and the developers decided not to allow the player’s character to move and shoot at the same time, unlike many other modern third-person shooters, like those in Gears of War. The controls can feel a little clunky at first, but you will get used to it after playing for a couple of minutes.

The game is not much of a challenge in regards to its difficulty, unless you play on the hardest setting. If you are looking to just have some fun, the normal setting shouldn’t give any experienced gamer problems. However, if you are looking for a little bit of a challenge, you should play on hard (and even then, it should not give you a very difficult of a time).

The biggest change Capcom made to the series is the cooperative fighting system. In this game you play as the classic character, Chris Redfield, who has a new partner, Sheva Alomar, that the computer or another player/friend can play as. This partner can hold items for you, heal you when you are injured, kill off waves of enemies and help you out with various tasks throughout the game.

While this is a great idea and adds a unique dynamic to the series, the AI for Sheva is terrible. I found myself frustrated with the computer playing as Sheva because she would use up all the ammunitions, herbs and other items in my inventory very quickly. It was almost as if I needed to babysit her throughout the game. If you have the chance, I would definitely find someone to play with you as Sheva, either in the room or online, to avoid this problem.

Graphics:

The graphics are stunning. They may be some of the best graphics out of many modern games seen today. All the colors are distinguished, bold, bright and every shadow is rendered perfectly. The game has a polished look to it with all of its intricate characters and beautiful environments.

Re-playability:

Unfortunately, this game does not have much re-playability.

With only about 10 to 12 hours of gameplay, a few mini-games to play once the game is beaten, and no head-to-head multiplayer feature, there isn’t much attracting one to play the game multiple times besides trying to earn a few extra gamer points, which can be tedious and boring.

Final thoughts:

While this is a quality game by all means, it doesn’t sit at the same level of Resident Evil 4, which is somewhat disappointing.

The game does a good job tying up loose ends within the Resident Evil story, while developing a story that is easy to follow for those who may not be familiar with the series.

If you are a huge fan of the series, this is definitely a must-buy. If you are just a casual fan, you may want to rent it for a weekend because the game can be easily beaten in less than 12 hours.

If you are a newcomer and aren’t familiar with the series but are interested in trying out a Resident Evil game, I would go out and just buy Resident Evil 4 because it is cheaper, much more of a challenge, and besides the graphics, it has more to offer than Resident Evil 5.