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Resident Evil 5 ( BioHazard 5 )
PlayStation 3
Revisiting RE5 - A Decent Deadtime Story
3.5/5 stars
After over a year of letting this sit on the shelf, I revisited this title in hopes of finally being able to complete it fully. After RE4 revitalized the series, I felt RE5 was a step backwards. However, after playing it completely, I do have to say it was a better experience I remember then the first time around.
The story, if you follow it, actually ties together all the previous games into one huge conspiracy. If you haven't played the previous games in the series, you can still follow along, but it helps to have the history at your disposal so names like Wesker, Jill Valentine and the myriad virus names aren't so confusing.
The game play follows the RE4 playbook - over-the-shoulder camera, fixed firing position, quick-turn and, at times, quick-time events. When you start off with just your weak pistol, things can get dicey, but as you continue along you get better weapons and can upgrade them to the point of being nigh unstoppable (at least on the easier level settings). If you want, you can unlock unlimited ammo, making things even easier. The bonus weapons - Gatling Gun for Chris and Bow for Sheva, are more decorative than practical - though a bow in the hands of a CPU character (who is accurate to a point of absurdity) is quite handy.
Character design is quite good for a game that came out early in this generation of game consoles. Some may complain that Sheva's alternate costumes are sexist - but RE female characters have always been presented this way. If it bothers you, don't use them! Voice acting is decent (it's certainly come a long way since the initial games) and the level design keeps things interesting as well. Boss battles can be a pain with weak weapons, but get yourself a few Rocket Launchers (or be a real sweetheart and beat the game quickly to get unlimited ammo for it) and they become vastly easier.
I will say, the single player campaign isn't nearly as much fun as going Co-op. Luckily this has the local split-screen variety in addition to the online version. The CPU is unnecessarily accurate, but it can also be unbelievably dumb, especially when it comes to weapons. I guess when you're that accurate, you can use the pistol on EVERY enemy.
One of the things I don't like about the current RE games is that they've gone from traditional zombies to more parasite-infested humans. Just like RE4, the characters aren't technically "dead" they're being controlled by some ugly creatures (that occasionally pop out of their heads becoming a real pain unless you have flash grenade). Call me a traditionalist, but I preferred it when they just groaned and didn't have weapons.
I have to admit, I'm also not a fan of quick time events. For one, even if you know what's coming, being slow on the draw completely ruins your rating for that level, as failing usually means instant death. In my opinion, things would work just as well if you removed them or at least limited them to just a few a game.
The puzzles have been mostly eliminated or are pretty simple to figure out. Only the mirror level really gives you a workout in that are. You can still treasures - which help upgrade weapons or buy new ones. Certain levels do require you to take item management into account, as you can only hold so much - I usually had my trusty rifle, shotgun and machine gun with me, along with grenades and such. The CPU was basically a pack mule for ammo and healing since it only used the handgun the entire game.
While it introduced some new enemies, and brought back a few favorites (Licker, anyone) it basically stuck to the same pattern as RE4. That's the main downfall - it didn't feel like a step up this time around, merely a retread with different characters. I do give it credit for trying to make sense of everything, but they really went to great lengths to over-complicate the story. Why couldn't they just keep things simple? Are they trying to copy the movies, or is it the other way around?
I would say if you've been playing the RE series, it's worth the effort and it's a decent choice for co-op play. I can't rate the online aspect at all but the game itself has enough variety to keep things interesting. Still not my favorite of the series, but not as bad as I remember it either.
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