Resident Evil: 5
CAPCOM's epic zombie masterpiece returns with a new chapter that's enough to grab anyone's attention, especially the citizens of Kijuju, the fictional region of Africa that serves of the backdrop for this installment of Resident Evil. This was nothing but a surprise for me. I could say all Resident Evil games stand out and each have their own distinct qualities that make them what they are, but RE5 in my opinion brings more to the table than ever before. The story is a continuation of the ongoing Resident Evil saga, but there is a slight twist that keeps it fresh. When I first put the game in and loaded up the first level I was excited. I haven't shot a zombie in ages and was looking forward to shooting hoards of them in the head. That was until the first zombie came at me. Well the twist here is, these zombies aren't technically zombies. They're actually infected with a parasite that takes them over. So these are no slow moving zombies. They come hard, and they come fast, then you get more involved in the game and it just gets exciting. Fast paced story line with action packed game play makes for a awesome experience.
The story follows Chris Redfield, former Raccoon City S.T.A.R.S Alpha team member as he takes on his new role as an agent for the B.S.A.A. ten years after the destruction of Raccoon City. The B.S.A.A. is a paramilitary anti-bio-organic weapon organization that travels the globe to seek and destroy Umbrella's left over creations, which have fallen into the hands of terrorists following it's collapse. Chris gets a tip that a known weapons dealer will be making a deal in the remote African nation of Kijuju and heads over as quick as possible to put a stop to it. When Chris arrives he is paired with a local B.S.A.A. agent named Sheva Alomar. One major change, and in my opinion, a huge benefit to game play is the fact that you play with Sheva as your partner throughout the game. This means that instead of the usual 9 slots for items, you now have 18. So if you need to bring a small arsenal along with you, load up Sheva's inventory with all the extra items and take them as needed. Just don't give her any health items, she tends to use them at any opportunity wasting them for when you might really need them. Now that you have a partner it opens the game up for co-op play. And this is why I could honestly say that this is one of the best Resident Evil games made to date. It's fun playing through the story on your own, but having a buddy by your side watching your back just brings you right into the story.
Don't get me wrong, the last thing I want anyone to believe is that Sheva's artificial intelligence is lacking, because it's not. The AI is very competent, but at times you do feel like your baby sitting. So I recommend you find yourself a partner and try it like that. When it comes to the multi player aspect of the game, you have the option to go split screen or log into XBOX live and play with a friend online. I recommend the latter. Some of the issues I have are with menu's and getting co-op games going. There seemed to be a lot of exiting and reinitializing games, which tends to become a little bit of a pain after playing for a while.
Something huge I think I need to point out is the replay value of this game. This is an area where you'll get a lot of mixed opinions. Basically anyone who doesn't think so, in my opinion, hasn't given it a fair chance. Once you play the game through once, you learn of unlockables. Which are awesome. You get some pretty cool gun updates. The process to get them could be tedious at times, but over all its fun and enjoyable to open up something new and get to use it. Once you managed to unlock some crazy guns and unlimited ammo you'll want to test them out on the unlocked professional mode. This is a mode unlocked once the game is completed on veteran and it feels like a completely new game when you play on this difficulty.
I mentioned earlier some problems with the online aspect of the game but I didn’t mention what the online component consists of. Well you have two modes. A mode called mercenary and a mode called versus, which can be purchased through XBOX live. The mercenary mode is fun to a degree. You have a time and you can play alone or with a partner. You have to rack up as many points as you can to earn as many experience points as you can, which can be later used to upgrade characters or unlock other items through the bonus features menu. The second online mode, versus, which is a played updated is much more fun, and much more intense. Its basically mercenary mode except that its more of a team play kind of match up and that you get more opportunity to rack up experience points. To compare the two modes, in mercenary you play till the time runs out, if you die you start over. It tends to be annoying if you keep dying. Also the point reward at the end of it is determined on how well you do with the game itself. In versus mode it doesn't matter how many times you die, you keep coming back until the timer runs out. Every time you die you lose points. But it's not a huge gain for the opposing team. The beautiful part is that all you need to do is out score the other team. The winner of the match gets a big 2,500 pay out and the loser even makes out with 1000 points. To me it’s win-win. Plus you get bragging rights.
The Good:
- Huge game, there's more then just the story to play here
- Ton's of unlockable items
- Online co-op gameplay and
- Excellent replay value.
The Bad:
- Slow, uncomfortable online gaming menus.
