Resident Evil 5
Like a broke cousin that won’t go away the infected in the Resident Evil series are back. Returning to the series is the heart breaking, dead body making, sure to stick a bullet where it hurts – life taking Chris Redfield. Many fans of the series remember Chris from the first installment and Code Veronica. Well he’s back and all HD’ed up, (that’s high definition not hard drugs although he does look pumped). He’s not alone though, he’s partnered with female protagonist Sheva Alomar. The the setting is a fictional part of Africa where they must solve the mystery behind a new virus outbreak called the Progenitor virus.
This virus makes you mutate faster than Michael Jackson at a plastic surgeons office, to an unrecognizable form. You go around collecting clues that ultimately lead you to the answers you seek and ultimately the final showdown. The main antagonist is back from the first RE as well, namely Albert Wesker, who moves like Neo in a room full of Agents. I was very happy to see Wesker return to kick my ass, thank you Capcom. Some of the features I liked were the ability to upgrade your weapons speed, power, piercing ability and ammo . As well as having the ability to have your partners inventory screen always open making item giving easy as you can keep track of both players inventories.
Leveling up your weapon is an option you will want to utilize in this game if not you might as well bend over and say “thank you sir may I have another?”. There are also a number of unlockable rewards to get. Leveling up your weapon is done by collecting rare gemstones, goblets and other pieces of eight( in pirate speak) then cashing them in. One more thing I liked is if you are playing couch co-op even though the screen is split it was in no way noticeable for me which I found f#@%*!g awesome. This was the first time I played a game split screen and did not feel cheated. The reason for this is because both players are allowed to stray as far away from each other as they want and explore at will. The game however was built to play with online in mind. Which provides for a much more rewarding experience.
Some returning baddies include everybody’s favorite chainsaw wielding maniac (no he’s not a Texan). As well as the giants and hell hounds there are also some new surprises which I will not mention so as to not ruin it for anyone who has not played it as yet.
What I did not appreciate was when playing the one player campaign mode the A.I. left much to be desired, so much so that I had to seek psychiatric help and enroll in anger management classes. (Only four weeks left) this was due to the fact that Sheva wastes the ammo in her possession but even more maddening is that she ALWAYS takes up position directly behind Chris hence spending most of her bullets on Chris instead of the infected residents of Kijuju. This is even worse if you are trying to snipe someone because when she hits you, you tend to shake a little therefore missing your head shot. Even though she can’t kill Chris by shooting him it’s very frustrating. I wonder if the game testers at Capcom went on strike or something. You can’t get even either because when you kill the bitch by placing her in harms way you die as well.
(Hey is that an umbilical cord or his penis?) Some of the boss fights are really excruciating but fun. Some things I did not like is that the game is too scripted maybe for the next RE they can incorporate some Fallout 3 open world elements to it. I also wish they kept a little more of the survival horror aspect to it rather than drowning it with action laden mechanics. I know some might not agree with me and say Gears of War, Gears of War. Well that game has carved it’s own niche out, the last thing we need are copycats. Over all though Resident Evil 5 is certainly worth your money and your time.
So happy hunting fan boys and girls.
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