Resident Evil 5

Rating: M

Score: 9.0/10

The Resident Evil series is easily the king of the zombie outbreak conspiracy-based video games. Resident Evil 4 brought the Resident Evil series to new heights; now Resident Evil 5 tries to better it and explore new territory with Co-Op. Does it succeed or does it become another zombie in an endless horde?

A lot of gamers never liked Resident Evil’s controls. They were awkward compared to normal 3D games. In Resident Evil, forward on the control stick was always forward, as opposed to normal 3D games where you proceed in the direction you pressed on the control stick. Ex: To go right when facing left, you simply press right on the control stick in normal 3D games. In Resident Evil, you must first turn 180 degrees (by holding left or right), then while facing right, press forward on the control stick. It didn’t help that the whole game(s) was in third person, with fixed camera angle. Resident Evil 4 changed to a third person, over the shoulder view. The controls stayed the same, but with the new angle, it added a lot to the controlling of your character (which, if you think about it, is the most important part of a game). Resident Evil 5 uses the same controls.

The gameplay is similar too. It’s the same “stop and shoot” design. You read right - “stop and shoot”. There’s no running-and-gunning in the Resident Evil series. The stopping and shooting add to the thrilling, exciting, “do I have time to stop and shoot?” gameplay the series has lived on for over a decade. You always need to calculate if you have the time to stop and shoot, or if you would be better off running. Think fast, the zombies don’t wait around. This time, you get Co-Op with the gameplay. This all around is better, although like many gamers I was sceptical about the Co-Op, thinking it might ruin the survival aspect.

Being mostly set in the day, all zombies are in plain view, giving less scares then the pitch-black villages in Resident Evil 4. In the dark, all you can hear is the the loud buzz of the chainsaw, but where is he? That doesn’t happen often in Resident Evil 5. The only surprises you’ll find from zombies are if they come up behind you.

Resident Evil 5, with the added Co-Op, is now a game you and a buddy can play simutaniously, bringing it into new ground for the series. It works well, since the endless hordes are more comfortable with a friend who’s got your back. This is even in Mercenaries, where your only goal is to run around and kill the undead endlessly for the highest score possible. This adds tactics such as you and your friend checking different places for time and ammo, or you can stick together and cover each other’s backs.

The storage system has been changed around. Instead of the (seemingly) bottomless pit Leon used to carry his weapons, you get a real-time inventory where you can only have nine items max. So, no more running around with an huge supply of weapons and ammo; you now must organize it to be only nine items. It’s not better or worset in a huge way from Resident Evil 4 - it’s still just as annoying to place, remove, and replace multiple items to get it perfect for one small level.

It’s easily comparable to Resident Evil 4 in multiple ways. Resident Evil 4 is scarier and has more survival in it, but Resident Evil 5 has Co-Op, and the shocking conclusion to the Resident Evil series. Fans will love this game, a lot. Newcomers may not, depending on their taste.