Resident Evil 5 is a bit of an interesting game for me. On one hand, you have a very solid zombie third-person-shooter with great co-op elements, solid story, and great presentation. On the other hand, you have what feels like is a loss of identity, that deviates so much from the core attribute of Resident Evil games: the horror.
First off, Resident Evil 5 starts off with very clear goals. Chris Redfield, last seen in the original Resident Evil, now a member of the BSAA, arrives in Africa to investigate a virus that might be used as a bio weapon to destroy humanity. Chris also is looking for his presumed dead partner, Jill Valentine. New to the Resident Evil series is also a BSAA agent, Sheva Alomar, there to assist Chris, while also looking for her training captain, Josh Stone. Lots of names to keep track of! Even though I’ll stop there with the story, the story of RE5 is pretty good I must say. The cutscenes are very well done a directed, and the voice acting, while shotty at times, is very good as well. Speaking of the cutscenes being very well done, the visuals still hold up to this day. RE5 was the first game to utilize the new gen hardware at the time, being the PS3 and Xbox 360. I played the Switch port of RE5, and the game still looks pretty good. Sure, it does have “gritty shooter syndrome” that a lot of PS3 and 360 games had, with very bland colors and settings, but there are other times where RE5’s settings caught me off guard, because of how good they looked.
Now before I pop off about why I didn’t like Resident Evil 5, I should comment probably the best part of the game: the co-op. A second player can take control of Sheva, and together, you can play through the entire campaign. This is a first for a Resident Evil game, and I really dig its inclusion. Since puzzles and even some boss fights are focused around co-op, there can definitely be some fun to be had with Resident Evil 5’s co-op.
So far, almost all of what I said of RE5 has been praiseworthy, so why do I truly think this game isn’t good? Well, to reword myself, the game is good, but it isn’t a good Resident Evil game. Resident Evil is all about the horror, the tension, the settings. All of that is why Resident Evil is praised as one of the best horror games ever. Sure, Resident Evil 5 has those RE moments, but a lot of it is just action. The cutscenes are action oriented, the gameplay is action oriented. Even the zombies in RE5, you never have to deal with a couple of zombies at a time like in every other entry prior to 5. Every encounter with a zombie in RE5 is in hoards, and that is not what Resident Evil is about. Sure, someone can easily play RE5 and have fun blasting zombies heads off with satisfying shooting gameplay, because that is a legitimate plus-side to RE5. However, if you are a fan of the Resident Evil, Resident Evil 5 will leave you feeling a bit empty, wanting to feel that fear again that has made us love the previous games.
To summarize, Resident Evil 5 is not a bad game. Its story and cutscenes are enjoyable, the gameplay is satisfying, and the graphics are nice to look at. As a Resident Evil game, however, 5 does not compare to any of the previous games that lead up what we got.