Post by: Halbred on April 13, 2009, 06:03:46 PM
RE5 is RE4 on steroids, and Im not just talking about Chris Redfields Goku-like forearms. RE4 made significant strides for the series, which had until then had become more redundant with each new release. From RE1 to RE:Code Veronica, the franchise had used the same control scheme, gameplay flow, and scare tactics. It steadfastly refused to evolve, and fans were growing weary of the tank control scheme and irritating inventory system. Even the GameCube REmake, which was followed up by RE0, failed to truly reignite the masses. These were pretty games to be sure, but they still featured 3D character models moving through a 2D, pre-rendered environment, tank controls, and frustrating ammo scarcity. So we were all blown away by RE4, which revolutionized the series in terms of gameplay and tone.
RE4 chucked most of the RE staples out the window. Instead of avoiding fights to conserve ammo, players are given too much ammo, and are encouraged to blow zombified villagers away with extreme prejudice. Money earned by finding treasure lets you buy new guns and upgrade your old ones. In order to counter the new emphasis on gunplay, RE4 throws tons of bad guys at you, just enough to make players feel overwhelmed. Protecting a surprisingly intelligent AI NPC further stresses you, because its not just you the zombies wantthey also want the Presidents daughter. Instead of cinematic camera switches, the camera is positioned over the shoulder, and you have the ability to aim your gun, resulting in many exploding heads. And instead of zombies, you fight Las Plagas, horrible bug-like parasites that incubate inside human hosts and burst out at the worst possible times. Aside from the return of RE2 stars Leon S. Kennedy and Ada Wong, RE4s story doesnt have a whole lot to do with the main RE storyline. But it does set up RE5 very nicely
RE5 brings back series vet Chris Redfield, who helped bring down Umbrella in the first place (destroyed the Arklay Mansion, the Antarctic research facility, and the Russian branch, including Umbrellas top-secret T-A.L.O.S. project). Hes a member of the BSAA, a group dedicated to stopping bioterrorism. He travels to Africa after hearing rumors of a new Uroboros project, but also because his old partner, Jill Valentine, might be there, too. Chris immediately meets up with his new comrade, Sheva Alomar, and the two quickly discover that a new pharmaceutical company, Tricell, has taken Umbrellas place in researching bioweaponsand theyve taken a liking to both the Las Plagas and the original Progenitor virus. And of course, series villain Albert Wesker must be involved somehow. RE5 specializes in throwing tons of enemies at you (more than RE4) in the middle of awe-inspiring setpieces. Most of the larger areas are built with two players in mind; in one area, for instance, Chris takes on a horde of villagers while Sheva snipes arrow-slingers from above.
Most notably, RE5 brings two-player co-op to the series, and this gameplay innovation is incredibly satisfying. You can play with a friend by your side or online, with the former option splitting the screen. The split-screen isnt distracting, but I actually prefered online play so that I could have the entire screen to myself. Instead of a weird Australian merchant, buying and selling is done between levels (or deaths), and you have more control over how you want to upgrade your weapons and shuffle your inventory. Each player has nine inventory slots and the NWES slots are instantly accessible via the D-pad, so you can switch from your handgun to your Magnum in an instant (which is much nicer than the menu/equip hassle of RE4). It does, however, somewhat limit your inventory options. But let me tell you something: in the heat of battle with two human players, you dont give two craps. The game was designed around two-player co-op, so much so that Shevas AI behavior (when you dont have a friend to play with) is disappointingly limited by comparison. Sure, she gets the job done on her own, but she tends to waste ammo and relies on her handgun way too much, switching to other weapons only when she runs out of bullets. Shes also not a big help during the games final moments, which is very annoying. Whenever possible, play with a friend. Whats nice is that you can start a game session with the AI, but online (or local) comrades can pop in at any time, take the reigns for awhile, and then drop out. Online partners are forced to pick and choose items from their own inventories, so there is no swapping between parties. This can be a drag when your partner picks up a weapon you dont have yetthe item moves to their games inventory, but not yours! Fortunately money and loot is awarded to both players, no matter who picks it up.
As your arsenal increases in terms of both weapon diversity and individual upgrades, your enjoyment increases exponentially. Thank Cthulhu you can revisit completed stages and blow through them so you can experience the thrill that is a fully-upgraded Desert Eagle equivalent. Fully upgrading a gun unlocks the ability to purchase its final featureinfinite ammo. I highly recommend it, because you wont have to waste inventory space on ammo boxes. Upgrading certain guns unlocks the most powerful gun of that class, too (ever seen a triple-barrel shotgun?). The only limiting factor is deciding how often you want to play through the game, as different levels net you different amounts of moolah. Luckily, you can quit a level at any time and save your inventory, so after netting a big haul you dont necessarily have to finish the mission. But there are other reasons for going backBSAA emblems are hidden throughout most of the missions, and shooting them all results in some pretty kickass unlockable content. There are also three difficulty settings for each mission, and you are ranked based on how well you did. Ranking determines bonus points awarded, which you can trade in for yet more secret stuff. Achieving an S rank on Veteran mode is a real challengeI recommend playing through with a buddy who knows what s/hes doing. Speed runs are also crucial for getting the best rank, as well as the best infinite ammo weapon (speed run through the whole game in less than 5 hours¹).
As if the story mode doesnt provide enough content, the Mercenaries mode from RE4 makes a triumphant return. The only real difference is that the maps are flooded at all times with baddies and you have the option to play with a partner (locally). The difficulty has been ramped up significantly since RE4, though, and its much tougher to unlock new maps and characters. The most important factor in getting a good score appears to be keeping a good combo going (the shotgun helps). The new maps are especially cool; one is even filled with liquid hot mag-ma. But like I said, Mercenaries is tough and definitely takes some practice. Whats more, I consistently got better scores while playing with a friend, so keep that in mind.
And then, just when you thought you could put the controller down, Capcom goes and releases a downloadable Versus mode. Theyre asking five bucks, and honestly, Id pay double that. Versus is basically Mercenaries online, with the added bonus of being able to kill the other players. There are two modes, each of which has a team modifier. Survivors challenges you to hunt down other players on the map and focus on killing them. Zombies also roam the map, but killing them doesnt net you any points or bonuses. They do add a certain amount of chaos to the battle, and its fun to take advantage of a zombie hold by killing the player theyre grappling with.Slayers focuses on zombie-killing, but you can kill other players if you want. Slayers is more like straight-up Mercenaries in that your focus is killing zombies and getting a good combo going.
You can choose from a wide variety of characters in both modes (after unlocking them with bonus points), and each comes with a set item inventory. You can pick up additional weapons in Survivors, but not Slayers. Both modes, like Mercenaries, feature sand statues that you can destroy for additional time. Aside from being great fun on its own, Versus awards players with bonus points upon winning (or losing) a match, which makes unlocking additional characters a lot easier. But aside from that, it makes nabbing those expensive infinite ammo options more viable. As you might guess, the stop-to-aim control scheme hinders Player vs. Player attacks somewhat, as they become standoffs with two players shooting each other at point-blank range until one of them dies. Personally, I prefer Slayers to Survivors, and Team Slayers at that, but both are fun and will keep fans playing long into the night.
Also, Jill Valentines never looked sexier!
All in all, RE5 is the ultimate RE experience. If you liked (or loved) RE4, youll have an absolute blast with RE5. The story mode has more replay value than you can possibly realize, and the addition of co-op is beyond awesome. I daresay that its more fun to play the story mode online than it is to play co-op (split-screen) or solo. And when youve had your fill of blasting Weskers cronies, Mercenaries is a fantastic, surprisingly deep mode that keeps you on your toes and improves your skills. And finally, online Versus is just icing on the cake. Yeah, youve gotta pay a little extra, but to me its worth every penny. If you want value for your gaming dollar, RE5 has you covered. ²
¹PROTIP: Upgrade your best Magnum all the way, then unlock its infinite ammo option. This is your new handgun. Play through the first Marshlands mission a few times, and stock up on Rocket Launchers (and cash). Bring a rocket launcher to every boss fight, and always aim for the head with your magnum. Fully upgrade and unlock infinite ammo for your favorite sniper rifle (I recommend the Drugnov), which makes the final few chapters much easier. Ignore all boxes and barrelsthis will save you a LOT of time. Bring five flash grenades on every missionthey will instantly kill any Plagas mutants, including the annoying crab things.
²You might be inclined to buy the Special Edition, which costs an extra $30. I did, and I cant really say Ive utilized its special features too much. The box includes a little Chris Redfield figurine (kinda cool), a Tricell tote bag (meh), a BSAA patch (what am I gonna sew it to?), a necklace with a pewter Africa on it (yay?) and a Special Features disk, which includes the sort of bells and whistles youd find on a DVD (making of, still images, etc.). Its okay, but the asking price is a little hard to swallow.
Post by: broodwars on April 14, 2009, 06:33:43 AM
It also doesn't help that the demo doesn't really have any of the RE5 story elements, which are what I'd be buying the game for. I don't know, maybe it's just a really bad demo.
Post by: King Bowser Koopa on April 14, 2009, 09:44:54 AM
Seriously though, I've got RE5 on 360. It's very fun, it's very enjoyable, but in no way is it the "ultimate RE experience". I'm on my fourth playthrough of the game and I've unlocked all but a few unlimited ammo bonuses. Part of me wants to conclude that the game isn't much more than an Africa-stamped carbon copy of Resident Evil 4, but lacking the feeling of creative spark that Shinji Mikami would have injected into it were he still at the helm. However, another part of me is a considerable fan of Wesker and enjoys the very large role he plays in the story, even the (without mentioning spoilers) apparent closure of the entire series' plot line up until now.
The controls in the final build of the game, at least the 360 version, are quick to get the hang of and feel fairly reminiscent of 4's gamecube controls, and are a huge improvement over the controls in the demo version.
The music, what there is of it, is pretty nice, particularly the many remixes of the Uruboros theme during some of the boss battles, and the climactic final chapters. Most of the non-vocal sound effects are reused from 4, though this isn't much of a problem, they were stellar to begin with.
One major annoyance with the game is that when playing single-player mode on any difficulty higher than Amateur, Sheva's AI takes a swan dive and she becomes infuriatingly frustrating to work with - often standing in your way or positioning herself in your line of vision, moving erratically around large groups of enemies, or simply staring motionlessly as they slowly shuffle up and kill her, stealing much needed ammo despite not carrying a weapon that uses it, randomly dumping useless items into your inventory, refusing to use an important weapon you've entrusted her with... in one level, you're riding on the back of a speedboat, trying to fend off oncoming enemies before they're close enough to hurl grenades into your watercraft. One instance saw her unequip the gun she was using, get out the short-range electric stun rod, and begin endlessly spinning in circles on the back of the boat, like she was trying to perform some kind of ritual dance.
Another thing - while the graphics in the game are incredibly nice, I really don't see what's so "ultimately perfect" about them. They really aren't that much of a leap over those in RE4 besides a few water and smoke effects and some nice explosions. There are still just as many jaggies and blurry, unpleasant textures as there were in the previous game - check out the eye closeup on the first Majini you encounter in the game, as they stuff the Plaga-ball down his throat. The surrounding skin reminds me of Andross in Star Fox, if you catch my drift. If the Wii can handle RE4 perfectly, I still see no reason it wouldn't have supported 5, even a slightly lower-resolution port, despite what naysayers claim. If I have one praise over graphical improvement, Ashley's face looked a little monkey-like, Sheva is all kinds of hotness in comparison.
The removal of the Merchant (or an African equivalent) is confusing and really breaks the seamless realism of Chris' journey across the savanna. Being able to upgrade weapons and buy more weapons between levels is certainly more convenient, but it's hardly realistic when you fight a boss that wears you down to the last little inventory dregs, then as you pass through a doorway you suddenly have a completely restocked ammo supply, three new guns and an upgraded shotgun. Particularly when many of these levels are in underground caves that are miles beneath the surface, and it would take a full day's trek to go back the way you came, drive to the nearest supply depot and return to the exact point you were at before the level began. Also, the option to combine treasures is sorely missed, even when many of the treasures you find (ceremonial mask? gold idol?) simply scream to the player "look at all these little holes and crevices! I'll bet you're dying to cram some gemstones into this thing for a better selling price!".
Enemies are almost entirely taken directly from previous games, most of them from 4. They have new models and a distinct African flavor, but they come in the exact same variations, and act in the exact same manner.
Regular minions that run up to strangle you. Minions that wield axes or shields or crossbows, or simply ones that throw bombs or tip scenery over at you. Stronger minions that have destructible wooden shields. Plagas-infused minions that come in several varieties. Vision-impairing insects that can kill you instantly if they get too close. Chainsaw wielding minibosses with burlap sacks on their heads. Army-style minions with stun rods and guns of several kinds. Giant muscle-bound bosses with portable gatling guns - even wearing comical red berets. Gigantic ogre-like boss creature with retractable Plagas weak-points in the back of its neck. Any of these sound familiar? They've *all* been used before, though they don't seem to have much of the crafty trap-planning teamwork skills they had in RE4.
The assortment of exotic locales you traverse is impressively rendered, but again, they don't seem to be as big or as numerous as the places you explore in Spain. Sure, RE4 had you backtrack to old locations a few times, but 5 still seems a shorter experience overall in comparison.
Before any more is said and I break any hearts, I still love Resident Evil 5. The story closure almost makes up for all these shortcomings in one fell swoop. It has almost everything that has made the series great up until now, even if it's not particularly scary. I just don't agree at all that it's the ultimate be-all and end-all of the series. It feels more like Resident Evil 4.5, and just about every aspect of the game seems to have been done better in previous installments. Except voice acting: Wesker is cooler than ever.
And just to finish off: Jill was always hotter as a brunette.
Post by: D_Average on April 14, 2009, 11:00:45 AM
Hmm...I just got a PS3 over the weekend, and one of the first things I did once I set up my PlayStation Network account was to download the RE5 demo because I had really been looking forward to that game. Thing is, I don't know if it's becaus
Same here, loved RE4 on Wii and was really looking forward to this one. However, the demo sucked all my anticipation away. I understand why they made the controls the way they did, but at the end of the day, I just don't like them.
Post by: NWR_Lindy on April 14, 2009, 02:12:38 PM
Post by: GoldenPhoenix on April 14, 2009, 02:14:48 PM
I'll be honest I haven't gotten around to playing RE5 yet for my PS3 (I got the special edition and I love the extras then again I am addicted to CEs like a certain boss man at NWR). Right now I'm enjoying Godfather 2, but if Halbred wants to play sometime maybe we can!
Post by: D_Average on April 14, 2009, 02:31:26 PM
Koopa paragraph weird spacing wall of text of doom scares me!
I'll be honest I haven't gotten around to playing RE5 yet for my PS3 (I got the special edition and I love the extras then again I am addicted to CEs like a certain boss man at NWR). Right now I'm enjoying Godfather 2, but if Halbred wants to play sometime maybe we can!
So Godfater 2 is decent? I hope so, as I love the movies. As I ate breakfast this morning I saw X Play poo poo all over it. Its seems the main complaint was mission tasks were very monotonous and repetitive.
Post by: GoldenPhoenix on April 14, 2009, 02:43:08 PM
Koopa paragraph weird spacing wall of text of doom scares me!
I'll be honest I haven't gotten around to playing RE5 yet for my PS3 (I got the special edition and I love the extras then again I am addicted to CEs like a certain boss man at NWR). Right now I'm enjoying Godfather 2, but if Halbred wants to play sometime maybe we can!
So Godfater 2 is decent? I hope so, as I love the movies. As I ate breakfast this morning I saw X Play poo poo all over it. Its seems the main complaint was mission tasks were very monotonous and repetitive.
Well let me put it this way, if you enjoyed the first game, you'll enjoy the second game. It has more then enough new stuff to warrant a purchase and it maintains the good stuff from the first game (like taking over businesses). Putting together a team with various skill sets definitely ads a new layer to the game. Missions can be completed in more then one way now (for example if you rob a bank instead of breaking in through the front door you can blow wall that least to the inside of the vault from the outside).
Post by: NWR_Neal on April 14, 2009, 03:17:23 PM
I'm glad Zach kept this brief.
You took the virtual words out of my virtual mouth.
Post by: GoldenPhoenix on April 14, 2009, 03:20:52 PM
Post by: D_Average on April 14, 2009, 03:43:16 PM
Koopa paragraph weird spacing wall of text of doom scares me!
I'll be honest I haven't gotten around to playing RE5 yet for my PS3 (I got the special edition and I love the extras then again I am addicted to CEs like a certain boss man at NWR). Right now I'm enjoying Godfather 2, but if Halbred wants to play sometime maybe we can!
So Godfater 2 is decent? I hope so, as I love the movies. As I ate breakfast this morning I saw X Play poo poo all over it. Its seems the main complaint was mission tasks were very monotonous and repetitive.
Well let me put it this way, if you enjoyed the first game, you'll enjoy the second game. It has more then enough new stuff to warrant a purchase and it maintains the good stuff from the first game (like taking over businesses). Putting together a team with various skill sets definitely ads a new layer to the game. Missions can be completed in more then one way now (for example if you rob a bank instead of breaking in through the front door you can blow wall that least to the inside of the vault from the outside).
Good to hear. I'm definitely going to give it a rental first just in case, but I'm sure I'll enjoy regardless as I'm a fan of the movie series.
Post by: GoldenPhoenix on April 14, 2009, 03:50:44 PM
A rental is probably the safest. Really though I am not sure why it is getting mixed reviews. It seems the BUYER response is far better. It may not have the production values of GTAIV, but it definitely is not a carbon copy of it either.
Post by: D_Average on April 14, 2009, 04:49:29 PM
Post by: Stogi on April 14, 2009, 04:51:00 PM
I want to know what 92 means, is this come of brain washing subliminal message that Halbred will activate when the time is right?
Ya, those are everywhere in your news/blog posts. It keeps screwing up your hyphens.
Post by: Louieturkey on April 14, 2009, 08:43:13 PM
Post by: Stratos on April 15, 2009, 04:32:00 AM
Post by: Halbred on April 15, 2009, 08:58:02 PM
Post by: NWR_Lindy on April 17, 2009, 03:46:40 AM
Post by: KDR_11k on April 17, 2009, 07:52:55 AM
The things I heard about RE5 (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/624-Resident-Evil-5) weren't quite as positive...
Post by: vudu on April 17, 2009, 09:23:07 PM
Play through the first Marshlands mission a few times, and stock up on Rocket Launchers (and cash).
Five years ago if I had read this sentence in a topic about a Resident Evil game I wouldn't believe it. This sentence doesn't have the right to exist.
Stock up on rocket launchers? Stock up?!
This is what's wrong with RE5 (and to a lesser extent, the later half of RE4). The game ceases to be scary when you have to much weaponry you can blast any living thing to kingdom come.
Post by: NinGurl69 *huggles on April 17, 2009, 10:01:20 PM
Post by: DAaaMan64 on April 18, 2009, 03:03:34 PM
You use Word for unformatted text?
The things I heard about RE5 (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/624-Resident-Evil-5) weren't quite as positive...
ZP is a dick, so I wouldn't worry about that.
Post by: KDR_11k on April 18, 2009, 05:10:16 PM
ZP is a dick, so I wouldn't worry about that.
He did seem pretty spot-on for many other games, at least the ones I've played.
Post by: Stratos on April 18, 2009, 07:07:21 PM
