Resi 5 is now a must-buy

K.O.Kiki

Sexy Sheva

Chauvinistic, maybe.

Awesome, hells yes. :pac:

Vegeta

Class, motor boat that sh1t :pac:

Ostrom

The demo was pure fresh unadulterated 18ct s**te

The boobs do nothing

Vegeta

efla wrote: »

The demo was pure fresh unadulterated 18ct s**te

The boobs do nothing

Yeah while I would watch this game being played, I could not play it myself. It would frustrate the living be-jesus out of me.

Even if the plot is the best story ever told it would be like reading the best book ever written but having to turn the pages with your face.

super_furry

Indeed, the demo alone has ensured I won't be buying it. The can make is look as good as it does, give it a great story and pad it all out, but that control scheme is an ambomination and belongs in last generation.

noodler

.....Is the not unbelievanly dodgey considering the racism allegations?

Helix

If it ain’t broke don’t fix it, so the old saying goes. But what about in the case where technology as moved sufficiently forward to allow you to do things that simply weren’t possible in the previous titles in your series? Is it ok to change things then? We delve into the surprisingly sunny depths of the latest instalment in the big daddy of survival horror games, Resident Evil 5.

It’s been four years since the release of what was arguably the pinnacle of the survival horror genre in Resident Evil 4, and a mere two since the Wii port which is widely considered to be one of the best games ever made. Tense atmospheric gameplay and an intuitive Wiimote based control system meant that there was little before, or since, that could hold a candle to the overall ambiance of uncertainty that up until that point had characterised the Resident Evil series of games.

When RE5 was announce, and the first screenshots began to dribble through it started to become clear that the new African setting had brought with it a new feel to the series. Gone were the misty foreboding settings of previous titles and in their place bright and vibrant locales drenched in equatorial sunlight. It was from that point we began to suspect that Resident Evil 5 may turn out to be a divisive little bugger.

Set in the fictional West African country of Kijuju, Resident Evil 5’s plot finally begins to give us some answers about the origin of the mysterious virus that has been plaguing the RE universe since its debut in 1996. You once again take control of RE stalwart Chris Redfield who is now a member of the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance, or BSAA (Chris sure does like an employer with a snappy acronym), and are joined by a new addition to the series in Sheva Alomar who is an agent with the African branch of the BSAA. Throughout the game you will begin to uncover pieces of Chris’ life in the ten years that has passed since the events of the original, and there are a few more than a few surprises along the way.

In a bold move by Capcom, the lumbering and slightly less than intelligent zombie grunts have been done away with for RE5 and been replaced by intelligent and lightening fast foes. While the Resident Evil purists will no doubt take issue with the first of many landscape shifts for the series, it’s certainly a welcome change for us. As any of you who played the demo (and we know there were probably one or two, seeing as how it amassed over four million downloads on PSN and Xbox Live combined) will know, your new fleet footed foes breathe a whole new dimension into the game dynamics, creating a claustrophobic sense of urgency in even the less busy sections.

Unfortunately, with this change the game has lost quite a lot of the atmosphere which helped make previous games in the series so suspenseful, and in turn it signals a major shift for Resident Evil. Rather than stay true to the subtlety that has served it so well through the years, RE5 has adopted a full-on action shooter approach.

As you start playing through, you’ll definitely get the initial feeling that something just isn’t right here. It’s long been ingrained into the gamer psyche that Resident Evil games are anxiety-riddled affairs where you’re never quite sure when the next ****-your-pants moment will come from (need I mention the first encounter with the dogs in the original RE game?), but here it’s a case of run and gun more than creep and cower. Some will love it, some will hate it, personally I’m somewhere in the middle; it’s a nice change and it works, but at the same time it’s just not Resident Evil to me. It makes me feel a little bit dirty and confused.

But it’s fun. It’s really good fun. And that’s what really matters at the end of the day here.

It’s clear that the success of some of the more action packed titles in the time since RE4 has lead to Capcom completely reanalysing their approach to the RE series, and it’s a commendable move. Too often developers can rest on their laurels and pointedly refuse to try new approaches to games, instead opting to tack on the odd new feature here and there alongside a new coat of graphical veneer for their bi-annual series updates. It would have been a crying shame for Capcom to take that route for RE5, because it would have meant we never got to see zombies on dirt bikes.

Yes, you read that correctly. Zombies. On. Dirt. Bikes.

It seems that the strain of the virus infecting these poor unfortunates hasn’t yet made it deep enough into their nervous systems to affect their hand-eye coordination which as a happy coincidence, allows for some nicely executed vehicular set-pieces. Again a big step in a new direction for Capcom, but nowhere near the series re-defining point half way through the game where the infection takes hold of the African military forces stationed nearby.

In a decision that will either make or break the game for you, from around half way through the game you’ll discover something that will truly shock RE fans… your enemies now have guns and they know how to use them. There is little doubt here… you’ll either love the new direction or you’ll be a little disgusted by it. I admit to falling into the latter category. Zombies with guns just isn’t Resident Evil. It’s generic shooter storyline 101 stuff, and it leaves a sour taste in my mouth. The boil riddled, decomposing variety of brain hungry zombie are still here, but their supplementation by fatigue wearing military zombies hurts the whole thing in ways you’ll have to discover for yourself if you want to feel the true impact of it.

Fanboy based bitching aside, Resident Evil is a bloody good game (pun intended). The newly added co-op feature is something that has been sorely lacking in previous RE titles and is more than welcome. It certainly adds a whole new dimension to the gameplay and definitely makes the whole thing worth multiple play-throughs. When not playing with another human the AI of a computer controlled Sheva is wonderful for the most part, except for the occasional moment when she just seems to lose the plot completely and becomes more of a hindrance than a help. Enemy AI is well balanced and even though it provides a worthy challenge, there will be few points where you’ll be overcome with frustration to the point of not wanting to play any more.

One slight irritant on the gameplay side of things is the new itinerary system which is clunky and counter intuitive, causing more issues than it needs to. The new cover system is another feature being roundly criticised, but it’s not all that bad. Yes it does tend to provide you with more hide-shoot-hide-shoot moments than it should, but you don’t HAVE to use it if you don’t want to.

The big one for me is that you still can’t run and shoot at the same time. Quite why Capcom have persisted with this system is a mystery, especially as they deemed it appropriate to up the gunplay to never before seen levels. Would it really have been that hard to let us move and shoot at the same bloody time? It’s not the mid 1990’s any more, the power is there to allow for such highly complicated (ahem) manoeuvres surely. I mean they managed to give one of the most beautiful looking video games I’ve ever seen, with a wonderfully broad range of motifs, so why not bloody shooting and moving at the same bloody time.

OK, I got a little carried away there, it’s just that it’s a huge gripe for me. It would’ve been fine if the game was similar to RE4 and not quite as fast paced, but it isn’t and changes should have been made accordingly.

Of course with all the negatives taken on board Resident Evil is still a good game. No. It’s an excellent game, and a title that probably deserves to be in everyone’s collection, but as I mentioned earlier, it just doesn’t feel like a Resident Evil title. Think more its bastard cousin who has a tendency to get carried away with himself, and everyone thinks is a little bit “different” to the rest of the family.

Score: 8.4

my take

Vegeta

Helix I believe that to be a well constructed review and it is clear you tried not to judge it as Resident Evil 5 (you'll always have those who think games should measured up against their predecessors and those who think they should be judged as a stand alone entity) and instead judge it on its own merit but reading your review and then looking at the score leaves me confused anyway.

High score but a lot of gripes with it

CombatCow

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Sexy Sheva

Chauvinistic, maybe.

Awesome, hells yes. :pac:

Awww, your title is misleading, for a second I though they had "fixed" the control scheme


CC

Helix

Vegeta wrote: »

Helix I believe that to be a well constructed review and it is clear you tried not to judge it as Resident Evil 5 (you'll always have those who think games should measured up against their predecessors and those who think they should be judged as a stand alone entity) and instead judge it on its own merit but reading your review and then looking at the score leaves me confused anyway.

High score but a lot of gripes with it

none of the gripes were gameplay related tho, they were personal preferences about directions taken by capcom, and didnt really affect the game when taken as a whole

i mean its a very very good game (its not a great one), but there were just some decisions taken that i think prevented it from being a must have which left the review giving off my sense of frustration i think

its always disappointing when a game has all the ingredients, but falls short because of strange storyline decisions, and this is definitely one of those times for me

if it didnt have resident evil in the title it would have gotten the same score, but the review would have read slightly differently

Vegeta

When not playing with another human the AI of a computer controlled Sheva is wonderful for the most part, except for the occasional moment when she just seems to lose the plot completely and becomes more of a hindrance than a help. Enemy AI is well balanced and even though it provides a worthy challenge, there will be few points where you’ll be overcome with frustration to the point of not wanting to play any more.

One slight irritant on the gameplay side of things is the new itinerary system which is clunky and counter intuitive, causing more issues than it needs to. The new cover system is another feature being roundly criticised, but it’s not all that bad. Yes it does tend to provide you with more hide-shoot-hide-shoot moments than it should, but you don’t HAVE to use it if you don’t want to.

The big one for me is that you still can’t run and shoot at the same time. Quite why Capcom have persisted with this system is a mystery, especially as they deemed it appropriate to up the gunplay to never before seen levels. Would it really have been that hard to let us move and shoot at the same bloody time? It’s not the mid 1990’s any more, the power is there to allow for such highly complicated (ahem) manoeuvres surely. I mean they managed to give one of the most beautiful looking video games I’ve ever seen, with a wonderfully broad range of motifs, so why not bloody shooting and moving at the same bloody time.

OK, I got a little carried away there, it’s just that it’s a huge gripe for me. It would’ve been fine if the game was similar to RE4 and not quite as fast paced, but it isn’t and changes should have been made accordingly.

Score: 8.4

I don't know dude, a game where the AI goes wrong at times, itinerary is a pain, cover is not great and you think the combat system should have been adjusted but it only loses 16% for all those gameplay elements.

It must have a phenomenal story and production values

I think I am actively trying to talk this game down now (not a good character trait) as I really did not like the demo so I think I will just shut up and leave this topic alone.

Helix

Vegeta wrote: »

I don't know dude, a game where the AI goes wrong at times, itinerary is a pain, cover is not great and you think the combat system should have been adjusted but it only loses 16% for all those gameplay elements.

It must have a phenomenal story and production values

I think I am actively trying to talk this game down now (not a good character trait) as I really did not like the demo so I think I will just shut up and leave this topic alone.

its definitely not without its problems, few games are tbh, but they dont really impact the enjoyment of the game as much as youd think once youre stuck into it

its not a 9 or a 10 game anyway, i think a few sites and magazines got a bit carried away. and personal preference could well swing it as far down as 7

a lot of hard line re fans will dislike it id imagine, those not swept away with the hype that is

CiDeRmAn

At the risk of pissing off retrogamer, Edge gave it 7/10.
A well written article it said that the game just feels old, not enough innovation, controls are too like Resi 4, as is the gameplay.
I guess the likes of Left 4 Dead and Dead Rising have driven the genre forward, even Bioshock and Dead Space have taken survival horror to new spaces and places.
All the time Resident Evil seems to have gotten stuck in a beautifully rendered realm but with the same old gameplay.
How many sequels will it take before they attempt something new with the IP?

And Edge aren't saying anything anyone who has played the Demo aren't aware of.

Mr E

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

All the time Resident Evil seems to have gotten stuck in a beautifully rendered realm but with the same old gameplay.
How many sequels will it take before they attempt something new with the IP?

Fair point for the original few games, but RE4 was a huge departure (and improvement) from those games.

wes

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

How many sequels will it take before they attempt something new with the IP?

The next one is suppose to change things up again.

Mossy Monk

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Sexy Sheva

Chauvinistic, maybe.

Awesome, hells yes. :pac:

I thought that the game had somehow become playable. This thread fails to deliver.

Helix

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

How many sequels will it take before they attempt something new with the IP?

to be fair, they have changed it into a more action packed shooter with re5

noodler

Mr E wrote: »

Fair point for the original few games, but RE4 was a huge departure (and improvement) from those games.

Gameplaywise Resi 4 is brilliant, excellent mechanics and good fun. I don;t know it is was an improvement in terms of story or atmosphere. Granted previous Resi stories haven't been well~written masterpieces but 4 seemed particularly out there for me.

The only real moments of fear and suspense in 4 revolved around chainsaw man in my opinion. Fighting villager hordes constantly desensitised you a little.

Anyway, all boils down to the same criticism for me, better game but better in a generic sense.

johnny_ultimate

That costume ain't gonna help Capcom out with the old racism / sexism arguement tbh - while I don't think the imagery seems as damaging as some people have said, the whole concept of an African girl in a leopard skin bikini is a little silly. Don't want to get into a race arguement here, as the whole thing has been blown out of proportion, but I'd love to see games take such issues more seriously.

On another note, picked up the game in town today (only 40 euro in Gamestop, which makes a change for them rip-off merchants!) but gonna wait til tomorrow to play it in co-op with some friends. Curious to see how it works out - demo was flawed but fun once you got into it (but mainly in co-op - AI was ridiculous in single player).

noodler

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

That costume ain't gonna help Capcom out with the old racism / sexism arguement tbh - while I don't think the imagery seems as damaging as some people have said, the whole concept of an African girl in a leopard skin bikini is a little silly. Don't want to get into a race arguement here, as the whole thing has been blown out of proportion, but I'd love to see games take such issues more seriously.

On another note, picked up the game in town today (only 40 euro in Gamestop, which makes a change for them rip-off merchants!) but gonna wait til tomorrow to play it in co-op with some friends. Curious to see how it works out - demo was flawed but fun once you got into it (but mainly in co-op - AI was ridiculous in single player).

Leopard skin and tribal jewellry/tatoos by the looks of it.

I Agree, asking for trouble there.

grizzly

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

On another note, picked up the game in town today (only 40 euro in Gamestop, which makes a change for them rip-off merchants!)

That's great news – I heard xtravision were doing it for the same price. Which shop did you get it in? (I'm hoping it's not just a pricing mistake made by one store).

Kiith

grizzly wrote: »

That's great news – I heard xtravision were doing it for the same price. Which shop did you get it in? (I'm hoping it's not just a pricing mistake made by one store).

Apparently its the price everywhere (or as at least most places)

johnny_ultimate

grizzly wrote: »

That's great news – I heard xtravision were doing it for the same price. Which shop did you get it in? (I'm hoping it's not just a pricing mistake made by one store).

Got it in the henry street store but by the sounds of it should be the same everywhere

Cunny-Funt

I dunno lads, I'd say one positive way to look at the game is to look at it like Left 4 Dead.

or at least the way I play it anyway. In other words. Only with my mates. never on my own or with random internet people.

That way we all come across the new stuff together at the same time.

I plan to grab resi5 and play it with one of my mates online, and play though the game together, 1st time each. Pointless if one of us knows what do to, half the fun is figuring it out together.

For me, this aspect adds a lot to the game. But I do agree with most of the negatives. And its not as good a game as l4d thats for sure. But I'll deffo get a lot of fun from it playing through with a friend.

savemejebus

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Edge gave it 7/10.
A well written article it said that the game just feels old, not enough innovation, controls are too like Resi 4, as is the gameplay.

In fairness and not having read the review, lately Edge is more about 'innovation & pushing boundaries' (unless you're talking about a Halo game) these days rather than good gaming so I find i don't pay much attention to their reviews any more.

Kirby

I get what you are saying but new IP's should be the order of the day and apparently they recognise that.

Think back to some of your favourite games in the past and examine em. Most of them probably did something new or unique that other games have copied since. "Clone shooter 6" is usually just mundane banality. Competant maybe, but not great.

I have no problem with a reviewer placing innovations, even small ones, at the top of the list. Probably why I felt so underwhlmed by twilight princess. Just felt so dour and samey. And why alot of people just feel like COD: world at war is cod4 with world war two skins.....because it is. New **** should rightly be given better scores.

savemejebus

I don't think it's just about encouraging new IPs. I think it's more a mix of believing their own hype - that their reviews have more weight than others and hence they have to be uber critical - and losing sight of the fact that although games can be art and innovation is good to push the media forward, not every game has to, and at the end of the day the most important things about a game is that it's enjoyable, engaging and overall fun.

Helix

Kirby wrote: »

New **** should rightly be given better scores.

not at all

GOOD new games should be given better scores than AVERAGE copycat games

but good copycat games and good new games should get the same score... good

Vegeta

Helix wrote: »

but good copycat games and good new games should get the same score... good

If by "new" you mean innovative (because Kirby does) then surely that's a paradox

If you have two very nearly identical games bar one intuitive clever innovation in the new game (which is what makes it new instead of being a copycat) then surely it deserves a higher score.

Its kinda funny but Resident Evil 4 on the Wii is a good example. Its widely praised as having the best controls for the game. So surely the Wii version, when being reviewed, deserves a better score than the Gamecube version.

Innovation which is good deserves to be rewarded and generally is on a subconscious level anyway. Better controls = better gameplay, interesting approach to graphics can lead to excellent visuals (think intro video in SFIV).

jaggeh

this game is very pretty, thats about it.

glad it only cost me 15 quid

Vegeta

jaggeh wrote: »

this game is very pretty, thats about it.

glad it only cost me 15 quid

How'd you swing that

I'd nearly buy it for that price :P