An enjoyable survival horror / action game (Resident Evil 5 (PS3))

Member Name: Halasir

Product:	Resident Evil 5 (PS3)
Date:	01/10/09 (27 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great graphics, fun gameplay, good plot

Disadvantages: Having a combat buddy for the whole game and an odd inventory system

>> Plot Summary:

You play as the familiar character from "Resident Evil 1" Chris Redfield, who um, seems to have hit the gym a lot recently judging by his arms! The plot is set in Africa and builds upon the last game's notion of the enemies mostly being humans controlled by the las-plagas. Further plot details can be found on Wikipedia and other sites. Though the plot is pretty good, I felt it wasn't as solid as "Resident Evil 4". I found the characters in the previous game to be a lot more likeable, such as Louis, and the playable character Leon too.


>> Graphics:

Well, in a word...WOW. The game looks fantastic, particularly the cut scenes. I remember during the first cut scene of the game "That's real life footage, wait no its not, its GCI!" One of the graphical aspects that impressed me the most was the attention to character models, their faces look very realistic, and the animation is smooth and very well done. Gamers who have had the privilege of playing "Metal Gear Solid: Guns of The Patriots" (the graphics of which I think are the best of any PS3 game I have played so far) should find that the graphics of "Resident Evil 5" come very close.


>> Game play:

>>>> Introducing the predecessor's changes:

"Resident Evil 5" takes after its predecessor "Resident Evil 4", which took the game in a bold new direction by ditching the static cameras in favour of a third person "over-the-shoulder" chase camera, which is pretty much the same as traditional third person games, but more zoomed-in. Another change the game introduced was the aiming. Each gun had a laser sight and can now be aimed precisely, similar to how you could in a first person game. These changes in my opinion, turned the game into an action game rather than a survival horror. For me personally, walking through a corridor with say, 3 static cameras is much more effective than a third person camera for suspense because often, you can't see what's ahead of you. Also, introducing full aiming allows you to sort of "play" with your enemies by choosing where to hit them (i.e. make them stumble by shooting their leg). This makes the game easier and takes out further suspense, which is not ideal for a survival horror. Basically what I'm saying is that the introduction of the new camera and aiming system is good for action, but takes out suspense. "Resident Evil 5" inherits these features without much change from the predecessor.


>>>> Combat

Weapons must be prepared by holding L1 which enters "aiming mode" and then fired with R1. You can't fire whilst moving which at first may seem like a bit of a drag, but I got used to it and it didn't bother me. Enemies will react depending on where you hit them, you can stumble them by shooting them in the leg for instance. You will be able to wield a limited variety of weaponry involving the usual handguns and shotguns and pretty much the same kind of weapons as the old game. General combat had changed very little from the previous game.


>>>> Movement

Depending on your controller set-up, you use both R sticks to move. You walk by default but can sprint by holding down a button, and your sprint doesn't wear out (you can sprint indefinitely). You can also sidestep which is rather useful for evading some bosses. Navigation about obstacles such as ladders is context sensitive which means a prompt will come up when you are in the right place. There is also no manual jumping or ducking, which works fine as the game doesn't really need it.


>>>> It takes two

One of the big changes to the predecessor is that you have a partner (Sheva) with you for the whole game. Now personally, I would have much preferred doing the game alone. Although you have a second person to help you fight, I find having a combat buddy more of a drag than a lift. What's worse is that you have to manage her as well as yourself, which means you have to buy and manage her weapons and give her ammo when she runs out. Also if she dies the game is over, but she's pretty good at fending for herself.

It would be less of a burden if she was able to manage her own inventory, like buy her own weapons and stuff, because firstly its one less character to manage and secondly its not a drain on the already sparse amount of money you can collect. Having a partner with you the whole game also takes suspense out of the game which is bad if you're looking for a good scare. On the plus side, she gives you some of her ammo when you run out (if she has any of the correct type) and heals you (if she has healing items) when you're low on health.


>>>> Item management

Those who have played "Resident Evil 4" might be expecting an inheritance of the Attaché case inventory system, whereby each item takes a certain number of slots and can be rotated to fit snugly amongst other items, and capacity upgrades can be bought throughout the game. This is not the case (one of my awful jokes lol). The new inventory system is a mere 8 slots for each player, where each weapon takes up one slot (rather like "Resident Evil" games prior to "Resident Evil 4"). This forces you to make careful decisions about which weapons to keep and dispose of, or does it? What I discovered was, when you reload a saved game, or restart from the last checkpoint, or complete a chapter, you are introduced to a screen where you can upgrade/buy weapons and buy items, and more interestingly, you have what I assume to be an infinite "out-of-game" inventory to store weapons and items. Now to me, this seems to completely undermine the point of having a reduced inventory and in fact, it means you can store more items and weapons than you could do in the previous game.

For example, say both mine and Sheva's inventories are full, and I come across a grenade launcher I just have to have. In "Resident Evil 4", I would have to discard something in my inventory to make room for it. In "Resident Evil 5", I can simply reload the last checkpoint, stash some items in the larger "out of game" inventory to make room for the grenade launcher that I know I will come across, and get the grenade launcher. The same applies to enemies, If I get killed by an enemy and I don't have a good enough gun on me, when I reload, I get presented with the big inventory and can take out a magnum for example ready for another (little doubt more successful) attempt. This makes the game a bit too easy, and you actually don't have to sacrifice any items at all if you don't want to. It seems to me that the concept of a larger attaché case is better (and harder) than a small "in-game" inventory and an infinite "out-of-game" inventory that you can access at reloading a checkpoint (which if you die a lot will be often).


>>>> Weapon purchasing / Upgrading

Upgrades work similar to how they did in "Resident Evil 4". Guns can be improved in terms of fire-power, capacity etc. and the nice trick where upgrading the capacity of an empty gun fills up the gun with bullets at no extra charge still works (which is great for magnums and rifles especially). The main difference is that you can upgrade before reloading a saved game or restarting a checkpoint (at the same screen as the "out of-game" inventory). Again I feel this makes the game too easy, as in the previous game, you had to wait till you came across a merchant.


>>>> Treasures

"Resident Evil 4" introduced treasures, which are found in levels and sold to the merchants. Treasures are carried over to this game, and you can sell them at the same screen as the "out-of-game" inventory screen. What I found a bit disappointing in "Resident Evil 5" was that, you couldn't combine treasures to make complete treasures (such as adding gem eyes to a mask). In "Resident Evil 4", complete treasures would sell at a higher value than selling the individual treasures separately, which added an element of patience and strategy to the old game. You could think "Hmm, does this look like an item with missing pieces? Should I sell it now for some quick cash or hold onto it to see if I can increase its value for a better sale?" In "Resident Evil 5" however, all items sell individually, which means you might as well sell them as soon as you can (which makes them pretty much the same as cash).


>>>> Where did the puzzles go?

Especially in "Resident Evil 1", puzzle solving took the driving seat. "Resident Evil 4" told action to drive and made puzzle solving sit in the back. "Resident Evil 5" told puzzle solving to ride on the roof of the car. What I mean by this is that puzzles are very sparse in the game (if they can be called puzzles at all). You have to obtain pieces to open a door from different areas and pull the right levers occasionally but that's not really puzzling (yep, that's another one of my awful jokes). Puzzles were good in the previous game as they gave you breaks between the action. Whether focussing on them less is good or bad is up to you.


>>>> A quick word on the violence

I'm not sure why the game is an 18. In the PAL version at least there's barely any gore at all (I actually can't remember a single gory moment). Plus, player deaths involving decapitations are censored whereas the player deaths and some cut scenes in "Resident Evil 4" were gory. So don't let the 18 rating put you off if you are sensitive to violence in games, it's rather tame in fact.


>>>> It's a great game, so don't be put off my my criticisms

I know it sounds like I'm giving the game a hard time, but its actually really good if you look at it as an individual game. Great graphics, good gameplay and a good plot. It's just that I couldn't help comparing it to the game's predecessor, which in my opinion was more strategic, had a better plot and was more scary. However, "Resident Evil 5" could be considered better in some ways in than its predecessor, depending on the person playing, so I highly recommend giving it a try.


>> The good:
- The graphics are of a very high standard, cut scenes look awesome
- General game play is fun and similar to the predecessor's
- The story line is rather good, though I couldn't describe it in a sentence
- You can play the whole game with 2 people either locally or over the internet
- A nice variety of indoor and outdoor environments
- It's rather a challenging game, it kept me on my toes

>> The bad:
- You can't combine treasures to make complete treasures which is a feature I loved in the previous game
- Having a combat buddy with you for the whole game is rather a burden and takes out some suspense of the game
- I don't understand the point of having a small in-game inventory as well as an infinite out-of-game inventory which can be accessed at frequent intervals which makes the game a bit too easy and implies you don't have to sacrifice items for others
- I didn't find the story line as good as the predecessor's and the suspense wasn't as good
- I found the characters not as likeable as the ones in the predecessor (such as Leon and Louis)
- I found the games general atmosphere not as intense or scary as the previous game

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<Game details>
Rating: 18 (contains strong bloody violence and gore)
Resolution: 720p only
Players: 1 (2 network players)
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Summary: An enjoyable survival horror / action game