[Review] Resident Evil 5

The Resident Evil series, along with Street Fighter, have been Capcom’s premiere franchises for over a decade. In fact, Resident Evil took up as the main franchise once people started getting tired for shooting balls of fire and uppercutting tigers. It’s rather ironic therefore, or perhaps part of a brilliant plan, that the two hugely-anticipated sequels to both franchises came out with less than a month’s time between them.

However, whereas Street Fighter had to reinvent itself to appeal to a mainstream audience again, Resident Evil was coming hot of the success of 2005’s Resident Evil 4, a favorite of consumers and critics alike. Therefore, Capcom decided to play it safe, as it where, and build its latest opus on top of its previous success. This means that Resident Evil 5 closely resembles its predecessor, with similar level and missions structure, upgradable weapons system and limited environmental puzzles.

The only real addition is Sheva, your partner throughout the game. Whether controlled by A.I. or a human player, she is always by your side as you fight the hordes of zombie... things, in what can be assumed as an influence from games such as Gears of War.

One part where Resident Evil part 5 differs from part 4 however, is the storyline. RE4 was designed as a stand-alone game, a necessary fact as it was essentially a reboot of the series. On the other hand, RE5 -while still loosely following on 4’s storyline-, ties the whole Las Plagas[*] incident with the main story of the series.

Capcom went to such lengths to ensure the transition would be smooth for most fans by making an entire feature-length CG movie called Resident Evil: Degeneration[*2]. The odd thing is, there was nothing memorable about the story in any of the previous RE games, aside from a few unintentionally hilarious lines[*3], so this move by Capcom is a somewhat mind-boggling.

Street Fighter IV was a risk and proved to be a great success. Resident Evil 5 on the other hand is playing it safe, but does it achieve the same result? Well, yes and no...

Things Resident Evil 5 does right:

- As far as graphics are concerned, the game is astounding. Character models are beautifully designed, the screen is usually filled with enemies, the environments are rich and detailed, the animation is smooth and the environmental lighting effects are mind-blowingly amazing. There’s the odd low resolution texture here and there, but that’s pretty much a Capcom trademark by now.

- Sheva’s A.I. works great, at least on the first two (out of four) difficulty levels. She’s much smarter than say, Dom from Gears, in that she’s actually helpful at times. For that alone, Capcom’s attempt is commendable. The limitations of her A.I. start to show on the harder difficulty levels, but the game’s hardly fair on those levels anyway.

- RE5 wraps up the entire Umbrella/S.T.A.R.S. saga that begun all the way back in 1996 with the very first game in the series. While the resolution is hardly inspiring or original[*4], it at least provides closure to the long-term fans of the series. The story itself is still horrible, of course, but at this point in the series that’s pretty much a given.

- The Mercenaries mode, unlocked after finishing the game, is incredibly fun and addictive, and is made even better by the fact that you can play cooperatively online. The addition of online leaderboards and unlockable characters makes this perhaps the best feature of the game, and one you will probably be playing long after finishing the story mode.

Things about Resident Evil 5 that aren’t that hot:

- Despite the pretty graphics and added co-op mode, there’s no denying the simple fact: This game feels like Resident Evil 4.5: The High Definition edition. The gameplay feels the same, certain set-pieces look and feel exactly the same as in RE4 and in a way I can’t quite comprehend, even the environments feel exactly the same as in the previous game.

This didn’t hit me until the abandoned-temple-with-fire-traps stage, but at that point this nagging feeling of deja-vu was too strong to ignore. The game feels, thematically, far too close to RE4. Which isn’t a bad thing since RE4 was excellent, but after four years we were rightfully expecting more.

- The storyline is just awful. This directly contradicts my point about taking this as a given with RE games, but at least previous installments in the series were bad in a funny way. RE5’s story is just mind-numbingly bad, and not in a way that makes you laugh at it. Instead, you almost feel pity for the poor actors who had to recite such atrocious dialog.

- The game’s controls, in typical RE fashion, take a while getting used to, and aren’t as intuitive as other games in the genre such as Dead Space. Having complete control over a character is crucial, and while you’ll rarely find yourself struggling with the gamepad instead of your undead adversaries, it does feel like RE5 is stuck in the past with its control scheme. I personally don’t mind not being able to walk while shooting, but taking several moments to simply turn my character 90 degrees is no longer acceptable.

- Environments are completely incoherent with one another. You’ll visit contemporary African towns, native African villages seemingly untouched by time, and warehouses straight out of a Metal Gear Solid game without a logical connection between them. It feels completely random, and makes it hard to relate to the story and characters[*5].

- RE5 is lacking in the atmosphere department, even when compared to its predecessors. While the Resident Evil games were never really scary, with the exception of the very first game and its remake[*6], they were never lacking in atmosphere. Even the most action-oriented RE3 and 4 were characterized by an immersive, almost malevolent atmosphere.

Not so much with RE5, whose environments are too bright and generic, and whose enemies are too dull and uninspired for that. Things can still get pretty intense during a fight, but when not in one you no longer get that feeling of paranoia; peeking around every corner, waiting for something nasty to jump at you.

In the end, while still a decent game and a worthy addition to the long-running series, Resident Evil 5 feels like a step back from the standards set by the previous game in the series, a game that came out four long years ago. Therefore, while the intentions of making a good game were there, the execution wasn’t quite there and RE5 earns the title:

Close, But No Cigar

TL;DR Version

A perfect example of how Resident Evil 5 doesn’t live up to its predecessors is the fact that they managed to make Jill Valentine almost ugly and boyish looking. What the Hell, people. A pretty Jill Valentine was the only reason the second RE movie was barely watchable, you can’t screw up the basics like that.

Also, dude, where’s my Merchant? He was one of the most funny and memorable things about Resident Evil 4, and to see him replaced with a simple menu screen... ugh. That’s definitely uninspired.

* The less you know...
*2 A pretty decent and entertaining movie in its own right
*3 A fact apparently acknowledged by Capcom given the name of one of the Achievements/Trophies called “The Masters of Removing”

*4 MINOR SPOILER ALERT:

Why does every RE game have to end up with a

helicopter disappearing into the horizon?

*5 Well, even more so.
*6 Fuck those Crimson Heads. Fuck them.