Tuesday, April 14, 2009
By: BurnTheBlueSky
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It took me forever, but I got it done! My Resident Evil 5 review is ahead, and so are SPOILERS, so don't read on if you don't want bubbles burst.
I went into Resident Evil 5 with that, "this game is going to be awesome" mentality. Well, I couldn't have been more right! I've been playing Resident Evil since RE2 came out, and, while sticking mostly with the main games, 1-4, Veronica, etc. I haven't been let down yet. While the game was the least scary of all the Resident Evil games I have played in the past, it didn't matter. It still had me on edge most of the time.
I was disappointed at 1st with not being able to aim/shoot while walking, but they did add left to right strafing, which helped a ton, and by the end of the 1st chapter I didn't even care about the walking while shooting. As I have been doing lately with more and more games, I tried it out with headphones on. Headphones can really give you a taste of things you are missing through speakers alone. Noises of approaching enemies, creaks of an area you are in, it really enriches the environment. Cutting off any outside noises you may hear at home also really brings you into the game.
Throughout the game you will uncover a ton of back story behind Umbrella, Wilpharma, Tricell, and the virus's, that will really start to fill in some of the blanks and things you may have questioned before.
I went through the game with Kiel/Reset. The co-op feels a lot like Gears Of War, and Army Of Two, and works very smoothly. A friend can shoot, and while an enemy is stunned, the other can run up, and kick, or punch him. Though Kiel and I do agree with adding of strafing and physical attacks, we really wished there was some type of a quick roll or dodge you could do. The physical attacks however you can to wait for the button command to pop up, which didn't always work in my favor. I would shoot an enemy, and he would stumble around stunned, I would run up to him for the attack. The button command would never show up, and inevitably, the infected would grab me and take advantage of me with his or her plant like octopus looking mouth. I do recommend playing the game on 2 systems because while the split screen is nice, after playing alone, it's much nicer to have the entire screen to yourself. It's nice to be able to pass items back and forth between the partners, giving ammo when needed, and healing both at the same time with herb or 1st aid sprays also a welcome addition.
I was extremely disappointed there was no merchant this time around! I was hoping during the 1st level he would be hanging out in some hut or something, with those blue flames and his trench coat full of goodies. Aside from that I love the weapon upgrading you can do. As well as the purchasing, it really gives you a chance to switch your weapon choices around as you please. Although I did miss the large sized attache case from RE4, because I could eventually store every type of weapon I wanted to, for use at any time.
I know it's probably hard to do, but I didn't like the repetitiveness of the enemies. When I have 6 enemies around me attacking, and 3 of them are the same person, and the other 3 are a different person, it kind of turns me off. I think there was 1 female infected enemy as well. The boss battles we're mostly epic as usually and did not disappoint. Bringing in some new messed up monsters and enemies helped keep things fresh, while bringing back lickers, and more than I've ever seen before gave me that warm sentimental feeling. Snakes are of course back, hiding in crates and pissing me off. Dropping not only regular eggs, but the rotten egg, which I decided to eat, and it almost killed Sheva! I should have thought that through a little better.
I was kind of dissapointed in the almost 0 scare factor or the game. Even though Resident Evil 4 was more action, it still had a decent scare factor to it I thought. It's true playing with a friend takes the edge off, but I had hoped it would have been more scary. I'd love to see zombies make a comeback in 6.
It's a well known fact amongst my friends that in most games where you are given the choice of a male or female character, I will 99% of the time pick the girl. So naturally I played through as Sheva, and it seems to work out better that way any how since all my friends like to be the male characters. Leon and Claire are my favorite Resident Evil pair and characters, but I have to admit, after seeing Jill, new hair, new graphics, all redone, I got super excited, and being able to play as her in Mercenaries was the topping on the cake. Being able to play 2 players in the Mercenaries makes it so much more fun. I remember that constant anxious feeling when playing it in Resident Evil 4, knowing you're alone. In Mercenaries you get 3 versions of Chris and Sheva, and 2 versions of Jill and Wesker. All carrying different weapons and items and that can really change up each Mercenaries level.
A nice addition was the ability to chapter select so you could go back and play whatever level whenever you want. Which is convenient for retrieving BSSA emblems scattered about the game, or working on some other achievements.
Versus Mode, you have to pay 5 dollars for it, and yes that sucks though it is pretty sweet. HOWEVER, you cannot do 2 player on the same screen. So if you wanna play with friends, 4 copies of the game, 4 xbox's. LAME!!! Also, while you're playing Versus, there is some club techno music playing constantly, and it doesn't make any sense.
With all said and done, I had a blast playing it, and even more so with my friend Kiel/Reset. I think both him and I can agree we are glad Wesker is dead, and we hope he stays that way. This game is beautiful. I can't wait to see what future Resident Evils are like, almost as much as I couldn't wait for this one. I give this game a 4.5/5, and recommend the hell out of it.
Source: Dead Pixels Video Game News For People Who Suck At Writing
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