Game Review: Resident Evil 5 | ♪ I bless the bio-terrorism down in Aaaafricaaaah ♪

It's fair to say that Resident Evil was one of 2009s most hyped and anticipated games, and that given Resident Evil 4s critical acclaim across the board, expectations for its sequel were running sky high. Trailers seemed to indicate the game would be everything and more, but unfortunately the game comes up short, way too short.

Bitch. Where exactly did Capcom go wrong!?

The plot in Resident Evil 5 is your basic run of the mill 'taking over the world' schmuck. The actual premise of the plot is a good one, but its execution is poor, because there's never a point in the game where you feel the world is truly in any danger. This also goes for the main characters. Chris is just a big old tank who goes around speaking of nothing but Jill. And one of the characters in the game told Chris like it is and echoed my sentiments exactly with 'Jill, Jill, Jill. You're like a broken record, you know that?' You don't ever care for Chris or feel he's in any danger. There's no vulnerability to him at all. Even though Resident Evil 4 had elevated Leon to the status of a legendary action hero, there was still a rookie like vulnerability to him. Ironically it's new girl Sheva who feels the most real and is constantly affected by what's going on around her the most. It's a shame that the most powerful line in the game 'These are my people that are dying here!' wasn't given more weight. If there were moments in the game where Sheva was alone, things would be different. But her vulnerability is constantly kept in check and off-set by the soulless Chris Redfield, who seems more concerned about Jill than the task at hand: saving the world and stopping bio-terrorism. The plot's as thin and pointless as 4's. The unlockable files in the game shed a great deal of light on the whole story surrounding the game and many of its characters. Upon reading these you realise how much was omitted from the story that actually plays out in the game itself. Surely explaining the Ndipaya via a cut scene was necessary to convey to gamers why the men in grass skirts with spears are infected and how the Ndipaya's downfall is connected to the flowers. The info is all in the game, but it's in a bunch of files. Not the ones dotted around as you're running around in-game, but ones you unlock and read in the 'Library'.

Capcom basically said 'Fuck a story', prioritised action, and left what was a good story and bit of world building to a bunch of unlockable files.

Chris and Sheva's pairing is an odd one, because there's no connection or chemistry between them in the way there was with Chris and Jill, Jill and Barry, Leon and Claire, Rebecca and Billy, and even Claire and Steve. Resident Evil has always hinged somewhat on character interactions and chemistry, and there is none between Chris and Sheva. There is never a sense of rapport between the two, which causes them to feel disconnected from one another. Chris doesn't react to anything unless it's concerning Jill. Meanwhile Sheva seems to be the only who who seems present and reacting to the craziness which is happening around them in the moment. Capcom could have actually played up the lack of connection between the two in order to create tension and distrust, which changes over time. Sheva also could have been used as an avatar for those who are new to the world of Resident Evil, as they live all of this horror for the first time. Where-as it's just another day for Chris who has seen it all before and has hardened due to his part in the origin story of how things got this bad. But this isn't how it's played/

There is a lot of untapped and unrealised potential in regards to the relationship between Chris and Sheva. It's almost as though Capcom forgot that part of Resident Evil is the relationships between its main lead characters. And I imagine the reason is that there wasn't really one in Resident Evil 4 that they could use a template of. Because no other Resident Evil has anything to offer, other than Resident Evil 4.

Then there's the mystery woman is also not-such a mystery. Jill Valentine. Her identity is pretty much confirmed from the start. There is no curve ball or epic reveal. Her reveal isn't so much a 'WOW! It's her!' moment as it is a 'Damn, what's Nina Williams doing in Resident Evil!?' moment. It's a shame that such a beloved character in the franchise didn't get better treatment. But I guess it's cool watching Jill make like Spider-Man when you fight her. The bitch climbs on walls, hangs upside from the ceilings and everything. It makes no sense, but it looks cool. I guess. I'd expect no less from the woman who survived a zombie apocalypse in a boob tune and a miniskirt.

Resident Evil 5 isn't much of a scene setter. It does away with what made Resident Evil, Resident Evil. Suspense, claustrophobia, scares and isolation. You never truly feel like you're alone in Resident Evil 5. Aside from Chris and Sheva always being tethered together, Chris has an iPhone which he whips out on multiple occasions to chit chat with his homies and request help. So much of the suspense is sucked out of this game by the sheer scale of it and the volume of enemies. Even when you're crawling through pitch black mines, you never truly feel like you're in any real danger. It's like Capcom gave up on trying to scare you and crank up the tension. Even during points in the game where they easily could have.

Resident Evil 5 | Capcom

The locations in Resident Evil 5 are also boring. You don't feel like you're actually making your way through a connected town. You're just flung from one setting to the next. Each one feeling more generic and like a re-hash of an area we'd seen in a previous instalment. What's the deal with tribal village? What does a temple and ancient ruin have to do with anything? They have significance. But the game never makes any effort to explain the surroundings you're in...unless you read the files in the menu. Never do you hit a location that wows you or amazes you with its grandeur or stunning architecture. If I was to describe the locales of 5 in one word, it'd be 'uninspired'. Just as there was so much that could have been done to make the plight of a people an angle for Sheva, they could have done the same with the locations. The fact that this white corporation has come and desecrated remote tribal habitats to build giant oil rigs and plants to foster a virus and destroy their eco system in the name of 'research' could have been a poignant thing. But they're all just backdrops which oscillate between reminding you every now and then that the game is set in Africa (Jeeps on the Savannah, yellow gues and mud huts), but that it's also a Resident Evil game (rigs and factories).

Resident Evil 5 | Capcom

Now let's talk about how this partner shit works when you're going at the main campaign alone. The partner A.I is a mixed bag. It will always opt for the weakest weapon, use herbs for no reason, will delay in rescuing you if you go into a dying state, and won't get trigger happy even when you give it the strongest weapon with infinite ammo and tell it to attack. The A.I is dumb and not something you can rely on when you're swarmed with enemies. The A.I will however, never get whacked down when a prompt appears to dodge a boss attack, is able to pick off those pesky Ndipaya's who trap you in the marshlands, even when you're zipping around in the hovercraft at full speed, and won't rush to smash barrels and hoard ammo like an online partner most likely will. The A.I does a good enough job of things...I guess. But there are moments when it is a liability and makes certain sections harder than they should be. Some of the boss battles are are nightmare with the A.I. Especially the later ones. Giving players greater control over how the A.I behaves, much like Final Fantasy XII's gambit system would have been very much welcomed. But it's clear that Capcom half-arsed the A.I, because their intent was always for this to be played with somebody else online.

Thankfully the online co-op is run by some robust net code. I've never once had a problem with lag. But the system could have been made to be a bit tighter. Sometimes during a game you'll get a request someone wants to play; but they can only join when you reach a checkpoint or if you restart the game - something you don't really want to do when in the thick of things. So the person trying to join gets tired of waiting and cancels the request to join your game. Also, annoyingly, when you cancel a request to join a game or you're told you can't join a game for what-ever reason, the game decides to throw you several menus back, so you have to go through the process of searching for a game all over again. Annoyingly bad UX design.

Resident Evil 5 just seems to hang onto what made 4 such a stand out game, without really refining or bettering any of it. Many of the bosses, scenarios and memorable moments are copied and pasted directly from Resident Evil 4. The whole 'village goes empty' moment at the start, the chainsaw man, the giant troll, the truck coming for you head on, the stupid little midget man who ends up infected and turning into some monstrosity that has to be killed - it's all shamelessly re-hashed. All of the games jaw dropping moments, are purely graphics related.

Resident Evil 5 | Capcom

The co-op is fun, but nowhere near as fun as it could have been, because Capcom never fully tap into the potential of it. The team play never really exceeds having Chris boost Sheva up to higher areas. Only in the final boss battle is the potential of the co-op finally realised. But by this point its too late. The game's already done, and nothing it pulls out at this point can really sway you into thinking differently from what you felt about the game up until that point.

I've slagged off enough of Resident Evil 5, so let me stick in the praise boot in. Graphically Resident Evil 5 is easily one of this generations best looking games. Right up until the end, the game just lobs graphical spectacle after graphical spectacle your way. The character models are incredibly detailed, with every expression looking incredibly life like, especially on the women. You can see every thought process Sheva's going through in each cut scene. Excella's face contorts in ways as she speaks that make her look every bit the bitch you want to get her come-uppance. The lighting is outstanding. From the orange light that spins and casts real time shadows during the first showdown in the furnace with Uroboros to the sunlit haze of the Savanna. The audio is also stellar, with some decent voice acting and a solid soundtrack which sets the mood of the game really well.

Resident Evil 5 | Capcom

The Mercenaries mode is a great bonus to the game - exhibiting many elements that most definitely should have been spread to the main game. The sense of danger, the sense of being overwhelmed, knowing that your partner needs you to act right and that if it all goes tits up it's YOUR fault. You also get to run around as Wesker and the not-so mystery woman, which is always fun.

Aside from the graphics and The Mercenaries mode, I just don't get the feeling Capcom put enough love into this game. They just re-hashed what they think made Resident Evil 4 so good, diluted it and glossed it all up in a HD package with some co-op play.

So much about this game is half-baked. The controls, the co-op, the story, the stupid menu system, no merchants for upgrades and the bastardised cover system that gets introduced mid way through the game. Things Capcom seemed to think didn't require thought and attention, because enough of the game was like RE4 that nobody would care.

Resident Evil 5 is a game that is very content with what it is, with a bar that was never set exceptionally high from the beginning. This game should have been so much more. Resident Evil 5 isn't a bad game. It's just an annoyingly safe one. I wasn't expecting Capcom to reinvent the wheel to the extent of which they did with Resident Evil 4. But I was certainly expecting more than what I got here. The scale of the game, the graphics and the re-uniting of Chris, Jill and Wesker do not make up for what is a very by-numbers game as a whole. And I’m a bit pissed, because I feel the reuniting of these characters was kinda wasted on a game that does so little with it.

I'd still warrant Resident Evil 5 a worthy purchase, because it's more fun that not, and it gets more fun once you complete it. It's far from amazing. But if you go into this game with tempered expectations, you'll have a good time. For what could possibly be a bookend to the whole Umbrella and Wesker chapter in the Resident Evil series, it's a shame Capcom didn't bow it out more spectacularly. I say for Resident Evil 6, Capcom rope back Shinji Mikami and really re-think what would make an amazing playing experience, as opposed to one that just gets the job done and ticks boxes.

The good
+ Outstanding graphics and audio
+ Co-op play is actually fun, even if it doesn't fully realise its own potential.

The rubbish
- Game play can feel like a chore at times
- The partner game play isn't explored nor exploited enough
- Crap story
- Feels like a far too basic re-hash of Resident Evil 4

VERDICT: DEFINITELY WORTH A PLAY.