Okay so all of you who are actually reading user reviews and any of you who happen to stumble on this one out of the plethora of others not only on this site, but on the net, I'll start off with this : Resident Evil 5 is enjoyable, but is it Resident Evil?
Who out there has been with Resident Evil since the beginning? And by beginning, yes I mean before Resident Evil 4. Well if you have, then you may or may not have been upset with the drastic genre change/blend from Resident Evil 3 to 4. I for one, was at first, but then I played Resident Evil 4, and you know what? It was awesome, and a blast to play. Then they made Resident Evil 5.
Now I'm sure someone on the team was like "Listen RE4 was a hit, lets do the same, up the graphics, throw in Chris and black people, and we're all set." Yeah, honestly, that had to happen. Here's my first gripe.
Where are the new enemies?
Yeah, exactly, where are they? Because that Giant behemoth looking guy looks awfully familiar...come to think of it, so does that chainsaw wielding, potato sack wearing maniac. Oh and that Sea boss encompassed his "host" similarly to the way that little midget prince was taken over. They appear to look the same as well. Oh hello, a guy covered in worm like creatures, haven't I seen you before near the end of a certain game? And this guy during the...wait a second...I've seen you all before...So you know, this was a set back, but I figured I'd trek on to see all the rest of these Resident Evil 4...."easter eggs" that they gave us. And I found it more and more...difficult. But it suddenly hit me as to why. Sheva is a fucking moron, that's why.
OH RIGHT
You were all in Resident Evil 4! I'm so glad Capcom brought me so many familiar faces to feel right at home in Africa.
NO.
Seriously Capcom, what the hell? You didn't try at all, and it's so god damn obvious, how was this not a negative one every review out there? SO MANY THINGS are similiar, hell even the Irving bad guy character sounds like the little Prince from Resident Evil 4, they both have annoying voices with annoying sinister laughs to go along with each other, and they both extend from their forms in the same exact way. This really pisses me off, because I basically paid for RE4 with a new updated skin, and after all these years, give me a new mini-boss or two, I mean come the fuck on Capcom, get fucking real.
2. The AI is absolutely brain dead.
Yeah, it is. There are probably some of you who had no problems, so maybe try turning the difficulty up. She can be on one of two modes: Cover or Attack. In cover, she will only use the baton if she has one, or the pistol, if she has one, until she runs out of ammo. Which goes quick, being that she stands behind you and shoots...in which her bullets end up hitting you, and not the enemy. Or she will stand in front of you, and not move, causing you to either move, with her following, or you getting hit and wasting precious time.
I also can't fucking count how many god damn times she would take her sweet time saving me, ending in my death by bleed out (especially on professional, she refuses, or will get you VERY last second, which is a rare case.)
Capcom had this idea that co-op in resident evil would be fun. And yes, it is, when that 2nd person is occupied by a human player and not AI. But does everyone have friends who own a 360/PS3 and RE5? Does everyone have an internet connection? No. They don't. As a matter of fact. More than half the 360's sold aren't hooked up to Live. Use that for reference.
Having brain dead AI, really kinda kills the game being that oh...I don't know...say...100% of the game is played with the ever so retarded Sheva. Yes, that's right. You play a SURVIVAL HORROR game all the way through with a partner! Make's sense right?!
3. Resident Evil is losing its roots....well scratch that, Resident Evil 5, made Resident Evil lose its roots completely.
Remember how scary and intense Resident Evil 1-4, and all the spin offs were?(excluding outbreak, which although was still scary and intense). Because you were alone in this desolate place, whether it be a mansion, a town, a city, or a island. You were alone, with the rare appearance of individuals who would help you.
Well that most certainly isn't the case here, because now you have a brain dead partner that accompanies you. You're very own babysitting job while on the hunt to eradicate this zombie menance. Lucky you!
On top of that, what's so survivalistic about being overloaded with ammo and health? The game just shoves ammo at you, over and over and over and being that it gives you absolutely no inventory space, you constantly leave it behind. I remember having to shoot to the chest until they fall then make use of my knife because I was scared I would run out of ammo when I really needed it.
The god damn game isn't even scary anymore. And it's hardly "oh that's fucked up" anymore either, because all our "ew that monster is gross!" were used up when we played Resident Evil 4...which was home to the same exact monsters. It's not survival horror anymore in the slightest. It's your typical third person shooter game. And it's killing the Resident Evil name.
And last but not least, the story.
4. It's not Resident Evil like anymore either.
It's not even about zombies anymore. It's just infected people that have some stupid virus. No ones raising from the dead, everyones just injected and turned. And it's getting so ridiculous and twisted that since there's such a wait time between the games, it's hard to keep a handle on the story. They tried to rememedy this by filling you in between loading screens, but the game loads too fast to even read them.
I've focused on all the bad so far, so I'll say some good things about the game really quickly in bullet points.
- The game looks absolutely beautiful.
- The game plays absolutely beautifully.
- Mercenaries is multiplayer.
- It has multiplayer...if you buy it separately.
So why the hell do I keep playing this game and why did I start a new game+ file? Because I love Resident Evil and I'm putting up with it in hopes that they might pick up the slack next time around, and maybe add something new to the series, not recycle content from 4 years ago. I love the way the game plays and I love the mechanics, no matter how recycled they are(yeah the gameplay is spot on RE4 as well.) Hopefully the next incarnation will improve on something. I for one would love another original style one, but god forbid, people will bitch and moan until they get their way, because people hate when something they like is changed. Go back to the roots before you call yourself a RE fan. I think a switch between old and new every other game would be fair and refreshing each time.