Resident Evil 5 is a game with a problem, and that problem is an identity crisis. It's at the same time a bold step forward for the franchise and a game rooted in frustrations of the past, along with a whole new set of frustrations that have been brought in.


Oh man, those things would have been useful in the original game.

Any discussion of Resident Evil 5 must inevitably begin with a discussion of its illustrious predecessor. Resident Evil 4 was a revolution not just for the franchise but for action gaming in general. It found the triumphant combination of factors to make the definitive experience - more action, bigger weapons, smarter enemies, nastier bosses, new setting. The fact that it moved to a more action orientated stance and switched to a fully 3D camera made it appeal to a far larger audience than before, and it's rightfully acclaimed as one of the best games ever made. For Resident Evil 5 Capcom has wisely decided to build on the solid base that game provided. The interesting thing is how it has chosen to do this.

The first thing which strikes you about RE5 is its setting. Capcom has cranked glorious visuals out of its proprietary MIT engine, and RE5 uses these in the best possible way to create a hugely effective environment. The dusty, ramshackle town of Kijuju oozes menace, its angry inhabitants throwing malicious glances at you as they kick writhing objects in sacks on the ground. Similarly to RE4, you get the impression of a civilization that has fallen off the edge into barbarity, its rural isolation being a lot more scary than any typical zombie apocalypse could be. The problem is, as impressive as this environment may be, you don't spend a great deal of time here, with only the first act being set in Kijuju. This in itself isn't the issue, it's the fact that subsequent environments lack flair and interest. When the mandatory Resident Evil underground laboratory is the most interesting things that crops up you know you're in trouble. Each of the six acts has its own setting, but within each of these there's too much repetition and sameiness, with little feeling of progression. At its worst the environments can degenerate into bland Quake - style killboxes.



Yes, Wesker is back. No, he won't tell you what Ziggy Stardust was all about.

This neatly brings us to the combat, which has been one of the most controversial aspects of the game, debate raging over the remaining of the stop and shoot controls. There's definitely reason to keep them here. They crank the tension up and force tight and precise aiming, always important when taking on the hordes of 'zombies'. And it's definitely hordes - the enemies now pour out in overwhelming waves, flooding combat areas and boxing you in, forcing you into alleys and onto roofs. It's a shame then deja-vu hangs heavy over all of them. The basic Majini are exactly the same as RE4's Ganados, same animations, same tactics, just with spears replacing pitchforks. It doesn't help that there's a far greater proportion of 'super enemies' who basically are colossal ammo sinks, disrupting the essential 'crowd control' tactic that applied so well and created so much tension. Despite this enemy design is pretty poor, with nothing as iconic or terrifying as RE4's Regenerator or Iron Maiden. The game seems to have issues with balancing its combat correctly, never better illustrated than at the end of act 3 when, having thrown a chainsaw wielding miniboss at you, leading to a protracted battle, it immediately goes and throws out.

It's here then that the identity crisis comes to light. As so many have said, this is now no longer a survival horror game. It is an action game, its entire being concentrated on shooting action and big combat set pieces. This wouldn't be an issue if it weren't for the fact that so many of the old hangovers exist. Tank controls and slow movement are fine when they are in service of a slow paced scary game, but they are a real and irritating detriment to blowing up as much stuff as possible. A limited and clunky inventory isn't suitable for such a higly paced game (why has the option to use things straight away without picking them up gone?). The introduction of a limited cover system halfway through the game smacks of half-arsedness and is poorly implemented, only necessary because there are gun toting zombies with machine guns and rocket launchers everywhere in the latter stages. It honestly feels like a bad Gears of War clone at certain stages.

Alongside this crude evolution into action is the loss of almost all the traditional qualities of Resident Evil. The game is almost never scary, the constant presence of a second player and the fact that they can revive you from your near death state killing almost all tension. In single player the AI is a valiant attempt but is clumsy and makes certain boss battles supremely irritating. Said boss battles lack imagination and generally require the use of a specific weapon or environment conveniently found only in that arena and discarded straight away. The story, so cleverly rebooted in RE4 to revive the themes of infection and possession that made the series so distinctive, returns to a tangled mess of backstory and convoluted science. The supposedly world destroying Las Plagas are basically reduced to an excuse to have Ganados in the game, with an infuriating mix of viruses (I counted T, G, T-Veronica, Progenitor and Ouroboros viruses) taking centre stage once more. Worse still is the game's refusal to even slightly acknowledge its pulpy origins. The sarky quips of RE4's Leon S. Kennedy are replaced with Chris and Sheva calling each other 'partner' at every opportunity and generally playing it dead straight. The merchant is gone, and the game just generally feels very po-faced, as if it's trying to make a serious point in a game where you battle against an evil David Bowie lookalike. Oh, and there's a plot twist so telegraphed that a blind man down a coal mine could see it coming. If you've played it you know the one I mean.

However, the game still has several redeeming features. Foremost among these is the inclusion of co-op, which utterly destroys the experience as a Resident Evil game, but makes it into a far more fun game to play overall. Any game is more fun with another person, but the specifically co-op design makes RE5 a total blast. And every so often, a set piece crops up that reminds you simply how very effective a game like this can be. A trek through a darkened mine where one partner has to hold the spotlight, the opening levels in Kijuju where the bright sunlight offers a startling contrast, the triumphant return of Mercenaries mode. And at its most base level, it is built on bones and mechanics which remain sound, and the strengths that characterised RE4 remain here. The level of polish remain high also, graphics, sound and voicework being excellent. It's important to emphasise that the core gameplay here are still good fun in its own right, the crowd control shooting and set piece battles often being tense and exhilarating. Still plenty of fun to be had here.

Ultimately, this is a game which struggles to find what its purpose is. It cannot escape the shadow of RE4, yet it tries to by cranking up the action factor, without realising that this causes it to discard a great deal of what made that game special. The greatest fear before release was that this game copied Resident Evil 4 too much, ironically it turns out that it simply didn't copy the right things. It's a good game, a fine game to play through in co-op especially, but it lacks imagination, and coasts by on being merely competent rather than extravagant. The polish and fine gameplay raise it above average, but there's nothing here that makes it special, nothing here that inspires.

[7]

PS As this is my first review on here, I'd appreciate feedback. Too formal? TLDR? Troll me in the comments :)