I think it is safe to say by now it is common knowledge here on Destructoid that I am a big fan of Resident Evil. Which means that it is safe to say that I have been excited for RE5 since that trailer was shown all those years ago at E3. My excitement wavered over the years, especially when co-op was announced, but I always remained interested enough to buy the Limited Edition. I mean, it would be very difficult for them to fuckup what RE4 did, right? And they did do a good job of bringing the RE4 formula over to the current gen consoles. However, in the process they added stuff to that formula that made RE5 a very flawed experience. Now don't get me wrong I like the game, but well, There is a lot wrong with it. Maybe some of the things is just me being a fanboy, but I like to think that this has more to do with me being somebody who plays games a lot.

The thing is however the game has a lot of potential and I think with a little more polish and thought, Capcom could have made this a game that is on par with 4 if not better. Below is what bothered me about the game and what I believe Capcom should have done.

1. Go Back To The Old Inventory System



Of all the things that I don't like about RE5, This is the one that is most prominent. Resident Evil always was focused alot on item management and the inventory system is very important to an RE game which makes the inventory insufferable in 5. The system itself alone has alot of problems when it comes to item sharing and swapping items with your partner but this would have been very minor and, most likely, unnoticeable if it was done using the traditional menu or RE4's menu. But no, they insisted on doing it so you open it up in game making stuff as simple as asking your teammate for a grenade frustrating when you are in the middle of a fight. This sort of Inventory system is a shitty gameplay mechanic and it didn't work in Alone in the Dark so what made Capcom think it would work here? Sure, it worked in Deadspace but that was because you barely had to go into your inventory and when you did, it certainly wasn't mid-battle. I don't understand why Capcom took something that worked and decided to change it. It doesn't make any bloody sense.

There is a fine line between tension and frustration and this aspect of the game crossed it.

2. Have New And More Inspired Enemies



This is something that really bothers me. Somewhere around 90 percent of the enemies in RE5 are copies of characters from RE4. And this is the problem about RE5, it tries too hard to be RE4 and as a result all the enemies are boring and uninteresting because I have already seen them before. I've already fought them and know how to defeat them. Part of the fun I had with RE4 was discovering the different ways how to defeat the enemies and figuring out the best ways to deal with them. I don't get that with RE5 because since all the enemies are recycled I already know the best ways to defeat them. And the sad thing is, there are a few interesting new enemies sprinkled in between the reskinned baddies. Like the Executioner, who actually brought something new to the gameplay because he destroyed barriers and broke down walls enabling more Majinis to get to you and it forces you to constantly move around in the opening of the game and always kept me on my toes. I thought I would see more of this guy and frankly I was hoping to see more because he was a really interesting miniboss but no, instead they opted for more Chainsaw guys. For fucks sake why? They come up with a genuinely interesting villian and then they decide to do nothing with him.

The other problem is they looked at the enemies in RE4 but failed to see what made them so memorable. Alot of the bigger enemies actually required thought to beat and required more then just running around and emptying clips into them. The Garradors, Novistadors, and Regenerators are examples of this. All you need to do in RE5 to kill something is point your gun at it and shoot. There's no thought or technique behind it and that is really saddening to me. And in RE4 the different tricks to defeating them made them challenging to beat. RE5 just makes their enemies challenging by giving them all one hit kills, which is excuseable if a select few can do it but 50 percent of the enemies in 5 have one hit kills and that is just bad game design.

That and alot of the enemies that aren't from RE4 just look, act, and play like enemies from previous RE games. The Reaper looks alot like the Chimera from 1 and the Uroboros are just the Mimicry Marcus from 0. There's just no bloody originality in the enemy design.

3. Put More Polish Into Sheva's AI



For the most part, Sheva's AI is competent if not good. There are parts of the game where any other AI teammate from any other game would have gotten itself killed where Sheva is able to traverse these obstacles without a problem. However, there are still times when her brain seems to implode, most notable of which being the entirety of chapter 4-2 which is made infuriating because of her insistence to walk into lasers. Another thing being that sometimes she would fail to recognize that I am standing in front of her and will try to shoot enemies through me.

But what really annoys me is she will always pick up items I don't want or need, something that wouldn't have been annoying if it wasn't for the aforementioned inventory system. There is nothing more annoying than when in the middle of a battle an enemy drops a green herb, something you really need, you have to struggle with the inventory system because Sheva picked up an incindiary grenade or a proximity mine when you already have five incindiary grenades and you don't need any bloody proximity mines in chapter 6-2 damn it!

Listen, if I didn't pick up an item or ordered Sheva to, chances are I don't want the damn thing. So don't make her pickup every goddamn piece of garbage she comes across.

Sure, this could all be fixed by playing co-op online but I don't want to. I don't like playing single player games co-op and if I ever ventured online to play co-op it was to get achievements. that's just how I am and I don't like it when I feel punished for not playing a game co-op.

4. Needs Moar Barry!



This series as a whole would benefit from more Barry