Yesterday myself and the sexy Dan joined Capcom at the House of Tripples (Sony HQ) in London for a quick play of Resident Evil 5. Big thanks to CTZ for being so sexy and getting us the invites!

After a short train ride down South, I joined Dan and his guest and headed to Sony HQ. Upon arrival were greeted with a room filled with at least a dozen huge TVs set up for us to enjoy the RE5s on. Sadly we weren't able to feel the full force of the Blu-rays as the version we played was the “review build”, which apparently means it's in SD and some of the textures are missing.

We were also only playing the co-op version and missed out on a section at the very start as our PS3 broke (we were like “lol”) and we moved to another game which had been played until around halfway though the first mission. In our few hours with the game we managed to get to roughly the middle of the second chapter. Rough guestimation puts the full game at around 12 or so hours long.



There is a story, but for the sake of spoilers I'll not go into more detail that my original comment on the matter. To be honest, I didn't actually see anything that constitutes a spoiler, but hey, can't be too careful. The plot is very fitting with the game and although we didn't play up until the embargoed plot twist, I think I can confidently predict it.

Control wise the game is awesome. Until around a week ago I had never bothered playing a Resident Evil game. I tried and failed to enjoy myself at every attempt. However, after the last week of people complaining about how you can't run and gun, I must say I love it. The inability to run and gun, the frenzied panic you end up in, is perfect for the game.

The way RE5 controls; stop, shoot, shit yourself, run, is fine. The game is designed around the fact you can't run and gun, so the enemies move at just the right speed. You never feel completely helpless, yet frequently feel overwhelmed.



Another nice touch is the inventory. All weapons, ammo and health is fitted into a 3x3 grid. Each item takes up a single spot and the top, bottom and side objects are mapped to the D-pad for quick selection. Smart inventory usage lets you use the d-pad to switch instantly through all your key items. Something that's very, very useful.

One gripe with the controls that I did have however was the lack of any Sixaxis usage. When an enemy has latched onto you and is chowing down to your spine, you have to waggle the left stick as fast as possible. This is the perfect place to use “waggle the sixaixs” controls (see; Uncharted). It would also save the palm of your hand from pain.

If you've played the demo, you know how awesome it looks. As I explained before, the version we played was lacking some of the shine but from extrapolation I can confidently say the game looks and sounds very impressive.



So, before playing this I couldn't even stand the idea of Survival Horror games. After playing the first few hours of Resident Evil 5, I can honestly say I'm hooked and will definitely be putting down the cash for this game.

If you want more of my thoughts, I'll probably be putting up another preview over on NG, as well as talking Jims face off about the game in the next Podcastle.

Also, Dan won the “look like a Zombie whilst we take a pic of you” competition. He won a mini poster signed by the game's producers (I think). When the prize was announced the phrase “it had to be a Dtoider” was said. We have a reputation.