I really like Resident Evil 5. It's not perfect, but it's enjoyable, and I've been truly digging it. My opinion seems to be regularly contested, however, and the latest to heavily criticize Capcom's sequel is Variety's Ben Fritz. Not content to give the game its bad review, Ben went ahead and provided five definitive reasons for the game's abject failure.
The five reasons are pretty simple:
- It's not scary
- It is a mediocre and derivative action game
- The co-op doesn't work very well
- It's old fashioned
- Racial imagery is disturbing
The one major problem I have with Ben's piece isn't the racial part, a subject I've covered to exhaustion. It's his assertion that co-op forces you to restart the game from the last checkpoint and doesn't give the other player any guns whatsoever. He seems to have forgotten that characters carry all their equipment over into each game, and that you can at least hand ammo over when they run out. While I think co-op should let players drop in at any time, not just as the last or next checkpoint, I found that it worked out very well in the game with only a few flaws.
Resident Evil 5 seems to be the most controversial game of the year so far, not just for the racial debate, but for polarizing gamers and games press when it comes to the title's overall quality. I should congratulate Capcom for sparking so much debate, even with Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars allowing players to deal drugs via the DS. For Resident Evil 5 to keep courting controversy in the face of that is quite an achievement.
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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Contest:
10:00 AM on 03.19.2009
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However at the same time, some of the generic portrayals of the not-zombies (IE: the habitats and attire they wear) are simply in poor taste.
Yeah, 4's control scheme is new for the series. But its far from new from the gaming world as a whole, and other games have used the same scheme and improved upon it. What was new 4 years ago isnt new now.
Also, your response to #2 is retarded.
!? I highly doubt you are african nor do you live in Africa. So I have a feeling we are on equal plain about how Africa 'works'.
I really doubt all Africans do nothing but live in huts wearing nothing but huge tribal masks and just enough clothing to cover their private regions. I have no issues with some of the more industrialized/civil places of the game, where the characters are normally clothed Africans. However the more 'desolate' areas of the game simply dont do anything to dispel the racial firestorm that surrounds the game.
Do I personally have a problem with it? Naw. Was it in the best taste of the game? Probably not.
I understand, (sorry, I'm just trying to play devils advocate here a little).
i like the game so screw you ben
ill go have fun while you complain about this amazing game being "old fashioned"
That game scared the piss out of me because I am deathly afraid of zombies, but I love the Resident Evil franchise more now.
Not meaning to shit on your parade or anything, but lots of reviewers compare one title to another whether or not its in the video game genre or not. Is it fair to other games? Not all of the time. But it's perfectly valid to compare one game to another if the two games exist within the exact same genre (like Army of Two & Gears of War, for example). And even if a reviewer doesnt explicitly compare one game to another, to some extent its still done mentally. Comparisons are a form of evaluating quality and while its still subject to opinion, its still a form of benchmarking.
Also while I wont argue that Mirros Edge is innovative. I would DEFINATELY argue against Left 4 Dead being innovative.
Truth. RE lost a lot of its scare with each new iteration.
2. It is a mediocre and derivative action game
More truth. RE continues to step away from survival horror and tries to be a more of an action shooter with each new iteration.
3. The co-op doesn't work very well
I'd argue that the co-op functions a lot better than the AI team mate does. Sheva is dumber than a rock if you let the computer control her.
4. It's old fashioned
Old fashioned isn't inherently a bad thing. The control scheme and interface being dated and in need of some streamlining is a pretty valid point, but this has little to do with being old fashioned and is more about just being old.
5. Racial imagery is disturbing
This is a completely hollow point with no real merit.
1. the game is not scary at all. The Resident Evil franchise is suppose to be a survival horror game. And they stopped being that way since Resident Evil 4. Which takes me to the second reason.
2. They turned the series around since 4 and its basically an action game now. I remember the older ones, Resident Evil/Remake, Zero, RE2, RE3, Code Veronica, even the online one Outbreak, lol. Those had their scary moments when they game actually made you jump because something startled you.
3. They are not even zombies anymore it seems.
Since RE4 you don't see these things as much anymore. The only thing that is still there is the bit of the puzzle solving. Other than that, i don't consider RE a survival horror game anymore how it used to be. Silent Hill took over the survival horror genre, when comparing it to RE now. Silent Hill has the numerous scary moments that make you get startled, puzzles which are in fact more complex than RE.
I will probably still get RE5 to keep up with the story etc. But have to say RE was my favorite survival horror game but since RE4, I'm leaning towards Silent Hill to be the better game now. I hope the game goes back to how it used to be. But this is just my own opinion, some may agree, some may not.
My dad was born near one of those locations. He moved to a more city-like local before moving to America.
Shit's real son. Shit's really real.
Scripted events are not innovative :-(. Valve is the best at them and take great care in how they are used, but calling scripting innovative is a hard sell when you *really* break it down.
This is the reason why I hate living in America. I can't enjoy commiting black zombie genocide while hearing the PC activists bitching about it.
The gameplay itself feels extremely dated. They really should have tried to change it up a bit. I mean, they're still using the same god of war style cut scene button presses. Imagine if MGS4 would've kept the same exact gameplay from MGS3. It seriously wouldn't be the same game at all.
I love the Resident Evil series and that's the only reason I played it. The cinematics and graphics were amazing. When you have to fight the Uroboros in the ship? Fantastic!
I really don't agree with them about the racial imagery though. They need to stfu. I don't think anyone said anything when Leon was shooting at Hispanics in RE4. They're in Africa, I'm pretty sure the majority of the people living there are going to be black.
There's no way that this game is memorable in a few years. Everything in this game was done better somewhere else long before.
Unless the Variety correction came within the last 2-3 hours, D'Toid may have been sitting on this particular article for days before posting? Especially since the variety piece came out 3 days ago.
RE5 is a great game. The co-op works very well, its only racist if you're a sensitive prick, and since when is being "old fashioned" a bad thing?
I honestly cannot fathom how people see this game as "not very good", but still put RE4 on a fucking pedestal.
I'm sure they're not really "Tribal" if they're just wearing ordinary street clothes....You guys are acting like there aren't any actual tribes, like the ones in RE5 anymore because we're in 2009. There are still tribes living like that and It's not like Capcom is putting them down or thinking they're better than them because the live in huts. It's just the way they choose to live...They're a tribe.
You are my new hero.
Hispanics are not the same thing as Spanish/Spaniards. That is all.
I forgot they were Spanish :[ I should know. I'm Hispanic and my girlfriend is Spanish lol...
Apparently it is a Roman/Latin derived blanket term for all Spanish/Portuguese speaking peoples. I am personally not a big fan of that word. It ignores the significant cultural differences. But I won't be burning down houses or anything over it.
The pacing of the game is kinda retarded. Either you're in an exploring section, or a section with 900 billion zombies. The transistion between the two is about as smooth as Eward James Olmos' face.
I think it would have been better to have less linear sections populated by less, but harder to kill zombies.
j/k. I don't think it's racist but I agree on the other points.
1. Controls suck balls
but RE5 is still enjoyable especially once you unlock Professional Mode
Points 1 and 2 can apply loosely to RE4, but the action wasn't "old feeling" because it was released a while ago. It still works now, and the game is great. Honestly all the AI complaints are exaggerated in my opinion; if you give Sheva the right tools she'll work fine. Sure, if you give her the stun rod, she'll be retarded, but why would you do that to yourself, then openly complain about it? Fix it and just have fun!
About the Africa stuff, I love how they worked in an ancient tribe half-way in with the main storyline (read the tribe file), and how Africa "started it all". It's really intriguing, and there's nothing racist or disturbing about it.
Where are the dogs jumping through windows making me crap my pants at? The left some of the good stuff behind. Guess I'll still have to wait for SH: Homecoming to drop a few bucks to get some chills.
Hell even Dead Space got me to jump a few times!
Sheva's AI is complete dogshit. There's no excuse for a game in 2009 to have AI this repulsive. She constantly wastes all of her ammo because she's shooting for the body, she stands in doorways, she refuses to do any of her melee attacks, she loves to get attacked, she's very slow to knock an enemy off of you, and there's a serious lack of commands to give her. Would it really have been so hard for Capcom to program commands such as pointing your laser sight at a spot on the ground and telling Sheva to stand right there and cover you? What about a command to tell her to start pulling zombies' attention off of you?
"Get a friend."
Yeah, I get it: RE5 is a co-op game. However, that's no excuse for the single-player to be so horrible. Gears of War 1/2 and Army of Two are decidedly co-op games, just like RE5, yet their single-player is tolerable, unlike RE5. What am I suppose to do if my buddy isn't online and I don't feel like playing with random guys over XBL or PSN? Just not play RE5, then? If there was an option to play through Resident Evil 5 with just Chris, then I would love the game.
Honestly, though, I don't know why I'm even bothering with this. When you spew out lines like "any complaints about this game are nitpicks" it's fairly obvious that you'll eat up whatever Capcom shits on your plate as long as they call it Resident Evil.
-the locations arent very dynamic and interesting
-they put in an item-pickup animation
-human-boss fights are as tedious as ever
-u simply dont give a shit about the first lame villain
-somehow they took the fun out of inventory management
and heres 3 more just for fun:
-trying to access/swap items that arent mapped to the quick select buttons during combat IS A BITCH
-u are given nearly every single weapon in the game
-its just not fun enough for a replay
"2. It is a mediocre and derivative action game" - I agree also, I think it's a major step down from RE4. They opted to streamline the game and make it more pick-up-and-play-arcade-style game. RE4 already made the Survival Horror more action and less horror, trimmed puzzles to a bare minimum. This just gutted puzzles all together.
"3. The co-op doesn't work very well" - With a computer AI, that shit is terrible. With a player, it feels great. The controls are good, inventory management works pretty well. They made inventory easy to deal with in a two player game, no suitcase to deal with. It's good for multi-player, but bad for game play overall in my opinion.
"4. It's old fashioned" - Old fashioned? I'm not quite sure I get that statement. It's the same controls (95%) as RE4, and looks more like Gears of War than Resident Evil though. But, old fashioned?
"5. Racial imagery is disturbing" - I have a black friend who's jaw opens up and tries to bite my neck off every time I see him, this game depicts Africans so accurately. *cough* It's not racist because they're black. Unless your secret weapon was a bottle of malt liquor and a bucket of fried chicken, or you could capture a black zombie and make him harvest cotton for you, I think this is a poor statement.
[SPOILER] You notice the game also shows black people helping you? Not just your side kick, but Bravo team. He saves your life time and time again, he's not African American, he's just African. He's not wearing war paint and a loin cloth is he? [/SPOILERS]
For those of you who say "Africa is not like this", you know what, a lot of it isn't like this anymore. Some of it still is. Just like there are still people in the United States that live in shacks with shotguns and are inbreeding and living like it's the 1800's. It's not the standard but it still exists. Likewise, there are people who still live in huts in Africa.
[SPOILERS] And if you played the game, (and read the notes), it explains that they started acting wild and wearing war paint and war masks and stuff only after they were injected with a 'cure' to a disease or something. In fact, the start of the game shows people in t-shirts and pants, and that they are reverting to their aggressive and chaotic tribal roots. [/SPOILERS]
Anyways, how else do I feel about this game?
It's ok, a step in a direction that I don't like. Not a bad game, but not what I would have liked to have seen done. It tries to appeal to the casual pick up and play crowd than the normal time commited Survival Horror crowd.
The fights are not as thrilling, it feels the same as RE4. However, epic boss fights were cut out and replaced with boring grind fights. The new enemies were not that great either, and I didn't care for any of the characters introduced in the game. RE4 had a castle, RE5 had this secret underground ruins. One feels unbelievable, one feels just ridiculous. RE4 had you retracing your steps, but RE5 never looked back.
Any seemingly potentially interesting things in RE5 were quick to end. Flashlight in the cave? Split the team up? Fighting on the back of the truck? They were all for one scene, and they were short (except the back of the truck, it was just uninteresting). Anytime you were divided, you were back together extremely quick. Boss Fights were not fun. At all. Not hard, not interesting, just bland.
Oh, and inventory between scenes is interesting but as wirid as the mysterious vendor was in RE4, at least it made some sense. You got a bigger suitcase, you could buy things from him, sell things to him. Not some magical pawn shop that lives between the chapter worlds.
Playing RE4 only makes me want to play RE5 more. RE5 felt like it was RE4 light. Boat scenes, walking through water, finding emblems, dealing with natives. They gut the story, character development, and what little puzzles they had left. I will still be talking about RE4 with friends next year, I doubt I will be talking about RE5 with friends next month. Sad because I really wanted to like this game.