I have been a devout fan of Resident Evil since 1996 since the original one for PS1, with the huge box and the imagery of a retarded Chris Redfield on the front cover.
2009 seems to be the year of Resident Evil. 2 new Resident Evil games, one for the 360, one for the Wii, and 2 remakes on the Wii, that’s good stuff.
I picked up RE5 on launch day, and have spent my time going through it, getting accustomed to it’s style, and at 5am this morning, beat it. I think I’ve played it enough to give my pluses and minuses about it, to explain what works and what doesn’t, and maybe what Capcom should have done instead.
Loved: Controls, Art direction, Length
Hated: Sheva, Story, Item Management
First the controls. Having been playing a bunch of RE4 on the Wii, this game is a dream to control. I know if I press a button, the game is going to do what I want, and the only time that Chris will look like an idiot is when I do something stupid (unlike Leon, who did stupid things all the time, thanks to the WiiMote). Yea, it sucks not being able to walk and shoot, but I think that’s more a throwback to old school RE than anything. That doesn’t really bother me. So yea, good controls.
The art direction felt really well done. While I was never scared throughout the game, I can live with that. The Manjini were truly horrific, and enemies like the Reaper and the LickerB were beautiful in their grotesqueness. I thought it was cool how the almost entire first half of the game is outside during the day. While I’m a huge fan of the cheesy horror cliché’ of stormy nights with crazy winds and thunderstorms, this just worked well. Horror happens at any time, not just when the weatherman says “oh shit, storm’s a brewin’".
Environments felt huge. Even though they were actually very confined and linear, the visuals and style made them feel much more massive than they were. I loved being able to go through various huts and homes, gathering weapons and money, felt a lot less repetitive than doing it in RE4.
The length of this game to me was perfect. Like I said, I bought it on launch day, and have played a few hours here and there (redoing levels to gather more ammo and money quite a few times, etc) but I never felt like this game is never going to end like I did in 4. Each level took me from 35-50 minutes to complete, which is a good length with save points and checkpoints throughout. I have a full time job, and a wife, and a house. Even though I’d rather play games for 15 hours a day, I don’t have time. Thank you for not making me backtrack through the game like an idiot (hate it when games do that, it’s like the main character is a fucking idiot who forgot their wallet earlier in the game).
This isn’t really all I liked about the game. Voiceovers (minus Wesker, which I’ll talk about in story), gunplay, and enemy interactions were great, these were just the points that stood out to me.
Sheva. You’re hot, luscious, and “I would love to tap that ass. I would tear that ass up.” (thanks Knocked Up), but you are a fucking moron. You stand in front of me while I’m trying to shoot enemies, and while I don’t hurt you, it makes my aim for shit. I only trusted you with the machine gun throughout the whole game, because you love to waste bullets shooting enemies that are too far away to kill. If I tell you to come over you don’t fucking listen (look, I’m all for women not being men’s subordinates, but when it’s a dynamic of the game, just do it). I could go on and on. I want to go through this game with my buddy Jarrod, I think it’ll be a much better experience in that aspect on Co-Op, because then I won’t be dealing with an idiot. Capcom should have developed something for using her akin to FFXII, where you can assign her macros, would have been a lot better.
The Story <SPOILERS>. I’m a huge fan of the story of RE. Yea, it’s corny, and steals from so many different things it’s not funny, but I’m okay with that. Horror should be okay to laugh at itself. My issues with story are just that it doesn’t really push the envelope much. Having watched RE:Degeneration right before this came out, I knew about TriCell, and all that good shit. I just feel like story-wise there wasn’t much going on. You learn more about Umbrella (which is shit I already knew because I’m an obsessive RE fan), and you understand that TriCell moved into Umbrella’s old digs in Africa where they made the progenitor virus. That’s all well and good. By the end though, nothing has changed. You don’t learn as to why Chris and Sheva were really sent here, you don’t know why the BSAA pushes them at one chapter to keep going and then tells them to retreat the next, and after that, you never hear from them again. It just feels like a hodge podge.
The whole Jill thing was super easy to find out. As soon as you saw her with the bird mask, you knew it was her. I’m glad they had her in here, but when the hell did she become a blonde and not a brunette? I guess after Wesker implanted that device on her chest he took a bottle of bleach and stood over the sink, massaging her scalp while he talked about his great plans to release Uroboros into the air. Wesker, fucking Wesker.
Wesker is lame. I liked him in 1and Code Veronica, where it felt like he was some Billy Badass mastermind who was holding all the cards and playing up a great plot. In RE5 though he just felt like a generic villain who just loves to spout off all his plans to any person who gets unlucky enough to get stuck in the elevator with him. He’s that guy who does that at work, and you feel fucking cornered. The only difference is that Wesker can move super quick and get right up to your face and tell you. I just wish he would have shut up, and wouldn’t have been able to talk anymore. His battles were lame, especially when compared to all the other rad boss and sub boss fights throughout the game. I hope he’s really dead, because I’m just sick of hearing him speak.
Lamest thing about Wesker: Apparently right before this game he saw the first Matrix, and not only stole Neo’s moves, he decided the wardrobe was 100% badass! Dork!
</SPOILERS>
One other nitpicky thing about the story, is when Chris finds a document on the ground, and reads it, then says something out loud pertaining to that document (or lackthereof), it really throws everything off. It’s like reading Catcher in the Rye, and then shouting out loud, “I should read Catcher in the Rye”. You sound dumb, just like Chris. I wish that there would have been good cutscenes of interaction between Chris and Sheva after some of these docs, to develop the story more.
Item Management fucking sucks! I understand that a normal human shouldn’t be able to carry 50 big ass weapons at the same time, but how are you telling me that a Rocket launcher takes up the same exact space as an herb you can shove in your pocket? Makes no damn sense. Using Sheva as a mule is a necessity, but there’s two annoyances to this. 1. You have to make sure it’s nothing she could possibly use, or else she will use it by Golly (except grenades, I wish she would have used them, and I never saw her use them once). 2. I would load her up on ammo, for my gun, and when the level started, I’d run away from her so she couldn’t give it back to me. She did it almost every time. Of course then I’d give it back to her (Capcom, this is one of the suckiest minigames ever, FYI). Of course, when I’m out of ammo, she wouldn’t give me a shit, and I’d have to request from her while some Manjini is about ready to rip my throat out. Thanks.
While it’s not on my list, why the hell would Capcom not only make you spend a shit ton of ingame cash upgrading weapons, then make you go through the game a bunch of times to get “credits” (it’s more or less out of game cash), so that you can make uber powerful weapons with unlimited ammo. To me, it’s just a pain in the ass and feels very artifical.
So is RE5 a good game? Yes. Without a doubt. It’s fun, there’s some moments that are over the top, and silly, and the combat overall is a joy. There are issues, but they aren’t deal breakers, just things I wish Capcom had spent more thought or time on. Watching headshots blow off Manjini’s heads never gets boring, especially near the end because you don’t know if they’ll just die or some parasitic fuckhead will launch out of it. It’s good stuff. Is it my favorite RE game? No way. That spot is held for either 2 or Code Veronica, and Capcom would basically have to remake those games with new visuals and gameplay to unseat them. So yes, get this game, and try to grab a friend to play through it with you.
one more <SPOILER> (HAHAH)
Hi, I’m Excella. I’m only in the game for an hour or two. I think I was only put in for more sex. Look at my boobs, why else would I be in here? I add nothing to the story whatsoever, and am pretty pointless. But you get great ass and tit shots of me in the two hours I’m in it.
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