I finished the game on my PS3 last week and now is the time to write my personal opinion to the game, the story, its replay factor and its greatness. It’s not only a successor to the new gameplay of the predecessor: It’s once more another great game in the Resident Evil series since part 2 came out. Sure, it has its weak points in story telling but is in fact worth to be the final chapter of the franchise. I take a look at the less changed gameplay and the graphical difference between X360, PS3 and PC port. And I tell you why I think that Resident Evil 5 has one of the worst storiesof the entire series.
Gameplay
What was changed compared to Resident Evil 4? The answer is as simple as the gameplay itself: Not much.
You move your character with the left stick and rotate the camera with the right stick. By pushing and hold a button you get your weapon or knife ready and a simple bush on the action button fires your gun. Like in Resident Evil 4 is it not possible to run and gun or to reload while taking cover or dodging enemies. This is a feature that should never be removed if more games should follow.
The camera and movement was changed and now includes free viewing and side-step. You can now look up and down and hold the camera in the desired position. Releasing the stick does not set the camera back to default. Lets take a game like Gears of War or Uncharted in which you could take cover behind every wall. Resident Evil 5 has this cover system too, but only at walls where the game allows the player to use it. Resident Evil 4 players can choose its control setting from the options menu.
Graphics
There is no difference between the graphics of the PS3 version compared with the X360 Demo version, besides that the X360 Graphicchip is able to draw AntiAliasing and the PS3 chip not. People who own the PC version will get the full potential of the graphics engine, but more about the PC port later in this review. I can’t remember games in which you could see this high level of detail on characters, environment and objects. Oay, that is a lie, because I forgot that I have played MGS4, the Killzone 2 and the Uncharted 2 Demo and Resident Evil 5 only features 720, not 1080p HD. But we cant get everything, am I right?. It’s by far the best graphic you will see on a console game.
At the beginning of the game, you have the chance to walk around inside a lively part of the village in wich the inhabitants do their daily business. You come across a corner in wich – oh – you need to see this by yourself: You think that one person furiously stares directly in your eyes in reality.
Not without my partner!
One of my dreams comes true. If you don’t know what I am going to say then hold on: 2 player co-op gameplay! It’s finally possible to play through a Resident Evil game with another player in split screen or over Internet and doing crazy co-op stuff like pushing switches together, sharing the solving of a puzzle and to survive the fighting against bloodthirsty monstrosities.
It’s not only that: You need to take care of your partner in dangerous situations and helping him out if a monster holds him tight. You shoot together, you heal each other together, you need to push the right buttons in quick-time events together and if you play as Chris then you always have a nice view on his female partners back of course.
Sheva Alomar is her name, and she can make you crazy if you play with her controlled by the partner-AI through single-player. You are allowed to give the partner-AI orders: Cover-Mode (stand by me and follow my footsteps) or Attack-Mode (run like hell and shoot at everything that looks like an enemy). While she is a good girl on Cover-Mode, she is in reverse a very aggressive girl in Attack-Mode that often runs into a bulk of enemies and get hit or killed. Take care using the Attack-Mode. But besides that small weak point in partner-AI, it is always as good as a real player.
Never port a console game to a PC, please!
The PC port of Resident Evil 4 really was an awful experience and got a high place in my hall of fame for worst ports followed by Metal Gear Solid 2 and Silent Hill Homecoming. They got worst graphics, controls out-of-order, a lot of game crashes and bad sound output. Does it happen to the Re5 port to PC too?
Please stop holding your breath because the Resident Evil 5 PC port is an epic success! Better graphics, better controls (thanks mouse support) and you don’t have to buy the Versus-Mode since it’s included for free! I always said that a Resident Evil game belongs to a console, but my opinion has changed since the gameplay did. If you don’t own Re5 for a console yet, then buy the PC port. It’s worth every cent!
What about the story?
Let me say it this way: Every Resident Evil game got a better story as part 5 . I miss the emotional connection between the characters. They are just meet each other and have a quick chat about their reasons to join in the fight against bio-terrorists. Chris may be meets a person he thought is dead and does not give her a close and personal hug after rescuing her. There are no detailed reason how Excella and Wesker met. The only thing that the story writers thought was: “Just give the players heroic characters that don’t have any interesting character in it”. But this is japan, man! If you believe that japanese story writers can create deep characters, then you are wrong. Unless it’s Hideo Kojima.
What about multiple run-throughs?
Every trophy and achievement hunter will be happy with Resident Evil 5. There are over 50 trophies/achievements available for your Gamer ID/Gamertag and several bonus content can be unlocked during single and online play. You can collect money and bonus-points and purchase new weapons/upgrades and other bonus content. 50 treasures wait for you to get discovered as well as the and the mini-game from Re4 in which you had to shoot blue amulets. This time you have to find 30 emblems that were well hidden inside the environment. Find each to unlock even more bonus content! Reach the best rank in every chapter (S-Ranking) by having a high accuracy, the shortest playtime and the most enemies killed in each chapter. You also have to complete all chapters in the game under 5 hours to get the beloved Infinite Rocket-Launcher. I don’t need to mention “The Mercenaries” Mini-Game, do I? Even the PC version got achievements power ed through Windows Live.
It does not matter if you are a fan of the series or not. Just buy the game and have a great time. Alone, in split-screen or online.
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