Resident Evil 5

An hour in of playing Resident Evil 5 and it’s obvious that the game is more action than survival horror. Gone are the days where you’re wandering desolate locales avoiding being ambushed by hungry zombies. Instead you’re exploring the gorgeously detailed continent of Africa (pretty enough to rival Far Cry 2’s rendition of this continent) with your beautiful partner while kicking some zombie ass amidst terrific production values and epic set pieces.

But this isn’t some luxurious cruise we’re talking about here. You’re Chris Redfield, a BSAA (Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance) operative who’s been sent to Africa to investigate reports of the Las Plagas virus. The beautiful new partner I spoke about earlier goes by the name of Sheva Alomar, a BSAA agent as well who was orphaned at an early age by the infamous Umbrella Corporation. Chris also has a personal stake in this mission since his old partner, Jill Valentine (who he and the rest of the world presumed dead) has magically turned up in this messy equation. And finally, giving you one heck of a welcoming party are the hyper-violent, mutated locals who haven’t taken too kindly to you or your dusky friend. Let the games begin.

In true Capcom style Resident Evil 5 is full of over the top, hammy villains and protagonists who I’m sure have been schooled by Captain Obvious. Case in point, one of the many dialogues exchanged between Chris and Sheva after a certain someone you chase half way through the game gets rescued by his associate - “Looks like he has a partner”. Wow. Do they teach you those deductive skills in BCAA school? Apart from many – and I mean many - Captain Obvious dialogues, villains tend to ham it to the next level as well. Making matters worse are the god awful accents associated with these diabolical characters. Still the story itself is pretty interesting and the game does a bang up job of initiating newcomers to the Resident Evil lore. In fact the game actually educates players on the history of the Umbrella Corporation via text messages that pop up during the loading screen. Very cool!
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Gameplay is pretty similar to RE4 which means you’ll explore a certain area, indulge in a bit of zombie slaughter and end the chapter with a humongous boss fight. It’s predictable and linear but the game’s production values are ridiculously awesome enough to keep you hooked till the very end. I’m not much of a boss fight kinda guy but I was very impressed with nearly every boss in the game even though it boiled down to the same ol’ find the weakness and hammer away to glory formula. Besides bosses, you’ll encounter a multitude of grunts and mini-bosses, all of which are anything but slow and dumb. Even once you blow some of their heads off with a shotgun, they can still prove to be dangerous adversaries, the details of which you’d rather find out on your own. Monster design in this game is amazing and you’ll genuinely be creeped out with some of the disgusting mofos you’ll encounter during the course of the game.

The addition of an AI controlled partner (Sheva) is a boon no doubt, but friendly AI isn’t as impressive as I’d hoped. No matter what weapon I handed Sheva, she still felt the need to use her pistol even against 20 feet tall bosses. Also once she ran out of ammo with one weapon she didn’t feel the need to remove another weapon from her inventory and you know, use it. The commands you can issue to your partner are limited as well and you can only order her to cover you or attack a target. But to give her credit, she did bring me back from the brink of death multiple times.

And die you will not because the game’s not too tough or anything; in fact Capcom has made the game terribly accessible to newcomers. You now have an awesome checkpoint system that kicks in ever so often reducing much of the backtracking and frustration associated with this series. What will get you killed are the game’s annoying controls and anal inventory system. Allow me to elaborate.
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For starters, I’m stuck with just one inventory bag and a limited amount of slots. I can’t buy a bigger bag nor can I buy more slots. Weapons and ammunition require separate slots so I’m cutting down my carrying capacity in half. And finally, if I purchase armor, why the hell do I have to keep it in my bag and waste an entire slot on it? I’m wearing the goddamn thing aren’t I?

While playing solo, you’ll have access to Sheva’s bag as well, so you can pretty much stock it with whatever you feel like and then ask her for that particular commodity during the game. Oh and unlike most action games on the block you can’t switch weapons on the fly so you’ll have to open your inventory, equip the weapon and then use it. This is done in real time which means you better be careful or changing weapons could cost you your life.

Another game mechanic you should be careful about is reloading because it causes your character to stop moving completely. Same goes with shooting, that cannot be done while walking. You have to stand still just like in RE4. Now this is an unnecessary and highly archaic gameplay mechanic in my opinion. If Capcom is going the action way with this franchise, why keep the control scheme this anal? A simple quick switch key would have solved matters here. Hell even if you want to melee attack you have to press LB to draw your weapon and then press RT. Capcom seems to think an anal control scheme heightens the tension but all it really does is tick people off (Dead Rising anyone?) and probably turn some newcomers off who’re used to regular third person shooters.
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As far as visuals are concerned, Resident Evil 5 is a technical marvel. Major props should be handed out to Capcom who’ve maintained a constant 30 FPS even with gigantic bosses on screen and no matter how intense things got, the framerate never skipped a beat. They’ve paid a ridiculous amount of attention to character, level and creature design. Some of those bastards were truly disturbing to look at. Weapons sound authentic enough while dialogues – like I mentioned earlier – are cheesy and annoying to a certain extent. The musical score is pretty atmospheric, picking up appropriately as the brown stuff’s about to hit the fan.
__STARTQUOTE__A lot of the tension and dread associated with this series has been toned down with the addition of co-operative gameplay so players who’re looking at being scared out of their wits may get a bit disappointed.__ENDQUOTE__

So is Resident Evil 5 worth three and a half grand? Well yes and no. It’s a very linear game and apart from a co-operative mode that may warrant a second playthrough, it offers no replayability. Sure there’s the Mercenary mode that gets unlocked after you complete the game where you and a friend can take on wave after wave of the Majini during a stipulated time period but it’s still not full fledged multiplayer we’re talking about. Plus the game’s also plagued by an annoying inventory system and anal controls. A lot of the tension and dread associated with this series has been toned down with the addition of co-operative gameplay, so players who’re looking at being scared out of their wits may get a bit disappointed.

But at the same time it’s one of the most technically proficient games on the block and offers an intense gameplay experience if you can look past the above mentioned flaws. Even if you are new to the series, don’t sweat it since the game does a bang up job of easing you into the whole Resident Evil Lore. If you have the dough, I whole heartedly recommend shelling out the big bucks on this game. This is one ride you won’t regret.

Resident Evil 5 will be available locally this Friday for the PS3 and Xbox360. Both versions will be sold for Rs. 3499.