Ultimately, Resident Evil 5 shouldn't be looked at as a failure in the series, merely too ambitious, inconsistent and uneven. Earlier entries in the series benefited from their simplicity and focus, and while it's laudable for RE5 to try and include so much variety, perhaps a little more of the same ol' same ol' would have resulted in a slightly better game. It's on par with other, bold experimental installments in the series, like Resident Evil Zero, which tried to do a lot, but was only partially successful, and it's better that Capcom tried to do a lot of new things here, as opposed to not. But the bottom line is that RE5 is a very beautiful, occasionally exciting game with a lot of built-in value to recommend it, but it's far too disjointed to qualify as a top-tier addition to the canon.
B
Only a few hours away!!!!!!!
1up review is very well written and not filled with stupidity.
Gamespy's review though is the best one so far cause it understands the AI and I like what they say about the controls. 4.5/5
http://xbox360.gamespy.com/xbox-360/resident-evil-5/961793p1.html
gamingeek said:Archangel3371 said:
Woo hoo! Tonight's the night folks. I imagine that my local EB Games and/or Blockbuster and/or FutureShop will be open past midnight to release RE5 or at least I'm sure hoping they will. If so then I'll be partaking in the festivities and grabbing a copy myself. If not then I'll have to wait until tomorrow. The big question for me right now is if I have the option do I spring for a Collector's Edition or not.You should enter the store like Chris, super punch your way through the glass. If you have black female friend get her to come along. Dvader can dress as Wesker in trenchcoat and sunglasses. Everyone will think that he's a Neo Matrik wannabe.
For some reason, this is an image I want to see.
Archy, Vader...GET ON IT!
I have played for nearly 4 hours (the game's clock cant tell time, it says I played for 2 hours 40 minutes, no.) and I just finished chapter 2-2. The game is gorgeous, one of the best looking games I have ever played, some of the locations are breathtaking. The action is great, I have fought two memorable boss fights already. Loads of hidden stuff all over these levels, all sorts of enemies (DOGS, holy crap they are pure evil!), some great setpieces.
But its not RE4, I guess maybe its cause I am playing alone, I dont feel in control. In RE4 I would constantly be switching my guns to fit the current enemy in this game I dont find myself doing that often, I am mostly playing keep away with my pistol and melee attacks. Taking care of two people, even though Sheva does a good job most of the time, is not the ideal way to play. Besides co-op, the variety in situations and encounters that RE4 did so well is not as well done in this game. It tries, its usually has a new enemy or different type of situation in each area but its not as focused as it was in RE4. in RE4 there was clearly a section where you had to avoid traps and dynomite, clearly a section where you should snipe, each section felt like it had its own identity where in this game the areas are usually so big that it allows for any type of strategy, instead of being focused its more open. RE4 had great balance between big action moments, moments with puzzles, small areas mixed with large areas, the balance so far is not just there.
But I expected that coming in so I am not surprised. I am enjoy it a lot and there have been some stand out moments. The intro is fantastic, I wish it was more slower paced like that at times. The cutscenes are well beyond anything this franchise has produced in the past, though the story has yet to take off for me. Oh and the ranking system is awesome, its going to be so addicting to s rank it all. I am playing on veteran and its pretty tough, I have died like 5 times. Ammo and health do run out, much more than in RE4, but the game always manages to give you just a little bit of ammo when you need it, I think its handled very well. Not a fan of the new upgrade menu, merchant was so much better.
Now for some spoilers, again chapter 2-2
SPOILERS
Chainsaw guy going beserker after he died... holy crap!!!! But stupid Sheva kept getting caught, I would revive her and she would instantly get hit, I dont know how I managed to get out of there alive.
Oh the first time the plagas comes out of that woman, damn! It just would not die. Plagas 2 is way harder than RE4 plagas.
The first boss fight against the worm thing, nice, clearly some verdugo influences with the canisters you have to drop. Cool method to defeat it. Loved the build up to that fight.
The mines again very nice, more sections like this please. I just ended with the giant bat boss fight, awesome as well. Maybe he takes a bit too many hits, I would set a mine then go to task with the shotgun, still took forever.
I still dont have a sniper rifle, did I miss something?
Thanks so much for the impressions Vader. I enjoy reading them.
Y did you choose veteren?
EDGE Mag review
It’s exhilarating and frantic but, as the core focus of the game, rubs the wrong way against that series fundamental: the control system.
Suggestions that the traditional tank-like Resident Evil controls render the game unplayable are absurd, but despite the option to increase turning speed, their essential stop-and-shoot nature is strained under the extreme, fluid pressure that Resident Evil 5 excels in pressing you under.
Combat in previous entries was almost entirely forward-facing and slower-paced; Resident Evil 5’s assaults come from all sides and require different tactics. Constant running, turning, knife-wielding and close-quarters attacks (in which Chris and Sheva can alternate to deal three particularly weighty blows) keep the hordes at bay, but you will be blindsided and you will be wounded.
Though on occasion frustrating, the control system is never worse than serviceable, but it’s a baseline the game should surely have aimed beyond.
Ah so the design of the gameplay has changed and that is why the controls cannot cope? Now I understand the control complaints.
Most bosses are retrogressive and unsatisfying one-trick ponies, some being sad reappearances of RE bosses from time past, some simply over-spiced by the appearance of a special weapon to be rigidly used exclusively for their dispatching.
It’s here that the uneasiness lies in Resident Evil 5. Its focus on intense combat and set-pieces leaves little room for much of an atmosphere, and the promising mystery of its opening swiftly turns into fan-fondling, a stony-faced attempt to draw together disparate and nonsensical story threads from previous games that was doomed never to achieve coherence.
Capcom desperately needs a proper screenwriter or, failing that, one who can manage basic dialogue.
More than this, though, it’s the dearth of imagination that disappoints. It’s clear now just how confident and creative Resident Evil 4 was, designing enemies for particular set-pieces and then discarding them, tailoring its environments to both titillate and terrify, and always aware of its own B-movie nature in both scripting and shocks.
Resident Evil 5 doesn’t have much of this. And yet in its best moments the game is very, very good indeed – as good as Resident Evil 4. The basic combat, of resisting panic, picking targets and managing scant resources, is as finely tuned as ever, and its best levels are exquisitely crafted for open battles.
When the game has the confidence to simply put you in a layered, open environment and throw multiple enemy types into the mix, any problems disperse in the warm glow of gunfire and herbs.
Above all of this is the decision to make the game co-operative. With a human partner, especially one in the same room, Resident Evil 5 is raised from the status of merely good to great. Concerted fire destroying waves of monsters before they get close, harried pincer movements on the larger threats and last-gasp saves are all present and correct.
There could be a more elegant solution to resource-sharing than an unwieldy 9x9 box navigated by D-pad, and it’s certainly weird that you can shoot through each other, but these are minor grumbles concerning an inspired addition.
If only there were more new things to talk about. Resident Evil 4 was always going to be an albatross for its successors, but it’s the temerity with which Capcom treats it that’s really surprising. There’s so much reverential reuse of ideas, from basic combat to the big set-pieces, that it’s almost as if RE4 had a formula that could be copied.
Even if it did, a trick never looks quite as good the second time around. It’s not surprising that Resident Evil 5 was intimidated by its predecessor, and it’s not surprising that it believes imitation to be the most sincere form of flattery. It’s also not surprising that such reverence has created mechanical clichés, from barrels to chainsaws, as pervasive as item boxes ever were.
It’s not even surprising, despite all this, that Resident Evil 5 is a good game. The surprising, and sad, thing about Resident Evil 5 is that it feels old.
7
I choose veteran cause I heard about how it was so hard to die in this game, how easy the bosses were, etc. I wanted the game to provide me a challenge and it is at times but not in the same way as RE4, at least not yet. If I die its been cause of some misshap between me and Sheva. I dont feel in complete control in this game and that bothers me, I am a control freak when it comes to my single player games and this is a bit tough to get used to across a full game.
Played a bit further and YES!!! Its like someone strapped a rocket on this game cause its taking off and doing things I have never seen a RE game do. In fact at parts its more MGS level epicness than the usual RE slower paced type of game. The areas you visit, mind blowingly beautiful, yes I know Killzone 2 is supposed to be the best looking game around, call me crazy, this game looks better.
My complaints about it not having a good mix of different scenarios is now gone as the game is now constantly surprising me with the situations its throwing at me. All sorts of new enemies are appearing, they are vicious, what slow zombie like AI, did some of these reviewers only play the first area, these guys are running full speed and JUMPING on me! Its complete insanity.
Oh and the amount of weapons and upgrades to do, yikes. I am starting to see that this game is clearly meant to be played more than once, hell I would say its designed more for the subsequent playthroughs more than the first one. I can totally see a whole layer of strategy come in when you do have a full aresenal and you have to choice which weapons to take with you in a certain chapter. I still struggle with having an AI partner, not cause she is bad AI, more of the fact that I am not in complete control of the situation, I do have to think about her. Above all its the inventory that messes me up, there was one section where you are in small paths and tons of enemies are coming at you, so many that I was running out of ammo fast, well my partner had what I needed, to find time to exchange items in that mess was suicide. Also becuase I was with AI Sheva basically only know to stay with me so having two players cramped in such a small area was not ideal, it was messy. If I had a human partner he could go off to a different side and cause the enemies to split allowing much more room to actually take them down.
I fought the boss fight against the new El Gigante you have all seen in the trailers, WOW. I know its basically a turret fight, doesn't matter, its executed so well.
The story, well it was dragging along until... WESKER!!!!! OMGWOWOWOWBBQBLAASIKASGEGY1!!!! BEST CUTSCENE I HAVE EVER SEEN IN RE HISTORY!! And that was just the backstory, i can only imagine what awaits. Screw Metal Gear, this is the most epic finale ever, Chris vs Wesker.
Spoilers about chapter 2-3 and 3-1
SPOILERS
Car chase was MGS level awesome. Its at that moment where I saw that this game is not just RE anymore its full a blown action extravaganza. As I said before I loved the boss fight that followed.
But by far my favorite part of the game so far was the giant lake. First off the tribal enemies are fantastic, oh and the crazy plagas thing that comes out of them woah, and the big boss dudes are badass too. So many great enemies in this game.
But what I loved about it most was how it was like a big playground to just explore, land on this island and see what traps await, find a shipwreck in the middle and get a rocket launcher, avoid the enemies perched in the towers. It was like a minurature version of Wind Waker, I loved it.
Holy shit this game is fucking awesome! I'm currently at the start of Chapter 3-1 with a time of around 5 hours. The graphics in this game are simply amazing. Chapter 2-3 was a total blast and Wesker's appearance was wickedly cool. I can certainly tell I'll be replaying this quite a few times, messing with fully upgraded weapons, playing online co-op, and finding all the secret hidden goodies. I also can't wait to play Mercenaries either. What a fantastic game this seems to be turning out to be.
The boss fights are spectacular, they are on a scale I have never seen before, the size of these guys, woah. Sure some are different takes on RE4 bosses but they are different enough to be their own bosses. I guessI give the edge to RE4s bosses but this is a right there so far.
I love the weapons in this game, the selection dwarfs RE4 and it brings back some clasics from the old games. I love how there are files that go in detail about the backstories of many of the characters in this game, some of these files are 30 something pages, they were not playing when they said they were going to focus on the story.
Time to go in depth SPOILERS upto chapter 5-2
The amount of variety in the locations and setpieces have been blowing me away. From the oil rig where you have to work your way up while covering Josh, to the escape on the boat. The awesome boat section where you have to cover fire, then open the gates, amazing section. The Irving boss fight, stunning, kills the Del Lago fight.
My favorite area so far has been the caves, I felt like I entered a Tomb Raider game, when i first walked in and saw that view of everything below I could not believe it. So many awesome moments, from booby traps, evil plagas spider things, great balls of fire, super lazers and an actual puzzle! It was oozing with imagination and originality, all we needed was a classic giant ball rolling to kill you moment as an homage to the original, and Indy. The only issue I had in this part is that Sheva is an idiot around the lazers, she got hit so many times.
Chapter 5-1 was perfect. It was like I entered a different game, all of a sudden I was back to old RE. Creepy lab, files all over to read. Computers to check out (with the classic start up noise). A licker that you see right before it disappears from view. The build up to the licker was perfection, and the lickers themselves, BEST VERSION OF LICKER EVER. In fact its not even close. To me they have always been second rate hunters, kind of boring enemies, but in this game, they are savages. This is why i want a damn remake of an old RE game, cause these classic BOWs in this RE4 style could come alive like never before, their attacks patters could be so improved, as shown here. The licker room, perfect perfect perfect, I took out my trusty grenade launcher with acid rounds (I hear its especially powerful against living things) and went crazy on the Lickers. Hard as hell fight, they were grabbing both Sheva and I, we saved each other so many times.
Then the boss fight against U-8, woah, woah. That was epic, and another toughy. I had to use every single bullet I had to take that thing out. So thats where I left off, damn it this game needs more Wesker, I feel like time is almost up and nothing has really happenend yet with the story, just a backstory moment.
Listen to Iced Earth and play Doom
Dvader said:
I choose veteran cause I heard about how it was so hard to die in this game, how easy the bosses were, etc. I wanted the game to provide me a challenge and it is at times but not in the same way as RE4, at least not yet. If I die its been cause of some misshap between me and Sheva. I dont feel in complete control in this game and that bothers me, I am a control freak when it comes to my single player games and this is a bit tough to get used to across a full game.
Explain. Oh nevermind read your post below.
That turret fight looks lame as hell. How was it wow?
I was in a shop with my bro and almost got this today. I told him about the 9 reviews and told him about the others. He would have got SFIV but hes not online either and doesn't really play two player with other folk. Not much use to him.
CHAPTER 5-2!!!
OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!!!!
This is incredible!!! Its a great fusion of old school with new school, its like a dream come true.
The boss was the best so far.
SPOILERS*****
***
****
Call me crazy but even the gun carrying enemies was handled extremely well, gives us a cool new enemy, its not done in a way where you feel its a different game.
Everything about this level was incredible, conveyor belt combat AWESOME. These setpieces are so imaginative, its actually starting to surpass RE4 in that area.
The build up to the new BOW, the Reaper, it felt like ****c RE all over again. You read the file about this new monster, you know its coming, you see eggs and everything and then there is it, it was like a cross of a chimera and a nosvistador.
Or how about the licker room where you can silently walk around them, with that giant light spinning around the room, beautiful. Of course they get alerted and its an all out Licker battle.
But hands down the moment for me was the Urobors boss fight. It was like a ****c RE boss fight redone in RE4 **** A flame thrower!!! And one you have to charge up, it reminded me so much of some of the old RE battles where you would have to wait for a super weapon to charge up, like the gun in CV or even the giant gun in RE3.
Must keep going! Oh and I dont understand how anyone can say the first half of this game is better than the second half, the second half is on a different level, its like a different game.
Chapter 5-3 
SPOILERS*******
****
After 13 years the moment has finally come, a Wesker boss fight. And I loved it!! He stands there and adjusts his hair, 
so perfect. The way to defeat him makes sense, no chance in going head to head, so you got to surprise him. Having Jill around makes it even more interesting. The issue is Sheva's AI is STUPID at this point. She runs off and gets killed by Jill all the time, finally I managed to beat Wesker (and get the trophy for him). So cinematic, so awesome, I love the different QTE moments.
And then the battle after, the music, the emotion, everything about it so great. I went ahead and read Jill's file afterwards, tons and tons of new virus info, it adds a lot to the storyline.
The earlier sections of 5-3 were awesome but one room drove me crazy, the licker room at the entrance of the temple. Sheva again screwed everything up, oh she would make it to the door but then she would want to be near the objective even though there are five million lickers around it. This section = two garradors section in RE4. I died easily like 15 times, took about 45 minutes for me to get past it. Still a cool area, just the AI messes it up.
Finished. As a RE fan from the very beginning, as a huge Wesker fan, I 100% approve of this game and its finale. I am so in love with this game right now. Is it better than RE4, I cant say that cause RE4 was so amazing when it came out cause there was nothing like it, plus I think the entire experience was solid from beginning to end where this game had some off spots. But the last half of this game has me questioning whether RE5 is more fun to play, or has better boss fights, or is just more exciting than RE4.
End game spoilers
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
Lets go back to the start of chapter 6, I actually didn't care much for certain sections in the ship, it relied to much on the gun enemies and not on awesome environmental setpieces like the last few chapters were doing. Still some great moments. Thankfully the last bosses of this game are as amazing and epic as I have seen in any game.
Excella's transformation, has there ever been anything that big in any RE game. The way to beat it is awesome, giant death star lazer, one of the best bosses in the game.
Then Wesker, I dont know what people were complaining about, I think the final battles lived up to the hype. My personal favorite part was when he was in his human form and you got to shoot out the lights, grab a rocket launcher, shoot it at him AND HE CATCHES IT!!! Blow it up in his face and try to inject him. The QTE fight in the plane, some of the best videogame cutscene fighting I have ever seen, gives MGS a run for its money.
Then it ends on freaking Mustafar!!! Obi-wan vs. Anakin and now Chris vs. Wesker, does it get any more perfect, NO. I could hear the Battle of Heroes song playing as I fought Wesker. His final form is a bit idioic, but better than a giant blob thing, I loved the lead up to the final battle spot, very cinematic. The actual final fight was easy, Sheva would never get hurt and if I ever went into dying she would get me all the time, it was like impossible to die. My first try I totally ran out of ammo, I was knifing him but it was taking so long that I killed myself. The next time I brough loads of ammo but still hard to take him down. Thats when I notcied he has a glowing spot on his back, OHHH, I thought you had to hit him with weapons until his front opened. A bit too simple for me, he only has a few attacks and his weakspot is so simple, thankfully everything leading up to it was ace.
And it ends with not one but two rockets, fitting. So is leaving in a helicopter, its come full circle.
As for the story, not sure what to think of all the plot twists they added, so now Wesker was a test subject all along. Spencer's plan was to create a super race. Ok. I am not upset cause now I know there are a bunch of other Weskers running around out there. YES! I wonder if we will ever meet Alex Wesker, the man who started it all. The Wesker line lives on, though none will ever come close to the man himself. Unless they cloned him.
Time to try Mercenaries and jump right back into the next playthrough. So much to find and unlock.
Now I'm weirded out. People I trust on both sides are giving me differing opinions about the same things.
I'm renting this. Not buying.
Just a question, I've heard that the second half the game becomes a gears of war like experience? Are you guys happy with this?
You should enter the store like Chris, super punch your way through the glass. If you have black female friend get her to come along. Dvader can dress as Wesker in trenchcoat and sunglasses. Everyone will think that he's a Neo Matrik wannabe.