I've been a huge fan of the resident Evil series. and when I saw clips of RE5 in action. I didn't know what to think, really. it just looked liked RE4 set in africa. but the game did seem like it would have potential.
last night I got to play the demo of the game at a friend's house on his PS3. and here's what I have to say about this IT.
THIS GAME IS GONNA SUCK!!
okay, maybe I wouldn't take it quite that far. but that's how I felt when I first played it. I was horribly disappointed with the demo. here's what I have to say about it.
Gameplay: to start off. the gameplay is practically the same as RE4. even the flaws the were in RE4 were in this one. like the fact aiming your gun is slow and kinda difficult. or the fact that you can't switch which shoulder your aiming over. and you still can't move around while you aim your gun. you think after games like uncharted where it allowed you to do that, they could have added stuff like that to the game.
the only real new thing I can really see they added to them game is that you don't have to pause your game to change your weapon and use items. you can this menu pop up while the game is still going on and you switch weapons and use items through that. which I guess makes things a little intense when you have to switch weapons when a mob or people are cornering you.
the next thing that bugs me about RE5, is the fact that it has no fucking fear factor whatsoever. RE4 didn't have much of one either. but at least I got scared at some points in the game. but I can tell just by playing this that they've gotten rid of the whole idea of scaring the hell outta of you in this game.
to start off, both levels in the demo are set in broad daylight. you can see everything thats coming at you. nowadays, we have games like Condemned or F.E.A.R, that actually utilize the darkness as best they can. where pretty much your only source of light, is either a flashlight, or the dim, flickering lights that you would occasionally see in some areas of a level. in this, you don't get any dark rooms or areas. everything is completely lit because you happen to be fighting monsters on a clear, sunny as fuck day.
next off, the enemy AI in this game is just dumb as hell. especially the chainsaw people. I intentionally left myself open & vulnerable for the chainsaw guy to attack me so I could see myself die violently from the guy. and when the guy finally was up close enough to hit me. he didn't swing his chainsaw until like, 3 or 4 seconds had passed. another enemy ended up hitting me and moved me outta the chainsaw guy's way by the time the guy swung his chainsaw.
next thing that bothers me is, who the fuck is this chick with Chris Redfield?
now this sounds like a stupid thing to complain about, I know. but this girl just bugs me for some reason. she just doesn't seem like she's gonna be that memorable of a character compared to the main RE cast. her name is Sheva Alomar, and she's is a special agent tasked with investigating the epidemic in africa. now, do we need another character that just happens to be another special/secret agent. over half the cast is part of some organization or agency. how about some character with a bit more originality?
the other thing is that she even makes the game even less scary to play. having a partner thats constantly by your side is not gonna make me feel more scared. yeah, with RE4 you had a partner that you had to work with too. but she couldn't attack, and you had to spend most of the time protecting her from the monsters. and she wasn't with you all the time. in RE5, she fights just as much as you. and the game has co-op gameplay to it. so I'm guessing this chick is gonna stay by Chris's side through the whole game.
Presentation: I'll at least give the game this, it has really good graphics. they are definitely above par quality. as for the music, I was to busy hearing the sounds of screaming from the hordes of people after you & gunshots to really pay attention to the music.
Resident Evil 5 has officially strayed from the survival horror path in my opinion. and has become pretty much just another action game. which might satisfy some people, but for people like me who want stuff that the old resident evil games had, which was some grade A fear. then I think some people are gonna be in a for disappointment. now I know game sequels don't have to bring a ton of change to a game series. after all, the early games constantly used the same gameplay style. but they added some different weapons you can get, different monsters, and original puzzles, so you were doing more in the game the just shooting and killing. RE4 was a really fun game when I first played it. and did a good job on the different style of gameplay. but the puzzles became way too simple and made you do no real thinking. and after you defeated the first few hordes of crazy assholes. nothing else in the game really scares you like the other games. and RE5 is just the same, showing even less fear in the game and no real original monsters.
now, I'm gonna show you guys what I thought a true Resident Evil game was. back when the people who made it knew what fear was, and actually cared about showing it to gamers.
Resident Evil 1 for playstation came out in 1996. it may not have been the first survival horror game with the same style, Alone in the dark beat them to it. but Resident Evil 1 was not only THE resident evil game to play. but its probly the first game that people think of when they think of survival horror. this game made the survival horror genre, and made me, and probly many other kids terrified of the dark at night.
my favorite version is probly the Game Cube version. but the original PS version of it is really good too. and is still scary to play, even today in my opinion. but I'm gonna tell you about both versions.
Story: The story to both versions are pretty much the same. you play as one of the two main characters game. Jill Valentine or Chris Redfield. both of them are with a special agency called S.T.A.R.S(Special Tactics And Reconnaissance Squad). they are sent in with three other members of stars to investigate bizarre murders that have been happening around raccoon city. when Investigating the forest and a helicopter crash. your team is attacked by a pack of dogs and one of your team-mates gets killed. seeing that some fucked up shit is going down. you and your team run from the dogs and make it to a nearby mansion. and of course, you should all know how it goes down from here. they investigate the mansion. and bump into zombies, Giant Spiders, strange agile amphibious creatures called hunters, along with many traps and puzzle throughout the whole mansion.
both main intros to each version of the game do a great job of setting the tone for it. but are done pretty differently. the first game, using real footage and actors for the game. and the game-cube remake using CGI.
GamePlay: the gameplay to both versions of the game was solid. depending on which character you decided to play as. you'd have a slightly different game. such as what weapons are available and how much room you had to carry things. Jill was the easier character to play as since you had access to a grenade launcher. and If memory serves me right she could carry up to eight items. and she had Barry, who was pretty much your assistant. giving you an item or two usually when you'd bump into him. Chris's game was a little bit more difficult. you could only carry up to six items. didn't have access to a grenade launcher, and the other person you work with, Rebecca. isn't that much of a help if I remember.
the main gameplay consisted of you roaming around the mansion, fighting monsters, and finding key items to help you solve puzzles around the mansion. and figuring out where these monsters originated from and getting the hell outta there. you'd even fight bosses along the way such as a giant snake or a huge mutant plant.
the original game was rather short. probly spanning to about five or six hours through your first time playing it. the remake to it added alot more content in it. from more locations/rooms, to more monsters and bosses. even the zombies were smarter in this one. they'd make they're way into others rooms and bust they're way through windows. and then, they're were the crimson heads. tougher versions of the zombie that would come back if you didn't kill them right(destroy their head, light the corpse on fire). they were faster, stronger and tougher to kill.
unlike RE4 and 5. you didn't have a huge source of ammo. in RE4 you'd could get ammo from the monsters you killed. which gave you a good constant source of ammunition and supplies. in this, you had to really go looking for it in rooms throughout the mansion. making ammo and supplies rather scarce in the game. making you ration your supplies and use certain weapons/items only when you really had to.
presentation: for its time, the original version of RE had really good graphics. the voice acting might have been bad. but at least it bad in a way that it was funny to hear the people talk(especially Albert wesker). the Music for original I thought was great. it really set the tone for the game and some of the music alone sent chills down my spine.
the remake definitely Improved on the graphics. making it probly one of the best looking Game-Cube games. and the voice acting improved as well. it maybe isn't the most memorable acting in a game. but it's good enough that the characters can be taken seriously. the music in the game wasn't exactly as chilling as the original. but still does a great job of setting the tone for the game.
if you ever decide to take interest in the Resident evil series. forget about RE4 and fuck RE5. the first game is where you should start. I can't tell you how many times I've played RE1 over. it's that fun of a game to play. after you play it, you'll know why it's become part of video game history.
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