Publisher : Capcom
Developer : Capcom
Date of Release : March ‘09

HDD Installation Size : 6.7GB
Save File size : 76KB per profile
Points released at completion of main story line : 600ish

Action-Horror.,. You see that phrase in films and you know its going to be awful. Not just awful on a basic level, but so awful the action you’ll want to see is leaving the cinema or turning the doovd off.
Action-Horror on gaming? Hmm. Doesn’t have the same effect as it does in films, and that’s all down to the pacing.. the ‘slow horror pacing’ is bad for action games.. and the ‘fast action pacing’ is bad for horror games. It’s a tight-rope that requires a delicate balance.

My personal history with the Resident series starts with RE1 on the Puss1… a game which Ill admit I barely got more than several screens through.. slow, plodding walking though a dodgy angled room that; other than shaded polygons; wasn’t more of a step up from Alone in the Dark on the Amiga 500.
Cue a couple of sequels and (bad) films later & the hamcube from Nintendo comes along, and Capcom decides to reinvent the series for the ‘then’ next generation, moving the game view point from a fixed camera location to an over the shoulder viewpoint.
So now we’ve hit Resident Evil 5 and what’s so new about it?

The over the camera viewpoint from RE4 still remains, though the graphics have been improved since the hamcube version. Also gone is the dark environments present through RE4 replaced in some of the earlier stages with bright sunshine for the numerous zombies to attack from, and a pleasant change it is too..

As with RE based games, resource management is essential if you’re going to complete the game, being conservative with bullets is just as essential as upgrading just the right weapons and leaving the ‘crapper’ ones alone until last.

Given the sparsity of ammunition, and the steepening difficult on later levels, you’ll often replay previous levels again, both for more ‘treasures’ (money) or ammo.
Completing the game unlocks ‘unlimited ammo’ and thus makes going through previous levels grinding for cash an absolute breeze.

Much was touted about the co-op aspect introduced and to be frank, the AI works just as well as another real person. – In co-op the two players will jostle for available ammo, especially if both using the same weapons, however the carefully placed checkpoints means that should either partner die the game allows both players to restock current ammo, so changing weapons is never too much of a bad deal.

The AI character does have a tendency to shoot often & waste ammo by going for belly shots rather than the head, but there’s been much worse examples of AI co-op recently too.

Achievements are given out for completing each story chapter and a final 4 for completing each difficulty level (stackable)
Also along for the ride are a number of ‘side’ achievements, some fun, some ‘not as much’
Shooting all 30 emblems & collecting all treasures is really only recommended with a guide as they are very easy to miss.

Given the number of weapons and upgrades available and the amount of money the game gives out during the levels, it could result in a lot of time spent running through the levels again trying to garner enough cash - A lot of time. There is however a glitch where the player can create items, which as achievement hunters, I would recommend as it does also improve the game by buying/upgrading the weapons that personally where never used, sure it lowers the forced potential time with the game, but with the 4 difficulty levels and unlimited ammo that can be unlocked, its not a bad thing.

There are two lots of Game DLC available (soon).
the 1st is Mercenaries, an add-on that rightfully got lambasted for it being on the disk & the download is a key that unlocks it... - This should never be bought to prevent this from being the mainstay of DLC on games.

There is another forthcoming addon too.. no idea what it is, but it could be the thing to get you back into running in horror!
This update also includes a hidden camera option, allowing a return to the original camera positioning of the original games.. - whether this will retroactively apply back to the original game or not I don't know.. would certainly be a new lease of life for it!


In summation

A top quality release that is more action orientated than original scares. Gives out points through the game’s initial playthrough & more could be achieved with pre-planning.
The long money grind is definitely a downside, but which can be avoided should you decide to do so.

good review but i think the corridor and darkness in RE1 on PS1 was scary compared to films and newer version of games, it doesnt have the tenseness and creepiness that games should have when playing horror games

i agree with mintz this was an excellent game i really enjoyed it
however i think the original one when it came out was survival horror at its best very creepy i can remember going to open a door and there was a cut scene first person of a zombie now rushing to the other side of the that door to open it first. my missus just threw the controller to me and screamed lol
but another great review

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OOOH GUNS GUNS GUNS

I dunno who keeps adding pictures of reviews either... but the image above is from Resident Evil 3 : Nemesis. Not from 5.

If reviews need pictures to escape from the wall of text I can add em in!

Great review keep up the good work

Sounds like you enjoyed this one. I have been watching video reviews and gameplay vids and it does seem really good. The gold edition is out next month so if they don't slap a 40 quid price tag on it I may purchase.