[XBox 360, PS3] Resident Evil 5

Game Title: Resident Evil 5
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Release Date: March 13, 2009
"Gold Edition" Release Date: March 9, 2010
Genre: Third-Person Shooter / Survival Horror
# of players: 1P [+ 2P Co-Op Online & Offline]
System(s): Xbox 360 & PlayStation 3
Reviewed On: PlayStation 3
ESRB Rating: M

Did you call me racist? DIE ZOMBIE SCUM!!

//Story// 9/10
You play as Chris Redfield, a current member of the North American branch of the BSAA (Bio-terrorism Security Assessment Alliance) and former S.T.A.R.S. (Special Tactics And Rescue Service) team member, sent to investigate the possible smuggling of B.O.W. (Bio-Organic Weapons) in Africa. There, he is partnered up with Sheva Alomar of BSAA's West African branch. After some startling discoveries and some "running for their life" moments, it is revealed that B.O.W.s are now an active threat in the surrounding areas of Africa. Upon completing their investigation, the two BSAA agents are ordered to return, but Chris had ulterior motives for taking the assignment, for he had received word that his former partner, Jill Valentine --believed to be killed during a struggle with Albert Wesker, a man they were ordered to take-in during a mission several years prior--, has been sighted in the African regions. Sheva, originally unwilling to join Chris on his pursuit of a fallen comrade, quickly motivates herself to continue journeying at his side.

Rating the story is a tough call. Considering it's actually the 7th title in the main series, I'm not sure how everything ties in or if their are continuity flaws. That being said, if you've never played a game in the series before, it doesn't punish you for having no former knowledge of it's back-story. In fact, the game does include plenty of reading materials to get you up-to-date on the major story developments thus far.

As for this game itself; I found it intriguing, gripping, and entertaining to say the least, definitely deserves it's 9 out of 10.

//Sound/Music// 9/10
This game does it right. While the music isn't entirely unique in any way, it does the job it's meant to do. And by that I mean, the music is what makes an intense moment... intense. Without it, you'd just have weird shit happening all around you, you'd maybe even get bored at times. So without a doubt, I'd say that the music carries a lot of the weight of this game, and it does it brilliantly. As for the sound, I have to applaud the voice actors, well done. Especially the supporting cast, of course your leads are good, but even the folks that aren't hogging the screen time even put their best performance forward. The sound effects in this game are also well done, but they better be after all the games in the series they've completed, doubt they'd keep recycling the same sound if it was utter crap.

//Graphics// 9/10
These graphics are near perfect for this generation. Every location you wander into was designed with such care and detail in mind: Urban Areas, Marshlands, Caves, Tribal Villages, Ancient Ruins, Research Facilities, Ship Yards, etc. The villains also have a nice range of diversity, you will obviously see the reuse of the same model from time to time, but for the most part, especially when you start out in the Urban Areas, you'll feel like the whole town is coming at you, not just clones of the same 5 guys. Oddly enough, what I found most impressive was the amount of detail they even put into their wild-life, for instants, you may come upon a crocodile or goat in only one area of the game, but little was spared in their development.

//Gameplay// 8/10
This game uses the same style of gameplay as was present in Resident Evil 4 (prior to the "Wii Edition") and since I really enjoyed that installment, I can't help but make comparisons when reviewing this title.

The game takes an "over-the-shoulder" approach to the Third-Person-Shooter style, which at times can limit your overall view of your surrounding, especially if you keep the map displayed in the top right corner of the screen, plus your AI-partner likes to stand in your field of vision more often than is appropriate. This maybe adds to the suspense at times, but I digress, I never had a real problem playing this way.

In keeping the tradition of the series, you can only hold so-many items on you at any given time... wait, I should really talk about this "AI-partner" next, since it seems to involve itself in many aspects of the gameplay. First off, the fact that your partner is AI is actually optional, you can have a friend play co-op via online or offline through a split-screen setting, but to have a partner is not optional... and your partner does effect your gameplay since you must share all ammo, weapons, and health items with your partner. So you better decide from the very beginning who will use which type of weapon or you will find yourself without ammo very quickly. When your partner is AI, they will hoard all ammo and then piss it away at the first sight of an enemy. If you play smart, this wont be too much of a problem. Moving on.

As I was saying, you can only hold so-many items, you and your partner each have 9 item slots, but unlike previous games in the series, you can not upgrade the amount of item slots and thus the amount of items you can carry in game. -- You can stock unused items in a 'briefcase' that is accessible between Chapters and after a Game-Over/Continue screen. This is also the only area of the game where you can purchase/sell items, there is no in-game merchant this time around. -- This aggravated me, but to compensate for that, they also made it so that weapons only take up 1 slot each, instead of in previous games when they could take up multiple slots depending on the weapon's size and power. The amount of ammo you can hold in one slot is not infinite, each type of ammo has it's own cap-off, but you can upgrade your weapons to carry more ammo so that you have more room in your inventory.

Speaking of upgrades, you can in fact upgrade every weapon in the game (minus your knife, stun rod, rocket launcher, and grenade launcher). It cost money that you pick up from enemies, find in crates, or by selling treasures and other items. There are a lot of weapons in the game, and upgrading just one to it's max can be costly and time consuming. But that's the point, you can't be allowed to become over-powered from the start. There are even some weapons you can not get until you've maxed out certain weapons already in your possession.

Now, to end this portion of the review, I'm obligated to mention the context-sensitive events. If you don't know what those are, they are what happens when you're near a staggering enemy and it tells you that you can punch it if you press a particular button. Tho it's not just used for something so basic, it also happens during cut-scenes... more often catching you off guard, and if you do not enter the correct sequence of buttons when they flash on the screen, you are instantly dead in most cases, but not always. These events that happen during the cut-scenes are unavoidable and you must complete them to continue the game, luckily there are not a lot of these moments, but do expect them around boss-battles. Despite that, sometimes there are situations where these events are also used to subdue or save somebody.

//Longevity/Replay Value// 10/10
The main game can be completed in under 5 hours, tho it is incredibly unlikely that you will accomplish this on your first or even second try, but this is an existing challenge in the game, so it's possible. In fact, to unlock a particular weapon setting, I believe it's mandatory.

Like many great games, there is plenty to do and plenty to earn. There are roughly 20 weapons to acquire and upgrade. 50 unique treasures to find, and 30 hidden targets spread throughout the game. There are two types of currency in the game, the first kind is your basic money you pickup in the levels and by selling items, and is thus the same way your purchase new weapons and equipment. The second are "Exchange Points" that you acquire after you complete a chapter and your score is assessed, these are used to purchase Bonus Content such as "Figures" (3d character models), "Filters" (alters game appearance), "Costumes", "Infinite Ammo", and new playable characters for "Versus" mode. -- Versus mode is available in "Gold Edition" and as DLC for the original release --

After you've completed a play-through, you unlock the ability to play as your female partner, you also unlock a new game mode known as "Mercenaries", in this mode you will be put to the test as you use your skills to complete challenges. An advantage to this mode is that if you do well, it is a faster way to wrack up points usable to purchase Bonus Content.

This game is completely enjoyable to replay, especially since all items and gear carry over to each new play-through. That's a big gift to the gamer, especially if you've been working your ass off to completely upgrade your gun collection. Plus if you are a whore for trophies/achievements, there are plenty to keep you playing for quite a while.

-- All additional content will be reviewed in the DLC/Gold Edition section. --

//Last Words/Final Score// 9/10
I've said so much about this game already, I'm now at a loss for words as I near the end. I'll just get to the point for once. This is a great game. If you're new to the survival/horror genre, don't be afraid to give this game a try. I am personally scared of games like Dead Space, but that's a game that makes it a point to scare you, this game is much more about the investigation, journey, and sci-fi aspects.

//Buy/Rent/Skip//
If there was any question in your mind, my answer is to obviously buy this game. As of this review, there has been released a "Gold Edition" of the game which includes 2 extra story missions, 2 more costumes for each character, versus mode, more figures, new trophies/achievements to earn, and a modified Mercenaries mode including new characters and enemies. All of this can be purchased separately at an additional price as Downloadable Content for those with the non-gold edition, which is not recommended, unless you are like me and bought the game when it originally came out and downloaded the new content as it was available. If you happen to be one of those folks that actually has both a Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, and are now considering picking up the Gold Edition of this game, I recommend the PS3 version due to the fact that all the extra content is available right off the disc, unlike the 360 version that just comes with a token to download the new content. It's a matter of convenience in my opinion..... and I'm biased.

//DLC/Gold Edition//

//Lost in Nightmares// 9/10
This is the first of the new story missions. In it you play as Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine during their mission several years ago to infiltrate the Spencer Estate and apprehend Albert Wesker. Since the Spencer Estate is a classic location from the series, this mission focuses more on investigating the mansion for clues, surviving traps, solving a puzzle, and coming across a new type of enemy that will have you running for your life at points. I really enjoyed this mission, it gives you something different from the main story. My only disappointment, is that you can not collect a figure of this new enemy. This may be an odd disappointment, but if you've been collecting them through the main game, like I have, than it's a legitimate let down. Here is a nifty tip, since this is a classic location of the series, there is a classic camera point-of-view available. You may know of it already, but here is trick anyway: Investigate the main door that you start off the mission from, after investigating 2 or 3 times a "?" will appear, click it and you are now in classic view mode. Ta~Da? Eh, I wasn't a fan, but I wasn't into the series while I was growing up either. I was more into Parasite Eve at the time, which I guess was a rip-off of this series when I think about it.

//Desperate Escape// 5/10
This is the second of the new story missions. This mission contains spoilers to the main story, so definitely do not play this mission until you have completed the main story. That being said *sigh* I'm going to make a spoiler free review of this one: This mission actually just fills you in on what happened to a couple of characters you interacted with during the course of the main story. If you already know who they are, great for you, I'm trying to coddle the newbies. Any way, it's fun to play, it's as good as the main game itself, but the reason why I gave it such an average score is because it doesn't really add new material to the game, you just fight waves of already established B.O.W.s (enemies) and places you in some new parts of existing locations. They do try to catch you off guard at certain points, if you play the mission more than once, they will drastically change the type of enemies you face in one of the larger areas of the mission. But honesty, this is more of a wave/horde mode than anything else, which was probably the point. I will spoil one thing tho, they introduce you to this new character named Doug, he amused me, I liked Doug.... and yet, he received no figure either. Where's the love for Doug?

//New Extras//
I feel kind of odd rating the new extras... they add something new to the game that wasn't originally there. That's always good. What I consider "extra" is this: "Versus" mode, it's self explanatory. "Mercenaries Reunion", it's the modified Mercenaries mode I mentioned earlier. Then you also have the new figures and new costumes I mentioned earlier as well. They're good, I especially liked the new costumes. Fairytale Sheva and Warrior Chris are my costumes of choice. Together they gave sort of a fun Grindhouse feel to the game. XD