Review:
Resident Evil 5 Review

Resident Evil 5 sees series stalwart Chris Redfield take on his most formidable adversary yet, an old nemesis that will have gamers emitting blood-curdling screams and dropping their controllers in terror. An infuriating, awkward beast that makes venomous villagers and chainsaw wielding nutjobs seem like a walk in the park. But once you can get over Resident Evil 5’s antiquated tank controls and give the latest in Capcom’s flagship zombie series just two hours of your time, you’ll likely forgive Capcom’s aversion to change. Several archaic game mechanics aside, Resident Evil 5 is a class act through and through.

Swapping the series’ familiar static camera for an over the shoulder perspective, Resident Evil 4 was arguably the best action game of its generation, a non-stop romp of action movie centrepieces that gave gamers an experience twice as long as they probably deserved. Slightly shorter but just as memorable, Chris Redfield’s latest stops short of topping its precursor, but second helpings of one of the greatest games is hardly something that should be scoffed at for the sake of analysis. From the initial flight through the fictional shanty town region of Kijuju and Indiana Jones inspired crypt sequences to the excessive bullet-time cutscenes, Resident Evil 5 oozes quality as consistently as it vents crimson fluids.

Gamers unaccustomed to the series may find its idiosyncrasies unintuitive and alienating. Which they are. While the series has always used its protagonist’s physical limitations to enhance the survival horror experience, there’s no denying that after Dead Space, Chris’s clunky, mechanical controls feel like a step backwards. The co-operative elements aside it can hardly be considered an evolution of the franchise, unless you consider Redfield’s newfound ability to sidestep a development.

Like a schlocky B-movie, Resident Evil 5’s plot is equal parts exhilarating and embarrassing, the sort of explosive, consciously stupid game Michael Bay would make given the opportunity. Several years after witnessing the death of Jill Valentine at the hands of Albert Wesker, Redfield, now a BSAA (Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance) agent, is deployed to Kijuju, Africa, to apprehend black market virus dealer Ricardo Irving. Needless to say, another outbreak swiftly ensues. Without delving too deeply into the spoiler-sensitive story, it must be said that RE5 is also pretty conclusive, with many of the loose ends from the previous game and Code: Veronica – primarily Wesker’s newly acquired superhuman abilities– coming to a finale.