Resident Evil 5(PS3 & X360 edition)

[Lincoln 6 Echo]

Resident Evil / CAPCOM pretty much began the genre of 'survival horror'. RE5's gameplay must be looked at seperately from things like the controller setup. L4D and other shooters are not survival horror, they're action shooters or action horror. I think RE5 really emphasizes the 'reality' of what it would be like to face a horde of 'zombies/ infected people'. Meaning AMMO is limited, the situation is CRAZY frantic, and diving into your backpack/inventory will not pause a killer zombie if such a situation were to exist in real-life.

Basically, I think RE is about surviving. It's about frantically scrambling, not double-jumping, running faster than the enemy, or having perfect aim while strafing. It's not about 'clearing' the level of enemies, it's about knowing when to fight and when to run because you simply can't fight them all.

That said I've never been an RE fan and with RE5 I'm still not. Simply because it's not my type of game but for many people it is. BUT I can still appreciate the game itself. Whether or not it deserves a perfect score, I can't judge it.

I just checked metacritic, and the first score is in from Playstation: The Official Magazine (US)
Score: 100

Are they giving out perfect scores like candy these days? Every game I happened to check recently (Killzone 2, Resident Evil 5, Street Fighter 4, Bioshock) got a 100/100 from this publication!

I don't know what you're so surprised about. I think if you're serious about more objective reviews you'd look at other sites (IGN, GameSpy, Gamespot, etc.).

Also, 100 is acceptable for Killzone 2, Bioshock as they've gotten 9's, mid-9's, high-9's, and 10's, and 5 out of 5's by lots of other reviewers, nevermind PS OM. So 9.6, 5/5, or 100/100, they're all saying the SAME THING. Also who wants to whine about the difference between a 9.5 and 9.4 or a 9.8 and a 10? We get the general idea, the game is really good.

SF4 probably deserves it for being the best fighter in a while. As far as fighters go? 9's and 10's are reasonable, as none is as improved/new/fresh/solid as SF4. Plus, I'm sure you'll find similar scores for the 360 versions (where applicable) of those games as well.

 

[Chone]

Resident Evil / CAPCOM pretty much began the genre of 'survival horror'. RE5's gameplay must be looked at seperately from things like the controller setup. L4D and other shooters are not survival horror, they're action shooters or action horror. I think RE5 really emphasizes the 'reality' of what it would be like to face a horde of 'zombies/ infected people'. Meaning AMMO is limited, the situation is CRAZY frantic, and diving into your backpack/inventory will not pause a killer zombie if such a situation were to exist in real-life.

Basically, I think RE is about surviving. It's about frantically scrambling, not double-jumping, running faster than the enemy, or having perfect aim while strafing. It's not about 'clearing' the level of enemies, it's about knowing when to fight and when to run because you simply can't fight them all.

You sir, get the point, it's what RE is all about and RE5 still captures it perfectly basically, the controls are part of the experience.

 

[Taustin Powers]

Resident Evil / CAPCOM pretty much began the genre of 'survival horror'. RE5's gameplay must be looked at seperately from things like the controller setup. L4D and other shooters are not survival horror, they're action shooters or action horror. I think RE5 really emphasizes the 'reality' of what it would be like to face a horde of 'zombies/ infected people'. Meaning AMMO is limited, the situation is CRAZY frantic, and diving into your backpack/inventory will not pause a killer zombie if such a situation were to exist in real-life.

Basically, I think RE is about surviving. It's about frantically scrambling, not double-jumping, running faster than the enemy, or having perfect aim while strafing. It's not about 'clearing' the level of enemies, it's about knowing when to fight and when to run because you simply can't fight them all.

See, I'm all about realism, immersion and a healthy challenge. I like it when games don't pause while I look at a map or change weapons. Prime examples are Dead Space and Far Cry 2. The world simply doesn't go on PAUSE and enemies don't stop dead in their tracks when you pull out a map - I love it, more games should be like that!

But being instantly frozen to the ground when you draw a weapon does NOT fall into that category! It TAKES AWAY from the realism! What would be wrong with being able to move (slowly) with your weapon drawn? The game would only benefit from it in my opinion. Not because it would be easier (like I said, I like challenging games), but because it would be more realistic. The moment I see the character stuck to the ground, unable to move because his weapon is drawn, it takes away from the immersion and reminds me that it's a game.

 

[2nyRiggz]

You sir, get the point, it's what RE is all about and RE5 still captures it perfectly basically, the controls are part of the experience.

So I guess the reality of the thing is I wouldn't be able to move whiles I'm shooting the fast moving zombies...I'll just stand there all tough guy like and "take it like a man"

This is not the RE of the past...the zombies follow you into other sections of the level so the theory of conserving ammo and knowing when to fight doesn't play to well when you have enemies shouting out your location.

This is definitely not the RE of the past...this is an ACTION game not survival horror game where you are allowed to sneak by...the controls should reflect the action and not frustrate you into a corner.

I'm sure you'll find similar scores for the 360 versions (where applicable) of those games as well.

I wouldn't be surprised if the fighters genre score is lower than its counterpart.


Bless

 

[stainlessliquid]

For me its not "moving and shooting" thats important, its "moving and AIMING" thats important. Most people dont move and shoot since a majority of games cause you to greatly lose accuracy, but being able to move while aiming adds an extra layer to your aiming ability. People walk around with their gun pointed in the direction they are looking for a reason. If you dont have a good shot at the target then you can easily reposition yourself while keeping your gun pointed in the direction that you have to shoot, thats what people do in real life and thats why its so much easier to shoot things in other games. Its more intuitive and more natural, which is what good controls strive to be.

You sir, get the point, it's what RE is all about and RE5 still captures it perfectly basically, the controls are part of the experience.

You guys lost that argument when RE4 came out and completely changed the genre. RE5 is not what RE is all about, its what RE4 is all about. Its as close to the original RE games as those FPS RE games.

 

[apfhex]

But being instantly frozen to the ground when you draw a weapon does NOT fall into that category! It TAKES AWAY from the realism! What would be wrong with being able to move (slowly) with your weapon drawn?

This is not the RE of the past...the zombies follow you into other sections of the level so the theory of conserving ammo and knowing when to fight doesn't play to well when you have enemies shouting out your location.

Most people dont move and shoot since a majority of games cause you to greatly lose accuracy, but being able to move while aiming adds an extra layer to your aiming ability. People walk around with their gun pointed in the direction they are looking for a reason. If you dont have a good shot at the target then you can easily reposition yourself while keeping your gun pointed in the direction that you have to shoot, thats what people do in real life and thats why its so much easier to shoot things in other games. Its more intuitive and more natural, which is what good controls strive to be.

These people get it. Leon moves like a turret, not like a person. The gameplay has evolved (in a mostly positive direction IMO since I didn't like anything before RE4) but the controls haven't. They don't have to change them entirely either, just add things like moving while aiming and moving backwards, and perhaps slightly snappier moving while not aiming/shooting. This and the Devil May Cry series both end up suffering because of this, compared to other modern games. Sometimes keeping things the same works (Megaman 9) and sometimes it doesn't.

 

[0098386]

Finally got round to playing the demo.
To echo a few people here I find the game just feels way too slow and clunky. The pacing is completely off and artificially creating difficulty from bad controls is no way to go about it.

But this is Capcom. They don't like to fix problems brought up from demos and the public so we're probably stuck with this.

 

[sikkinixx]

You sir, get the point, it's what RE is all about and RE5 still captures it perfectly basically, the controls are part of the experience.

No, they WERE part of the experience. Then RE4 came along and changed it from a fixed-view, quasi-puzzle solving, exploration game with zombie attacks to an action game with killing arenas with some faint puzzling added it.

When they let you become a zombie-slaughtering machine with lots of ammo to be found and poured hordes of zombie-dudes at you the game changed. Period. It's an ACTION game, not a survival game anymore. For god's sake they let you simply BUY guns for some unknown dude, now way in hell old RE would ever do that. Go play RE1/2/Code Veronica then go play RE4. It's night and day. Everything else in the game has evolved into a more mainstream kind of game, from the graphics to the store-telling to the camera, yet movement it stuck as it has been. God forbid they let mr. elite-military-dude move a step or two while aiming a gun. GOD FORBID!! It's absurd and people protecting the shield are off their rocker.

 

[Huntn]

I think I might have to pass on this installment. The game seems to be top and all but I cant for the life of me understand why I cant at least move whiles shooting.

I just downloaded the demo so I should know in the near future what you're talking about. Is there a seperate "shoot" mode that freezes you in place?

Thanks!

 

[Huntn]

Finally got round to playing the demo.
To echo a few people here I find the game just feels way too slow and clunky. The pacing is completely off and artificially creating difficulty from bad controls is no way to go about it.

But this is Capcom. They don't like to fix problems brought up from demos and the public so we're probably stuck with this.

I assume Left4Dead (which I've played through twice) is far superior...

 

[JackAxe]

With RE4 and RE5, when you go to aim, it locks your character to one area, kind of like a rail shooter. You have to go out of aim mode to once again move.

I thought they were going to offer two different control types for this game, so the current setup and then one that's similar to GoW?

 

[Huntn]

With RE4 and RE5, when you go to aim, it locks your character to one area, kind of like a rail shooter. You have to go out of aim mode to once again move.

I thought they were going to offer two different control types for this game, so the current setup and then one that's similar to GoW?

"Ballop!!"- that was my lunch hitting the floor along with plenty of splatter. I just played with the 360 demo and despite having 5 different control schemes (I did not try all 5 cause I could see what they do based on helpful illustrations) it does not appear that you can move and shoot simo. And when you are surrounded by zombies, they wait patiently for you to get your act together so you can shoot them, at least some of the time. After playing L4D and loving it as in "run'n-gun" I find these controls frick'n unbelievable. When I think of action-shooter I'm thinking bobbing and weaving, bad things bearing down on me while I retreat and shoot. In RE5 you must stop and commit to shooting. It's completely contrary to how I think most gamers function in a game like this. As everyone is doing great run and gun environments, like Halo, L4D, and GoW, maybe Capcom's decision to make the game like this was some tribute to its former titles? If so, they made a really bad decision imo.

More important, is there a way to fix? Maybe I misread some of the control schemes? When I read the feature article "Zombies" in the Mar08 PC Gamer, I was excited about this game. However, based on what I saw, I could not recommend this game. For your reading displeasure. And now I read that Dead Island will have no coop so I'm a little bummed.

Other than that graphics are nice...

 

[JackAxe]

They were trying to keep in touch with the older survival horror games, where as their controls were downright awful, but it kept the tension up.

I won't be playing RE5 anytime soon, but with RE4, even though it locks you in place, they did an excellent job balancing the gameplay and still keeping the survival horror somewhat in tact. I only liked this game on the Wii.

I've only read about RE5, but most are complaining that it's gone too action. Shacknews didn't like it, mentioning it was non-stop turret action, or somethign like that.

Dead Space has excellent controls btw. They work as you would expect, but in the 3rd person.

 

[Huntn]

My impression that games like this used to rely on suspense in dark environments with relatively limited combat? Turning it into action shooter without adequate controls seems silly.

 

[JackAxe]

Yeah. This is probably why the producer of all of the other RE games said he would never play this one.

For me, these games are best when I'm almost out of ammo, my health is low, and I have no clue about what's around corner. So it leads to those oh-crap moments. :]

 

[jabingla2810]

My only concern is having an AI partner.

I think she can be great, and I supose it does add depth to the management of items, however, I was playing the demo last night and she got her head chopped off by the chainsaw guy.

Ive played that demo through a few times now, and I didnt do anything noticably different, but for some reason she got killed.

Now, i wasnt too bothered because its only the demo, but in the full game, if Ive just got passed a really tough bit, or I maybe havent saved for a while, and she dies through no fault of my own?

I'd be so frustrated.

Anyhow, im still looking forward to playing through it..... not long now!

 

[JackAxe]

You murderfied her.

IGN gave this game a 9. I look forward to playing this someday co-op, I think that will be a blast and a great way to kill a weekend or two with a friend, speaking of which, my friend said he was picking it up for his PS3...

The heavy focus on action really bothers me though, and they even said this game isn't really a RE game, but an action game with RE elements and that one should approach it as an action movie. That's kind of a let down to say the least.

Bleh, thumb aiming is always so ungraceful to watch. These videos always pain me, as I have to shake my head when these guys over shoot their target by FEET, then readjust in an ungainly manor, to then miss.

 

[MRU]

I'm still wondering what system to buy it on. I think I'll plump for the 360. Revisiting the demo on both platforms - the 360 version was a little easier (but not asure whether that was down to just a different diffucluty setting or what) and the strange button layout worked better for me on the 360 pad.

 

[JackAxe]

I personally like the 360's controller better. Can you use it on the PS3... *I'm tired, so my humor is extra lame.*

 

[barr08]

Bleh, thumb aiming is always so ungraceful to watch. These videos always pain me, as I have to shake my head when these guys over shoot their target by FEET, then readjust in an ungainly manor, to then miss.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that happens to!

 

[2nyRiggz]

I'll eventually get this game because I still like the RE series and would like to know what this one is about...I'll wait until I have some extra money to spend.

I'll get it for the PS3 because I'm very comfortable with the DS3 and the machine is just silent when I'm playing.



Bless

 

[sam10685]

Are you able to purchase ammo in this game? That was my biggest gripe in resident evil 4.

 

[MRU]

Playing the game on the 360. Playing on 'easy'... call me a wuss but I want to actually see the end of the game someday and I think the controls are tough enough to get to grips with.

Amazing graphics and cut scene's. The best I've seen - even more so than Killzone 2, however.....

How come there's no option to flick into first person to at least survey your arena and appreciate the levels of detail that this game clearly has had lavished upon it. Again its an issue of control and it really is this games weakest point.

Not too far into it, but enjoying it nether the less so far. As long as it does indeed last 10-12 hours I'll be happy. I'm fed up of 5 hour games at the moment.

 

[Shotgun OS]

Are you able to purchase ammo in this game? That was my biggest gripe in resident evil 4.

No, you can't. It's kind of lame, but I guess it adds to the "I need to conserve ammo" aspect of the gameplay. The thing that really gets me is that there is no merchant; you can only upgrade and buy things when you die or when you complete a chapter, which doesn't make any real sense at all.

Well, I've been playing for several hours on normal and I get two impressions: One is that the game is off balanced in that the regular majini can be killed with one bullet in the face and a punch to the stomach, while boss ones take forever to kill. I literally pumped 4 shotgun shells into the chainsaw guy straight in the face and he didn't even fall over. Yet, when I hit him with a few machinegun shots, he flails and I can kick him. Some of this just doesn't make sense.

The controls are horrible and the inventory system is lame. The controls are mapped all weird no matter which one you choose. I think the best thing they did was route the knife to an easy shoulder button. The inventory system is sluggish and anti-user-friendly. I'm not gonna go into details, but it's just ridiculous managing the items. Also, Sheva's AI is dumber than the majinis'. She takes red herbs, but cant use them. She gives me handgun bullets back right after I give them to her. She blows through ammo like crazy. I'm sure it's waaaayyy better in co-op, but I think that RE should have more focus on single player. The AI and single-player game seems tacked together, but I guess they were aiming it at co-op players and co-op as a main aspect of the game.

Overall, through all of its flaws, I think it's a good game. Not great or solid, just good. They made some really bad control choices and the AI is crap and parts of the game don't make sense, yet it still is fun to play. I recommend it, but just be prepared to deal with these grievances (mainly in single player.)

 

[JackAxe]

The first time I played RE4 I was low on ammo, but on the second play through on the unlocked difficulty -- I forget if this was hard or pro? --- I almost always had too much ammo. Each progression of game only got easier.

Anyways, I was wondering why I couldn't buy ammo the first time, but looking back it would have mad the game way way too easy. In Dead Space I could buy ammo, but that game on hard and impossible was easier than my first play-through with RE4.

I'm curious, which 5 hours games are you guys buying? The ones I've bought have all been up towards about 2 dozen hours of play. Dead Space was supposed to be short, but it still took me over 20 hours to beat it the first time. RE4 took me over 30 the first time -- I'm not sure if that's because I left it running idle though. The other 3 times I played it on higher difficulties were all about 15 hours. If this game is only 10-12 on a first run, on its hardest available difficulty, that's rather lame, or maybe that was a number given by those that played it through on wuss-mode, just for the review? I just recall the old console games that would take me weeks to master, then only about an hour to beat on replays.