Review: Resident Evil 5

Why so quickly after my first impressions post? Well, I had the weekend to myself and all I did was play Resident Evil 5. There are some good things about the game and some bad things about the game. The game itself is under much criticism from all directions, apparently. The obvious one is the racism issue but then you also have people saying that the controls need to evolve and the issue that Resident Evil seems to be straying from it’s scary, puzzle-solving roots into more of an action-paced game.

So while many people review it as a great game, it still has a tendency to bog down opinions just because everyone has a gripe about the game – and it always revolves around those three topics. Still, it’s nice to see a big-name game getting criticism – because you don’t see that with Killzone 2, which definitely doesn’t have its flaws pointed out.

And again, maybe it’s because I’m recovering from that terrible game, but Resident Evil 5, in my opinion is a step in the right direction with the series and is still a blast to play.

First Impressions: Resident Evil 5

Having recovered from the bitterness I suffered thanks to Killzone 2, I went to the local Blockbuster to look for a game to rent – because, you know … buying a game without having tried it out is stupid. My choices were Saints Row 2, Street Fighter 4 or Resident Evil 5. What a choice of sequels! Considering rentals are now $8.99 I had to choose wisely – so I went with Resident Evil 5 … after all I liked the demo.

My history with Resident Evil is kind of a rocky one. Outside of the first one, I really didn’t care for the series. The controls were kind of funky and the controls made it rather difficult to kill enemies coming from all directions. The controls overall just killed the feeling for me. I had also gotten tired of the story – “zombies infesting the town” got kinda’ old … especially after the second one. Then you had tons of spinnofs and it kinda’ got out of control. Resident Evil 4 took a step away from zombies, but the controls were still really frustrating for me and killed the mood for me. So when I downloaded the demo for Resident Evil 5, I wasn’t expecting much but it was a rather delightful change in my opinion.

And now I can say that Resident Evil 5 is, in one word, awesome.

Demo Review: Resident Evil 5

Resident Evil … one of the best – if not THE – survival horror game to play. In almost all games, it’s scared the crap out of me … mainly because animals would crash through windows and I could never get passed it. You’d figure after awhile I’d remember that where there are one-sided mirrors or just boarded-up windows there is most likely an animal that will crash through to kill you.

Resident Evil 5 kind of follows Resident Evil 4 as a separation from the first three games and the 200 spinoffs. Resident Evil 4 strayed away from the “city-invaded-by-zombies” genre and went more to a “desolate-village-in-the-middle-of-nowhere” genre. Resident Evil 5 takes you to what seems like Africa or South America and now hosts a over-the-shoulder camera as well as a big involvement of cooperation.

I haven’t been into a Resident Evil game since the first one … but did Resident Evil 5 possibly bring me back into the series? Well, quite possibly.