In my estimation, horror is at its best when it’s subtle. When a terror is not so in-your-face and it can give you a more existential fear. Video games allow for you to engage with the spooks yourself, thus getting even closer to
Leave Your Brain At The Door
God, what a man. Held together by arm meat and rugby concussions, he fights crime with his partner, Scooby-Doo.
In Resident Evil 5, you continue your fight against zombies and Not-Umbrella. You play as Chris Redfield, a series veteran by this point, and are paired up with newcomer Sheva. While investigating a disturbance that happening in Africa, all hell breaks loose. In no time at all, you’ve got lots of zombies trying to sink their teeth into Sheva’s brain. Because they’re certainly not interested in what’s in Chris’s head, but we’ll get to that later. Along the way, you’ll run into familiar faces and probably shoot them as well as familiar monsters who you’ll definitely shoot.
Fans know Resident Evil 5 as the turning point for when the series started to jump the shark. The point where the series moved too far away from its horror roots into more of an action-packed thrill ride. The kind of game where things explode and big titty girls are everywhere. I want to make it clear that they’re not wrong. However, I think there’s a certain charm to the paste-eating tone Resident Evil 5 goes for. There’s a definite shift from previous entries, but this new emphasis on action is firmly embraced by the title and it’s all the better for it. Otherwise, there’d be no reason to have zombies chase you down on motorcycles. Or for Chris to fucking punch a boulder. And that’s not the world I want to live in.
Watch Out, He’s Got A Big Mouth
Chris Redfield is a meathead in both demeanor and appearance in this game. He’s so beefed-up that it’s fucking silly. He also spouts a lot of action hero cliches and is quick to shut down conversation in lieu of just shooting some more. Sheva is the more down-to-earth member of the team. But she has a bad habit of not knowing what the fuck is going on almost all the time. Since Sheva and Chris have the chemistry of a piece of shit and another, more muscular piece of shit, they don’t really communicate much and Sheva is kept in the dark about pretty much everything. Resident Evil 5‘s cast
Good news: Resident Evil 5‘s gameplay is compelling. You play through this title with an over-the-shoulder perspective, similar to Resident Evil 4. You’re given a whole lot of upgradable weaponry in order to come out victorious against the hoards. You can pull out your knife at any time and can even throw out a melee strike whenever enemies around you are stunned. Those of you familiar with the older titles in this franchise may scoff at the amount of ammo and weaponry you find in Africa. But you need it. Because combat is a huge focus of this title. And there’s a whole lot of people out there to shoot in the head.
Some Enemies Throw Sunglasses
Enemies come in large groups and some of the bigger ones can take your entire inventory and more to take out. You’ll frequently find yourself armed with just your knife if you don’t play smartly and accurately. My advice: upgrade the critical headshot rate on your pistol. And then after that, upgrade everything else on your pistol. Handgun ammo is the most readily available and if you can turn it into a headshot cannon early on, you’ll probably be set for ammo for most of the title. Along with your pistol, you have shotguns, sniper rifles, and various other goodies you pick up along your way. They all give great feedback when they’re fired and they just feel fun to use.
So let’s talk about co-op. Capcom decided to add the ability to play through this title with another player. One player controls Sheva while the other player controls an idiot. Even though this absolutely spits in the face of all conventional horror design, it has to be said; it is fun to blast through this title with a buddy. Therein lies the rub though. Because you’re not always going to have your buddy. Sometimes they’ll be eating or working or playing a different game offline in hopes that you don’t send them yet another invite. In these cases, you’re stuck with computer-controlled Sheva. And this is where the gameplay is almost completely destroyed.
Maybe If She Just Wore A Bell
Sheva is so fucking dumb it’s unbelievable. Enemy AI is generally pretty good in this title. They’re pretty relentless in their pursuit and you won’t even mind so much that they occasionally get stuck on geometry. That at least gives you a second to breathe before his other seven friends come out of nowhere to step on you. But Sheva. I don’t know if the game just can’t handle the complex actions that a player character has access to, but she’s the worst. You’ll cry as she runs ahead of you to take and quickly insert pistol rounds you desperately needed into her shitty un-upgraded pistol. You’ll scream as she stands unmoving next to an interactable object while a chainsaw baddy comes for her head. Sheva’s AI is so bad that intense segments can take you centuries to complete, even with a solid game strategy. Because you’re not just shooting bad guys in Resident Evil 5; you’re babysitting your highly-trained paramilitary partner.
Level design is something that has taken a hit from the past title. Resident Evil 5 all too often leads you into closed-off arena areas. Here, you must solve puzzles under pressure, hold out against waves of enemies, or just hunt them all down outright. This is pretty poor but it’s saved by the enemy variety in the game. Thanks to the wide variety of enemies and the different combinations employed, these combat challenges call for different weapons and different tactics and can prove pretty fun. What enemy variety can’t save however are the actual places you end up exploring. Besides a few standouts like the tribal villages and the Tricell laboratories, prepare yourself for such new and exotic locales as “Mines” or “Village.” This is honestly one of the biggest problems Resident Evil 5 has and it is sustained throughout most of the title.
Yeah, Sure, But Where’s Barry?
There’s also a few extra goodies thrown in this package. Mercenaries Mode is available, where you pick a character and loadout and survive against waves of enemies in an enclosed space. But besides the addition of a scoring system, it’s pretty similar to about 75% of the main campaign so I think we’re done talking about it. There’s also a versus mode where you can face off against up to three other players in order to shoot zombies better than others, shoot others better than others, or shoot zombies and others better than others. With the right people, it’s a fun diversion but it’s absolutely nothing to go out of your way to experience.
Resident Evil 5 is a title that asks you a question up-front: do you have a problem with zombies riding motorcycles? Do you not care how sick their chain tricks are while they ride, my brother? Are you gonna ask how their motor capacities are still intact? Well if you are, the door’s right there. Resident Evil 5 doesn’t have time for your questions. It gives you guns. It gives you monsters. That’s about as far as it goes in terms of complexity. And taken that way, it’s a fun romp through a Resi-themed amusement park.
If you’re feeling like attending this amusement park, you can pick up the game here for PS4. Or here for Xbox One.