So it’s been a while since Resident Evil 5 was released, so why am I doing this review now? Simply because I haven’t had enough time to actually sit down and slay zombies.
The first One Giant Review, what a special moment. What better time to review the sequel to arguably the best zombie horror action adventure game ever? So hopefully by now you know what game I am talking about, considering it’s mentioned in the title and the first paragraph. That’s right, it’s Resident Evil 5.
Resident Evil 5 tells the story of Chris Redfield, a former member of S.T.A.R.S. Alpha team, who is now an agent of the B.S.A.A. Organization (Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance). Chris travels to the fictional nation named Kijuju in Africa to investigate a growing “zombie” virus.
RESIDENT EVIL 5
+ Graphics: When I started up this game, to be completely honest, I thought I was in Africa. The intricate details on the character models and textures on buildings, objects and the landscape convinced me that this was no standard next-gen game. This game was a beauty to behold. Walking by a crow perched on a fence, and seeing it take flight while at least three of its feathers flew down to the ground was stunning. Not to mention the shadows, everywhere I moved, be it under a tree or into the sun, the shadows either covered or uncovered me.
+ Storyline: The story in Resident Evil 5 continues from its predecessor, Resident Evil 4. Believe me, with all the many twists, turns, and action the player encounters, you won’t want this game to end. The game uses great voice acting, which makes the game seem more like a movie, in a good way of course.
+ Cooperative Play: Capcom made the right decision adding two main characters to the game. Being able to provide and receive backup from your partner only increases the fun factor of this game. Playing co-op with a friend or stranger only increases the playability, especially when using microphones. Making strategies and playing them out with your partner can create a certain tension in the game, giving a new way to complete and beat the game.
+ Strong Replay Value: After completing the game for the first time, players receive special unlocks and items that make the player want to play the game again. Players can change their clothes, purchase unlimited ammo, and change their visual modes (Cinematic) to change the way you experience the game. Speaking of unlimited ammo, this is my favorite feature in Resident Evil 5, playing the game again on Veteran difficulty using unlimited ammo and running around in my safari suit only boosts the fun factor.
- Loading Screens: The one thing that I hate the most about this game is its loading screens. Popping up every time the player moves to another section, enters an interactive cut scene, or after an interactive cut scene is completed, the loading times almost feel like they pop up just for the sake of popping up. Some loading screens are either 10 – 15 seconds, and others can reach to almost a minute or more.
- Button Mashing: Why encourage button mashing? Am I the only player who thinks that button mashing is not the way to complete a select maneuver? Many times throughout Resident Evil 5, the player is forced to tap continuously at one or two buttons to complete a task or maneuver, and no I am not talking about the interactive cut scenes. For instance, at the ending of the game (Chapter 6-3), in the very last scene, the bridge collapses under Sheva, forcing her to grab on to the ledge. The player is then forced to beat down a certain button as fast as they can for at least a minute or two in order to make Sheva climb up. Why must we mash a button that has nothing to do with what the character is doing? It makes no sense.
- Are you frozen?: You have all probably heard that while aiming your weapon, you cannot move. This of course eliminates run-and-gun, an aspect of game play common in first person shooters. Some of you may say that this is not a FPS, and that is true, but wouldn’t it be smart to run away and shoot at the incoming zombies?
9/10
Even with its flaws, Resident Evil 5 is a great game. Although it lacks any real scares or frights, Resident Evil 5 combines solid game play, graphics, and teamwork to create an excellent sequel to a well-known franchise.
Resident Evil 5 was developed by Capcom, and can be purchased at any main game retail facility, or online at amazon.com or gamestop.com.
Please leave your comments below and give suggestions. As this is the first of many One Giant Review’s, I would like to know your opinion.
Resident Evil 5 launched 15 years ago today - and it continues to stand as a stepping stone from the good to the bad.
One of my favourites because of the co-op. Then Resi 6 arrived and the series nosedived further.
I enjoyed the game co-oping with a friend I know the game in solo the AI can be an idiot but RE5 is way better then RE6. I played RE6 with a friend if it wasn't cheap when I got I would have avoided RE6.
5 was excellent, still play Mercs with my brother.
I would love a fully remastered RE:5, with some added, reworked content. The DLC for 5 was also excellent.
6 was awful.
I never understood why the game was misunderstood. It was a fantastic game at launch and is still fun today to play. It’s as action packed as Resident Evil 4 was, yet that’s regarded a masterpiece 🤷♂️
it was "misunderstood" because they introduced co-op into the franchise at a time when people loved to have fake rage about co-op. like, you could play the game as a solo experience, but people chose to have their bandwagon rage because it was cool at the time lol
What the hell are you talking about? Fake Rage? Bandwagon? Come on.
You can play it solo but you are forced to carry around a shitty AI partner you have to micro manage. It wasn't as fun solo.
Co-op sucked all the horror, tension and suspense from the game because having a partner covering you was like a safety net. Enemy trying to sneak up on you? No sweat the AI will just automatically lock on, alert you while they shoot first telling you where they are basically.
It was the start of Capcoms fall with the Resident Evil series where it basically become an over the top generic action game which betrayed it's own survival horror roots. Least RE4 had a good blend of both but Capcom just went the wrong way with RE5, especially going off what they were going to do during the RE4.5 beta phase before co-op was added.
At least the game was a ton of fun tho. If the game was bad, the outrage would’ve been justified. They simply pivoted for a couple of games. At this point it’s bad because it’s called Resident evil 5? But if was called something else it would’ve been good? Please.
like i said: fake baby rage and bandwagon hate. res4 wasn't really that scary, either, and was already taking the series into more of an action-oriented direction at the time. 5 was a good game that people fake-hated because of co-op that you didn't even have to play lol hence the fake rage and bandwagon hate. i mean, it obviously did well enough for capcom to go ahead and make 6 the way they did, right? if 5 was so bad, they would have changed what 6 was during development. the difference is that 6 was actually just bad.
people "hate" 5 because res4 was so good, and 5 was just unfortunate enough to be its successor. like i said, 4 wasn't scary, either, and relied more on tension than horror, but it was already more of an action game. if you don't wanna like 5 because it's not scary or whatever- that's fine, but it wasn't meant to be strictly a horror game anymore at that point anyways. the gameplay was a lot faster-paced than 4, so saying that the ai helping you by potentially shooting someone that was sneaking up behind you is a moot point. there were more enemies that were more aggressive, along with newer threats.
5 isn't as good as 4, but it's not a bad game by any stretch.
What? I always thought RE5 had fake controversy because it was set in South Africa and you shot a bunch of black zombies. I live in South Africa and thought the game was absolutely awesome, played the whole thing co-op with my brother.
@Foxtrot I think you're confusing the garbage Dead Space 3 with Resident Evil 5. Resident Evil 4 was already a hyper action game and had zero fear factor other than the grotesque appearance of some enemies.
An exploration of whether RE5 is truly the most logical next step for a remake, or whether there are others in line who deserve their day in the sun.
Remake of Resident evil outbreak as well as file 2. Same gameplay as the recent remakes. Choose what ever character you want to play as. With online co op.
I've been dying to see Outbreak come back for years.
Even RE Zero and Code Veronica would be excellent.
But for the love of God, not RE5 or RE6.
One they get around to the aforementioned games, why not remake the original Devil May Cry trilogy? That would be a much better use of time. At the very least, the first two games.
CV is good candidate for a remake but requires way more work for today’s standard. People look at CV through their tinted glasses. I think capcom wants to remake every game up till 6 and fix the plot holes so they can continue the series in one straight story path
Also not sure why only RE have to get remade when there are other capcom games that would be better suited for remakes like oninusha
That's PRECISELY the reason Code Veronica needs a remake. All the other RE games aged pretty well, considering the limitations of the time, but Code Veronica is the game that would be served the best bybremaking it because it feels so archaic these days.
DVA
But it depends if capcom wants a big project or a quick remake. CV will require a lot more work than RE5
IMO they should remake other games before doing RE5
RE5 is the closest to the bottom of the pot(a little smoky flavor but passable in a emergency) before we get to the burned crust that is 6 that not even the pigs would eat
Unpopular opinion here, but I enjoyed 5 and 6. I just think, in terms of Remakes, the classics are the one that should get the treatment above the modern takes of the franchise.
Don’t get wrong, RE4 definitely was an outstanding Remake, but RE5… I just get less excited about a Remake for that over something like Code Veronica.
Nope.
Rather remake other past Capcom & non-mainline RE games ... IF they have to continue churning out Remakes.
I'd rather want a new 3rd person RE spin-off
Dino Crisis and Onimusha Reboot
New IPs after Pragmata ships
Though CAPCOM has been hitting it out of the park with their Resident Evil remakes, fans are rightfully skeptical about RE:5.
I just think Capcom have finally got back on track survival horror wise and if they remake RE5 they will most likely make it a full blown co-op game again where they'd be repeating their mistakes with the original RE5.
The original RE4 came out and it was a universally praised game so when they announced a new one people thought they would add onto the good things RE4 brought in and maybe add a touch more horror as RE4 was more action like but still found a good balance. However RE5 didn't, they upped the action, got way more ridiculous and added co-op where if you played single plater you were forced to have a shitty AI follow you around and baby sit. It wasn't scary at all.
They even got rid of RE4s hub like areas (Village - Castle - Island) and had some sort of mission by mission gameplay where you could only buy/sell weapons at the end of the completed mission, it was very chapter select like. It just become so generic and action like, even the puzzles had been cut back, just replaced with a lot of "two people need to operate this, work together" moments which is not fun single player.
Also story wise, the fact we had Ada's betray at the end of RE4, something they doubled down on more in the remake where she decides to not give him the master plagas sample, we find out in RE5 that he has some form of it anyway, he just went to the Island himself and got a sample of Krausers body instead, you know the Island that blew up and most likely had Government officials crawling all over.
I'd prefer it if for the RE5 remake they go more off the RE4.5 concept art, change the story, keep it single player, deviate from canon and create a brand new RE5 featuring Barry, more Jill, Zombies, Tyrants etc like it was supposed to. If people really want co-op then ask for a Outbreak remake, its the perfect game for it.
RE5 is a good co-op game but it's a bad Resident Evil game
You should search up the history of RE5. It was originally a single player game that was more survival than action. But due to issue and controversy that Capcom had to make changes to RE5.
Oh trust me I know all about it which made me dislike the game more after I played it, like I said the RE4.5 concept art is a fantastic look inside the original version
https://www.relyonhorror.co...
Yeah the controversy really did shape the development. I mean picture this
The very first reveal trailer showed Chris in an African village, you had enemies coming at him and it pretty much set the game up like it was in the 4.5 info we have in the link above. This was 2005.
Then we had the whole backlash that a white man, in Africa was killing black civilians
2008 we get a new trailer, they have now added co-op and Sheva, a previous NPC character similar to Josh in the final product is now the second player, a main character.
I think it's safe to say they added her to try and downplay the racism controversy and they even added white / Asian enemies in the villages which made no sense. They were in villager clothing.
I do miss some of the survival elements they were going to add like sensitivity to sunlight or not staying in the sun far too long. Like if you rushed out a door and you had been inside for too long your screen would be blurred to adjust to the sunlight.
If they're going to remake RE5, they should actually remake it completely and use the power of new hardware to take advantage of their original vision. We already have a remaster of RE5 and 6. Those are too recent to consider developing a remake this soon as they're only 2 generations old on PS3/360.
Co-Op takes all the fear out of the game as you now have a companion to always lean on. It takes the intensity and isolation away from the game. You need to feel like you're the last line of defense, that you won't have some companion always there to save your ass, it just takes away from any fear or intensity and you get frustrated with the shitty AI.
Man, I’m a massive old-school RE fan and I loved RE5. I will not understand the hate for that game while RE4 gets praised.
Based on the ending of the RE4 remake, it looks like the RE5 remake is the next game, which I’m excited about. RE5 is my favorite RE game, and I could care less about all the hate it gets
Yes it's an awesome game, I still play Merc mode lol.
RE 5 is my 2nd favorite,
REmake 1 is my favorite, and still holds up well today.
they really need to just make a couch co-op +online mercenaries only game with most of the cast and all the best maps of RE history. Would be amazing
Lucian, absolutely !!!
But it has to be very very similar to Mercs in 5, just expand, don't change the gameplay much, QoL and tons of unlocks is all they need imo.
Revelations Merc was not good, and 8 mercs was fun but single player, same for the others.
oh i think re4 remake merc is very good actually too; only part i enjoyed in 6 was really it's merc also lol. game would be so amazing just plain merc
It'll be better than 6, that's all i know. RE5 was actually good, but not a real RE game. With the whole woke thing nowadays, this won't be able to be in Africa like the original.
I love RE5 and I definitely want a remake! Updated controls and some changes here and there like the 4 remake. They should definitely keep the Africa setting. And Sheva is awesome 👍🏽
I loved this game - especially the opening level, but it fell apart in the 'reeds' section.
that review was spot on.resident evil 5 is a great game even better with co op.
What about the offline multiplayer and the learning curve of the game?