webmasterbob
The Webmaster
Haven't tried my hand at a review in a long while, so let's see how this goes. Recently, I purchased an Xbox360 with some cash I just had sitting in my bank account, and I must say I love the darn thing *never threat, I'm a Wii60er now * Anyway, I purchased RE 5 along with it...so why not review it!
Gameplay: 7/10
Much remains the same from RE 4. The same third person perspective is in place, we still have really awesome action cut-scenes, and to top it all off all the boss battles are simply over the top and fun. In addition there are all sorts of bonuses to unlock using bonus points. You earn bonus points each time you complete a chapter, your point value depending on the difficulty level you are playing and the rank you receive (D through SS). After completing certain in-game tasks, you can exchange these points for bonus content or features (so by fully upgrading your shotgun you can exchange bonus points to acquire infinite ammo for the shotgun). Mercenary mode is also back with a slew of unlockable characters and stages (8 in total this time in comparison to 4 from RE 4). Point being, the game is a lot of fun and there are many goodies to acquire.
The bad news though, co-op. Now, if you're actually playing with someone else either at home or via Xbox Live/PSN this really shouldn't be a problem. However, the AI for the co-op character is...rather poor. I can't begin to tell you how many times I've been minding my own business and all of a sudden Sheva decides to walk into a deadly beam of light, thus killing herself. Also lacking from RE 5 is the superb inventory system from RE 4. You are given only given 9 inventory slots *9 for you 9 for Sheva) to cary all your weapons and ammo in. Granted, this was likely a design choice due to the nature of co-op and this new system does allow for quicker weapon exchange, but it severely limits what you can cary. While I'm at it, this makes for some very poor instances such as when you're trying to pick up an herb to heal your nearly dead self, throw away precious ammo to make room, and then Sheva decides to give you more ammo...filling up your space and requiring the process all over again (or forcing her to take the ammo back). Point being, what really brings down the score is poor AI for Sheva and the menu system, yuck! And by the way, where's my merchant!? Oh wait, they killed the only guy even close to being a merchant during the middle of chapter 1-1, how kind...jerks...
Story: 10/10
I won't bore you here, just take my word that the RE 5 story is full of twists and turns in addition to suspenseful cutscenes revealing many unanswered questions from past Resident Evil games. You'll see huge references to all RE games, especially REs 1 and 4.
Sound: 10/10
For a survival horror game much of the mystic relies heavily on sound. Needless to say RE 5 will not disappoint. Creepy screams, explosions, and a superb full orchestral score make for an excellent stimulation of the senses!
Graphics: 10/10
They're pretty, what else is there to really say.
Overall (ZS Scale) 88%
Great buy, especially if you really loved RE 4. If you've never played an RE game prior to this one I recommend picking up RE 4 and playing through that first. The only areas RE 5 really goes wrong lie in the co-op functionality; regardless though you'll still be getting a rather large amount of bang for your buck!
Gameplay: 7/10
Much remains the same from RE 4. The same third person perspective is in place, we still have really awesome action cut-scenes, and to top it all off all the boss battles are simply over the top and fun. In addition there are all sorts of bonuses to unlock using bonus points. You earn bonus points each time you complete a chapter, your point value depending on the difficulty level you are playing and the rank you receive (D through SS). After completing certain in-game tasks, you can exchange these points for bonus content or features (so by fully upgrading your shotgun you can exchange bonus points to acquire infinite ammo for the shotgun). Mercenary mode is also back with a slew of unlockable characters and stages (8 in total this time in comparison to 4 from RE 4). Point being, the game is a lot of fun and there are many goodies to acquire.
The bad news though, co-op. Now, if you're actually playing with someone else either at home or via Xbox Live/PSN this really shouldn't be a problem. However, the AI for the co-op character is...rather poor. I can't begin to tell you how many times I've been minding my own business and all of a sudden Sheva decides to walk into a deadly beam of light, thus killing herself. Also lacking from RE 5 is the superb inventory system from RE 4. You are given only given 9 inventory slots *9 for you 9 for Sheva) to cary all your weapons and ammo in. Granted, this was likely a design choice due to the nature of co-op and this new system does allow for quicker weapon exchange, but it severely limits what you can cary. While I'm at it, this makes for some very poor instances such as when you're trying to pick up an herb to heal your nearly dead self, throw away precious ammo to make room, and then Sheva decides to give you more ammo...filling up your space and requiring the process all over again (or forcing her to take the ammo back). Point being, what really brings down the score is poor AI for Sheva and the menu system, yuck! And by the way, where's my merchant!? Oh wait, they killed the only guy even close to being a merchant during the middle of chapter 1-1, how kind...jerks...
Story: 10/10
I won't bore you here, just take my word that the RE 5 story is full of twists and turns in addition to suspenseful cutscenes revealing many unanswered questions from past Resident Evil games. You'll see huge references to all RE games, especially REs 1 and 4.
Sound: 10/10
For a survival horror game much of the mystic relies heavily on sound. Needless to say RE 5 will not disappoint. Creepy screams, explosions, and a superb full orchestral score make for an excellent stimulation of the senses!
Graphics: 10/10
They're pretty, what else is there to really say.
Overall (ZS Scale) 88%
Great buy, especially if you really loved RE 4. If you've never played an RE game prior to this one I recommend picking up RE 4 and playing through that first. The only areas RE 5 really goes wrong lie in the co-op functionality; regardless though you'll still be getting a rather large amount of bang for your buck!