Zombies have always frightened me. The idea of an easily communicable disease or pathogen that forcibly removes all sense of self and converts a person into an essentially mindless husk of what was once there disturbs me. The idea of a merciless, focused enemy horde that grows by virtue of whittling away the opposition, and the sense that as each day passes there are less of “you” and that many more of “them” is eerie. The thought that it’s really not a matter of if but when you become a snack for the masses, screaming in agony as a dozen reeking, rotting living corpses tear into your flesh while you’re still alive, while your blood is still pumping through your body (and now squirting out of your severed veins), is enough to make me shudder.
Yes, zombies have always frightened me. I am, and always have been, a huge fan of horror, especially films of the zombie sub-genre like George Romero’s classic Dead series so it really did not surprise me that it was love at first sight when I first experienced Resident Evil on the Sony PlayStation.
Capcom’s classic survival horror masterpiece was the first video game to make me feel pure, unadulterated fear. It arrived at a time when video games were only just starting to take on more mature themes with many people still entrenched in Nintendo’s rainbow parade of happiness. Mario and Donkey Kong made me happy and kept me smiling; I virtually peed my pants five minutes into Resident Evil when that first zombie dog crashed through the hallway window.
Even better, it kept up that level of tension throughout the whole experience. At no point in Resident Evil did you really feel safe because there could be a zombie hiding behind any door or a dog waiting to jump through any window, and since you didn’t enjoy the benefit of the bottomless backpack that so many video games of the time employed you couldn’t rely on the safety blanket of adequate ammo and medical supplies to ensure your survival through the next area.
Resident Evil 5 is quite a different game from its great, great, great grandfather. It’s not so much a survivor horror game as it is a survivor action game. The enemies aren’t reanimated corpses but they still act a bit like zombies as they stalk you; now, though, they’re hapless victims of creepy parasites that jam their way down your throat and turn you into bloodthirsty savages – they don’t want to eat you, but they hope to make you dead.
There are a lot more of them, too. In Resident Evil, you’d meet a zombie every few rooms or hallways – the anxiety of bumping into one around the next corner or behind the next door, especially when you were low on ammunition, was what kept the heart pounding. In Resident Evil 5, however, the tension comes from having to stave off a slowly advancing horde without being able to run and gun your way through like a super soldier.
You see, Resident Evil 5 isn’t a traditional shooter game despite kind of looking like one – Capcom decided in the previous game to change things up from the trademark fixed perspective of the series and make the experience a little more personal by putting the camera behind the player character just above the shoulder – because you have to set yourself and aim before you can actually shoot anything. It’s understandably a little disconcerting to gamers heavily invested in the typical first- or third-person shooter style of play, but it adds a little excitement and challenge to what would otherwise be a run-of-the-mill shooting game.
Adding to the tension is the new real-time inventory management system that doesn’t include a “pause” function. If you’re down to your last sliver of life and being chased by a chainsaw-wielding psychopath, it’s more than a little harrowing not to be able to freeze the game and take your sweet time deciding between one medicine or another. Thankfully, Capcom gives you a little bit of leeway by allowing you to set certain items to one of the four points on the directional pad so you can quickly equip that item if you need it in the heat of battle; good luck if you didn’t prepare beforehand, though.
The game opens with an introductory cinematic that gives you a little preview of things to come before dropping you in a dilapidated Kijuju shanty town filled with people who are no longer the welcoming type. You play Chris Redfield, the hero from the very first Resident Evil game, who is now a member of the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA) on a mission to apprehend one Ricardo Irving, a black market arms dealer attempting to sell a bio weapon of an undisclosed nature (fans of the series should easily be able to figure out what the weapon is).
Your partner on this mission is Sheva Alomar, a top agent in the BSAA’s African branch, who you can play as in subsequent playthroughs after you beat the game. She is quite a contrast to Chris from a design perspective: while Chris is enormous – he must have injected a ton of steroids because he makes WWE’s John Cena look like a skinny little nerd – Sheva is lean and svelte; while Chris is dressed like an operative, Sheva looks like someone about to go on a hike; while Chris pummels his opponents with brutal hooks and uppercuts, Sheva uses graceful kicks to incapacitate her foes.
Sheva is probably one of the best AI partners I’ve ever worked with in a video game. She rarely gets in the way, is quick to heal you when enemies have dealt the pain, keeps up with you quite well, and is quite competent in combat situations (she has saved my butt on more than one occasion).
The common enemy types early in the game are not nearly as competent. While you’re taking out their buddies alongside them, they’ll just keep advancing on your position. The challenge comes in their sheer numbers and ability to absorb damage. You don’t get more powerful weapons until later in the game so it’s not very difficult to get into a sticky situation where you’re being overwhelmed by a horde of infected rabble despite how slow they move when they get near you and how much more open the environments are than earlier games in the series. I’ve heard people vent in frustration about the nuances of the control scheme which prevent you from “running and gunning;” I’m of the opinion that the game is most exciting in these circumstances thanks in no small part to the particular gameplay style.
An especially enjoyable aspect of Resident Evil 5 is the high level of quality in the graphics. From both a technical and creative perspective, the game’s visuals are top notch to the point of being one of the best looking games of the generation. There’s an incredible amount of detail in every part of the game from the different textures of your characters’ outfits to the glossy sheen of the exposed musculature of a classic Resident Evil monster you meet later in the game.
As impressive is just how good each of the number of varied environments you visit in the game look. You’ll find yourself speeding across dusty savannah in a Humvee, wading through crocodile-infested swampland, exploring ancient, subterranean tribal ruins, and pushing through abandoned research facilities. Each environment is gorgeous to behold because of the amount of attention paid to the little details that make it look like a living, breathing place. As you race by the unkempt, decrepit structures in that first shanty town, you can imagine that the people hunting you down were stuck in a living Hell long before the parasites got to them.
The story builds upon events from previous Resident Evil games and even earlier as certain flashback scenes and many of the documents you discover touch upon the lengthy history and back story behind the entire franchise. Most notable is the clear revelation of the relationship between series villain Albert Wesker and the founder of Umbrella Corporation, Ozwell E. Spencer; fans are finally told exactly what Wesker’s motivation has been throughout the six proper games. I saw the story really only failing during one particularly cheesy cutscene just prior to a boss battle where one of your adversaries starts spouting grimace-inducing pop culture references before injecting himself with a mutagen.
Resident Evil 5 is certainly not for everyone. Fans of the series as a whole will most likely enjoy this final entry in the main series – producer Jun Takeuchi said that the sixth game would probably be a reboot, and Capcom estimated that the next game could take as long as eight years to make – and even gamers who were not enamored with the story of the earlier games might enjoy this one due to the changes in gameplay direction and a departure from the zombie premise. The people most likely to have an issue with this game are those accustomed to the more freeform first- and third-person shooter style of gameplay who might feel too restricted by this departure. Nonetheless, this is a game interesting enough to at least give a shot before making a final decision one way or another – give the demo a go: it’s a pretty accurate representation of what you’ll be doing through the rest of the game.
Final score: 5 out of 5
Parent to parent
If you’re shopping for a younger player, just leave this game on the shelf. There is a lot of violence and gore in this game with the player taking part in the killing of people who are essentially just victims of an evil corporation’s gruesome bio weapons experiments. The actual infection and transformation processes are depicted quite early in the game, but there is equally disturbing imagery further on as various people undergo hideous mutations into vicious beasts. This is definitely a “Rated R” type of game so act accordingly.
Experience this for yourself!
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