I love the game. Really and truly. The controls are solid, the gameplay is solid, and the story keeps getting better and better, though just as crazy as you'd come to expect. This game would be a perfect survival horror game if not for two things; the severely limited active inventory (you can have 9 slots, period, compared to a relatively limitless stockpile, and the borderline retarded AI partner, Sheva.

This game is meant to be played with a friend, and God knows it's more fun when you do. My buddy and I were screaming at each other as the majini came barreling through windows and doors and we found ourselves surrounded with nothing but 22 bullets between us and our knives, and one BIG ass dude with a tribal mask and a really, really big club. After we were done, we laughed, grabbed some Heinekens and took a break because it was that frakkin' intense.

That same scene required a lot of patience and a lot of Tylenol when going solo. Because your partner makes some of the most illogical and tactically unsound decisions an AI could make. Okay, I'm no programmer. I took one class. But is it so hard for an AI to comprehend 1 enemey = pistol, 3+ enemies = shotgun? Instead, it settled for equipping the stun baton and then waited, for what I don't know, and managed to kill nothing. Didn't even take a swing. If one of them gets a grip on me and tries to choke me, another player could kick it off instantly. The AI will train her gun on it and wait for me to break free myself. I never give her anything other than a hangdun now, as she's a decent shot with it and wont waste too much ammo. Plus she woulnd't use anything else I gave her anyways.

And then there's the guy in the helicopter flying support. I understand he loves that RPG, but if the majini (thoe crazy people out to kill you) are right on top of me, please don't fire your RPG at me in an attempt to kill them.

Bitching aside, it's a great game. Once you figure out how to make the AI work with you instead of against you, it's a whole lot of fun.

Thoughts?

The storage system definitely has its issues. It's hard to do anything in the heat of battle if you don't have it set up the way you want. It wasn't until a few chapters in that I started taking advantage of the D-pad for weapon-switching. This alleviated a lot of problems.

But there are still issues. For instance, if Sheva has a red herb and I want to combine it with my green herb, and our inventories are full, we can't just combine them. We have to switch some silly item so that I have both herbs before they can combine. A few more adjustments could have been made for a more convenient inventory system.

But you know what? I kind of like not having to organize a briefcase periodically. While it had some fun aspects, switching to inventory in the middle of a fight to switch weapons got kind of irritating, even if it did give me a little bit of time to think and plan. You just can't have that kind of system in a coop game, so I understand the change fully.

My experience in dealing with Sheva has been okay so far. She doesn't always do what I want, but things work out if I remain prepared for the kinds of things I know she'll do. For instance, she won't use any other gun until she's out of pistol ammo... so I keep her in limited pistol ammo. Plus, she never uses grenades, so I hold onto those while she holds our health items. She's good at keeping me alive when I'm too occupied to notice how hurt I am.

I do look forward to playing it with my brother when he comes to stay with me later this month. We made a great team on the demo version and I know he'll be a lot more fun than the AI.

I must admit, I was wrong about this game. Or at least with another person it freakin' ROCKS. It also doesn't seem as insanely difficult as the demo made it out to be...so I'm thinking that demo was in Hard/Expert mode? (I've been playing it in normal mode.) Or maybe we just got used to it more.

I still miss the old zombies, but am glad to see some old things revived like the Lickers of Resident Evil 2. The story is pretty cool, though rather predictable in parts, (I'm on the last chapter now. Why are fun campaigns so dang short these days?!) but overall I'm very impressed! I definitely can see this not being near as fun with no person to play with though.

Why is Jill Valentine blonde? She looks more like the main character of the game "Haunting Grounds" now...

It's funny how they chose to advertise the back of the case with a tagline that screams, You dont have to face fear alone. Hilarity ensues.

Needless to say, it's a great action game and I think Capcom did a great job with the AI considering the fact that I've witnessed such laughable AI in other games such as Army of Two.

All in all, the game is quite entertaining and even more enjoyable once you have unlocked the infinite ammo.

And what's up with Jill's big nose?

I gotta say great great game! I loved every second of it. But I have a friend who says it's better than 4 and he makes me so mad! RE 4 was a groundbreaking achievement while 5 is just another Resident Evil game.

Warpedwenger
I gotta say great great game! I loved every second of it. But I have a friend who says it's better than 4 and he makes me so mad! RE 4 was a groundbreaking achievement while 5 is just another Resident Evil game.

My buddy and I had the same discussion. While 5 is a shining example of a next gen game, the resident evil gameplay and mechanics are getting a bit stale. The only thing really new is the extreme focus on action this time around. No pausing to rearrange weapons in this one!

As for army of two single player? With no replay value I had no reason to play it again after beating it with a friend.

Some people would cringe at the idea of making RE more action-oriented.... many of theme are already pretty angry at how far from the original RE games it has gone. Not me. I can't figure out why anyone enjoyed fighting restrictive camera angles and clunky controls in the original games.

I know the RE series has sort of lost its scare factor as well, but the way I see it, games evolve over time. RE5 still has its little surprises and moments of tension. I've read far too many reviews bemoaning RE's drifting away from its roots, and I think it's time that reviewers dealed with the idea of change.

Love the game but the AI is pretty frustrating. Telling me to "hold on" when they're right next to me and watch me die instead of saving me!!! Makes professional mode that much harder. In fact I think they make your partner dumber for that mode.

Still sometimes the AI comes in handy because it knows when and how to do things real people wouldn't. I haven't been able to defeat Ndesu with someone's help yet. Granted I've been playing with my nephews (4 - 7) but I thought they'd be better than the AI.

It's that and so many more reasons that I despise Resident Evil 5.

Played co-op with a friend though normal and veteran modes already. We're in the middle of a badge and completion run on professional mode. This is one of the only games I've played(aside from RE4) that has so much replayability. I usually don't touch games much after they've been beaten, but I keep wanting to come back for more. Get more money, weapons, upgrades, and costumes, etc.

I can understand how the Ai can be annoying, but I've never seen a game with competent AI. I guess it's just too complicated(probably will happen in the next generation of systems).

I can't get enough of the game though, and as much as I replayed RE4, this just doesn't seem to be getting old, especially since we haven't tackled the Mercenaries mode yet.

It may be co-op that's blinding me, but this is definitely one of the most fun experiences playing a game I've had in a long time.

Until you've played Dead Rising you know nothing of 'Dumb AI'.

Bekefel
Until you've played Dead Rising you know nothing of 'Dumb AI'.

*In his best impression of EVERY character in that game* "FRAAAAAAAAAAAANK!! HEEEELLLLLP!!"

And then the zombie munching begins.

HAHAHA Have u played it on the highest difficulty yet? i had the same thoughts in m ind when i played the demo then on normal play when i got the game but after i went to pro, i was freaken slaughtered by the villagers themselves and it clicks over to a sequil of them beating chris down. hahaha the chickens actualy will flog u now on the game aswell and u can now kill zombies with rotten eggs XD kinda funny but rediculous, yeah i was confused about jill, i dont know why they cant stuck to the original look. i mean even leon changed his hair colour too in the 4rth game, i always thought he has a redish tent. but as a fan of the game i have no choice but to cheer on the story x3

SarahN
I must admit, I was wrong about this game. Or at least with another person it freakin' ROCKS. It also doesn't seem as insanely difficult as the demo made it out to be...so I'm thinking that demo was in Hard/Expert mode? (I've been playing it in normal mode.) Or maybe we just got used to it more.

I still miss the old zombies, but am glad to see some old things revived like the Lickers of Resident Evil 2. The story is pretty cool, though rather predictable in parts, (I'm on the last chapter now. Why are fun campaigns so dang short these days?!) but overall I'm very impressed! I definitely can see this not being near as fun with no person to play with though.

Why is Jill Valentine blonde? She looks more like the main character of the game "Haunting Grounds" now...

I dont see how anyone can possibly enjoy Resident Evil 5. Nor have I ever played a game so fundamentally broken since the last riviting installment in the Leisure Suit Larry series (although the latest game in the LSL Saga is admitidly better than not only it's predisessor, but Resident Evil 5). We're talking about a game so terrible here that my Xbox violently died immediatly after playing.

Of course I did co-op, with my GOOD BUDDY Tater Salad (you may remember him from such films as "Fucking up your Forum" and "You're All Gay Faggots"). While the first few segment were filled with a decent amount of action and hilarity, the game grew worse and worse as we painfully trugged on. I think it all started when QTE's popped up in the game.

QTE's are awful. You shouldnt have to keep on your toes during a cutscene, nor would I call constantly having to return to the middle of a scene via the game over screen "fun".

Also the controls werent really updated from RE4, so that means controling all the action on screen is often just painful. And focusing on team tactics is just plain stupid. They turned survival horror into Gears of War, and then tries really really hard to come off as frightening.

This was really one of the worst games I've ver played. I shouldnt be up at 4am on my second hour of the final boss, swearing at my friend on XBL because we fucked up yet another QTE for the millionth time in a night. It's stupid, it's a poorly constructed game, and about the only thing it has going for it is that it looks pretty.

2/5

tiffawolf
Stuff

Sorry but, WHAT?

Two weeks ago my brother came to visit and we played through it in a weekend. It turned out to be quite a blast. The co-op mode turned it from being almost as good as RE4 to something I enjoyed even more. Even now I'm playing through it on a harder difficulty and working to upgrade all my guns. It's got so much replay value!

lefarce
I dont see how anyone can possibly enjoy Resident Evil 5.

Well, I managed to make it quite possible.

Anyway I do agree with the main topic. I grew to hate Sheva throughout the game. The only weapon(s) I would give her is the (infinite)handgun and her longbow. Otherwise, she's my pack mule.

In co-op, it's aaalllll sorts of awesome. It was fun just to plan out how me and my buddy were going to survive it. The game wasn't as intense as some might have had it, since I finished the game in single player first (after upgrading the shotgun and handgun) so it was much easier when I played with a friend.

Freegurt

lefarce
I dont see how anyone can possibly enjoy Resident Evil 5.

Well, I managed to make it quite possible.

Anyway I do agree with the main topic. I grew to hate Sheva throughout the game. The only weapon(s) I would give her is the (infinite)handgun and her longbow. Otherwise, she's my pack mule.

In co-op, it's aaalllll sorts of awesome. It was fun just to plan out how me and my buddy were going to survive it. The game wasn't as intense as some might have had it, since I finished the game in single player first (after upgrading the shotgun and handgun) so it was much easier when I played with a friend.

I found co-op to be fun for roughly the first half of the game. Then things just started to drag on. There was no strategy to really fending off enemies. It was just "hoad ammo, waste rounds". The only time where he and I really needed to communicate was when we would get lost or seperated. Other than that we just mashed the "CMON" and "A-THANKS" commands over and over because we're both retarded and found that hilarious.

Also I love the lack of direction in the final normal-wesker fight. I guess there is an audio que that tells you how you're suppose to beat him, or something, by knocking the lights out. We never got it. Dont know if the game glitched, connection was out of whack, or what.

So we (somehow) beat Wesker in the light, on our own, without the aide of rockets. And it was a bitch.

I'm pretty patient when it comes to games. I normally get the pad handed over to me on bits my brother screams at (trying to get the final weapon in the chocobo challenge on FFX, for example), so I can put up with a lot of shit thrown at me on games.

Two minutes into the train-yard level (which is what, mission two?) I was yelling at the screen "THE DOGS YOU STUPID COW-SHOOT THE DOGS!" while Sheva calmly stood by looking a little surprised when the dogs got close enough to eat her face.

Chris is a meat head, Sheva's an idiot with an accent that fluctuates from English to American to African to Australian (around the world in a sentence!), the enemies somehow make giant executioners completely non-threatening and Wesker sounds like Zippy.

And it's too easy for its own good.

But uh, yeah, answering the question the AI isn't great.

I know this game is garbage for all the reasons everyone has said but why can't I bring myself to stop playing it?

Bekefel
I know this game is garbage for all the reasons everyone has said but why can't I bring myself to stop playing it?

You hate yourself on some deep profound level?

A-THANKS A-THANKS A-THANKS