There are moments, though, when the bigger and badder beasties (or level bosses) appear that you think perhaps it’s taking flights of fantasy a little too far. I do have a problem with boss battles, though. This may make the story and characters suffer a little at first, but tension is pretty much constant, and it does build things up well.
And this is one of the plus sides of the game: it doesn’t waste time getting started. As will the fact that it’s not too long before all hell breaks loose. The game utilises the similar over-the-shoulder perspective, which presents the odd camera problem, and thus Resident Evil 5 does reward taking some time to get used to the controls, which will be familiar anyway to veterans of the franchise. That can be frustrating when the only reason you’re having to mess around anyway is because your AI partner is letting you down. Sadly, when changing items you are holding (and thus fiddling around with the inventory) takes time, but the game continues around you. This can be very fiddly when your partner is on a coffee break, meaning you have to fly through your inventory to get a gun out to protect yourself. And it can still creep you out, seemingly effortlessly. It straddles, successfully, looking beautiful yet grimy at the same time. But once in a while you will always no doubt find yourself in the gloom of mountain mines, and even shallow alligator-infested waters come with their own eerie qualities. Even the broad daylight of a dirt village can creep you out, we quickly learn, as with bright sunshine comes vast, dark shadows.
This time round, you’re in control of series regular Chris Redfield as things kick off, and the action has moved to Africa. What it doesn’t do, though, is deliver anywhere close to a better game. Resident Evil 5 isn’t any of these things, but it does contentedly stand on the shoulders of its predecessor, injecting better graphics (and that’s an understatement) and a shovel-load of extra gore. Resident Evil 4 wasn’t just a massive overhaul of the franchise, it was a major shot in the arm for the survival horror genre, and flat out one of the best games of recent years.
It’s the overhaul and reboot that Capcom managed with Res 4 that’s one of the primary reasons why game five in the series (okay, it’s clearly not game five, once you factor in Code Veronica, Survivor etc, but you get the idea) is one of the most eagerly awaited titles of the year.Īnd it’s got a lot to live up to. And I suspect I wasn’t alone in missing one or two out along the way, until Resident Evil 4 came along and gave the whole series – and genre – a substantial shot in the arm.
I can’t confess to have played every Resident Evil game in the world, but I’ve certainly played my way through my fair share of them.