Resident Evil 5 -PC Review

Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Capcom
Genre: Survival Action/3rd Person Shooter
Release Date: 3/13/2009 on XBox360 & PS3
Release Date: 9/18/2009  on PC
Players: 1-2 Players/Multiplayer
Engine: MT Framework-Enhanced with Havok Physics
MSRB: Mature 17+
MSRP: 49.99$

Here is another review of a game that has been on the shelf for 2.5 months already. Were catching up over here at the Ezfactory. Mixing in a little “been out a bit now” with “just came out”. Anyways, the Resident Evil 5 (aka Bio-hazard 5 in Japan) release rides on the back of all that has been previously released as most franchises do.   Capcom has a loyal group of zombie fans who will scoop it up despite it nearly being a carbon copy of 4, which was actually a fun game.   Have you ever gone to a Christmas dinner and felt like you were just served what was left over from Thanksgiving?  Resident Evil 5 is all about leftovers & turkeys!  Tweaked gameplay, slightly smarter AI, improved merc mode, we move from small fictional village in South America to small fictional village in Africa, and well, I’ve seen it all before.   This is another feeble attempt to convince consumers to shell out 50 bucks for this game! (note to self, it worked really well!) (Mercenary mode is where players compete against the clock to try and kill as many enemies as possible and is a lot of fun, but for full price it’s not enough!).  Give me something fresh and new already! Oh wait, why would Capcom do that when droves of Resident Evil fans willingly shell out 50 bones for the same product time after time! This game is great in an arcade setting, but on the PC, we deserve better! Porting to the PC was a bad idea for this title because it’s a horrible gaming experience.  The game lacks a cohesive storyline which presents more like the same mindless dribble we have seen for years now.   Its clunky controls need to be simplified and ridiculous rewards updated, (since when does a mutant dog carry a small pouch of gold!?-seriously!), and graphically, for where we are on that time-line, this game just ain’t cutting the mustard! This title is not polished,  looks rushed and is weak at best!  Nevertheless, let’s break it down.

The game takes place in fictional Kijuju, Africa supposedly 4 years later than RE4. You are dropped into a lawless shithole of a nation where 5 goons are beating the stank out of some guy they have locked up in a burlap sack with cricket paddles, and wooden stakes (alright, that looks like fun, can I have a go?). They stop to give you the evil eye which normally means I’d have to share my ammo with their torso’s but the game won’t allow you to do that. (lucky them) You start out as Chris Redfield, ex-STARS agent and team up with Sheva Alomar. I make use of her inventory and make her my medic. Honestly, as far as programmed sidekicks go, she isn’t half bad and she helps carry the load in all areas. On the Xbox360 & PS3 versions of this game Sheva is also your partner, but at anytime she can be controlled by a 2nd player as part of the games drop in/drop out co-op game play. A feature I really like in console games!

The inventory seems odd. I advise you don’t try to access it in-game. It isn’t simple and quick to manipulate and everything around you doesn’t pause, so mobs will easily get to you. There is nothing unique about this process. Standard weapons like gun, rifle, sniper rifle, machine gun, shotguns, rocket launchers, grenades, ect, ect! If your playing the game on the PC like I am, you will need to think about how to evenly distribute the upgrades for these weapons you can purchase for both Chris & Sheva. Upgrades are like accuracy or damage or clip or magazine load amount. One aspect I like about the game is that it is hard! There are 3 difficulty settings with the middle of the 3 being normal. Normal is hard and it will take some time to adjust to the buttons the game calls for in combat settings. Setting it to hard, which I do for every game I play right at the get go, was impossible to play, and that was frustratingly fun! In total, this HUD looks old school to me: Turkey trimmings at Christmas dinner! Burbelflickle!

The game has some cool bosses. I especially like the chainsaw wielding zombie. The first boss you face is a hulk of an executioner dude wielding an axe hammer wrapped in chains so large it’s pretty cool. Understanding how to defeat your enemies in this game is easy. They all have flaws and they are plain and simple to see. Whether it be a pause they have leaving the opening for you to do your damage, or a fiery furnace to lure them into before you roast them up like a marshmallow under a flame-thrower, the simplicity of this game, whether I like it or not, has sold globally like hot cakes! 5 million units since march of this year in total, and is the best selling release in the 7 titles released under the RE franchise tag. This is before the PC release to boot. If I had my choice on what platform to play this game I’d have to experience the arcade version first and then I’d go to the 360. I would not play this game on the PC, and after those 5million units sold by September of this year, I’d love to see how many were sold on the PC since then.

In summary, zombies are the popular bad guy these days. Everyone likes a zombie, and it’s a great theme right now. In fact, cities are having zombie crawls where people show up to an area dressed as zombies and just hang out and have a good time. Zombiemania! Zombie movie after zombie movie is made and people flock to it. Even zombie costume sales during Halloween were breaking all-time sales records with merchants in 2008-09. People are crazy for zombies-Capcom knows it to! It is hard to argue with 5 million units sold, and on anyone’s score card in this industry that’s a grand slam! No doubt Capcom shareholders are laughing all the way to the bank. There is no denying the game is fun to play (at very limited times) because I try to make every bullet count. However, that same fun teeters on the high-wire with boring and redundant all too quickly. This game rocked 5 years ago and that is an eternity in game years, but the Resident Evil Franchise is a well branded dead horse that still produces. I give this game a 5.0 out of 10 because 5 million units sold is nothing to shake a stick at, but any claims that this game is a masterpiece are totally absurd. The game isn’t a total wash though. It is long, and there are definitely fun parts. You get to kill a lot of rather intelligent zombies, and cool bosses with destructive weaponry. Hence, this game is certainly no Terminator Salvation, but it’s also not “Left for Dead” either, not even close, which is a great game and an example of fresh new zombie ideas fused with awesome gameplay, smooth mechanics,  & insatiable level design. Bottomline:  Don’t buy the PC version of this game.  Go get “Left for Dead 1 or 2″ instead if your looking for some Zombie action on the PC! I didn’t play the Xbox360 or PS3 version of this game, and and this is not a review for those ports.   In addition to 5.0 game score, this game gets the steamer badge for its PC port.  Go put that in your pipe and smoke it Mr. evil Zulu warlord on the blow horn!

Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts