Resident Evil 5

"RE 5 proves that the AI in games can never be perfected"

I loved the Resident Evil franchise ever since the release of the second game on the original playstation. It had horror elements, required strategic planning in certain areas, showed decent combat, and had a good plotline. Years later, Resident Evil 4 was released and made radical changes to the gameplay that the series was known for. It focused more on killing enemies rather than conserving ammo and running away from them. But there was one problem with the game: the allied AI, Ashley, was horrible. She couldn't wield a weapon and was constantly being captured by enemies. So in Resident Evil 5, you still have a female partner, only this time she can use weapons and heal you. Sounds great right? In some ways, the AI is amazing, but in others, it is plain right awful.

SINGLE PLAYER: 6/10

The story essentially picks off where Resident Evil 4 ended. You control Chris Redfield, a BSAA agent who is sent on a mission to Africa to locate a man named Irving. Upon arrival, you meet Sheva Alomar, your partner for the rest of the adventure through South Africa. It is here that you first get to experience the pros of having a partner. You can equip Sheva with anything: guns, ammo, aid, grenades, pretty much anything you want. She can shoot enemies pretty accurately and can save you if you get attacked by an enemy. Cool right? Unfortunately, with every pro for Sheva there's a con to go along with it.

First and foremost, Sheva tends to use the weakest weapon you give her as her primary weapon. Meaning, if you give her a magnum and a standard pistol, she will ALWAYS use the pistol until the ammo runs out. If you give her a shotgun as well, she will use that before using the magnum. So if you're fighting a boss and you're using a L. Hawk magnum, Sheva will just hide and shoot the boss with her measly pistol until she runs out of ammo. Aside from the weapons issues, Sheva is also excruciatingly slow when it comes to moving. She is downright lazy when it comes to doing speed runs. Sheva will manage to get stuck behind a pillar or fence sometimes while you run away from a horde of badies. So you call her and she justs stands there saying "Forget it!". Why? Because she's an AI. Sometimes, she will even walk while you are dashing for a level's exit. Forcing you to turn around and escort her to the exit. You don't need to actually hold her hand, but she will rely heavily on you and the actions you make.

Another problem with the game is the inventory menu. Personally, I don't really have a huge problem with it. It allows you to store 9 of any item in an inventory to use during a level. To access it, you don't stop the game, you use it in real-time. Meaning, while you are getting pounded on by a boss and need to heal, you will need to find cover, bring up your menu, chose the healing item, then use it. Of course to can assign 4 different things to the d-pad buttons, but the rest of your inventory must be accessed manually. And, of course, the AI manages to ruin this feature horribly. Sheva will pick up almost every item she runs into if you don't pick it up first. You might find two flash grenades lying around and don't want them. So Sheva will pick them up and hand them to you even though you just avoided them. So then, you must manually discard the items from your inventory. She will constantly do this if her inventory isn't filled up completely. Ex: As you go to pick up a much needed green herb, you notice that you cant. So you go to your inventory and see something like rifle ammo or something else you don't need. Then, you must rush to remove that item from your inventory before getting attacked by an enemy since the inventory takes place in real time. It is frustrating to say the least.

Another problem with the game is the difficulty. An average gamer will chose Normal mode on their first run of the game. It's not that hard to beat the game on this difficulty, but once you beat the game, you unlock the infinite ammo option. If you fully upgrade a weapon, you can purchase infinite ammo and use it on any difficulty of the game. So if you bet the game on amateur, buy infinite ammo for a strong gun like the Handcannon, then chose Veteran mode, you'll fly through the game quite quickly if you play in co-op. You don't have to use infinite ammo, but it is like a cheat to use it on the harder difficulties.

The weapon selection for this game has improved drastically from the previous ones. There are around 3 different weapons for each category of weaponry available. Each can be upgraded to become really powerful, which adds some replay value to the game. Each gun is unique and acts differently from the others. That being said, there are some minor problems here. Almost each gun in a class of weapons sounds the same. All the rifles sound the same, as well as the shotguns, machine guns, and so on. The sounds themselves are not even that great to begin with anyways, the gunshots sound like standard gunshots from any other game.

The voice acting is mediocre; not really the actual voices, but the script. It is very predictable and boring. Granted, some scenes sound really well done, but others sound unenthusiastic. Sometimes, Chris and Sheva will discuss a situation and sound uninterested in what's going on. Though voice acting has improved greatly from previous Resident Evil games it still is very childish. I think that the developers did this intentionally, like it's a Resident Evil tradition. Why else would there be infamous lines such as "Complete. Global. Saturation." The dialogue is very unforgiving, especially since the game took years to make.

The graphics are great. No complaints, no glitches in textures, everything is rendered smoothly and looks extremely detailed. From landscaping to weapon designs, to character models, everything looks fantastic.

The last complaint I have is the incorporation of co-op. In multiplayer mode, co-op is perfect, but in single player, the same cannot be said. Why? You guessed it, Sheva. She always gets attacked by enemies, requiring you to find her and pressing a button shown on the screen to save her before she dies. While you always do this, she hardly ever does the same back. While you go ahead of her in some areas, you might get captured in an enemies grasp. So Sheva, who would save you quickly if she was close enough, walks painfully slow to catch up to you and tries to save you. By the time she catches up, you're already in dying status and are lingering around for her to heal you. She might save you, but then again she might get captured herself, forcing a gameover screen, which you'll see very often.

The worst of Sheva's actions comes into play during Professional mode. It is almost a guaranteed fact that you will die countless times on this difficulty due to Sheva's mindless decisions. In the beginning of the game on Pro mode, she's not that bad, but once the game reaches Chapter 5, she suddenly decides to act mindlessly again. For absolutely no reason, there's a 50% that she will refuse to heal you while you're no dying status, and on Pro, all hits are fatal.

***SPOILERS!!*** (This paragraph only)
The worst of Sheva's nonsensible actions comes into play at the end of 5-3. While you're fighting Jill (Can't confirm this for everyone, but for me..), Sheva always seems to run into Jill's gunshots, causing instant death. This happens, oh, for like 30 times on that single fight. So if you can beat her without having Sheva die once, then you have mad skills.

The last comment I have on the game, no it's not Sheva, involves wha the series is known for: fear. For a game saying "Fear you can't forget." , you'd expect to be scared to death. But no, in fact, you probably won't even be scared once. Why? Maybe because the first half of the game takes place in direct sunlight, there are no frightening-looking enemies (except for maybe Lickers), and there is no dark atmosphere. The game has taken a step away from horror and instead takes a step forward into the Action category. This might turn some people away since this game strays away from the series specialty, but it still is a decent action game and stays true to the Resident Evil storyline.

MULTIPLAYER: 8/10

Without multiplayer, this game wouldn't be that much of a change from Resident Evil 4. With the incorporation of co-op play over Xbox Live, the replay value for this game becomes much higher. There's nothing more fun than killing zombies with your best friend. But perhaps the best thing about co-op is that you don't have to play with the HORRIBLE partner AI. With a human partner playing with you, you might actually have a chance beating the end of Chapter 5-3 (Major spoilers in that level).

It also becomes much easier to defeat bosses with a human partner to back you up. Most bosses will be killed much faster with teamwork between you and your buddy.

Along with the game comes a separate minigame mode called Mercenaries, where the object is to kill as many bad guys as you can within the time limit. It's extremely hard if you don't have a strategy, and don't expect to win these challenges on your first ten tries or so. As with the main story, Mercenaries is best done with a partner to fight along side with, although it's not necessary.

Also, without online co-op, expect the game to get old very fast. A person can only re-play a certain level so many times before they get bored, and if you're striving for all the achievements, you can expect to become bored quite quickly. Apparently, the DLC pack fixes this problem, but I honestly don't think it's worth the money.

OVERALL: 7/10

Pros:
--- Co-op over Live is fun and really adds a lot to the replay value
--- Wide variety of weapons
--- Story thoughtfully ends the series of Resident Evil pretty well

Cons:
--- Sheva (AI)
--- More Sheva
--- Even more Sheva

Overall, I thought Resident Evil 5 was a well-done game and is definitely worth a purchase. Although don't expect to be scared, as this game has taken a step away from the frightfulness of the past games and adds more action to the mix. Regardless, you should check it out the first chance you get.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/10/09, Updated 04/16/09

Game Release: Resident Evil 5 (US, 03/13/09)