Resident Evil 5 Demo: GameGirl Impressions Preview

GameGirl Raychul pinpoints her highlights and lowlights about the Resident Evil 5 demo.

With the recent news of the Resident Evil 5 demo reaching 1.3 million downloads in only its first three days on Xbox Live and 1.8 million downloads after its first week, I think it's time to start hearing everyone's first impressions and thoughts. Being a big survival-horror fan and most of you being Resident Evil fans as well, I want to hear from you guys -- what do you guys think? Impressed, disappointed, undecided?

Resident Evil 5 Demo: GameGirl Impressions Preview

It Takes Two, Baby

After playing the Resident Evil 5 demo for a while I have to say that I do have mixed emotions about it. The first scenario sucks - it throws you into the heat of battle and not in a good way. You are bombarded by dozens of "infected" who just keep coming, you barely know the controls and the aiming seems to be a bit sluggish (yes, I know you can change it in the options menu). You are basically frantically running around trying to learn the basics of the game while at the same time not knowing where to go next and fending off a massive mob of infected villagers. This level is not nearly as good as the demo I played at CES, which featured both shooting while driving a boat and working through a cooperative puzzle to open a gate. At this point, I am quite disappointed -- that is until I launched into the next scenario... which is much better.

In the second scenario of the demo, you get to actually explore the surroundings and learn the game basics and controls. Also, you get to thoroughly test drive the cooperative mode of the game by separating with your partner and helping each other get through the current sticky situation. This level has more depth and more purpose than the previous level and I was sad when it ended.

Resident Evil 5 Demo: GameGirl Impressions Preview

Seriously?

My only gripe so far is with the inventory menu and system. I understand that the left, right, up, and down on the Directional Pad acts as a "hot key" or "quick button" for the items in your inventory in the corresponding slots. The issue here is that you cannot permanently designate what items go in what spot. Let's say I always want my herbs to be in the directional down "hot key" location and I want my secondary weapon in the directional up "hot key" location -- nope, can't do that (unless there is something I missed). This is what I consider poor design. That means, every time I am in the heat of the battle or in a tight spot, I have to manually open my inventory, search for the item I am looking for, click it, then from that drop down menu I have to choose my desired action; instead of quickly hitting one button to get the job done. This simple idea of a "hot key" for health or secondary weapons is game design 101.

Other than that one issue, I do like the whole experience. The graphics are gorgeous, and I like the fact that both scenarios are in the middle of the day - not many survival horror games can pull off the feeling of dread in the middle of the afternoon. I like the controls, and I really like the cooperative play style. Playing Resident Evil co-op is definitely a dream come true (I do not count any of the RE Outbreaks games as serious RE games). This one looks like a buy for me.

Thoughts?

Raychul Moore is a writer for GameGirl.com

Comments [21]

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orko

I totaly agree with your preview Raychul Moore. I can't wait to finaly play Resident Evil with a friend. I just hope it's a long game, 30 hours would be nice.

darkdante09

and what about the fact that you cant move while you aim? i died by the dude with the chainsaw because of that!!it sucks,other than that its not bad, but dead space seems better

Raychul

darkdante09:I agree with you there. The fact that I can not move while aiming or reloading is quite frustrating. At first I hated the controls, but then I realized that the controls were true to RE games. They are exactly what I expect RE to control like. Although I do believe they are a tad out-of-date and should have been updated...I give them some slack. Everyone loved RE4's controls when that first came out, so I think Capcom just stuck with what they knew...not thinking that controls should have been updated to compete with a more next-gen control scheme.

XxKiiD150zxX

i agree with u.. not a good shooter nd also stiff controler... running..stop then shoot... no shooting while running

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camhead25

in todays day and age, why would you make a game where you cant move and shoot? I know it stays true to old school RE but I am willing to bet they did that in the begining due to the hardware. its 2009, most games where you shoot you can move. Also, last time I checked, in real life, you dont see people move, stop, shoot, then if they want a better angle, stop sooting, move, then re-aim.

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Alvin

If the graphics can be updated then so should the controls. Seriously, Silent Hill has shoot and move
and that was on the PlayStation one! And another thing, Sheva should have a nice big booty! After all, she is black.

andersfranco

i think i know why so many people are complaining about the controls in re 5, for starters the demo came out first on the xbox wich probably means that most people who played the demo dont really have a resident evil background, besides re 5 is not intented to be a full fledged shooter is a horror survival game, so the limiting controls are a must if you want to have that desperation experience, graphics are great, sound is great, the story sounds engaging, and i played the demo on my ps3 (i too own a 360 though) by myself and it was great it plays just like re 4 wich is a good thing, then i played it in co-op offline with a buddy of mine and we had a blast it was o lot more interesting since it adds more strategy to the experience, i am a sucker for this one and i will pre-order it now.

gtavc94

you people are so retarded. Have you played resident evil 4? the controls are there to make you feel vulnerable and make you anxious when enemies are approaching. RE 4 would have been a joke if you could move an shoot.

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