Great 3rd Person Shooter, Disappointing Resident Evil

I consider Resident Evil 4 to be the greatest game ever made and though I'm somewhat biased its hard to argue that it doesn't at least deserve a place in the top 10 games of all time. With such a fantastic predecessor how do you create a game that is worthy of being a direct sequel without disappointing the fans? The answer is surprisingly close to what Resident Evil 5 is: it has the fantastic genre defining gameplay that RE4 created and delivers a fun experience for the player and a friend. What holds it back from being a truly worthy successor however it that it misses a lot of what made RE4's atmosphere and story so engaging.

Resident Evil 5 assumes that what the player really wants is a heavy-handed script with poor writing, poor delivery and arguably the two stupidest lead characters in recent memory. In RE4 Leon figured out the whole plot by the middle of the second chapter, a mere 4 hours into a 20-30 hour long journey and it allowed the story to grow because you weren't waiting for the next trickle of useless information. In RE5, even at the end the characters don't seem to have a real grip on what happened during the course of the game. Another issue is that the game isn't even remotely frightening or tense. The game makes no attempt at any point to even try to be scary and it misses some obvious places where it could be creepy or horrifying.

The co-op is really the saving grace of this game and a reason that any action fan should pick this game up. When things blow up, they blow up BIG, and nothing is more fun than seeing it with a friend. The co-op is nearly perfect and just a joy to play, covering one another, laughing when you screw up, yelling when you REALLY screw up, its a blast and possibly even more fun than Gears. The single player is good, but it makes the terrible storytelling all the more prevalent. Another issue is the item management; its not that it's in real time as others have complained, its that its bad: guns take up as much space as an egg, and your vests (which you are wearing) also take up a space in the inventory, severely limiting you to what you can carry. This is especially noticeable on veteran and professional where wearing a vest (either bulletproof or a melee vest) is a must. You also can immediately use items, like herbs, if you are in need of one just by picking it up, it just says: FULL, so you can't see a First Aid Spray and just use it, you need to have a space available even if you intend on using it right away, very disappointing. These issues aren't big in co-op, as you have a friend protecting you while you think about what you drop and what to keep or mapping something new to the D-Pad but in single player its a pain, as Sheva can ignore your safety right up until you are killed (including the "Dying" phase).

Overall Resident Evil 5 is great, its story is lacking and does nothing for Resident Evil fans, it is also short on scares (as in, non-existent), but the level design and just high level of entertainment and fun make this a triple-A title deserving of you're time and money. Throw in the Mercenaries Bonus game (which, again, is better in co-op) and unlockables and you have a game high on replay value. Just one final oddity - the boss fights it this game, while still some of the best of this generation, are significantly worse and less interactive than in RE4, no real thought is required of the player (all the bosses have "shoot me here" spots) and for one fight, you are stuck in a vehicle that is stationary and are forced to fight a mobile and very strong boss. They aren't bad, just a step down; and in a game where everything feels like an (misguided) attempt to step up from RE4 its odd. Resident Evil 5 is a great 3rd person shooter that is also disappointing Resident Evil game, weird thing to say I know, but if you can look past its shortcomings in terms of the RE legacy you will find one of the top co-op games of all time.