RESIDENT EVIL 5 REVIEW ENGLISH VERSION

RESIDENT EVIL 5

Initial release date: March 5, 2009

Series: Resident Evil

Publisher: Capcom

Developer: Capcom

Designer: Jun Takeuchi

Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows

PC Requirements: (minimum) Windows XP/Vista; procesesor Core 2 Duo 1,8Ghz;memory 1GB RAM;Graphic Card 256MB; HD Space 8GB

Web Sites : www.residentevil.com

Much has been made of Resident Evil 5 core gameplay mechanics, with the characters unable to move and shoot, forcing players to stand still every time they want to fire a gun or slash with a melee weapon. This will be a problem for some people, but if you enjoyed Resi 4 it won't be an issue at all. New to the series is the ability to strafe while walking (you can choose to use a more traditional control scheme if you wish), so once you've gotten to grips with the control scheme you're really quite nimble - especially with a powerful weapon in your hand that enables you to run up close to the infected and take them down in one shot.

It's your co-op partner Sheva Alomar (an agent of the West African branch of the BSAA) that really makes Resi 5 a different Resident Evil experience, whether in the hands of a real person or AI controlled. How good a job the AI-controlled Sheva does depends on the situation. If you want her to kill enemies, set her to attack mode and she'll be great, and she's brilliant at healing you when you need "urb", but if you want her to do a specific task (distract an enemy for example) she's more or less useless. This is where a real person (playing online or over a LAN) can remove many of the game's more frustrating moments.

What makes Resident Evil 5 so much fun to play is the way it's impossible to know what's coming next. You start off in a seriously atmospheric African town, complete with villagers, but you're soon off to an oil refinery, a pitch-black mine, a secret bunker, a yacht and more. Tie these environments to some breathtaking set-piece encounters and you'll be looking back on your time with the game and reminiscing about certain moments just as many people do with Resident Evil 4. There are some spectacular on-rails sections too, and superbly directly QTEs that never make you wish they were traditional gameplay elements.When playing with AI Sheva you're going to have to tackle the more complex bosses without much help, moving into the right position to attack their weak spots through your own hard work. If you've got a friend helping you out you can work together to get these bosses exactly where you want them. During general attacks on infected one player can take out the up close enemies, ideally with a tuned-up shotgun, while the other can hang back and snipe. It sounds like simple stuff, but it works really well. There are numerous split-path moments too, so the co-op gameplay certainly hasn't been shoe-horned in. Resident Evil 5 was clearly designed from the ground up as a game best played with a friend.

Upgrading your weapons is key to how you'll be able to take on the increasingly hard enemies as you move through the game. As is traditional, almost everything you kill drops something, be it some money, ammo, jewel or health item. Collect money and sell jewels (sadly there's no combining jewels to make more valuable pieces) and you'll be able to upgrade your weapons in key stats, like chance of single shot headshot kill, reload time and capacity. Sadly the travelling salesmen from Resi 4 didn't get on the plane to Africa, and there's no direct replacement, leaving you to do all your buying and selling with a lifeless menu screen.