The demo was released last night for the 360 and I played offline co-op for about an hour with a friend who is not very familar with the franchise.
The pros:
-It looks beautiful.
-Co-op is more involved than I previously believed.
-Retains all the greatness of RE4, which I thought was by far the best in the series.
The cons:
-Lots of controls to learn.
-My friend had problems adjusting from FPS mode and was frustrated there was no jump button
-They are sticking to the story from RE4, meaning these aren't zombies we're head shotting.
Not only are the graphics a smorgasbord for the eyes, but the physics system is impressive to watch in action. Try shooting the same zombie in the face from 2 different angles with a friend. It's fun. The environments are so detailed, they seem to jump off the screen. I can only imagine what some RE style bosses are going to be like.
So far, the game is more difficult than I expected. Granted much of that had to do with not really knowing the controls well at all. But boy, you better make every gunshot and swing of your knife count. Supplies are short and the enemy can take some serious melee damage. The sharing of ammo and health is a nice touch. I hope the AI is good (but not too good) for your partner when playing single player. As it stands now, I can only see myself playing this online in co-op. From my limited playtime, it looks like Left4Dead may have some serious competition for co-op play.
I would say the demo exceeded my expectations, mainly due to the superb graphics and overall design.
I started to play the demo the other night, and got frustrated fairly quick and stopped playing. I think this is due to the learning curve for the controls and the demo starting you out in the middle of the game. I know they do this to not give away the story, but I kinda wish they didn't anyhow.
One thing that bothers me no matter what game it is in (besides Gears, it gets a pass due to it being the best shooter ever) is not being able to jump. I want to be able to position myself wherever the hell I want to take on the battle from whatever angle I think is best, and not being able to jump gets in the way of that.
Another thing that bothers me is the game not pausing when you are messing with your inventory, terrible design decision imo.
That being said, the game looks very polished and I'm sure if I started from the beginning of the game I'll ease into things better and the stuff I mentioned won't bother me as much. I'll still be picking this up when it comes out.
I will start by saying that I had relatively lowered expectations for this game after I played the demo, but now that I've been playing the actual game I like it quite a bit. The graphics are great, the controls work well once you get used to them, there is plenty of story info for those interested.
Graphics -
Graphics are top notch. There is a lot of detail to most everything you see in the environment, including things near and in the distance. The character models are done very well, and the numerous cutscenes look great. I wouldn't say this game looks as good as Killzone 2, but it's damn close - making it come in at 2nd place for graphics of current games on the consoles in my opinion.
Gameplay -
At first you are going to have two problems that are going to make this game seem less enjoyable than it is. These issues will be less evident if you have played past games in the series, but they are as follows: controls, and not knowing in a given situation whether you need to kill everything, run, or just fight things off until help comes.
Once you get a grip on these two things, neither of which should take you much time, the game starts to shine. You will constantly be going up against seemingly hopeless situations, proving that just because some of the horror aspect was taken out of the game, it didn't stop the developers from creating a game that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Ammo stashes are usually placed at just the right points so that you are just starting to wonder if you are going to have to knife your way through a crowd of zombies when you come across the next one. The only issue here being that handgun ammo drops account for probably 60% of the ammo you'll find, and you won't want to try and fight your way through the whole game with your pistol if you don't have to.
The controls can be kind of tedious and while I understand their reasoning for not wanting you to be able to run 'n gun, it seems like it slows down the pace and increases the difficulty unnecessarily in many situations.
The cover system also seems very half assed and may have been better left out entirely. You can only actually take cover in limited locations, and when you can you can only hit a button to stick you to the wall and then lean around the corner to shoot. You can't move around while stuck to the cover, making shooting enemies from cover not work a lot, because pillars and other objects will be in the way, and in said situations walking outside of the cover can get you killed quick. Neither of these things detract too much from the gameplay but they are definitely worth mentioning.
The stat tracking for each level and associated leaderboards, along with all of the unlockables give this game a high replay value, which is a nice since even once the multiplayer gets added it doesn't seem like it will be something you'll spend a lot of time playing.
Story -
I've only played the first two Resident Evil games, and seen the movies. So I have a decent understanding of the story and what has happened thus far, but there is plenty I missed in the third and fourth games. If you have not played all of the games, you will probably find yourself wondering wtf is going on during some of the cutscenes, etc, but there is plenty of other story material scattered in various formats throughout the game that help tie things together.
To expand on what I mentioned above, there are many things scattered throughout the game that give you bits and pieces of info about the story/characters/events/etc. These things come in the form of documents laying around on desks, computers, etc. Also, after most chapters you unlock information about a certain character, which can all be read in the "library" which is available from the main menu. This helps to make a lot of information available for Resident Evil fans, but spares those that would rather stick to the action some of the story details.
I feel the characters in game are believable and well done, and all of them that I have been introduced to thus far in the story add to the whole experience in a positive way.
Sounds -
The sounds in the game are great too. They do a great job of intensifying the mood at any given point, and also help to give you an idea of when the shit is gonna hit the fan. The voice acting is nowhere near as bad as most games that have been out recently, I actually think it works well for the game.
Co-op/Multiplayer -
I don't think this is really a surprise, but the co-op is really where this game shines. The ability to play co-op split screen or online is uncommon in games recently which is unfortunate, other developers should really take notes on this. The ability for someone to pretty much jump into your game at anytime locally, and for the most part online is awesome too.
Working together with someone else obviously makes the game much easier too, which considering it's difficulty level is a good thing, because even though the developers claimed that the AI for your partner was good, I find myself waiting for her to get out of my way most of the time, and she really doesn't do much as far as damage.
I will try and update when the multiplayer is released. There are going to be two modes, and I don't know how many maps so it could go either way.
This game is almost an exact reskin of Resident Evil 4. Everything from that game is a direct port, from controls to quick time events and even many of the enemy attack animations. For the record, RE4 had the best graphics I ever saw on a PS2 and I want to say was the first game to introduce the "over the shoulder" camera that has been copied by numerous other titles since. RE4 was also the best RE game I had ever played. I'm just a bit dissappointed to see so much of the horror taken out of survival horror with RE5. For atmosphere and overall mood, I put Dead Space considerably ahead of RE5.
I give a full point deduction for basically copying RE4, then adding another full point for great co-op, leaving it with a solid 9/10.
Fairweather Pure wrote:This game is almost an exact reskin of Resident Evil 4. Everything from that game is a direct port, from controls to quick time events and even many of the enemy attack animations. For the record, RE4 had the best graphics I ever saw on a PS2 and I want to say was the first game to introduce the "over the shoulder" camera that has been copied by numerous other titles since. RE4 was also the best RE game I had ever played. I'm just a bit dissappointed to see so much of the horror taken out of survival horror with RE5. For atmosphere and overall mood, I put Dead Space considerably ahead of RE5.
I give a full point deduction for basically copying RE4, then adding another full point for great co-op, leaving it with a solid 9/10.
Just added you as a friend on live. Let me know if you wanna try some co-op sometime. I played a few chapters with teh stargi last night and it was pretty fun.
I wish there was a way to set alias names for people on live so I could list all the vv people on my friends list by names I would remember
I've played throug the whole thing on Co-Op on Amateur and had a blast. It's a fun game and there are a lot of things to do.
I'm on my 2nd playthrough on normal right now.
Having never played a RE game before, this title is a great introduction to the series for me. This is also the first time I can recall that my wife has sat down on the couch and watched me play a game. (I may need to get her to try split screen..)
Animalor wrote:I've played throug the whole thing on Co-Op on Amateur and had a blast. It's a fun game and there are a lot of things to do.
I'm on my 2nd playthrough on normal right now.
Having never played a RE game before, this title is a great introduction to the series for me. This is also the first time I can recall that my wife has sat down on the couch and watched me play a game. (I may need to get her to try split screen..)
Yeah my girlfriend has stayed interested in watching this one for longer too, the frequent cut scenes and good graphics I think are what does it.
My wife was the same way with Fallout 3, Gears of War 2, and Dead Space. A game has to have a driving story behind it and great graphics before my wife really takes notice.
Fairweather Pure wrote:My wife was the same way with Fallout 3, Gears of War 2, and Dead Space. A game has to have a driving story behind it and great graphics before my wife really takes notice.
Yeah my girlfriend actually likes to play Gears once in a while, which is amazing because she's not a big fan of shooters. It's the only game of it's type she's played.
funk: my progress got reset from our game i went to play last night and it reset me back to right after that annoying boss we had to kill with the flamethrower. on the upside if i keep reloading it you get a bunch of shotgun and machine gun ammo and a $3000 gem every time, plus some misc gold drops/health/random ammo shit.
funk: my progress got reset from our game i went to play last night and it reset me back to right after that annoying boss we had to kill with the flamethrower. on the upside if i keep reloading it you get a bunch of shotgun and machine gun ammo and a $3000 gem every time, plus some misc gold drops/health/random ammo shit.
I think it probably took us longer to beat the final boss than anyone else thats played the game,
I'll definitely be doing a few more play throughs (I've already got as far as like chapter 5 on normal) so let me know if you want to do co op if I'm online.
funk: my progress got reset from our game i went to play last night and it reset me back to right after that annoying boss we had to kill with the flamethrower. on the upside if i keep reloading it you get a bunch of shotgun and machine gun ammo and a $3000 gem every time, plus some misc gold drops/health/random ammo shit.
I think it probably took us longer to beat the final boss than anyone else thats played the game,
I'll definitely be doing a few more play throughs (I've already got as far as like chapter 5 on normal) so let me know if you want to do co op if I'm online.
we only died 16 times, i'm sure there's some 3 year old kid who died at least 18 times!
i ran through 1-1 with infinite magnum ammo and it was a snooze fest i was so invicible 1 shotting everything. i wish someone would make a list of which chapters are best for farming money.
I only had a few minutes to play last night after I bought it. I need to get used to the controls since the dude with the big axe and his zombie buddies killed me dead.
I'm almost finished with my initial play through. I didn't really care for the tomb raider level. The boss fights have all been great though, that's for damn sure.
I just finished this today. Overall, I was kind of dissappointed.
I already mentioned the Tomb Raider level. Little did I know that it would be followed by a Gears of War level and finish with a Call of Duty 4 level. All were done well enough, but to me, the entire last half of the game felt borrowed. Also, the co-op felt more like a gimmic. 90% of the stuff I needed my partner for was to pull 2 levers at the same time, push two buttons, or other mundane stuff like that. Another thing that was nagging me was how unbelievably linear the game was. Many other games sport "point A to B" gameplay, but RE5 felt tighter and more narrow than anything else I've played on the 360.
Last but certianly not least, is the motherfucking quicktime events. What a stupid and frustrating gameplay mechanic. I easily died more times to those stupid events than to anything else in the game, and the game is absolutely fucking loaded with them. Also, bosses need some kind of life bar. After shooting a guy a dozen times in the face and having no idea what, if any damage I was actually doing tended to get frustrating.
The other thing they did was have a room filled with ammo, grenades, and at many times a brand new weapon just before a major event or boss fight. That was pretty lame IMO.
Despite all the complaintes above, I did enjoy myself. I will give it a 6.5/10 overall. IMO, RE5 was dethroned several months ago in the survival horror genre by Dead Space, which was a much better game. Actually, I wouldn't even classify RE5 as survival horror. It's a severly handicapped FPS.
i went to play last night and it reset me back to right after that annoying boss we had to kill with the flamethrower. on the upside if i keep reloading it you get a bunch of shotgun and machine gun ammo and a $3000 gem every time, plus some misc gold drops/health/random ammo shit.
