Resident Evil 5 Review

Game: Resident Evil 5
Year (s): 2009
Company: dev. Capcom
pub. Capcom
Engine: MT Framework
Type: Co-Op Shooter
Viewpoint: Third-Person
Metacritic Score: 86
My Score: Basically unplayable.


Price (as of April 5, 2014)


Regular list price on Steam: $19.99
Lowest Buy-It-Now on eBay (new, with shipping): $9.90




Plot
Zombie Virus mayhem is now a biological weapon, and is used by everyone. You're part of a task force that deals with outbreaks in crappy parts of the world.


Engine
MT Frameworks is the in-house Capcom engine, which they've been using for almost a decade across all platforms. Graphically it's not impressive, but in the brief time I played this game, it didn't crash or bug out.




Save System


Checkpoint Save? Yes!




Combat and Gameplay
...and that's where things fell apart right off the bat. I had been warned that the PC version, single-player, was horrendous. While I hadn't played any Resident Evil games before, I had played a few other survival-horror titles, and thought I'd be safe trying Resident Evil 5 on easy.


Resident Evil 5 is a 2-player co-op game. For me, the second player was a bot. If either player dies, it's game over. Ammo and items can be passed between players.


Problem 1: the bot is dead weight. Once out of ammo, they will not use melee attacks. They will follow you pretty well, but they're not going to be dodging zombies actively.


Problem 2: there's not enough bullets. I'd heard this was an aspect of Resident Evil as a franchise, but I thought it would be more fun. The first time I ran out of bullets was a hold-out segment at the end of a level. I spent five minutes running in a circle with zombies chasing me while waiting for air support. I didn't find it entertaining whatsoever.


Problem 3: the controls. I accidentally found out that melee is a combination of holding down the space bar and clicking the mouse. I've played many cross-platform games, and nearly all of them use the same established keyboard/mouse arrangement I'm used to. It kind of always surprises me when I play a game with bad control setup.


I have heard similar complaints about other Capcom titles. It's the reason I haven't tried Lost Planet.




Expansions / DLC / Sequels
The DLC content just came out on Steam in the last week or so. It's another fifteen bucks, and I don't know why anyone would buy it.




Final Thoughts


This game is meant to be played on a console, with a controller, and with a friend. Resident Evil 5 might have some merit if played like that.



I played it by myself on a PC using keyboard and mouse, and gave up on it after less than an hour. Pass on this one.