Sign in to follow this  
Wrestlevania

Resi 5

Recommended Posts

It's on PSN now Toblix ;) I just tried it. Seems alright. The controls should have been better in combat, camera is at an obscure angle, but looks okay and I like how you have fine control over where your shots go.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So I had a play around in the demo, and it looks like it's got potential. It looks wonderful, above everything else, though the demo's suffering from some horrific tearing a lot of the time.

The play mechanics seem good. There are a couple of good - albeit crowbarred - examples of co-op play in the two demo levels. With another person, it could be a lot of fun I think.

Guns feel (and sound) weak, though. The pistol sounds weedy and spud gun-like, while the sniper rifle isn't much better, feeling and sounding like something you'd find at the fair.

It takes a number of shots to kill even the standard cannon fodder, headshots or otherwise. Your partner has a sub-machine gun as her second weapon, but all that seems to do is repel enemies rather than damage them. It can get quite frustrating, especially as ammo is typically spartan.

The way dead enemies bubble and then melt away seems like an unnecessary throwback to more technically limited games, like House of the Dead and the earlier Resident Evil titles. It's just a really weird thing to happen and didn't sit right from my perspective. Still, tiny detail.

Otherwise it looks promising, though I'd probably only want to play it co-op with a friend next to me on the sofa I think.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Everyone seems to be a tad let down by this or something, like they expected to be blown away [iGN.com] and just sort of weren't. However, I can see it garnering 9-10 across the board when the final product ending up more of an 8. I hope I'm wrong and that it really wows me, and I know the demo was a slightly older build, but from what I've seen somehow I don't think so.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I got a chance to play Resident Evil 5 two nights ago, and I was a little put off. Its a beautiful looking game, I really love the aesthetic but I can't feel that they could have updated the controls a bit more to fit the western audience. Sure it feels better than RE4, but its still clunky.

Perhaps, like RE4, this will just take a little getting used to... but as of this moment, I'm not feeling it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I loved RE4, so I'm OK with most of the problems people have with 5. My main concern is that the 360 version looked noticeably better to me than the PS3 version, but I'm going to have to get the PS3 version if I want to do any online co-op with my friends. Once you're actually playing the game it doesn't really matter, but it will always be at the back of my mind, particularly since the graphics were one of the main things to strike me very early on.

Still, I'm looking forward to it with interest.

Weirdly, I found the demo harder in co-op. I don't know if it's just because the friend I tried it with didn't know what he was doing, or because the AI partner is really good, or that they scale the difficulty, or if it's easier when you don't have to worry about trading ammo as much, or the bigger screen made things clearer (we were playing in split-screen), or what.

Finally, it seems like you can't trade weapons if you're playing with another human. That seems idiotic. I can understand them wanting to avoid people fucking each other up, but putting a gun in your partner's inventory is no more destructive than dumping some ammo or a herb in there. It just seems bizarre, and leads to weird stuff like vaulting Sheva onto a rooftop to snipe people with her SMG while you run around engaging people in close quarters with your sniper rifle. Obviously in that situation you'd generally use your pistol over a rifle, but it highlights a missed opportunity for some cool forward planning and co-ordination with your partner. Perhaps that will be changed. It can easily be done. Or perhaps there's a really obvious reason for it that I'm overlooking.

I say "seems" too much. I'm too tired to correct it or work out whether this post goes anywhere.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Played the Demo co-op online last night. It was pretty awesome, helping your mate jump across a gap or round-house kicking enemies off them. Weapons are fun, ammo is not too abundant, barrels explode. Seems like a good game to me.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It made my head hurt after a while, trying to follow all the different discussions going on, but there's some interesting Resident Evil 5 discourse over on NeoGAF at the moment.

In the interest of full disclosure: I found that thread genuinely frightening. I think I must lead a very sanitised and closeted life. ;(

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I got it, am playing it and having a pretty good time. It's certainly the least scary RE so far, but maybe that will change. Or not. Either way its way more Gears than Siren, which is not how I personally want things to be with this series, but I am having fun, and am really looking forward to playing co-op with friends, which I was not expecting.

360 version btw, so add me up if you're going to go through it. Sheva wastes a ton of ammo and really adds nothing to the experience as an AI partner anyway.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yep, definitely survival and not horror, sure horrible monsters but the tone of the game is strange... Dunno why but it definitely bothered me.

The thing that struck me the most is that they don't bite anymore, it's supported by the story but I don't know... Intelligent zombies or just different people trying to kill you ?

Now I feel like a zombie pacifist... Kind of a zombifist (yeah I use instanads at times) like "they're intelligent zombies stop hurting them !"

They might as well be the new Helghasts "hey man, you can't come to our planet and invade it!" well... he's right guy, if the only excuse we have for destroying their civilization is "they are the ones who did it first" I guess we just teach em a lesson and go back home...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Well, beat it last night for the first time. I'm not sure how I feel about the experience today. It follows the basic structure of RE4 way too closely and then it basically becomes Time Crisis.

I guess I would say its a pretty good survival action game with excellent replayability, but its pretty shitty for a Resident Evil. But I also thought 4 was mediocre so it will be interesting to see everyone else's reaction.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm really torn about this. I loved Resi 4, as in it's a top 5 game for me, but after playing the demo I felt uninspired. The setting didn't grab me (daytime?) and it basically felt like I had to survive wave after wave of enemies that hadn't advanced much beyond the AI or animation of that I fought four years ago. Deja vu much.

I will be buying it, of course I will, but at the moment I'm expecting to be very disappointed. I didn't want the devs to go too far away from the formula that made 4 so amazing (since it's the only Resident Evil game I enjoyed), but it's seemingly a case of being careful what you wish for - they haven't improved the things that are now dated, but changed the aspects I liked.

But then again, I might be pleasantly surprised. Who knows. Co-op is somewhat appealing as I greatly enjoying playing through a game with my girlfriend, but the clunky controls make the possibility of her being able to play it to a satisfying degree is dubious.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

No but really, giving me the same game at night with bitting zombies would have been really awesome !

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah I was secretly hoping for some classic zombies to show up somewhere...but alas, just more fat dudes with gatling guns.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've been playing the game for a couple of days now and it's pretty obvious that it's more of the same, like Resident Evil 4. But it's damn pretty though, with wild cinematic flair and great visuals. For some reason I don't mind at all that they've used lots of the stuff from 4. In a way, it makes the world more cohesive. Of course there's another El Gigante; it's only logical that the Las Plagas could replicate such a mutation. And there's always enough of a twist to keep it interesting.

What I really like is that the game provides much more of a context this time around. Via library documents the Resident Evil backstory is illuminated, which gives the events of the game much more appeal.

What I don't like is the addition of a coop character running around "helping" you. Despite some bits that couldn't have been done without it, like pulling chains and doing synchronized movements (which actually could have been done as well with a non-fighting character like Ashley from 4), she's a major pain in the ass. She frequently blocks my vision or my movement, she steals away stuff I wanted to grab and she's hardly useful in combat. Yet she DOES make the game a whole lot less scary because you're never alone and you can take a breather because she'll shoot for you. I hate the cumbersome inventory management, which seems very contrived, an 'added' obstacle just to make the game more difficult (and less fun). And the inventory is a frustrating mess anyway (for instance; you can't combine stuff between the two, which becomes horrible if you have a lack of space (which is always)).

Still, there is lots to enjoy too. Some of the setpieces are great and atmospheric, the bosses have been generally cool and the ingame cinematics kick ass. Even though it's not very scary, I like the quite original Africa setting, and the story seems to have a lot more heart than the previous game (saving some nondescript president's daughter is a lot less empathic than going on a suicide mission to save your assumed-dead partner).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I really wish we could give AI Sheva some commands on how to behave and such. Bitch, I gave you the infinite ammo MP5, why are you picking up handgun rounds with a licker straight ahead of me?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah, I'm still looking for the 'hide in a barrel' command. It's gotta be there somewhere... I need to tuck her away somewhere in the beginning of the game and then only call her for the occasional artificial obstacle.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Yeah, I'm still looking for the 'hide in a barrel' command.

The more I read about the partner AI in this game, it sounds like I'd want a "Push Barrel into River" command too.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It's not the AI persé that's particularly awful, it's the very concept of an npc partner. Admittedly, the execution has a lot to do with it, because the inventory management is just badly made. But the whole idea of 'let's create an npc that takes away cool gameplay from the player (shooting zombies in a scary, lonely setting), and in return gives him trite gameplay back (inventory management, visual obstacles, partner dying through no fault of your own)' sounds like such a bad idea that I can't imagine why Capcom would've gone with it. Somebody patch that bitch out of the game.

I understand the co-op experience is very interesting, but they should've made a pure singleplayer version instead of this garbage. I'm really frustrated about it because it could've been an absolutely stellar singleplayer experience, easily on par with part 4. Now, however, as a singleplayer game I would rate the game no higher than an 8. It's a solid game, but has some serious issues that actively detract from the experience in a bad way.

[ADDED] The frustration with Sheva has the amusing effect of making Fable 2's dog that much more impressive. Now here's a npc partner that works perfectly, never blocks the way or view, knows when he's needed or not, actually ADDS to the game by offering unique gameplay like digging up treasures... they should've hired Molyneux to do Sheva.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

You're still not convincing me. ;)

It sounds like Capcom were trying to be bold and capture rabid Western interest generally -- not just the belated reverie of Resi 4, but also in co-op gameplay and the massive uptick in multiplayer numbers anyway.

Making the co-op gameplay secondary would've cost too much, assuming Capcom were to a) provide a single-player experience like that of RE4 as the core of the game, and B) replicate this near-identically for co-op play.

I suppose they could've provided, say, a remixed version of 6-8 key single-player scenarios as the co-op mode. Then thrown in competitive stuff like time attack leaderboards for Live/PSN or what have you and it would have been pretty smart, perhaps.

As it stands, it doesn't sound like a particularly satisfying game to play by yourself.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Actually it's really interesting to think about co-op in the context of this game, because Capcom has essentially been flirting with this idea for a long time. You could argue that RE5 is essentially RE4 + RE0 actually. This implementation of co-op seems exactly the same as it was in RE0, but instead of switching between characters on the fly, real people can hop into and out of that AI role.

I guess the big question is "Can co-op gameplay work in a survival horror game?" Would a co-op Condemned be just as scary, for example? Maybe. I'm not sure.

But really it's not the co-op element that kills the survival horror aspect of this game, it zombies with guns, on turrets and riding motorcycles. Seriously. Would a Crimson Head be caught riding a Kawasaki? I think not.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

[sorry to interrupt, but is this Dostoyevsky you got there as an avatar, AkuMifune?]

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this