When the first Resident Evil came out I was probably as far away from the game as I could possibly be. I’m not a fan of horror in general, and zombies certainly don’t alleviate any of my fears, so it wasn’t a match made in heaven for me. By the time I got into the series, it had evolved quite considerably from its original form, and I had become intrigued with the paper-thin story line and how the games progressed. After Resident Evil 4 came out and the world heralded the re-awakening of the series, I was there trumpeting that message as much as anyone else, even buying the game twice (including the remake on the Wii). It was a big step for a series that was at that point based in the US, usually amidst absolute chaos and a team full of highly specialized zombie-slayers, or at least masters of unlocking. RE4 brought the game into more action-oriented play – still playing on its more jump-out-and-scare-you, puzzle solving, collect-a-thon roots – but did so much more than fill your arsenal with super weapons, but rather put you in a totally new environment and overwhelmed you as much as it could to regain that sense of terror.

On the heels of the that series reboot is Resident Evil 5, a game that is very much an iteration on what worked with the previous game taken into the high-definition game league and under some new direction. It is also the first of the numbered series (we don’t count Outbreak) to feature co-op play, and not just as a side to the story but as a fundamental piece of play. This game is a co-op experience, where you take on the role of Chris Redfield (a veteran of the series) and his partner Sheva Alomar and you will play through the game as this pair, whether you have a friend saddling up with you or you are relying on the computer to perform their job.

You are in Africa. The evil corporation responsible for the events of the previous series has gone under, but bad things are still happening and Chris Redfield, the man with the biggest arms in the world, is on the case to stop bioweapons from getting in the hands of terrorists. You are teamed up with a local, Sheva Alomar, whose role is introduced as someone to ease the people in the area into the presence of an American (Chris) and before you can interact with too many of the home town crowd you are shown that they are seemingly being overrun by some sort of parasitic virus that makes everyone violent and very difficult to kill. The game has you chasing leads, as the situation in Kijuju seems to grow more and more connected to the events of the past and will be guiding you through very familiar set-pieces for anyone who played through RE4, taking down huge bosses and having your hands ready for quick time events through the cinematics as you traverse through the story and see how deep the rabbit hole goes.

The games controls are a significant point of contention and basically fall into the kind that difficult to grasp if you have never played through any Resident Evil game before, or will eventually fit right in and you’ll barely notice the cumbersome actions you are required to do to navigate around. You are in the third-person perspective, just over the right shoulder of your character and control them almost like a tank. You can move forward, back, left and right with the left stick and use the right stick to aim the camera if you want them to move around corners. Turning around requires a quick jerk of the stick, and you can not shoot or use any item while moving, so the game requires a lot of running, repositioning and firing before doing it all over again. As opposed to the attache case previously used in the series to hold items, you are now given nine slots that can hold nine items, four of which are locked to the D-pad for easy access. It is a great tool for keeping the pace of the game faster, since you don’t have to pause to change weapons or shift your inventory, but the limited amount of space can become a burden, especially considering you can’t upgrade it and a rocket launcher takes up the same amount of space as five pistol bullets. The controls are a break in some of the more popular third person shooters, but once you get used to them you do understand why they are used, and having the closed in view point and having to organize on the fly does add to the tension of a challenging boss battle that doesn’t feel unnecessarily difficult.

Visually the game is quite astounding. The developers and marketing team have been pushing the lighting effects, and they really are impressive, casting shadows across a barren shanty town or demonstrating dusk over the savanna. It is quite a feat that from the brightest of environments outdoors to some rusted industrial holes it all feels very appropriate thanks to great effects all around. Voice acting is well executed, an uncommon trait for the series, but the dialogue and story are still a bit overblown, but fans of the canon it will be quite a treat once the connections to the previous games start to unravel. Sound is good, though perhaps a bit repetitive with the enemy chants and constant chatter from your teammate about “I need help!” or “Come on!” that can start to wear on you very quickly.

Playing through RE5 by yourself can be a test of faith at times, especially when you’re feeling slighted by an AI that uses up health items far too often and wastes countless ammunition on invincible enemies. The game is much more enjoyable, and I mean by a very wide margin, when playing with a friend, but the developers did not make it easy. Activating co-op is awkward and is something that has to be looked up in the manual unless you are one for random experimentation. After the game has started, something you can only do in single player mode, a local player has to sign in and then press start. For online, you have to start the experience and then invite them in, both scenarios re-start the chapter and can sometimes lead to a player not receiving all the bonuses for playing if you have passed a checkpoint. It also speaks to the purity of the game experience, as well, since your inventory is connected to your player profile, meaning that if you restart a chapter or decide you want to play with a friend through some of the game and also by yourself, you have the same inventory throughout all the games you play. There are no separate game saves and the game doesn’t give you the ability to continue with a friend in the same spot you were if you played by yourself through any point. It’s obtuse and a very Japanese take on the co-op experience that feels a bit broken.

When you’ve finished with the game, your experience isn’t really done either. Since your inventory carries over through every time you play, you are encouraged to keep upgrading your weapons by collecting items and money in the game, which unlocks more weapons and makes the next plays through even more fun. The game basically encourages you to cheat, as well, giving you the option for infinite ammo and starting off on easy mode with the same hand cannon you used on veteran with no penalties and just as much goodies to collect. Despite the fact that it may not give you the same tension you first experience with the game, it is easily the most fun I’ve had with any co-op experience in a long time. This, coupled with The Mercenaries mode – something that pits you against hordes of enemies on a time limit to score the most points – means that you have a lot to do. They’ve managed to take a full Resident Evil experience and turn it into a playground for you and a friend, which is very entertaining.

As flawed as some of the elements of Resident Evil 5 are, it does what it sets out to do and it does it very well. Delivering a strong iteration on the previous game, giving you a robust and expansive co-op experience that may be short in a single play through encourages multiple plays to grab more and more treasures and get the biggest and best weaponry to take out the not-zombie menace. It may not be as big of a leap as RE4 was for the series, but it almost feels like a good culmination of everything the games have had to offer so far delivered in an action-oriented experience that is challenging, beautiful and cinematic. It’s a game that will feel good for fans of the series, making sure you run into lots of old friends, and for those new to the Resident Evil experience it is a good demonstration of how it translates into the modern generation.

So what I’m really trying to say is…
Resident Evil 5 is a co-op game, through and through. Whether that is with a friend or a sometimes-infuriating AI partner, that is entirely up to you and your social life. The former makes the game a great experience, and the game itself delivers full story and wide enough variety of environments to feel fine one time through, but warrants multiple play-throughs for tons of goodies you can grab. Controls are a bit obtuse and the inventory system is as great as it is frustrating, but this is a solid game that should be experienced. The demo certainly did not do it justice for me and it is likely that I will continue to play this game for quite a while still. Need to grab that Gatling gun!