Game Review #2: Resident Evil 5 & History of the Series (Part 3)

And now, after all that long reading you did on the history of the games (or at least I think you did), here is, Resident Evil 5.

Damnit where's that any key?

Resident Evil is the 5th chronological game in the Resident Evil series. The game takes place in Kijuju, Africa, where a terrorist threat is posed and the BSAA (Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance) are sent to intervene. Upon arriving at their destination (a small village in Kijuju) they soon realize something is terribly wrong. The locals become hostile and Chris calls for backup. Chris also notes that the villagers are acting like the Ganados, as detailed in the Kennedy Report (Resident Evil 4). 

They seem friendly...let's just be careful

Chris and Sheva soon discover that a BSAA unit had already gone ahead... but were unlucky and met up with a mutated B.O.W. (Bio Organic Weapon) that destroyed the entire team, even the members who wore enough armor to be a one man army.

They soon after proceed down into a furnace area where they discover what exactly killed all their comrades... 

B.O.W. down before me... get it? Get it?!

They dispatch him through the use of a conveniently constructed furnace. Well what, did you just expect him to die to your dinky handguns? Well he can, but you probably are on a second play through. Soon after these events, Sheva and Chris decide to proceed to the mine, where Irving (the Antagonist thus far) is supposed to be making a weapons deal. At this point in the game you become rescued by Josh Stone, an old acquaintance of Sheva's. This is where the game throws a twist at you *spoiler alert* Chris finds out that Jill Valentine, his partner who was presumed dead when she fought Wesker and fell off a cliff, is seen in a recent photo. Chris now has a personal stake in the whole affair and decides to disobey HQ's commands and seeks out Jill. *Spoiler done*             Irving is confronted soon after in a small building, but a smoke bomb is thrown in the room and a mysterious cloaked person carries him off.

That's about as much as I can delve into the story before I hit spoiler territory. So there you have the beginning of the game, in a nutshell. Now onto the review. 

Plot: 9/10

Resident Evil 5 faithfully follows their plotline and tries to keep plotholes to a minimum. The only reason I won't give a 10/10 is because the location of the game felt a little off at first, but slowly became acceptable.

Graphics (for their time): 8/10

When Resident Evil 5 hit store shelves March 13, 2009, this game was equal to if not better than a large majority of any title you could pickup at the time. It held up visually and kept the African landscape nice and colorful. The only downside is there are some scenes where the HDR lighting is literally overwhelming and unpleasant. That isn't as apparent in the PS3 version, but none the less, this is for the overall. 

Controls: 8/10

I honestly have not played the PS3 version, but I do use a PS3 controller for the PC, so I will not judge the PS3 controls here. The Xbox 360 controls felt smooth and responsive, though I would have definitely remapped some of the button locations for things like inventory and others. The PC version is very smooth and responsive, but sometimes felt like a chore when going through the equip menu (if you weren't using the numpad for item switch).

Replay Value: 9/10

This is where I honestly feel the title shone the brighest. After you play through the game you now have a plethora of new things to do. One of which is the Mercenaries. If you don't know what that is, I'll give you a briefing. The Mercenaries is something that began in the Resident Evil 3 game. After you beat the game, you played through mini missions where you were sent out to rescue people... but when Resident Evil 4 and 5 came along, they just dwindled it down into a zombie survival scenario.

You receive waves of zombies at a time and try to hold out until the timer ends, killing zombies to improve the score. Ok ok technically not zombies, but Ganados, but hey, whatever. Also, playing through the game for a second time will keep your previous inventory. This was a badass decision on Capcoms end, because with all the upgrades and new ultimate weapons, you tear through the campaign in style. The Veteran and Professional difficulty also proved worthwhile as they were both brutally hard.

Price /Where to get it: Because the game became a platinum hit, as of now it can be snagged up for 29.99 at EBgames.com. Some local wal-marts might have it, but I tend to find it there for over 40 dollars, which for a year old title doesn't feel right.

Final Mark:  8/10

 Definitely a worthwhile title in the series, but often criticized for doing more than making the series descend away from the survival horror genre it once was. In my personal opinion, it's not that big of a deal. Resident Evil 4 was action oriented but kept the survival horror aspect of it at a nice median, whereas Resident Evil 5 was more action oriented. Knowing Capcom, expect Resident Evil 6 (which has been announced in development but no details given) to feature someone like Leon in a dark scenario again, or hell, I'm going to ballpark the idea that Claire Redfield makes a feature game since she's been MIA since Code Veronica.

Some after thoughts and info:  

Did you know ... that this game had a lot of skeptics, claiming it was racist?

Did you know ... Resident Evil 5 is the highest selling game in the franchise at 5 million copies?

Did you know ... Resident Evil 5 was one of the first 3D titles for the PC?

And to finalize this review, here's some screenshots I took (or the respective person did) of the beginning of the game, and various further areas.

... And that's it for my review, I sincerely hope you enjoyed it, as I loved getting to play this title again to write it :)

Game Review #2: Resident Evil 5 & History of the Series (Part 2)

A very notable game I did not cover with my history of Resident Evil is actually one of my personal favorites. Which game? Resident Evil: Code Veronica. 

  This game takes place 2 months after Resident Evil 3, where they are at the climax of the Raccoon City incident. The game opens with Claire Redfield (dear god come back for Resident Evil 6) infiltrating an Umbrella facility in Paris because she is searching for her brother, Chris Redfield. Sadly she is captured and detained in a prison on Rockfort Island. Lucky her... or maybe not so lucky, the T-Virus shows up and infects the entire island, and a spanish man lets her out of her cell. Soon after exploring and ending up in the courtyard she encounters a man (or more like man child) named Steve Burnside.

"Let's get off this cuh-raaaazy island!" - Legendary Frog <3

Now Claire and Steve team up to try and escape the island!... or so you'd think, no of course Steve wanders off because he clearly can't be near a woman especially one who's properly armed. I'm going to stop telling the plot here because I don't want to spoil anything for you guys. Anyway, Resident Evil: Code Veronica also explains how the T-Virus is beginning to "evolve", as you'll see in Resident Evil 4. But what exactly makes this game notable to the series altogether (beside the solid plot and inbetween storyline)? This game is HARD. I'm not talking hard because of just limited ammo (boy if you waste ammo you may as well restart the whole game), I'm talking about the notoriously confusing and lengthy puzzles it will present to you. Some of them don't even tell you where to go, you have to use a lot of past references to get it down pat. There are also a lot of classic enemies appearing, one of which is going to murder you before you can even aim the gun (and if you don't have a B.O.W. round ready, RUN). Which one is that? Let me give you a hint...

AAAANNNGHHHHH - tap tap tap tap tap *dead*

Yeah, even hunters make their appearance! ;__; So to wrap this up, this is probably one of the better Resident Evil titles because it has a lot of replay value if you're one for unlockables. Stay tuned for the final part where I'll be doing a review of Resident Evil 5 including my predictions for the next game.

Game Review #2: Resident Evil 5 & History of the Series (Part 1)

Since the very beginning, the Resident Evil franchise has revolutionized the way gamers experience fear and suspense through a video game. But what happens when the games turn to the action genre? You get an action/survival horror mix called Resident Evil 4 & 5. Before we get into too much detail, let's go over the history of the games.

 

Does this feel familiar to you Resident Evil fanboys? This is Resident Evil: Director's Cut for the Playstation. You are part of the STARS Bravo team, and your chopper had crash landed near the mansion. You have the option to play as either Chris Redfield (Yes, the same one from Resident Evil 5) or Jill Valentine (Resident Evil 3). I remember when I was younger, this scene depicted above especially scared the crap out of me. The setting for the older games were: you had been investigating an incident in the Arklay Mountains (Raccoon City), and get split up inside the mansion. Soon after you are on your own with limited health and ammo deciding when to fight or flight against zombies. This is the true definition of survival horror.

Resident Evil 2: The police aren't always friendly

Remember what it was like to be trapped in a police station, going into narrow locker rooms filled with zombies? That was Resident Evil 2. Resident Evil 2 takes place immediately after the incident in the Arklay Mountains mansion. The series didn't fail to impress when they included the option to play as two different characters, giving a lot of alternate endings and reasons to play through the game again. Not to mention the better you played through the game, the more unlockable goodies you had. This was also the first *true* game to feature that bad-boy Leon Kennedy, who would prove to have one of the best games in the series later on.

Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, where hearing "STARS!!!" Meant OH GOD RUN

Now as for Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, the first half of the game takes place 24 hours before Resident Evil 2, and the later half takes place 2 days after those incidents. You are playing as Jill Valentine, trapped in Raccoon City. Jill and others are now on the run, because Umbrella knows the STARS team has found out that Umbrella was behind the prior incidents in the last games. But what are they running from exactly? 

Is there something in my teeth?

 That's right, the Nemesis. He was created by the Umbrella Corporation in order to exterminate the STARS members in Raccoon City. This was their way of "cleaning up the city" prior to the events that would...change the city forever. Nemesis was a super creation and was nothing to mess with, guns or not. As for Resident Evil 3, it was pretty much the game to get the series on the map for most newcomers. It also was the storyline that would create the Resident Evil: Apocalypse movies... even though they tried to be artsy and goofed it up, but anyway... now for the dramatic turn of the series, which was for, mostly the good.

Resident Evil 4, the game that drastically changed the way the future games would be played. Action style. But was it for the best? Let's look at how the game plays now. 

I don't think we're in Kansas anymore!

Now, a lot of things have changed. For one, you are no longer confined to a single camera view per area you visit. And as you can see, it's a fairly good looking game (Sorry I cannot find any pictures of the Wii or updated PC version's graphics, which are superior). The aiming system now is... FANTASTIC! Especially if you're playing on a Wii, the controls are smooth and precise for the most part. No more auto-aim at zombies and shoot bullets and hope they die, now you take aim and shoot specific body parts to make the biggest impact. The A.I. for this game was also increased by a lot. Most zombies will try to surround and attack you while moving quickly, whereas the older games featured zombies that sluggishly came at you slowly. Not that that was a bad thing, since it provided a sense of impending doom if you had no ammo. A lot of new types of enemies have appeared too, such as zombies with chainsaws and crossbows. The boss fights are also something you won't forget. Now, let's get back to the story of it, shall we?

"A VOYA MATAR"

 Leon Kennedy is more than pleased that Umbrella has now been brought to Justice in court, and Umbrella's stocks have plummeted, effectively ending their reign of biological terror. But a new terror has arrived. Leon is dispatched to a small village in Europe, where the president's daughter Ashley Graham has been kidnapped by a cult called the "Los Illuminados" (Leon has since moved on to working for the U.S. government's secret service in this game). The cult is using parasites known as the Las Plagas, an ancient virus brought to light, and also found to be partial evolution of the T-Virus (T-veronica virus). I definitely do not want to move into spoiler region, so if this sounds appealing, I'll be writing a full on review of the game in a later blog. 

"This is a mammoth of a problem, sir!"

Don't worry, I didn't forget about the other games, such as Resident Evil: Outbreak, Survival, Zero and Resident Evil: Code Veronica (which I may review one day). I haven't played through most of the above myself, but I'll definitely get around to them someday soon. I hope you enjoyed this brief history of the Resident Evil franchise, and stay tuned for my review of Resident Evil 5, where surviving is just as hard in Africa in the sunlight as it is in a dark mansion in the middle of mountains.