Resident Evil V
I’ve been playing this game nonstop since Friday, it’s a terrific horror adventure. Now, you may have heard that because the game is set in Africa, this is a racist game. Yes you shoot Zombies of many races, including African. What needs to be remembered is that these aren’t human beings. See, I shoot zombies not for the color of their skin, but for the content of their character – which is eating my brains. Anyway, see if I think this one is for kids, the answer might surprise you.
Resident Evil V is survival horror, meaning the whole point is to unravel the mystery, survive encounters with zombies and other monsters, find treasure and stop evil corporations – big pharma and mercenary/terrorist groups – from destroying the Earth with their man-made virii.
The game is very realistic looking and the combat is slow and methodical. There’s little running and gunning )none actually, a quirk of the game) and everyone you meet is a bad guy (except your partner – who follows you around helping out and can be played by another player). Terrifying monsters like a giant spiked thing with an oversized axe and the series favorite “guy with burlap bag on his head swinging chainsaw around.” So, we’ve got horrifying weapons, animated corpses, monsters that pop out of people’s bodies in a burst of yellow goo. Fun stuff, but it’s notable too what’s absent. No sexual humor or even tension really. There’s some bad words here and there but it’s not gratuitous. Drugs are presented as “bad” and in another quirk the series is famous for you can still heal by combining Green, Yellow and Red Herbs. Don’t try that at home kids.
If you’re the sort of parent who lets their kids watch zombie movies, gorey movies, Friday the 13th, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, etc., if your teen is into that and you don’t mind – Resident Evil V is the perfect game. Especially since dad, a friend, an older brother or sister, or even someone from the Internet can play through the whole campaign co-operatively.
“C’mon dad! Stay close, I can hear them growling!”
That’s why I personally disagree with the ESRB. I say 14+ but I’d prefer 15 or so.
March 16th, 2009 at 8:20 am
15? Really? On resident evil? Whoa. How bad is the language?
March 16th, 2009 at 9:30 am
Great view of the game.
March 16th, 2009 at 11:07 am
Not terrible.
I’m breaking new ground here Wampa. Actually, what the heck, I’ll announce it.
March 16th, 2009 at 11:10 am
Sweet.
March 16th, 2009 at 11:38 am
Yeah, I’m about to get a bigger teen audience. S’ok, times have changed.
March 16th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
I got a chance to play a bit and all I can say is “yet another over-hyped and underperforming game” … why’d they have to take the survival horror out of the survival horror …
March 16th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
Ah “a bit” then dismissal. Why opine at all?
The only thing RE5 suffers from is not being as revolutionary as 4. 4 was the first that let you shoot like that. Now it’s in Rainbow, Gears of War, etc., I love that Capcom took the silly puzzles out, I’m quite happy to NOT have to combine herbs by hand and to not have to backtrack to figure out where to go next.
Most of all I’m glad to see the way the game used to be – RE3 – is gone in favor of something more actiony.
Yeah, I want to move AND shoot and yeah the AI is dumb but I couldn’t disagree with GameRankings consensus at all.
March 18th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
To help me with my decision on whether or not to buy this one, I’ve been watching quite a bit of gamers playing through the game, collecting the various emblems/trophies/etc. throughout and unlocking the various costumes and weapons. I have to say I agree that it doesn’t seem to be a game that requires a very high age bracket. The only thing I’d say concerns me is the ‘Tribal’ costume that Sheva, the female character unlocks. The female’s upper body goes through quite the change and becomes much more ‘visible’ and takes on new motions and animations, to put it lightly. It seems somewhat obvious what the intention there was. As the father of a young gaming daughter, it bothers me that everywhere she looks she’s given the wrong signals about how to present herself as a young lady.
As for the game itself, I’ll be honest in that I’m disappointed the horror element has mostly been replaced by action-oriented gameplay. To end things off, I must point out how horrid the AI seems to be, with enemies sometimes walking by your character, even on veteran mode. Indeed, even the bosses seem at times timid, standing there apparently not knowing what to do. I’ve watched a bit of Pro mode, and it still seems somewhat the same thing, with the only difference being they hit harder when they get around to hitting you.
Anyway thanks for the great site, just came across it. Keep up the good work!
March 19th, 2009 at 8:39 am
I would say calling Resident Evil 5 a “Survival-horror” game something of a stretch. Capcom has lately steered the RE series away from being scary to more of an action game, though it does have moments that will make you go “Oh great… not again!” Especially when compared to a game like F.E.A.R. or Condemned, which in the right lighting and atmosphere has made me grip my 360 controller in white-knuckle terror.
April 13th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
When I saw this download on the Xbox Live marketplace I downloaded it because it looked good. Yes you are right it is very slow. I was disappointed that you couldn’t use your knife will walking quickly/slow jogging. That and you couldn’t fire you weapon while moving quickly. You had to be still to use your knife and gun. That upset me, but the thing that was fun was the mini bosses. The oversize man with the axe was a little bit harder to beat than i thought but I did with my friend using the shotgun and sniper. The thing I think they overdid and made harder was the “maniac saw.” I shot him in the eye with a sniper 3 times while my friend shot him 2 times with a shotgun AND we threw a couple of grenades in for good measure. Yet he was not killed so I don’t know this might be me, but I think they made him harder than he should have been. I would say this is a good game for zombie apocalypse people and or people who like a slow paced game. I do agree with you GamerDad 14+
September 7th, 2009 at 7:33 am
This game is awesome!!!!!!! I love it!!!!