Resident Evil 5 (XBOX 360)

Gamecow’s Price	RRP $79.95     Save $8.00 $71.95
Availability
Genre	Action Adventure
Platform	XBOX 360
Release Date	12/03/2009
Rated

Resident Evil 5 has raised the bar in the zombie shooting genre.  Stunning graphics, fantastic sound and co-op game-play make this an outstanding game.  While it may not be set in a dark underground location or an eerie forest, there are still plenty of moments in this Resident Evil 5 where you will have the s^&t scared out of you (My tip: where brown underpants, doesn’t show the stains)

Resident Evil 5 (XBOX 360) Product Information

The biohazard threat has not ended: Just when it seemed that the menace of Resident Evil had been destroyed, along comes a new terror to send shivers down players spines. Chris Redfield, returning Resident Evil hero, has followed the path of the evil literally around the globe. After joining a new organization, Chris heads to Africa where the latest bioterrorism threat is literally transforming the people and animals of the city into mindless, maddened creatures. Chris must take on the challenge of discovering the truth behind this evil plot. In Resident Evil 5, Capcom will teach players to fear the daylight as much as they have feared shadow in previous games.

• Chris Redfield, protagonist of the original Resident Evil and Resident Evil: Code Veronica, returns
• New environments and a diverse assortment of locations
* New enemies bring new challenges: speed and intelligence make adversaries as dangerous singly as they are in groups.
•  An arsenal of weapons at the players command to keep the evil at bay, including knives, pistols, machine guns, sniper rifles and more.
• Lighting effects provide a new level of suspense in both harsh light and deepest shadow
•  True high definition gaming on multiple game platforms, using an advanced version of Capcoms proprietary game engine, MT Framework, which powered the next-gen, million-plus hit titles Devil May Cry 4, Lost Planet and Dead Rising.

Resident Evil 5 (XBOX 360) Product Information

As a regular follower of the Resident Evil series, it’s easy for me to run through the wholesale changes that Capcom has made to bring the Resident Evil series into the 21st century with this fifth installment of the series. That’ll be later, however. For now, it’s about you, the RE n00b, and why you won’t understand all the series’ hype over the years after playing Resident Evil 5.

Yes, Resident Evil 5 has evolved this franchise a great dealm and in that evolutionary process is a solid video game. But being a bit too resistant to change—sticking a bit too much to its guns—keeps RE5 from being a top-tier hit for all audiences that are classified “M” for mature (at least in age).

And while I’m talking about guns and sticking to them, it’s really the perfect time to bring up the crux of RE5’s issue for the regular Joe: the gun-based combat. If you’ve ever said, “I just can’t get into Resident Evil [fill in the blank],” it’s more than likely because of the aiming and combat movement system.

We all knew that Capcom wasn’t going to radically change the can’t-move-and-shoot system for Resident Evil 5—Japanese developers being resistant to change, series popularity and all that jazz. Yes, there are obvious merits in a set-then-shoot system, especially for a game in a genre with the word “survival” in it. But really, it’s time for a change.

The inability to fire on the run and aim quickly and accurately is past the point where it brings sheer anxiety and the “should I fire or run to a safe haven?” dynamic to the gameplay. In RE5 the wonky combat system feels really out of place because the pacing of the zombies is much higher than in previous games, which makes not being able to target enemies efficiently more frustrating than intense. In Resident Evil 5, retreating to a “safe’ spot to stop-and-pop is mostly futile since the speedy undead are on top of you like right now. So, yeah, there will be moments where you’ll yearn for the lawnmower from Dead Rising in your hands rather than a Beretta.

The game’s plot was obviously built around the new concept of co-op play. Survival/horror purists may contend that, in games such as Alone in the Dark, you should actually be alone…in the dark. This may be true in certain cases, but in RE5’s case, the co-op action has been built to make it a better game in nearly every way. For instance, sometimes you will be alone in RE5, because the game has been designed to split up Chris and Sheva in order for them to accomplish separate tasks.

If you can’t deal with the combat gameplay in the RE series (there’s a demo to save you potential naysayers a few bucks), then there’s a good chance that you won’t be buying what the boxed copy of Resident Evil 5 is selling. But if there’s even the slightest amount of indifference in your brain about the aiming and gunplay of RE, then Resident Evil 5 is worth your time.

On the other side, those who have followed the series for years and can’t get past the whole co-op thing, it’s same result: You’re going to have a problem with RE5. Embrace the conceptual change—just like you had to do when RE4 went over-the-shoulder—and you’ll quickly realize that Resident Evil 5 is worthy company for the rest of your survival/horror game collection.

Full review TEAMXBOX