Resident Evil 5
I played Resident Evil 4 for the first time earlier this year. It was a game that I always wanted to play due to its reputation and influence but never got to, and was a bit intimidated by. It’s an older game with “quirky” controls, and I wasn’t sure what to expect.
Needless to say, I loved it. I enjoyed the gameplay and the scenario, and once finished, I wanted more. It’s rare that such a long game leaves me wanting, even after playing the DLC campaign.
Due to how much I enjoyed RE 4, I jumped into Resident Evil 5 right after, and the experience wasn’t exactly the same.
While the base gameplay was still just as good as before, everything else was lacking. The encounters and enemies weren’t as fun to fight, the scenario was uninteresting, and the pacing wasn’t as well-tuned.
While RE 4 naturally flowed from the village to the castle and then the final island, RE 5 had more scenarios, but they felt disjointed, and I easily lost track of why I was even there. I can hardly remember the story. There are some infamous moments like when Chris punched a boulder, but that’s what it was, a collection of “moments” for the sake of it with very little connective tissue. RE 4 wasn’t some masterpiece in this regard, but there was a natural flow that kept me engaged, from being infected, to saving the President’s daughter, to chasing some of the villains; there was a clear motivation to keep playing. There’s very little of that in RE 5.
The inventory and upgrade system was a big downgrade as well. From the “puzzle-like” suitcase system to a very limited inventory that was shared with my AI partner and upgrades that could only be bought between levels or after I died. It was cumbersome and limited.
Maybe if this was played as a co-op title, it would have been better. My AI co-op partner wasn’t a nuisance and didn’t get in the way, but it also wasn’t particularly compelling having an extra inventory to manage and hope she would use the items and ammo I gave her.
Unlike RE 4, I had to force myself to keep playing and finishing it (I also had to play through one of the DLCs twice since it didn’t save and it crashed during the final boss fight). I enjoyed it while playing, but I wasn’t excited to get into it, and nothing was compelling to move forward except wanting to put it behind me. I will most likely play RE Revelations next (on the 3DS), so I won’t be reaching the highs of RE 4 anytime soon.