As over almost 2 million others have done within the past week, I downloaded the free Resident Evil 5 demo from Xbox Live! the other night. Since this game is slotted to really be this year’s first multi-platform blockbuster, it deserves some love.
First impression was a good one – and its probably not what you think. It was the download size. I probably got a good hour or two of enjoyment out of the demo with solo and co-op play and it was only slightly over half a gig in size. Looking at other games that game that much content like Mirror’s Edge or LOTR: Conquest which are both over a gig and really didn’t have that much more to show for it. The download over my puny “hi-speed” connection was over before I knew it and I jumped right in.
More After the jump…
I was a bit surprised at no intro video, however that probably helped a good bit in the file size. I went into the first scenario playable in the demo, and was happy to see something that hopefully gives me an idea what the game is about, other than killing infected. What I got, which was a bunch of foreign language and an English speaking character getting executed, actually left me more confused than when I started. It was at that point that I really thought the story is either unfinished or irrelevant at this point. Basically it was time to blow up things!
First thing notice is the graphics and how good they look. The character models are very smooth and well created, however what really drew my eye was the environment. During moments when I was not being attacked I would just look around and I could really feel the oppression and danger. I could sense that this place had been to hell and was still there.
Moving on, the control scheme is somewhat similar to RE4 on Gamecube. D-pad is for quick item-selection with Y as a more in-depth 9-slot inventory. Your basic move speed is at a walk and pretty directional. Meaning up is forward, down is back, left turns you left, and right turns you right. This is a pretty common control scheme, however I always would rather control all head/gun movement independently from the rest of the body. I am a frequent FPS player and this was an irk I had as I sometimes could not make it around a small bend on the first try. The next thing I immediately noticed was that, run-n-gun was missing from this game as well. I was resolved to this gameplay choice as an attempt at realism, but could never quite convince myself. Capcom later made a statement that this was intentional, and meant to force players to focus on cooperating. I take issue with this statement as we have just been shown a very good horror co-op game in Left4Dead that has this exact feature. I can understand having a slow move speed, this isn’t Counterstrike. But there is zero movement when aiming. I found myself getting hit a LOT and rescued by my partner within the first 10 minutes of the first stage. If they said that it made the player focus on strategy, such as gaining the high ground, or focus on using your environment for cover opportunities. I believe this to be a justification for why they really made this choice – Capcom likes this and they’re not going to change it because it obviously works. Look at the sales for RE4; people didn’t really have a problem with it then and will put up with it now because the rest of the game is top-notch.
The enemies are legion in number and come from everywhere. In the first scenario my partner and I fought to get to the raised platform so that we could at least only have two places to cover rather than everywhere. The variety in the infected is nice – they’ve previously been a bit cookie-cutter and it was nice to see a large variety. I love shooting the weapons from the hands of the infected, which saves precious life. The one-button assist system is also very cool. With only one button you can assist your partner if they get in trouble, knocking infected off them.
Another beautiful addition was that of the soundtrack. The tense music tells you that you’re about to get attacked most of the time. Every once in a while it psyches you out and I found myself listening for the tense music and cringing every time it came on. It was more than just your run-of-the-mill drama hits and shocks. The eerie melodies that crept in and out reminded me quite a bit of how Heroes uses their music not just to set up a delivery, but to really round out a scene.
The gameplay? I was a bit torn on it due to my FPS background but to give RE5 full credit where it deserves, it was pretty polished. Collision detection was a bit of a problem with doors, but as any programmer can tell you, that is a near impossible battle to win completely. Since the animations really do not take into account other geometry other than things to hit and kill, you take what you can get. I did find myself wishing for an aim assist at times. I ran out of ammo once in the second scenario right before getting to Mister Chainsaw and it was a quick death for me because I wasted so much ammo previously on attempting headshots and missing. I give it an E for effort but only a B in execution. I’m sure some more polish will hit when retail becomes available.
So to really give it a recommendation, I will most likely rent this one. If you’re a RE fanboy then you don’t really care what I’m going to say and have already pre-ordered it. If you’re on the fence, wait for it to drop in price or rent it first to see if you’re going to like it. If you liked/loved RE4, then you will almost certainly like this prettier, co-op available version. It didn’t change anything major, but it did shine it up a good bit. Final ratings below:
Gameplay: 85/100
Graphics: 90/100
Control: 70/100
Sound/Music: 95/100
Overall: 85
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