I've put off playing Resident Evil 5 for awhile now -- I was excited for the game, but the demo really turned me off. Between the crappy controls and the annoying AI partner, I immediately lost all interest in the game.
I finally rented RE5, and my initial impressions of the demo were reinforced. The gameplay is essentially that of Resident Evil 4 minus the cool atmosphere and entertaining plot. Throw in a idiotic AI companion and an asinine control scheme, and you've got one heck of a failed sequel.
The biggest problem are the controls, which you will be fighting constantly. From the annoying over-the-shoulder view to the abysmal aiming setup, this game is about as clunky and unintuitive as they come.
The game itself doesn't build on Resident Evil 4 at all. The level design is worse, the setting is completely uninteresting, and even the fun weapon-upgrade system from RE4 seems like it has been dumbed down.
I lasted up until the end of Chapter 2 (about an hour and a half) before I stopped playing in disgust.
I suspect that the game is a bit more fun when you're playing cooperatively with a real person... but you'll still have to deal with the annoying controls and the ho-hum gameplay. Meh.
The controls are intentionally clunky; it's supposed to instill panic by making it difficult to aim against the slowly encroaching opponents. A welcome change to the typical super-easy-auto-aim of most shooters. It was indeed really very annoying to adapt to, but once I got into it the game was really fun.
Then again, I had buddies to play co-op with throughout the entire game. I never even experienced the AI. :P I'm pretty sure the main reason I enjoyed the game is that it's very conducive to intense cooperation with a buddy. Lots of inventory trading and "you shoot that guy I'll shoot that other guy" stuff. It's one of the few games where I felt cooperation was a real, fluid necessity instead of a tacky last-minute feature. One qualm I did have with the game was the ridiculous use of quicktimes. Later on in the game it becomes outright silly. | |
The main problem I had with Resident Evil 5 was that it didn't play like a Resident Evil title, per se. They more or less ditched the puzzle solving elements of past games for a more straightforward run-and-gun approach with a few button mashing quick-time events spliced in(which seem to be all the rage nowadays). In the end, it really just ended up feeling more like a generic action shooter than a survival horror game.
The controls, while not being much of an improvement over the RE4 controls, weren't really terrible. I will have to agree with you about your AI partner, however. It really tends to become an even more serious problem later in the game when you're trying to, say, sneak between a group of patrolling Lickers without alerting them, since your AI partner seems hellbent on sprinting directly into each and every one of them. Couple that with her ability to completely waste any ammo handed to her in a manner of seconds, and you've got a pretty worthless partner. While the game certainly isn't as great as it's predecessors, I did enjoy it to some extent, and co-op play greatly improves the experience. | |
I'm fairly certain that the controls were similar to Resident Evil 4.
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Quaddw wrote:
I'm fairly certain that the controls were similar to Resident Evil 4. I think they were pretty much the same, only you can strafe now. | |
SuperAntx wrote:
Quaddw wrote: You can switch to a control style that's identical to RE4, without the strafing. | |
Reinhartstar wrote:
The main problem I had with Resident Evil 5 was that it didn't play like a Resident Evil title, per se. They more or less ditched the puzzle solving elements of past games for a more straightforward run-and-gun approach with a few button mashing quick-time events spliced in(which seem to be all the rage nowadays). In the end, it really just ended up feeling more like a generic action shooter than a survival horror game. This, I think, is the root of the problem. The old control setup may have made sense for a survival horror game... but since RE5 is basically a shooter pretending to be a survival horror game, it needed a new control setup. If the developers want to make this a shooter series, then they need to dump the late 90's era controls. I never had a problem with the controls in any of the old RE games, and I absolutely loved RE4 on the Wii. Like I mentioned above, I also feel like the atmosphere and setting in this game is the weakest so far in the series. Not my cup of tea. | |
I got annoyed from her calling me partner 500 times, Never even got to finish the first chapter. lol
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By atmosphere/setting I'm guessing you mean it doesn't revolve around 'haunted houses and ruined cities' type of stuff? You actually experience a whole lot of different environments in RE5, but never the aforementioned. The closest you'll get to that is a huge steel Umbrella Corp. building. I had a lot of fun with the different environments in the game, but it's certainly not a tea that'll taste good in anyone's cup.
If you're yearning for a real high quality console game, I'd suggest Prototype. Sandbox superpowers type game, but extremely fun. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V129-5QK86o | |
If you want to run around in a haunted mansion, play Luigi's Mansion. =p
Resident Evil has already been there, done that, then redid it a few times for good measure. It wouldn't be much of a series if it didn't continue to evolve. | |
SuperAntx wrote:
Resident Evil has already been there, done that, then redid it a few times for good measure. It wouldn't be much of a series if it didn't continue to evolve. The point is that if it's going to turn into a shooter series, then the controls and gameplay better evolve along with it. Mario 64 didn't use the controls from Super Mario World. Besides, apart from the crappy controls, this game was a noticeable step backwards from RE4. There was certainly no evolution happening here. | |
You move and strafe with the left joystick, and you aim with the right. That's perfectly fine and if there's something wrong with it then there's something wrong with every fps on the market.
Since it isn't a shooter, you have to hold LT to pull your gun out (LB for knife). While holding it you're able to reload with the A button or shoot with the RT. If you're not holding your gun out the A button acts as a sprint button. I can see how this might confuse some players, but it basically just means you aren't able to run and gun like in a fps where your gun is always out and you're aiming. Being a survival horror game you have to sacrifice your speed and maneuverability in order to pop off a few shots. It takes 5 minutes to get used to and In my opinion any clunkiness felt afterwards is user error because they think they're playing Gears of War. As for being a step backwards, what about all the co-op gameplay? The only problem with RE4 is your friend couldn't jump in and shoot zombies with you. | |
I've only played the demo and I had a blast. Did you correctly calibrate your joystick sensitivity?
It pretty much felt as smooth as Gears only you couldn't move and shoot at the same time, but that's part of what makes Resident Evil a survival horror game in the first place.
I can't really say much about the AI having only played the demo, but she didn't die once during repeat playings. The most I've heard is she'll use her pistol instead of more powerful weapons and she'll waste herbs on you when you only have a scratch.