Resident Evil 5

Over the weekend (in two separate sessions) I played through Resident Evil 5 in local co-op, from beginning to end. Building on my great satisfaction with RE4 Wii, I still plan on picking up a copy of this for myself at some point, but I am now substantially less anxious to do so.

Most of the basic mechanics of RE5 are similar to RE4's - similar enough that it's difficult to find anything new to appreciate. The biggest changes of note are the inventory system (now everything takes up a single slot, although you are eternally limited to 9 slots), and, obviously, your partner. I've heard tell that the AI partner can perform rather poorly, but I've never played with it so I can't really say one way or the other on this.

So the mechanics are the same; but the content is pretty different. RE4 starts out slow, but methodical, and develops gradually from a suspenseful thriller into an engaging action game. RE5 rushes out of the gate pulling no punches, and is overall about half the length of its predecessor. Filled with schlocky dialog and Michael Bay-caliber explosions, this game feels much more Hollywood than RE4. And yes, much of it does come off as cheap and tacky.

In general though, it is a good game. This is despite a number of gameplay sequences that are of seriously questionable design - I speak in particular of two enemy encounters that present you with a powerful foe, but in fact expect you to survive for some measure of time, rather than actually attempt to fight. One is near the beginning of the game, when you have yet to really understand what it wants from you. One is near the end of the game, when you are quite certain that your fighting ability should meirt more than running and hiding. (Incidentally, the ending sequence is entirely too long, and words fail to describe how relieved my partner and I were when it was finally over.)

But as I said: in general, it is good. Not as good as RE4. Definitely not. While the addition of co-op makes for a fun multiplayer experience, it brings with it a certain shallowness - in item management, in cinematic quality, in the overall game length - that really detract from the single-player game. Though Resident Evil 4 brought the franchise tantamount to single-player adventure perfection, Resident Evil 5 has managed to stray somewhat farther from this position.

Progress: Finished normal in co-op