I was initially turned off of RE5 from the demo. I really hated it. I sucked pretty bad, and couldnt get very far in the demo. It was very frustrating, so I vowed to avoid RE5. Now mind you, my only previous experience in RE games have both been on the Wii, with RE4 and Umbrella Chronicles. Now I know UC was totally unique in that it was a rail shooter, but RE4 was a game I enjoyed. I felt comfortable playing it on the Wii, and got pretty far too. But enought about that. Steve got RE5 from Gamefly and was raving about it, everyone on Co-optimus was raving about it, so I decided to give in and try to rent it from Gamefly. I just got it in this weekend.
So I played it last night and this morning, and so far I am enjoying it. The graphics and sound are amazingly great. The controls definitely had a learning curve, especially since I had not played the older RE games, but I picked up pretty quickly. Sure, the whole “cant run and shoot at the same time” thing is there, but that wasnt as much a concern as the whole “cant pause the game to access the inventory” thing. I died several times as I ran out of ammo and was unable to get to a safe spot to access the inventory and equip a new gun. However, Steve gave me the heads up on how to hotkey certain items to the directional, so that should help me in the future.
The AI partner is a pain in the arse. She doesnt really do what I need her to do. Thats understandable, since its just a bot and cannot know what my thoughts are. I feel that it is 10 times better playing online with a friend.
Steve and me got our first online game going tonight. It took a while to figure out how to invite him, but once we got rocking, I was impressed. First off, if you join a friend’s game, you bring with you all of your own items. This was cool because I had just started the game, so I didnt have much, while Steve had already completed the game, and thus brought a bunch of upgraded weapons with him. Also, any treasures or gold you find in game gets duplicated to your partner. So if I pick up a $100 gold piece, both Steve and I got $100 in gold. I liked that a lot.
In general, it was nice to be able to play with a friend. There were a few times when someone would say “watch out!” as we saw the zombie things attack from behind. The voice chat was perfect, I experienced no lag, once we figured out how to play together, it was a very enjoyable experience.
Its funny. I would love to own this game, and I can see myself playing through several times. It is a lot of fun when you play with a friend, and the need to fully upgrade weapons and stuff gives the game some extra life. At the same time though, I am not willing to shell out the $60 for it ($47.99 if I decide to keep it now through Gamefly). I could see myself buying this as a used game at some point down the road for something like $30 or so, but I dont think I would spend any more than that. The online is fun, but its only the main mission, and you can only go through the same levels so many times.
I would definitely recommend checking the game out. The online experience is a blast, and worth at least a rent.
