No RE5 light-ups? :)

[seanrobertson]

Gentlemen, distinguished ladies and esteemed transgendered folk,

Gamespot gives RE5 8.5/10. 1UP gives it a B; and GameSpy, an effective 9/10.

From the [albeit incredibly brief] demo I downloaded from XBox Live, I find these ratings ... optimistic.

In the section I played, my partner and I were inside a shack, trying to keep zombies out. The premise is fine; God knows that I loved RE1, 2 and Code: Veronica many years ago.

Judging by the reaction y'all had to the demo, though, I wonder: how in the hell can this game make up for its slow-as-molasses controls?

I did my level-best to shoot the demo zombies invading my shack, but pointing my laser sights at them and firing away was a fucking chore. The word "plodding" came to mind, and I was immediately turned off. It felt like the virtual opposite of latter-day GTA targetting, in which you'd simply lock onto the nearest target. While that works, it's almost too easy. Much as I hate to invoke a golden mean, how about -- gasp -- natural aiming?

For example -- and although I'm not a marksman by any means -- when I shoot live rounds, target acquisition doesn't require that I slowly drag a laser up to the target's head and/or torso over the course of two seconds. Ceritus paribus, I can acquire the "meat" of the target in a second or less, fire and, of course, see an immediate effect (holes in the target paper).

Has anyone played RE5 proper and, if so, can you confirm that the awkward shooting in the demo doesn't impede the game taken as a whole?

I might rent the sucker tomorrow just to see if I can better slog through it, but I'm obvious curious here: what do you make of the title?

[Stark]

Los says it's dumb but fun coop. Jesus, I can only imagine what they say about HAWX. Not 'laughably easy, boring and scripted' I guess

[Ubiquitous]

I have only played it for 20 minutes but I got destroyed by mass swarms right at the start of the game, and then an enemies head blew off to reveal this fucking razor-tentacle monster. In true Res Evil fashion I had no ammo and had to try and fend it off with a knife. I died and haven't been back since.

I spoke to two of my friends about the game today though and they both raved about it, especially co-op. I will give it an other try later in the week [maybe on a different difficulty setting].

[Losonti Tokash]

No, in true Res Evil fashion you should have run like a little bitch. That first swarm is too big to fight by design, you're supposed to just say "fuck this" and book it to shelter.

At any rate the co-op makes it amazing. It plays pretty much exactly like 4, but the shops are now between levels or when you reload a checkpoint. No more of the crazy shopkeeper, which kind of makes me sad.

Story is what you'd expect, cutscenes are completely over the top as well.
Spoiler

I did like when you get into the former umbrella base and there's still a few t- and g-virus monsters roaming about.

[Pulp Hero]

I'm only just to the oilfield area, so I can't speak about the whole game.

I do like the targeting, though I wish you could walk and aim at the same time- I know it is supposed to up the "scare" factor, but RE5 is not a "horror" game, it is a survival shooter.

I don't like the way weapon ammunition is handled. I don't like the fact that an MP5 and SIG556 share the same bullets. I would have prefered that each weapon uses the real life ammunition type, and that certain ammunition types are common (9mm, 7.62x39, 12 gauge, 7.62x54/30-06) on maps, while certain types used for other weapons (5.56mm, .45cal, 6.8mm, etc) are bought at the store.

Also, giving the "mook" commando squad one badass cutscene was a nice touch.

[Losonti Tokash]

I like how you criticize the fact that there's just a generic machine gun ammo and not the fact that I have an MP5 with a 150 round magazine.

[Pulp Hero]

I was just criticizing the most glaring issue to me, I haven't really upgraded anything except the shotgun and pistol, so its not noticeable.

But yeah, that's dumb. The game ought to just let you purchase LMGs after a certain point.

[SylasGaunt]

I've played to just after the mook squad gets their bad-ass cutscene, exploited the item system at the start of 2-1 to buff my pistol a bit.

The pistol feels a lot more effective with it's critical rate upped, lots more head popping that way.

The laser sight can still be a bit difficult to see thanks to the lighting, especially at long range.