First Impressions: Resident Evil 5 (PC)

Hmmmm, where to begin.  As of this writing, I have put in 4 hours into Resident Evil 5, which puts me at just finishing Chapter 2-2.

Now I knew before going into Resident Evil 5 that I was not going to be getting a grade A survival horror experience that I would have gotten from playing the first Resident Evil or even a more recent game in the genre like Five Nights At Freddies or Amnesia: The Dark Descent.  What I felt that I was undertaking was the next iteration of what Capcom believed the public wanted after the phenomenal success of Resident Evil 4 and games similar to Call of Duty and Gears of War; I am of course speculating based on my perceptions of those games (which I have not played) and the changes I have seen in this series since 2000 (when I first started playing the Resident Evil series).

If you have been keeping up with the articles that I have written over the last 30 days, you will know that I am coming into this game after having finished Resident Evil: Revelations on the 3DS mainly because that is the order of the games in their in-game chronology, and because I have a backlog of 3DS games that I have not played since I first purchased them; so RE:5 was put on the back burner until after I finished RE:R even though RE:5 was released three years before RE:R.

Which brings me to Chris Redfield and his bulging biceps on their safari into West Africa. . . I've never been a fan of Chris in the RE series, not because of his visual aesthetic as he seems to have bulked out over the years, but because I started out playing as Jill Valentine (I liked the extra inventory slots and the ability to pick locks) and I guess I just picked a side, and Chris Redfield wasn't it.  To me, he just seems like the all around American action hero, especially the way that he is depicted here; his background even includes being an Air Force pilot who had a bad-boy/penchant for disobeying orders (but not so much to be slapped with a dishonorable discharge).  I mean Jesus Christ, look at those guns!  If that's not a Commando physique, I do not care to find out (or watch Commando again for that matter) what is.  Okay, okay, I will stop body shaming Mr. Redfield and just leave it at him being ever so slightly ridiculously designed.  So  moving on.

My biggest gripe at the moment with RE5 is one that has been voiced by a number (of tens of thousands?) of people, being that the game operates more as an action oriented game with zombies/infected rather than the survival horror roots that the game originated from.  Any horror that is present in the game, at least to me, seems to stem from being overwhelmed by the infected Majini trying to kill Chris and his new partner Sheva Alomar, a native African whose history is tied to misdeeds by Umbrella Corp.  The abilities of the infected are not particularly effective with the majority of them (so far) which consists of unarmed, melee, and crossbow armed individuals, with the occasional exploding head, infected dog and flying creature-thing.  What makes these encounters terrifying is the lack of being able to do anything while moving.  Possibly as a response to RE5, at least in RE:R the characters were able to reload while moving, which was a favorite tactic of mine.  Imagine playing Left 4 Dead 2 and only being able to fire and reload while being stationary.  This being, at least for the moment, the sole source of fear and horror for me, do not constitute a mechanic that a fun and successful game should be based around, Resident Evil or otherwise.  BUT, I acknowledge that I am a sucker for this franchise, so I will continue on.

One other problem that I have at least once every time I play is that the world will break with bits "splintering off" and extending into infinity.  I do not know the exact terminology for when this happens, so let us just look at some evidence.

What is happening here is two-fold.  First and most obviously, there was a problem with a post (or something that Chris is standing in front of) and is "splitting" off to the right causing a blending/melding/vomiting of color.  Then, there is a piece of Chris' hair that is extending down and to the right.  While this does not technically make the game 'not-playable,' it certainly makes it more difficult in some areas.  In one instance, I was convinced that there was a break that was extending through a wall, which turned out to be an exploding tripwire.

In this area, which was pretty early on in the stage (2-2 I think), part of something with a green, yellow, brown, and black palette extended and looked like waist high sludge.  It became very distracting while trying to find where enemies had fallen and dropped items  lay, and eventually I had to give up as even rotating the camera to look at the ground did not result in a better view.

Another aspect of the game that I have noticed is how linear the level design is.  Using the map from the same area as the above picture, you can see that the level is built in a linear manner, and this is something that is found in every level that I have played so far.  Now, I do not have a problem with linear built levels or levels that funnel the player in a particular direction with environmental features used as impassible barriers with Left 4 Dead 2 being a great example of creating the illusion of agency, that the player is deciding where to go.  Maybe this is just an effect of having a map showing the stages area at the beginning of the level, and I could probably just as easily turn off the map, which I have done a few times, mainly because it takes up a decent portion of the screen, even if it is semi-transparent.

The last thing that I am going to complain about, is the AI for your partner Sheva.  While I do somewhat appreciate having an active partner, especially with the game being more action oriented than all other previous numbered games in the RE series, I am frequently annoyed with Sheva's aiming capabilities.  Often when we have found ourselves in tight alleyways and rooms, Sheva will fire at the enemies, even if I happen to be blocking her line of sight.  Thankfully friendly fire is not a thing here otherwise I would have died a lot more by now and I might have even given up after the first hour.  Sheva's inability to recognize the fact that I am standing in her way, never intentionally in her way mind you, makes me not want to give her ammunition if she is just going to unload her gun into my back, when I could have used the bullets myself and actually had a beneficial effect.  However, if she is not armed, then is likely to be killed, which has the same effect as Chris (being the player) being killed.  In an opposite manner, I have found that when I use my "run away, turn and fire" tactic, Sheva is typically standing between me and whatever monstrosity I am attempting to kill, so I will sometimes accidentally end up shooting her while she is trying to move out of the way.  And along the same lines, I have sometimes found that she will run a few steps ahead of me, especially in tight corridor areas which makes aiming at face-exploding-demon-dogs all the more difficult.

The other action that Sheva does, which is still AI related, is that her philosophy when it comes to healing is much different than mine.  Since the first Resident Evil, I will frequently hold onto green herbs until I come across a red herb in order to combine them (which allows me to then heal for 100% instead of just 25% with one) and hold off healing myself until I am a hit or two away from death.  Sheva's AI on the other hand is often what I consider to be wasteful in her handling of green herbs.  If she has two individual green herbs, she will always combine them (which is not as effective as it would then only heal 50%).  Or, she will be very liberal with her application of green herbs and health sprays (aerosol that heals health to 100%), often using them if I am at a point that using one (or two combined green herbs) will bring me close to full even if I am not worried about my health.

For the two above concerns regarding AI in the game, I really wish that there was some way to change the way that your partner acts.  Maybe Capcom developing a significantly less than ideal AI was meant to encourage people to play co-op (which is doable, but I choose not to because I am an introvert and do not want to have to schedule time to play a video game with another online person), but damn it Capcom, your tactics will not work on me!

So you might be wondering, dear reader, why I continue playing a game that I obviously have so many issues with?  My answer to you is because I am more interested with the overarching story being told throughout the entire series rather than what Chris and the BSAA have going on in this fictional area of Africa.  I anticipate that even when I work my way to Resident Evil 6, that I will have some additional concerns and annoyances equal to (or surpassing?) those that I have with Resident Evil 5.  But then again, I ended up liking Dead Space 3 much more than Dead Space 2 despite the fact that it was a more action heavy game than the second installment.  I guess we will just have to wait until 2017 (or possibly 2018 depending on my ability to work my way though my ever expanding back catalogue) to see the end result of the next games in this series.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Instrumental


P.S.

Whad'ya mean the neck needs to be reinforced!?

I will say though, that although completely impractical and obviously inspired by Silent Hill, the character design on a number of the bosses that I've come across is pretty bad ass (and absurdly large) in a way that is fitting in the Resident Evil universe.