Resident Evil 5 Demo

I've spent a few days playing the demo now, so here are some of my thoughts;

Firstly, RE is truly no longer a horror game. RE4 started the trend, but RE5 cements it, the game isn't scary at all anymore, it's broad daylight, and you have a partner. More on that later.

The first two things that'll hit you;

A) The graphics are very nice

B) It's a lot like RE4.

Let's start with A. Yes, they're lovely. As you'd expect, the shiny HD visuals look great, there's detail everywhere, you can see the glowing red eyes of the villagers, trees sway in the breeze, Chris' (now looking like a body builder with the steroid induced biceps) veins in his arm. However, they're not perfect. Granted, it's only a demo, but there was a signifcant amount of screen tearing present, something that simply shouldn't happen in a 1080p flagship title. The other thing, and this bothered me far more, is that many of the animations are identical to RE4s. The running, aiming, knife attacks, even the villagers taking a swing at you use almost the same motions as RE4's Ganados. So, it looks great initially, but soon comes across as being lazy, like RE4 in HD.

Speaking of which, it plays the same. Exactly the same. You still can't shoot and move at the same time, which feels ridiculous, like the game is trying to up the tension by deliberately cripplig you with poor controls, rather than scaring you with any sense of atmosphere, like RE1 did. You run, take a headshot, run take a headshot, run take a headshot. One of the set pieces in the demo is very reminiscent of a piece in RE4 where you and Luis were inside a house under siege; the same mechanism applies here, pushing stuff up against the windows to keep out your attackers, then gradually backing up as they pour in. Oh, and now there's a big marker on screen saying "help!".

That'll be Sheva, your new partner. She's fairly handy with a pistol, often taking down assailants you miss, but she's not invincible, and she seems to allow herself to get mobbed far too frequently. Hopefully a decent co op pilot would sort that out. It might even be the game's saving grace, as, on the face of it, RE5 offers absolutely nothing new.

To say I'm massively disappointed would be a step too far, but then I was one of the lone few who openly never 'got' Resi 4. RE5 leaves me just as cold.

so it'd make a good gift is what yer sayin?

The demo is only the beta (or whatever) version of the game. It's been confirmed that the graphics and the physics of the complete version will be superior. Ammunition will also be more sparse.
As for running and shooting at the same time, it's never been in RE series. Why is everyone on the 360 board moaning about the controls?

Anyway, even though I prefer the old style as well, I deem RE4 and RE5 excellent action games. Plus RE5 has an outstanding plot.

well shit a;right then

Faldio wrote:

As for running and shooting at the same time, it's never been in RE series. Why is everyone on the 360 board moaning about the controls?

People are complaining about the controls because they're massively dated. Hardcore RE fans may not mind the controls being clunky, but to everyone else it's clear that they needed an overhaul.

Not being able to move and shoot was never an issue in the early games, as enemy encounters were relatively sparse, the enemies dim witted and slow moving, now with the focus on action....well, see below.

Quote :

Anyway, even though I prefer the old style as well, I deem RE4 and RE5 excellent action games.

That's just it though, RE shouldn't be action games at all, all that does just brings the control system under even greater scrutiny. Action games should be fast paced, with a control system to match.

I don't know whether I want this or not.

On one hand, I liked RE4 but it didn't do the Resident Evil name right.

On the other hand....well I stated the other hand already.

Never played the RE series, but not being able to shoot while moving sounds like one of the dumbest ideas ever for an action game.

Typical X360 owner who has never touched a RE game and bitches for everything. It's a survival horror game, not a shooter.

And people would still complain if the gameplay style hadn't evolved, like they did with Twilight Princess because it bore a resemblance to OoT.

You said it was an action game.

A_Nonny_Moose wrote:

Never played the RE series, but not being able to shoot while moving sounds like one of the dumbest ideas ever for an action game.

Which was precisely my point.

It was fine when the gameplay wasn't so combat driven, but certainly in RE4, and looking likely in RE5 it's just going to be an unnecessary burden.

Faldio wrote:

Typical X360 owner who has never touched a RE game and bitches for everything. It's a survival horror game, not a shooter.

WAS a Survival Horror game. Not it's just an action game.

RE5 has Albert Wesker. That's reason enough for me to get it. Wesker's always been my fav. RE villain. And I loved playing as him in the mercenaries mode in RE4. Hopefully, Something like that will be present and we (Mostly me) will actually get to play as Super Wesker instead of "pretending to be normal" Wesker. XD

Wesker is playable in the Mercenaries minigame and you'll fight him thrice during the game (the trophies list revealed a hand to hand combat in a volcano).

DevilKingBaal wrote:

Faldio wrote:

Typical X360 owner who has never touched a RE game and bitches for everything. It's a survival horror game, not a shooter.

WAS a Survival Horror game. Not it's just an action game.

Being an action game is something too vague. Precisely, it's categorised as a Survival Horror game as well.

By the way, Dead Space also didn't have the "run and shoot" feature, but nobody was bothered. 360 owners are just enraaaaaaaaaged because this game isn't like Gears of War (thanks God).

Gears of War is pretty meh. Not really a fan of shooters. They can be fun to play with friends, but I'd have no interest in playing them alone. And since a few of my friends buy them, I get the multiplayer experience anyway.

I'm just saying it sounds like an artificial limit that's there just to disguise the fact that it's more of a shooter than a survival horror now.

It's not a shooter.

I must say it looks an awful lot like a shooter. Just because you're not railing off whole clips of ammo into abundant hordes of enemies like in some games doesn't mean it's not a shooter. Shooting stuff seems to be a big part of the game.

And having to stand still while shooting looks a bit awkward, especially up close.

You officially fall into the category of players described in the 1st post: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=929198&topic=47924368

The category of FPS/TPS fans who don't like RE5?

Faldio wrote:

By the way, Dead Space also didn't have the "run and shoot" feature, but nobody was bothered. 360 owners are just enraaaaaaaaaged because this game isn't like Gears of War (thanks God).

I'm not enraged that RE isn't Gears, because if I want to play Gears, then that's what I'll do.

As for Dead Space, then you speak the truth. However, the comparison between RE and DS is't entirely fair; Dead Space was certainly much more atmospheric than RE4/5, and built up tension properly, with use of sound effects, darkness, and a lot of the sense of peril was built up with what you don't see. It also encouraged you to dismember your enemies (who nine times out of ten were running straight at you) to slow them down, and you even had a 'bullet time' mode built into the suit to help you. So DS was less of an action game than RE4/5 appear to be, and it had it's own ways of getting around the limitations of it's control scheme.

Faldio wrote:

DevilKingBaal wrote:

Faldio wrote:

Typical X360 owner who has never touched a RE game and bitches for everything. It's a survival horror game, not a shooter.

WAS a Survival Horror game. Not it's just an action game.

Being an action game is something too vague. Precisely, it's categorised as a Survival Horror game as well.

By the way, Dead Space also didn't have the "run and shoot" feature, but nobody was bothered. 360 owners are just enraaaaaaaaaged because this game isn't like Gears of War (thanks God).

Dead Space is actually survival horror though. RE 4 & 5 just have survival horror slapped on. RE4 the only time I was creeped out was the Regenerators and Iron Maiden's. And after a while of seeing them so much I honestly stopped and just blasted through them. RE5 looks to be the same way.

P.S. :I still haven't gotten Dead Space yet.

on my box it says survival action no t survival horror specifically

By the way Simian, I need you to download the PSN RE5 demo too so that I can be your Chris and you my Sheva...

Oh god, that's just awful.

Nah, he'll certainly enjoy it.