The Replayability of Resident Evil 5

I think the review we have up for the game sums it up pretty nicely, but I would like to briefly expand on the controls. If RE4 retooled the formula, RE5 perfected it. The game gives you the ability to strafe while walking around, and honestly, that's all it needed. I don't ever feel the need to move and shoot - the game is built on the fact that you can't - and if I could, it would make it far too easy. As it stands, though, the combat is intensely gratifying, and there's no mistaking it for any other game. The controls, as they are now, are a defining aspect of the series, take it or leave it. If you leave it, it sucks to be you.

So let's move on to what I really want to talk about: the replayability of RE5, and why, after about 50 hours in, I'm still planning on playing all weekend long.

If you finish the game on Veteran difficulty, you'll unlock Professional mode. Let me tell you, it's aptly fucking named. Pretty much everything is a one-hit death for you, and at one point early on, I was freaking out because I was being killed by a chicken. If that's not a measure of difficulty, I don't know what is. Also, enemies take a LOT more damage, and good luck finding any ammo. You'll find a few rounds for the handgun, but that's about it. It seems like Professional is built to be ran through with infinite ammo, or a lot of punching and slitting of throats. It's a great ramp-up, but it probably won't be the difficulty I play most often. Veteran is just right, so if you play a ton of shooters, that'll be the way to go on your first play-through.

I say first, because I've completed it on Amateur, Normal, Veteran and Professional, and I'm still playing through various difficulties for specific reasons. The higher the difficulty, generally the more money you'll collect, and you'll also get more exchange points at the end of each chapter. The exchange points are used to buy extras once you've finished the game, and they range from novel items like figurines to essentials like infinite ammo for every gun in the game. Of course, you have to buy infinite ammo for each gun separately, and the cost ranges from 10,000 to 15,000 per gun. I have almost every gun, and I'm still working on buying the infinite ammo for all of them. Currently, I have it unlocked for the M92F, H&K P8, AK-74, Ithaca M37, M3, H&K PSG-1 and S&W M29. I have basically every situation covered, from up-close and personal douches with stun rods, to attackers shooting flaming explosives from 30 yards away.

And that's the joy I get from this game: I can continuously replay the same shit over and over again, but each time find a new reason to do so. Like I said, I still need to buy infinite ammo for a ton of weapons, and I'm going to try and get all the figurines. Right now, I'm working on trimming my play time on Amateur to under five hours so I can unlock the infinite Rocket Launcher and beat even more ass. That, by the way, is something I really appreciate about the game. Ok, so you have to beat the game in under five hours to get the launcher. Fair enough. But the great thing about it is that once you beat the game, you can go to the chapter select and see how long each chapter took you to finish. You can then decide which ones you could trim some time from, and just play the ones you want to. You'll see the overall play time on whichever difficulty you go through becoming less and less, and eventually you'll hit the magic five hour mark. Bravo, Capcom, that's some high-level genius shit right there. I'm at about 6 hours on Amateur and 6-and-a-half on Professional, so I still have some work to do.

Making it seem less like work is the massive arsenal I've stockpiled, and it's pretty amazing how different every gun feels. Even the three kinds of magnums have their own strong and weak points. There's the classic Dirty Harry .357, which does massive damage but has a lot of kickback and a slow rate of fire, and the more modern Desert Eagle, which does slightly less damage but fires about three shots a second and is really shiny. Apply the same comparisons to all 18 guns, and you've got yourself a lot of choices, and a lot of different ways to play the game.

Another high-level genius move by Capcom was to allow all your inventory to be available across every difficulty, both single player and co-op. This has let me acquire mass amounts of ammo, grenades and herbs to the point where I now laugh in the face of death as I piss in its mouth. Most bosses go down in under 15 seconds, and that's only because I lack the infinite Rocket Launcher. Once I get that, go ahead and reduce the boss fights to one-hitter quitters. Simply put, there isn't any better possible way to approach the design of this type of game. No matter what I'm doing, everything I pick up and achieve counts. Whether it's finding gold for buying more weapons and upgrades, or tallying up exchange points for unlockables, it all stays constant with my profile. What more could you ask for in an action game?

And let's face it, RE5 is an action game. It's not scary in the classic sense by any stretch of the immagination. So in that respect, you could argue that RE4 is superior. On the other hand, by giving you so many different weapons that can all unlock infinite ammo, in my book that equals Oblivion-like hours of decapitations and bloody mayhem. RE4 gave you the Chicago Typewriter and infinite Rocket Launcher, along with one of the greatest costumes in any game ever. But once you got those, there wasn't much else left to work towards. Which, mind you, I had no qualms about. I played through that game 4 times spanning 2 systems, so that's obviously not a complaint I have against it. But once you realize the sheer amount of options RE5 gives you in terms of firepower, if your jaw doesn't drop, it must be wired shut. Name me one other game that lets you play as a girl in an Amazonian bikini shooting zombies with a longbow. No, the one in your head doesn't count.

Last, but definitely not least, is Mercenaries mode. This mode completely changes the gameplay (it actually reminds me somewhat of The Club) into a fast-paced race against the clock to score as many points as possible by killing everything that moves as quickly as you can. Killing different kinds of enemies, along with the way you kill them, adds points to your score total. There are time extenders located throughout the maps, and you break them open to get, durh, extended time. You can play by yourself or co-op, and it's just insane how intense this thing can get. It really is like a separate game; the tactics that worked for much of the campaign simply don't hold up to the number and ferocity of the enemies in Mercenaries. The best way to go about it is to stick and move, killing a few guys at a time before relocating to a totally different spot. I think there are a total of 8 maps, and you have to rank at least an "A" on the previous map to unlock the next one. Once you do that, the main goal is to get an "S" rank, which, in co-op, is 150,000 points. To put that into perspective, the first time my friend and I tried the mode out, we scored about 45,000. We've yet to get over 60,000 (tip: dead chicken = 2,000 points). It's a total blast to play, though, and the drastically different gameplay is what makes me love it so much.

With everything now laid out, I really won't accept you not loving this game. If you don't, you've either been deceived somehow, or you're a charlatan with ulterior motives kept secret from the ever-prying eyes of your enemies. I am one of those enemies, and I don't like you. However, if you like shooters, and RE4 in particular, then this is a no-brainer. It's everything that made RE4 great, improved upon. That's high praise right there. Read more...

Final thoughts on RE5

Everybody has a gaming tradition or two. One of mine is with every new Resident Evil release, I take a few days off work, stock up on food and sodas, and cruise through yet another entry in my favorite franchise. That's exactly what I did this weekend, with the release of RE:5. After hearing months of criticism about racism and cumbersome controls, needless to say I was a little skeptical. Now all I have to say is: thank you Capcom, for reminding me why I love games again...

Story:
RE:5's story returns to the series roots, dealing with the Umbrella Corporation. No rescuing the President's daughter in this one. As a fan of the overall story arc of all of the Resident Evil games, I was relieved to see Capcom push the story forward, rather than have another detour. The cut scenes are for the most part well done. You can tell the Dev team took some cues from the likes of Metal Gear Solid 4. The over the top scenes do a great job of sucking you in. No Spoilers here, let me just say the game brings back some old characters, answers some questions, but also is friendly to newcomers as well.

Gameplay:
I am going to be upfront with this: I loved the way RE:4 controlled. RE:5 is VERY similar. The gunplay is handled with the left shoulder button to bring up your gun, right stick to aim, right trigger to fire. And by the way, you can't move when aiming. I can see why this might bother some, but I think it does a great job of adding white knuckle suspense. There is nothing like being surrounded by zombies(?) and choosing your shot and fighting your way through. There are some puzzles along the way to mix it up, but this is no Tomb Raider, action takes center stage here. Bosses are nothing mind blowing, but for the most part, they are fun.

Graphics:
RE:5 uses Capcom's new proprietary engine (MT Framework) and it really shines. Open environments, some of the best character models I've seen, and great effects (Especially the lighting). Sure there is a bland texture here and there, but overall RE:5 will impress, and it runs butter smooth. By the way, I played on PS3.

Final thought: Resident Evil fans, you owe it to yourself to pick this up. It is not as spooky as some of the originals, but it is intense. Action fans new to the series, try the demo. If you can learn to work with the controls, you will find a great experience to be had here. Read more...

Skate 2 and RE 5.

On Sunday I bought Skate 2. I never played the first one, and I've never played any Tony Hawk, so I don't have any hang-ups as far as the controls are concerned. I'm finding that the right analog stick works great for pulling off tricks, and I'm having a lot more fun than I ever thought I would with a skateboarding game. I don't usually play any sports games besides the occasional racing game, but I watched someone play the first Skate over the weekend and I thought I'd give it a try. I actually noticed something once I started playing -- Pure took a lot from the control scheme used in Skate. It's pretty much the same setup for doing tricks in both games. Right stick, plus a trigger and a face button do all the different moves available. I'm not complaining, since I had a lot of fun with Pure, and the controls felt spot-on. The same goes for Skate 2 so far, and hopefully I can find the time to finish it before the mini-onslaught of games coming out starting next month.


The other thing I've been playing the past two nights is the RE 5 demo. The short of it is that the game is pretty much what I expected. I played through RE 4 four times, so I like to consider myself an expert on its nuances. RE 5, at least from the demo, seems to have improved on several aspects of its predecessor -- namely you have a bit more mobility(more on that in a moment), the inventory screen is much more elegant now, and the addition of co-op(with another person or with just the AI) looks like its going to work really well. As far as movement is concerned, I recognize the game is a bit behind the times. It's sometimes frustrating to have to stop aiming and run away just to get a better shot at someone, instead of simply moving while shooting. I understand this, but at the same time the restrictions imposed on you make it more challenging and tense when you have a lot going on. However, if you find yourself cornered in a small space, it can be really tricky to reposition. The elegance of the inventory system, ironically, looks to be borrowed from Dead Space. That's pretty fucking funny to me, but cribbing from a game that cribbed from yours is something a lot of other developers should do. Too bad they didn't do the same with movement. Anyways, instead of pausing the game to look at it, your slots pop up over the screen while the action continues. You can map different items to the d-pad so you don't always have to scroll through a bunch of crap while a zombie is munching on your face, which is nice. Other than that, it's basically RE 4, but it looks damn good and it has online co-op. Like I said, pretty much what I expected, and also basically what I wanted out of it.


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