Amateur Review on Resident Evil 5

Finally — Here’s the long awaited review on Resident Evil 5 by Ms.Aya the sheep~♥

This is my second game review; first being Devil May Cry 4. (Laughs)

It’s going to be a very lucid review because I’m unable to screen capture shots of the game so certain things I can’t point out. (Tears)

Therefore… expect more texts and less pictures.

Before anything else, keep this in mind:

1. I’m not a professional or supreme gamer! – What you may find in this review are my personal opinions. I don’t nitpick on every detail because heck, I just want to play for my own amusement and suppose I miss out some important factors or parts of the story — It just mean the game didn’t interest me enough to catch the whole drift.
2. Contain spoilers! – If you are one of those fussy people who prefer to surprising yourself, please discontinue reading this review. I don’t want to be responsible for ruining your high anticipation.

[ . . . ]

Are you ready?

Gameplay

The game play is similar to its previous sequel, Resident Evil 4 which is a third-person shooter game and don’t even think about having a sip of your coke while watching the cut scenes because you don’t know when you need to hit the L1 + L2 buttons to escape death.

That’s right! RE5 also has the context-sensitive controls where you determine your fate during the cut scenes.

So what’s new?

Well…

The new feature would be having a partner assisting you throughout your missions hence you might feel a sense of security having a partner to back you up and praise your head shots since the previous RE series were rather lonely and vulnerable (Not taking Ashley Graham into account since she is more of a liability than a help).

You can have a friend to co-op with you in the story mode via online. I haven’t tried this so I won’t say anything. But I can tell you that having a friend to play as the second player would definitely be fun and more exciting rather than cooperating with the AI.

I say this because while I worry about the insufficiency of ammo, my partner Sheva obviously isn’t on the same page as she plunges as many bullets into my back. Thankfully, there’s no inclusion of friendly fire damage (except for grenades). Otherwise we’ll always get killed by Sheva/Player 2 AI.

Bottom line is, the AI is extremely dumb.

Side note: The game is over if your partner dies. And that includes Jill and Josh Stone (← Sheva’s friend. You’ll have to back him up in one of the chapters. I thought he was immortal until the Chainsaw Majini beheaded him)

Story Line

It starts out with Chris Redfield, the main character (and hero of Resident Evil 1) journeying to Africa in order to apprehend Ricardo Irving who is about to sell the viruses on the black market. You know, those viruses that causes the breakout of zombies. But in this case, the viruses has been modified for bio-terrorism purposes.

Upon arriving Africa, he is assign to pair up with Sheva Alomar to accomplish this mission.

So basically, the starting of the first few chapters is all about cats chasing the mouse and as the story develops, it reveals that Irving was just a bait and even though the mission is impossible to accomplish with only 2 members of the BSAA left; Chris and Sheva, Chris fess up and explains that one of his motives to take up this mission is because he has information about his former partner, Jill Valentine is still alive.

Prior to this mission, Chris and Jill went to Ozwell E. Spencer in order to arrest him and they believe he can lead them to Albert Wesker, the antagonist of this episode as well as RE1 and Code Veronica. To their surprise, they found Wesker present while Spencer was dead on the wheelchair of his. So the 3 of them fought until Jill tackles Wesker out of the window in order to save Chris’s life. After that, both Wesker and Jill were supposedly dead.

So the search goes on until Chris and Sheva finds Wesker whose accomplice is a mysterious figure hidden in the cloak. At the beginning of the game and several of parts, this unsub will be seen and later discovers it is indeed Jill Valentine who is under Wesker’s control.

Wesker battles with Chris and Sheva for about 7 minutes and later abandons Jill due to her inability to obey his commands 100%. Then Chris and Sheva subdues her using resilient actions and remove the device off her chest, allowing her freedom at last. Jill stays back while Chris and Sheva pursues after Wesker who is about to exit the area using a ship where all his viruses are stored.

Wesker’s motive is to release the virus so Chris carries on his pursuits with the help of Sheva.

In the end, Wesker meets his end by burning in the flames of the lava pit. Oh, to be precise — A rocket launcher is the final blow. No Resident Evil game can end without using a rocket launcher.

Enemies

Now about the enemies… The common enemies are known as “Majinis”. They are somewhat like the Ganados from RE4 however, they have a wide range of weapons and they are much faster and swift. RE has now developed into a more action type of game so it’s no more fearing mindless zombies who are out to eat you but more like attacking you with weapons such as axes, spears etc. The Majinis are in fact still aware of their actions but aren’t able to control themselves.

I won’t go through the enemies one-by-one but I’ll just give you some highlights on those that I think you should take note and be very careful with.

1) Chainsaw Majini - He is like Dr.Salvador but only thing is he is black, thinner and quite dumb. You can by pass him easily before he wields the chainsaw which entitles you to an instant death. He is tougher to take down nonetheless.

Just so you know, the reason why I never completed RE4 is due to my consistency of getting Leon’s head beheaded by Dr.Salvador. Somehow, Chainsaw Majini is easier for me to handle. And no, there is no racial discrimination here.

2) Reaper(s) – I died so many times because of these creatures. You will encounter these creatures in Chapter 5-2 onwards. The Reaper will descent from a cocoon above the ceiling. Shoot the WHITE bulb in its chest and when it bends down, 2 small white bulbs will be exposed on its back. 2 blows from a powerful shotgun will do. Seriously, be careful not to let these buggers get near you. Once they grab hold of you, it’s instant death for you.

Oh, do watch out for Majinis with rocket launchers and infected soldiers who are armed with guns.

Tips on How to Deal with the Following Bosses

1) Uroboros (Chapter 1-2) -  ↑ This boss is easy to deal with. Just lock it in the furnace chamber and let it burn to death. Suppose you have a hard time keeping it inside the chamber before you can lock it, knock down the available gas tanks and let it crawl over so that it tangles up within the body. Don’t shoot it until it goes in the furnace chamber. Once it goes in, shoot it and Uroboros will melt into a pile of gooey for awhile. Then you may shut the furnace and let it burn, baby, burn!

You’ll have a rematch with Uroboros in Chapter 5-2 however, you’ll have the help of the flamethrower. Remember to make use of the gas tanks. Uroboros is weak against fire attacks.

2) Popokarimu (Chapter 2-2) – Shooting upfront won’t do you good as its protected by a thick layer of shell. What you need to do is shoot underneath it (the pinkish meaty area). To overturn this bastard, place the Proximity Mines on the ground (find them at the wooden barrels) and lure it to go over them. When it triggers the mine, it will turn up-side-down and you may blast all you want.

3) T8 (Chapter 5-1) – Shoot at the most exposed areas (the arms) and the minute it collapse, arm yourself with a grenade and approach its mouth. The “Toss-in” button will appear on the screen. Hit it to feed the crab some explosion. Repeat this a couple of times and you should be done.

4) Albert Wesker (Chapter 5-3) - ↑ Your first battle with him might seem impossible because there is a time limit though there won’t be a time display. You can win by hiding and surviving until the time is up however if you want to earn a medal and the Heart of Africa crystal, then here’s what you can do:

In this stage, Wesker basically fights using martial arts and a bit of shooting with Jill’s assistance. But his weakness is he can’t see in dark areas. So whenever he goes by the line of “You’re merely postponing the inevitable” or “You can’t hide…!” — It means he can’t see you.

So attack him from behind but don’t be too greedy. Shoot him 3 – 4 times and then run away. Running away and hiding is time consuming so I suggest you buy a rocket launcher, blast him while he is oblivious. If you caught him right, he would grab the rocket and in this time frame, shoot him and let the rocket do him the utmost damage.

You won’t defeat him or see him lying but you’ll earn a couple of things there. To claim your Heart of Africa crystal, during Jill’s battle, search in between the staircases.

5) Jill Valentine (Chapter 5-3) – Don’t shoot her even though your fingers are itching to do so. Just by pass her and ignore her during the battle with Wesker. And if you’re planning to go on a shooting spree, make sure she’s not insight.

I accidentally blown her up with a rocket launcher because I thought she was Wesker. It wasn’t cool.

After Wesker leaves Jill behind…

To deal with Jill who literally runs amok like a wild animal after her master ditched her, keep prompting her with the “Entreat” action to persuade her to stop behaving like a creepy-crawly animal. Grab her whenever you have the chance and follow the buttons on the screen to remove the shitty device off her beautiful chest. Somethings just don’t belong there, agree?

6) Excella Gione the whore (Chapter 6-2) - Hehehe… This whore evolved into a huge piece of tentacle shit. ↑ Why do some people get the idea that mutating into a humongous pile of trash is cool? ↓

She already has a pair of nice boobs and good figure yet she destroyed them for the sake of tentacles?

Anyway.. It was against her will. Wesker betrayed Excella by giving her the faulty virus and as a result, the huge Uroboros you see above is fused with a numerous amount of corpse.

That said…

To defeat her, you’ll have access to the Stinger Missiles using the Bridge Card that you’ve found earlier.

By common sense, anyone would use this weapon all the way but I didn’t do so. To dismember her large and irritating tentacles, I shot the vital areas (the yellow bulbs) with my fully powered handgun until the giant bulb was revealed. Only then I used the Stinger Missile. I use this tactic because I think it’s faster and I don’t have to keep recharging the missiles. Several of times the giant bulb closed before my missiles were charged. Plus, I had to deal with the annoying small fries..

7) Albert Wesker — again! (Chapter 6-3) – Begin by switching all the lights at every corner. Get Sheva to use the Rocket Launcher which can be found in one of the corners of the area. You can mess around with him and get him distracted while Sheva launches the rocket at him. Like I’ve mentioned, if you caught him unaware — he will still be able to hold the missile back. Then you have to quickly shoot the missile before he throws it away like trash. After that, proceed to approaching him and hit the Action Button to inject Wesker with the syringe to finish him off.

Ok…

Let’s say you screw this up a couple of times and you’re out of missiles, climb up the ladder and ascend to the highest level. You will find a container containing 4 missiles.

The match doesn’t end here. There will be a cut scene involving some context-controls. So don’t go to the toilet yet.

After that, you’ll have another round with Wesker at the volcano stage. This time he mutates into something more vicious and 0% Matrix movements.

In this final battle, you need to display team work with Sheva because if she dies, the jig is up. At one point, she would be separated from you and on your part, you need to push down a rock so that she can reunite with you. Wesker would be chasing after her therefore, you can’t waste any time. If you don’t ram this rock as a stepping stone for her to return, she’ll fall into the lava.

Finally when both you and Sheva are together again, shoot Wesker from his back. You will see an obvious vital spot there. The second he flinches, approach him to restrain him while Sheva slashes the shit out of him.

At last, you have to launch a rocket into his face. Hit L1 + L2 when the buttons appear on the screen.

That’s how Wesker will meet his downfall.

Frequently Used Words

BSAA – Acronym for Bio-Terrorism Security Assessment Alliance. Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar are working under this group. Basically, the good team.

Umbrella - The cooperation that initiated the virus outbreak. Although they met their downfall, their experiments/projects are still being delegated to other franchises hence involving the black market.

Tricell – Tricell is a pharmaceutical company picking up Umbrella’s leftovers hence, Umbrella’s bastard. Tricell was exposed after Chris and Sheva found the laboratories containing victims imprisoned in capsules… Fucking Tricell…

Uroboros – The form of virus. Not every individual are immune to the virus and suppose they’re not — they will mutate into shit.

Partner - Mostly can be heard from Sheva. I don’t know what’s up with her and partnership. Also she keeps saying “God!, Oh my god!”

Terrorism – Haha…

Trivia: The pilot of the helicopter said the F word. We all know that helicopters are too good to be true in Resident Evil games but “Fuck”? (Laughs) Sheva also used the word “Bastard” when confronting El Gigante of Africa. And Chris’s coolest line: “I have had enough.. of your bullshit!” – To Albert Wesker.

Weaponry

I haven’t test driven all the weapons. By far, I’m very comfortable using the shotgun and handgun as my primary weapons. These 2 works best for me. But I can assure you the shotgun in RE5 is way better compared to RE4′s. The impact is bigger and more damaging.

As for the handguns, you can upgrade the critical factor to increase the chances of head shots.

The ammunition is sadly, very scarce though. Moreover, you have to split your ammo for Sheva/2nd player.

Speaking of weapons, you can carry 9 items (+ Sheva, 18, that’s if you want to treat her like your bag pack *Yoko from Resident Evil Outbreak files #2).

You can remove the excess items and do your barter system at the end of every chapter. Oh, there won’t be a merchant by the way. <^-^>lll

Treasures and Emblems

Throughout the game, you can discover treasures to sell in exchange for money. So be on a look out for sparkles on the walls. You can also find them in treasure boxes, attach to masks and uh — try slashing those fire pole. A ruby might just fall out. (Laughs)

As for emblems — Keep an eye out for BSAA emblems. Shooting these emblems entitles you to unlock new stuffs such as costumes, stages and players for the Mercenaries mode.

How does a BSAA emblem look like?

It looks rounds and the color is dark green.

There are 30 in total. I can’t tell you where they are because I’ve only found 5 so far. (Cries)

Sorry. <;__;>

Conclusion

Alas! I’m about to end this review! Though it appears to be more of a minor walkthrough.

Anyway, the game play is alright. It doesn’t feel too new because the game play is so similar to Resident Evil 4.

As for story wise — It’s kind of boring since the whole plot is focusing on terrorism rather than horror. There were no mentions of terrorism until Leon started it in Re4. Well in Re5, you’re gonna hear it a lot.

Even though you’ll get the pleasure to blast Albert Wesker in the face using a rocket launcher, for some strange reason I feel we might be seeing him again. Don’t be surprise if the Wesker featured in Re5 is a clone OR some dude picks up his remains and remake him. <_  _> There are no indications about this though.

Another thing I would like to point out is — The death scenes aren’t extreme for an 18 above rated game. RE4 has more gruesome death scenes where Leon dies like a whale. The death scenes in RE5 are quite pathetic to the point they don’t even show Chris/Sheva’s head get sawed off totally. With the enhanced graphics of PS3, why hold back? <.___.>{?]

Last but not least — Surprises are poor.

The first cut scene starts out with this mysterious UNSUB in cloaks injecting the Uroboros into an unfortunate victim. We will see this figure again when he/she saved Irving’s ass.

Initially when I saw this character, I already knew it was Jill because:

Firstly, I can see humps on the chest. ↓

Secondly, this person is wearing boots with high heels. I don’t have a picture but you’ll be able to see it on screen anyway. It’s so obvious.

Then and there I knew it was a woman and knowing such things, how can it not be Jill? (Laughs)

Now that I’m speaking about Jill… Her new look in RE5 does resemble a bit of Fiona Belli from The Haunting Ground [Demento] ne? ↓

Perhaps I’m the only one who sees it this way. (Laughs nervously)

Come to think of it — I can’t believe Capcom made Jill look like an animal and an underdog in RE5! For goodness sake! She was the prime heroine of Resident Evil and Resident Evil 3! She defeated Nemesis!

In addition to her disgrace, the suit she is currently wearing looks like Fantastic 4′s uniform!

Urgh! I prefer her brown, bob hair too. The blond tied in one pony tail makes her look like a common civilian.

A~ah well.. Who am I to say.. <u_u>

– The End –