Every new game in the Resident Evil series seems to involve some brand-new spin on the "survival horror" gameplay that the original 1996 game pioneered.
Resident Evil 5, to be released Friday on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (reviewed), is no exception. Three years ago, Resident Evil 4 ditched the static camera angles and clunky action that dragged the original games down, blending the series' trademark fright-filled creepiness with gameplay that felt a bit more like a shooter. This sequel takes the franchise even further down that road. In fact, it feels less like its predecessors and more like Gears of War.
The most obvious change is that you can play RE5 cooperatively with a friend. It's also more violent than it is scary. But what's interesting about Resident Evil is that each time Capcom removes or changes things considered sacred hallmarks of the series, the games get manifestly better.
Resident Evil 5 is built around cooperative play – so much so that even if you decide to play it solo as anti-bioterror agent Chris Redfield, you'll have your partner, Sheva Alomar, backing you up, controlled by the computer. If either of you dies, you're sent back to the last checkpoint; they are scattered quite generously throughout the game's 17 chapters.
Having to babysit a computer-controlled character is usually the worst part of any game, but Sheva is no brainless automaton. She's more than capable of taking care of herself, shooting enemies, picking up items and healing the both of you. If anything, Sheva can be a bit too proactive – she'll sometimes fire at enemies while you're trying to conserve ammo and run away, or use healing items a bit excessively. But you can choose what items go in her inventory, to limit the damage.
While there's always something to be said for the solo experience, you might find RE5 more engaging with a human partner. On the Xbox 360, you can link two consoles together via LAN – but that requires two Xboxes, two copies of the game and two televisions. Online play, available on both systems, is likely to be the more convenient option. You can start a single-player game and let others join you at their leisure. Or you can look at lists of who's playing and what level they're on, then jump in. In our tests, both of these modes worked well.
Many of the drastic changes made to the Resident Evil formula seem to have stemmed from Capcom's desire to make the game work smoothly for two players. Besides the generous checkpoints, the game auto-saves regularly – no more having to find a save point in the middle of the mouth of hell. Every time you die, you jump out to an inventory-management screen where you can buy more guns and healing items if you need them.
Moreover, your inventory is persistent through all your single- and multiplayer experiences. For example, when you first boot up the game, you could choose to jump into another player's game in one of the later levels, collecting high-powered weapons or lots of cash, then bring all that loot into your solo adventure. You could also bring your accumulated wealth from a solo game into your friend's game to help him out with extra firepower. Combine this with the game's three selectable difficulty levels, and it's hard to imagine anyone not making it through to the end of RE5's story.
Resident Evil's narrative has always been, not to put too fine a point on it, a bunch of convoluted claptrap. In this respect, RE5 does not break away from its peers. Chris and Sheva find themselves in Africa this time around, where the locals have again been infected with some sort of man-made virus created by upstanding corporate citizen Umbrella Corp. Beyond that, I played this game for 10 hours and still have no idea what just happened.
There has been a great deal of discussion about whether RE5's images of grotesque, zombified Africans draw on racist stereotypes, a topic that I am not going to touch with the 10-foot pole that the guy on the right is holding. What RE5 is not, is scary. Resident Evil 4 was basically disgusting, level after level filled with unsettling decay and death. RE5 definitely goes for shock value here and there, with gutted animal (and human) carcasses scattered throughout the first few levels, for example.
But the game completely lacks scary moments; there is nothing going bump in the night. Actually, most all the levels take place in the daytime. They are very pretty levels, yes, although the RE5 team hasn't yet learned the tricks of the trade that other developers use to seamlessly blend them – there are lots and lots of loading screens.
As another sop to gamers who don't really like Resident Evil's traditions, you can now choose to control the characters with both analog sticks, using the left stick to strafe and the right one to rotate. Hallelujah. Chris Redfield, buffed-up special forces expert, should not have to shamble around like a crippled rhinoceros.
Sadly, you still can't move and shoot at the same time. As soon as you draw your weapon, you're frozen to the spot. This is puzzling, especially considering that the game now incorporates many fast-action shooting segments – does it want to be Gears of War or not? Resident Evil 5 is stuck in the middle, discarding several pointless and outdated tropes yet clinging obstinately to others.
A few other low points (like a bunch of lame boss fights) aside, Resident Evil 5 is a challenging, engaging, well-paced action game. But it barely resembles the series whose name it carries. For me, that's mostly a plus: I think the focus on co-op play forced a number of good changes, but I miss the horror. Resident Evil's producer says the next game in the series will be a "reboot." With any luck, it'll finish throwing off the shackles of 1996.
Images courtesy Capcom
WIRED Balanced, engaging gameplay, beautiful visuals, good co-op play
TIRED Not scary, story still absurd, still crippled by tradition
$60, Capcom
Rating: 
Read Game|Life's game ratings guide.
See Also:- Resident Evil Kicks Into Theaters
