Resident Evil 5

Yes it is true, yet again Capcom is able to produce mind blowing visuals and an experience that will simply keep you grasping your asscheeks in rabid anticipation throughout the entire experience of the game. The game takes place in a variety of different locations this time around, from jungles to deserts, to giant factories! There are also a good amount of events that take place during the main story that keep you entertained, such as driving through the desert on a humvee blasting pursuing dirtbike equipped zombies, and treading through a waist-deep marshland infested with starving pissed off crocodiles. That being said this game can get hard, and dont be surprised if you are devoured whole or impaled through the chest by a viscious insect-like creature. There are plenty of times that instant death situations can occur, and you need to be on your toes if you hope to survive. Thankfuly you do have a partner, the lovely Shiva. This adds a whole new dynamic to the gameplay, allowing you to chain together melle attacks and work together to survive. This works best in two player co-operative mode, or over xbox live with a friend, especially when trying to chain together attacks or fend off some of the more difficult opponents, like bosses or chainsaw zombies. There is also a new inventory system that is a vast improvement from the previous games, and I cannot stress that enough. With a simple press of the (Y) button, you can instantly access all items that both characters have, swap, reload (if you really want to), combine, or use any item in real time. Of course if you want to think about what you are doing before actually doing it, you can always pause the game and make tactical decisions. Once you clear the game and recieve that glorious feeling of accomplishment, you get especially rewarded with all kinds of goodies. Mercenaries mode makes it's triumphant return, featuring all new levels, trials, and characters. You can also purchase bonus content, like character outfits, from using points that you get while playing the game. These items are unlocked through the ammount of BSAA emblems that you are able to find and shoot, hidden within each area of the game, (excluding the begining intro level of course). Basically, the more you shoot, the more cool stuff you can buy for your characters. This game is great, but its not perfect. One thing that seemed to be lacking was the inclusion of visual changes to the weapons once they have been upgraded. We also would have liked to see the return of the mysterious merchant, and his funny catch frases, as well as the return or update of the shooting gallery. These would have been nice to see brought back in glorious HD, but even without them, this game delivers on almost every front.