There has been a lot of talk and debate going on about Resident Evil 5.  Reviews are coming out saying that it's an excellent game, and there is a good number of old and new fans that feel the same way.  However, there is just as big of a crowd that proclaims Resident Evil 5 as being inferior and not that great of a game.

The big question is:  who do you believe?  Yes, gaming and its enjoyment level is a completely subjective thing in many ways.  A lot of factors can lead to hatred of a beloved franchise after so long.  Look at Tekken.  The franchise has been considered one of the best for a long time, but as that time continued to linger onward, it slowly became something that was more and more hated by people.  Has Resident Evil 5 suffered the same fate?

• Great graphics with a well-realized environment
• Amazing sound design
• Atmosphere out the ass
• Highly comprehensive yet not-gimmicky HUD system
• Excellent inventory setup and easy access to healing and ammo
• A real challenge on higher difficulty settings
• Incredible limb dismemberment system that kept things frenzied, varied, and excitedly entertaining

Unfortunately, while many of these things DO exist in Resident Evil 5 to some extent, my time with RE5 never makes me feel the exact same way.  I've given it plenty of opportunity so far to grab me by the balls and not let go, but unfortunately, I think my balls are just being too picky nowadays.  I've been a fan of the Resident Evil franchise since the original hit the Sega Saturn, and sure, there are worse RE-related things on this planet (Survivor comes to mind).  Nonetheless, I can't escape the blinding glare of mediocrity that I get from plugging RE5 in.

I played RE5 some more last night, and after about 30 minutes, I couldn't take anymore.  I plugged Dead Space in, and I felt automatically like I was at home.

Hi, my name is Josh, and I'm spoiled by Dead Space.

Anyone else out there that feels this may be the reason why you have failed to hit it off with RE5?

i wouldn't really say i was spoiled by dead space however i certainly appreciated playing though it 

i just hope Dead Space 2 will be as awesome as the first one...

As great as Dead Space was, RE5 does do some critical things better.

Dead Space doesn't have many extras or major secrets, that's a big reason I'm continuing to play RE5.  There's some achievements I want to get in Dead Space but other than that, I have no real drive to play the game again.  RE5 is somewhat graphically better, but that's a small thing.  RE5 has more variety and boss battles.

I think Dead Space is better overall, but RE5 was 'good' too.

"Great graphics with a well-realized environment"

"Amazing sound design"

"Atmosphere out the ass"

"Highly comprehensive yet not-gimmicky HUD system

Excellent inventory setup and easy access to healing and ammo"

"A real challenge on higher difficulty settings"

"Incredible limb dismemberment system that kept things frenzied, varied, and excitedly entertaining"

Dead Space was great and all, but I don't feel it compares to RE5. I've been playing it today, and the game is so masterfully done in all respects.

"Sci-fi nightmare"

Was that a description or a plot spoiler?

See, this is why I wrote the blog, and I'm glad to see it used for its intended purpose.

/wipes sweat from brow

Ah, good!

I havnt actually played the official game of dead space i have played the demo and i got to say the graphics are good and the maeplay is good but it is utterly gory in a bad way.

o zombihuntr1!

u n ur shuninagins

jakob, if anything, you have sold me on the Dead Space demo; something I had written off. I'll get back to you, after I've played it, and tell you what I think.

Dead Space's controls and atmosphere + Resident Evil's setting and characters= A truely amazing evolution in the Resident Evil series 

The reason that Dead Space had such a scary atmosphere is because they could create whatever the hell they wanted in terms of enemy shape/attitude/abilities and they could construct the ship however they felt like.  RE5 is a tad bit more restricted in that regard, there's only so much brainless zombies can do without people crying that it doesn't feel like the same Resident Evil that they know and love.  Yes, I am aware that RE5 does have crazy sci-fi levels even though it is set in Africa, but that is only for one chapter, the other 4 fit Africa's theme pretty well.

I agree with Handsome Dead in that the combat in Dead Space did become tedious after awhile,  I loved it when it first started but after awhile it was just "oh another enemy....leg, arm...done."(yes, I beat the game on the hardest dificulty)  In terms of dificulty RE 5 dropped the ball big time here with the addition of one thing; infinite ammo.  You might want to tell me "oh, but you can turn it off"  but 99% of the people you meet will say "dude, I need some achievments, lets just blow through here."

I was definitely spoiled by Dead Space. No doubt in my mind. Just being in the ship at the beginning I felt utterly claustrophobic and the sounds that were coming from every direction had me spinning to look behind me every second (especially in the zero G rooms). It was never the big BOO! moments that got to me. In fact, those weren't scary at all. It was really what I didn't see that scared me the most.

And I thought that the strategic dismemberment felt relatively fresh throughout the first and second playthroughs. Most enemies had at least different benefits to dismembering different body parts and you could always just toss out a stasis field and have a good time tearing the alien apart. Either way, RE5 just felt meh to me.

And one of the things you mentioned about Dead Space that I find sooo is much better done there than in RE5 is enemy behavior. The monsters in Dead space behaved like psychotic, bloodthirsty beasts that are hellbent on tearing you to shreds, and they had very distinct, but natural behavior. The dudes with the 2 bladehands would normally charge straight at you and cut you up real rough, while the littte wallcrawling tentacle dudes woul keep their distance and rarely attack you at close range. And what they do just makes sense.

Meanwhile, from what I've seen/played in RE5, the dudes there feel like they're beeing controled by a program that randomly pulls out behavior ordes for no good reason. And while you can see that they were trying to make the enemies less predictable but it just doesn't work right, and in the worst cases like it's compensating for all the control limtis the game has. I ran into 3-4  enemies that used the same patter: He'll lumber into view, then sprint towards you, then suddenly slow down, start walkin back, stop and then ready his weapon like he's gonna throw it.
It's superweird and there doesn't seem to be any logic behind it. Maybe it get's better later on (hopefully) but it just feels really jarring to see how they act compared to the dude's in Dead Space.

I (regretfully) never played Dead Space. I'm waiting for a major price drop on that one. I did however finish RE5's campaign yesterday and thought it was everything one would expect out of a sequel to RE4. Hell, my biggest complaint about the game was the fact that it wasn't scary in any way. RE4 was far from terrifying, but it had it's moments (I remember when I first encountered a regenerator...). Perhaps time has moved on from RE4, but I still love that formula and gameplay.

Dude I totally agree, I was never really into the 3rd person survival horror thing, so it took me a lot of persuading to finally buy Dead Space. After having heard my friends talk about the Resi series for ages, but having never polayed one I was psyched when the demo game out on Live, but having played it, it just does not compare to Dead Space

My name is Ark and I'm an alcoholic sex offend . . .

If Dead Space squints very hard and looks veeery carefully, it can see Silent Hill 2 in the distance, carrying the "bar" of the survival horror genre.

The thing is that Dead Space is what peiople think or what Resident evil to be now a days.  But Resident Evil isnt a survival horror game anymore.  I think it stopped being that when code Veronica came out, cuz that game wasn't scary or tried to be, it was a survival action game with zombies.  And RE4 and Re5 now place you in the roles of essential super cops that are not just trying to survive, they are trying to rescue someone or take down a corporation, no longer just caught in the wrong place at the wrong time which is what you need for survival horror.  Re5 is now more similar to Gears in terms of scope and what its trying to do.  Gears, you are a soldier trying to fight your way through evil creatures and make it out alive while kicking ass.  The same thing with Re5, you are this super international cop that is trying to investigate the doings of an evil corporation and just kicking ass on the way.  Also, the fact that you have seen this ugly ass monsters and stuff before, and in broad day light no less, it doesn't help.  Re5 is not what RE used to be, and thats why this game sucks, because it is not good at what it does.  Gears does it better, way better.  Dead Space is essentially what Re would be had they kept the horror theme, now its just sci fi where they are not really zombies, just people infected, like in any movie about a disease spreading.  Also, the controls suck.

Meowayne, I'm not saying that Dead Space is trumping Silent Hill 2, as that is still one of the best s/h games out there!  That story and that atmosphere are amazing.

you do know those are two wildly different games
its not a big deal so get over it you big baby

The thing that flummoxes me most about this post, Jakob, is the revelation that your name is really Josh.  Not Jakob. 

You cannot believe how crushed my world is now.  Haha.

My name isn't Peter, and I haven't been spoiled by Dead Space

Oh, so your name is Josh? I knew it wasn't Jakob, but I never knew exactly what is was. Anyway, I sort of agree with you that Dead Space plays better, but I am getting at home with RE5 as well. I would keep holding down LB to run and my knife would pop out and I would be really confused. Still, I am getting the hang of it and appreciating for what it is: an unoriginal, but very entertaining successor to RE4 that isn't as spectacular as it, but still good in its own ways.