RESIDENT EVIL 5 DEMO IMPRESSIONS!
Well Hello There Dear Reader,
So the much anticipated Resident Evil 5 demo hit Xbox LIVE this somewhat dull English morning and I was eager to try it out myself, despite not being a huge Resident Evil fan. There is simply no doubting that Resident Evil 5 is one of the 'Must Have' titles hitting our consoles this year. For me personally it's a series of games that I've never had much love for, in particularly the early original Playstation 1 titles which I found neither scary or much fun to play. Yet it's become a very successful franchise for Capcomso I must be missing something about the games that everyone else gets. Well I started up the demo (which I at to find in all the Marketplace menus by the way) and started playing, it's without a doubt a much better looking game compared to the previous chapter in the Resi series 'Resident Evil 4' which of course used the more limited power of the Nintendo GameCube upon release. But despite this improvement it was somewhat sad to see the same old issues almost instantly appear in my first few minutes of playing. I shall admit to you dear reader then I for one had high hopes that Capcom could see about fixing many of Resident Evil 4's small but often infuriating issues such as it's clumsy user interface which although as seen some improvement, still doesn't make the game any more scary or provide any 'desperate' moments like it's clearly trying to do. It continues to leave me frustrated as I have to rescue my partner time and time again not to mention her rescue me. Ok so maybe I'm being a little tough on it already, it is after all a demo and demos are never a perfect representation of a final product. But seriously, the demo was often to clumsy for it's own good and it's sad to see so little improvment made when it comes to the UI and controls.
So the much anticipated Resident Evil 5 demo hit Xbox LIVE this somewhat dull English morning and I was eager to try it out myself, despite not being a huge Resident Evil fan. There is simply no doubting that Resident Evil 5 is one of the 'Must Have' titles hitting our consoles this year. For me personally it's a series of games that I've never had much love for, in particularly the early original Playstation 1 titles which I found neither scary or much fun to play. Yet it's become a very successful franchise for Capcomso I must be missing something about the games that everyone else gets. Well I started up the demo (which I at to find in all the Marketplace menus by the way) and started playing, it's without a doubt a much better looking game compared to the previous chapter in the Resi series 'Resident Evil 4' which of course used the more limited power of the Nintendo GameCube upon release. But despite this improvement it was somewhat sad to see the same old issues almost instantly appear in my first few minutes of playing. I shall admit to you dear reader then I for one had high hopes that Capcom could see about fixing many of Resident Evil 4's small but often infuriating issues such as it's clumsy user interface which although as seen some improvement, still doesn't make the game any more scary or provide any 'desperate' moments like it's clearly trying to do. It continues to leave me frustrated as I have to rescue my partner time and time again not to mention her rescue me. Ok so maybe I'm being a little tough on it already, it is after all a demo and demos are never a perfect representation of a final product. But seriously, the demo was often to clumsy for it's own good and it's sad to see so little improvment made when it comes to the UI and controls.
In the demo you get to select two specific scenarios and both offer a different form of situation, if you are yet to play the demo then I shan't go into any more detail but they both do a good job at showing you what to expect in Resident Evil 5 (let's just say it involves shooting crazed zombie-like African men) and are reasonably enjoyable. It is worth stating that many of my personal issues with the demo would probably be forgotten with more time so I shall not be to tough on it at the moment. But what I did find dissapointing is the real lack of improvment in the game when compared to Resident Evil 4. All the same sorts of options are here, you pick up health, ammo and other items of interest. You still stop moving when you aim your weapon which is simply madness (though I'm a pretty sure I did hear that the ability to walk while aiming is still in place within the Full Retail game) and Chris Redfield simply feels clumsy to play, especially when compared to Isaac Clarke of Dead Space who simply handled with more responce. Chris does have some of those great looking punches, kicks and other martial arts styled moves though and they continue to be as fun to pull off even after Resident Evil 4. But your general view on Resident Evil 5 will all come down to how you felt about the previous GameCube title, loved it and you'll easily fall in love with what Resident Evil 5 as to offer. But if you found it to be a pretty frustrating experience then you probably won't exactly enjoy playing the Resident Evil 5 demo. But as I said, it's still a demo so I shall not make total judgement yet.
One area in which I could see Resident Evil 5 being quite a lot of fun is within the Co-Op Mode. Either over LIVE or Local but even the demo allows this and although I have yet to try it, I can already tell that having a friend nearby will offer both a better personal experience and be more helpful then the current AI controlling Sheva Alomar. To be totally fair the AI can be quite helpful, she will provide ammunition when you are dangerously running low and she will do her part in all that killing, but she also got in my path one to many times and I could easily see that driving many a gamer insane. So having that human touch will no doubt improve the overall experience for both gamers. A lot of Resident Evil 5 will come down to tastes, at the moment the demo as made me question purchasing the full game so I guess it's probably not had a great affect on me. But like many games out there, Resident Evil 5 might just not be for me and I can totally understand Capcom's decision to keep things the same for the current Resident Evil fanbase who loved the fouth installment so much. I honestly don't want to come across as Anti-Resident Evil as I am not. But when I compare it to games like Left 4 Dead, then I see no real reason to get excited about Resident Evil 5. Infact I suspect that Valve's Left 4 Dead as had a big affect on me as a gamer, because now I would rather have the madness and endless rush of zombies then the slow and frustrating experience I personally had with the Resident Evil 5 demo. But that's me, and I'm just one gamer. I'm sure many fans will critise me for such comments towards a game they love but they are my feelings towards my impressions of the demo and the general feel to the Resident Evil games. So keep that in mind before you start spouting hate at me.
Well the demo is up now, and you've probably already downloaded or are doing so at this moment in time. It's a solid demo and of course not the best representation of the full package which will be released on the 13th of March Worldwide. The demo is yet to be released on PSN so keep that in mind, I believe it's set for release sometime early February (the 5th if I'm not mistaken) then PS3 owners will also be able to play the demo, why the delay I simply do not know but I'm pretty sure there is a large community of PS3 owners eager to play it. The demo as sadly not left a great impression on me but I'm sure I'll eventually check out the Full Retail release in March.
Thanks for Reading, Appriated!
Joseph Bayliss (TrueEnglishGent)
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