Resident Evil 5 eGames Preview

A Preview - By Gaetano Prestia

When Resident Evil 4 burst onto the Gamecube some 4 years ago, it was met with resounding acclaim. It was a reinvention of a franchise that had seen a few mediocre spin-offs and some sequels that offered limited originality. Most of all, it was a completely new Resident Evil experience, a game that was accessible for those new to the franchise, as well as being a strong influential aspect of the RE story for the franchise die-hards.

With the undeniable success of RE4, gamers around the world kept asking when the 5th official sequel would hit consoles. Most importantly, the question as to whether RE5 would be able to offer the same level of originality and innovation that RE4 offered has also been a hot topic of discussion.

After giving RE5 a good, solid playthrough at eGames in Melbourne over the weekend, I can say that yes, Resident Evil 5 is going to get everything that RE4 did so well, expand on it and offer an original experience.

RE5 uses basically the same control mechanic and over-the-shoulder aiming system as RE4. This has been known for a while and after the game was shown at E3, gamers questioned Capcom's ability to offer something new and exciting for the franchise. While RE4 was fantastic, the general prognosis is that, with the technology available, something new should be an offer, instead of a simple sequel with identical gameplay.

While the main control scheme is similar, the introduction of a more refined and influential co-op system is what differs RE5 from its brilliant predecessor. The gameplay is intuative, exciting and accessible, and the games main protagonist, Chris Redfield, is fun to control.

While the demo that was on show wasn't at all difficult (it took literally one shot to kill enemy villagers), it did show off the games amazing lighting and graphical presentation. To sum it all up perfectly, the game looks quite breathtaking. Most notebly was the transition from bright and dark areas. If you move from a bright, sun-filled environment into a dark room, Chris' vision will be momentarily decreased so he can adjust to the lighting. This gives the game a far more chilling approach, as you will have to think twice with a more tactical approach before moving into a darkened room.

Combat wise, RE5 plays amazingly. Chris hooks up with Sheve (his female partner) in the demo, which shows off the games amazing co-operative gameplay. If you're low on health and being bombarded by enemies, Sheva will come to your assistance to help you. You'll also have to help Sheva out if she is on the verge of dying or is barricaded by a group of enemies.

Resident Evil 5 is going to be the absolute must-have title for 2009. Just from playing the demo, I can assure that it is going to exceed everyone's expectations and do more for this generation of gaming than RE4 did for the last generation of gaming.

Tags: 3 5 Blu-ray capcom Evil playstation ps3 Resident

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MrPS3 17/11/2008

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