Enemy Down

Dekko: Fresh Meat

RT Dekko previews Resident Evil 5

Posted by SmellyMoss on Dec 30th 2008 12:49

By RT Dekko

“Oh my God! They’re coming right for us! Reload!”

Welcome to the world of Resident Evil, a game series that has been scaring the shit out of 34.5 million people since the originals debut on the good old PS1 back in 1996.

My God, I’ve just realised that it makes the series nearly thirteen years old and seeing as ‘game years’ work the same as dog years that makes the series ancient, yet like a well fed butchers dog the series is still going strong with the New Year seeing the release of the fifth instalment proper.

If you play the original Resident Evil now you might be in for a bit of a shock as its slow pace and pot of boiling tension don’t fit with the image of the series as a zombie blasting marathon that many have today, mainly thanks to the classicResi 2 and the superb genius of Resi 4. Well if you own a console from this century you’ll probably be more interested in the soon to be released Resi 5 than retreading the mashed brain sodden path of the past.

OK, so be it. You’ll then be interested in the demo up on the Japanese Marketplace for a certain ‘Biohazard’, which of course is the Japanese brand name of the Resi series. Those lucky raw whale munchers have gotten hold of the hottest demo since Ms. Pac Man while us Western goats have nowt but Sonic Unleashed to see us through that long, cold winter. Fear not my little dumplings for your dear UncleDekko has a Japanese account and has played the demo!

First a warning; if you have (or create) a Japanese 360 account (remember you have to use a Japanese address to make a Hotmail account whose details you use when making a new 360 profile. I used the address for Sony HQ, Tokyo) then once downloading the demo DO NOT play it while signed in to any profile as the demo is flagged to catch out such shenanigans, to which I found out the hard way when trying to play the demo on my standard UK profile just to gain a few bragging rights, shame on my foolish pride! Anyway, enough of my yakking, let’s boogie!

The demo gives you two small sections to play, you pick which at the beginning menu and, after loading, the first thing that hits you is the graphics; byJiminy they look just like the videos! I’ll deal with the first section, simply titled ‘Public Assembly’ as that was the piece that grabbed me more.

The influence of Black Hawk Down is immediately apparent; the bright light, the confined, dilapidated streets, the poverty, oh the horror, the horror……..

You begin in a narrow alley with your partner by you side (she is fully controllable as the game, whoop whoop, is co-op on and offline!). The sounds of a mob can be faintly heard in the distance. After a few steps you reach a cut scene where you witness a man with a megaphone firing up a crowd against a fellow on his knees who is quickly dispatched by a very large hoodie with a very large axe (note that the victim is now an Arab gentleman and the executioner remains masked).

You control good old Chris Redfield, star of Resi 2 and the viewpoint is pure, sexy Resi 4; an over the shoulder number. You and your girly partner are quickly spotted by the man with the megaphone who points out your presence to the mob. Now is the time for diplomacy and your two main bargaining chips are a pistol and a shotgun depending on which section you pick, as the second segment lumbers you with a sniper rifle where as your lady friend has anSMG (you can switch or even horde them all for yourself, if such things excite you). The shotgun does some pretty awesome damage. Try it against some face and stand back. To pick between these you have to go through the inventory system that is the typicalResi menu box (as seen in 4) which can be accessed via a button or the D-Pad, so if say your shotgun runs out of ammo and you want the pistol there is no quick switch option, oh no, for this is Resident Evil my lad!

Talking of ammo there is no ‘reload’ button, no instead to reload you have to go into the inventory, select the ammo box with the appropriate ammunition in for the gun you want to reload and you hit ‘Combine’ to put the bullets in the gun, just the same asResi 4. Now before you gun heads think ‘that sounds a touch crap’ fear not for it is a mere device to add tension to the game play and it works a sodding treat! If you don’t believe me then just see how you feel when you need to reload as the mob gets ever closer. Restoring health is the same green herb/red herb saga and I’m sure it’ll be just as effective as inResi 4.

Now you have your guns, know how to reload and get health; it's time to put them into play as all manner of zombie from your standard footdragger to your crazy Thing-esque head splitter will now be heading your way. You move slowly and have to pick your shots well, the laser sight on the pistol is as accurate as ever and heads do go pop. You get the horde ofzombied -up African villager staggering towards you in a seemingly never ending flow so you must be aware of your surroundings, weapon choice and ammo level.

One thing that niggles me with the demo is the inclusion of some Saddam Hussein look alike zombies, seemingly thrown in randomly to quell the media dribble that poured out from some spurious minds about the image of a white man beheading a black man; come on! We all know that such things have happened and vice-versa in the course of human history but in the name of Arsène Wenger the change is pure panic on Capcoms part and it has messed with their original artistic vision. I assume that these Middle Eastern chaps will be explained away in the story line but it seems a shame as now the executioner in the cut scene is very over the top compared to how the image was originally portrayed, shame shame we know your name.

Game play wise, it feels pure Resi 4 but with a pretty overhaul; the weapons pack a punch, the zombies look great, as does the scenery (although perhaps a little confined?) and it all seems on course to be a classicResi adventure for the new year.

Role on January and some co-op action!