GamesRelay

Name: Resident Evil 5

"Resident Evil" – Two words that are a joy to hear boom out of your TV or speakers whenever you load a Resident Evil game. Even more of a joy in Resident Evil 5 as it marks the games first appearance on next generation consoles; the last game in the series was such a massive success despite taking the story away from it's core values, but they say that things can only get better, right?

We're once again reunited with Chris Redfield whose no longer part of the S.T.A.R.S. team as he once was, he's now working for an equally long winded but cool sounding acronym Bio-terrorism Security Assessment Alliance or B.S.A.A. as it's known; The B.S.A.A. was partially created by Chris to identify threats that maybe similar in nature to the T-Virus he encountered at the Spencer estate 10 years beforehand, the events documented by the first Resident Evil game. Chris has been sent to Africa along with new partner Sheva Alomar to a fictional area known as Kijuju to look for signs of one of these biological threats; there acting upon information received that someone known as Ricardo Irving is attempting to sell a virus to known terrorists. What starts as a pretty much routine operation soon turns sour as Chris and Sheva bear witness to a local being fed a parasite which takes control of his body and turns him into a Majini; these are the new enemies of the series and as Chris notes on seeing the transformation, there not like the Zombies he's seen before. As they get deeper into their mission it soon seems as though everybody in the local region has been experimented upon.

As the story progress's you'll learn that Ricardo Irving isn't your main concern after all, there will be rumours that your old partner, Jill Valentine, is still alive after being presumed dead for two years at the hands of their old S.T.A.R.S. partner gone bad, Albert Wesker, which of course leads you to find out that Wesker has his hands in this plot as well. With much talk of the original protagonists of the Resident Evil series this gives the chance to fill in much of what has been happening with Chris since his original adventure in Racoon City, episodes and stories from other games are touched upon and shown in flash backs in a bid to bring clarity to things for the player who might have missed out on some of the action for some reason. That isn't to say that it isn't its own game, it is, and you don't need to have followed the story to get the most out of this one. That said, as always there is nods to the past for those who know where to look.

For followers of the series then you'll be pleased to know that Resident Evil 5 takes its controls and graphical queues straight from Resident Evil 4 which in itself was a departure from the series signatures such as the static environments. The graphics themselves are well presented; this is definitely a case of Resident Evil looking better than it ever has before. The detail in your environment is crystal clear with both Chris and Sheva attaining a high level of detail in both their appearance and animations. The action takes place in a third person view and for all those wondering, no, you still can't run (or walk) while using your gun, but you can change it on the fly instead of having to pause the game to access your inventory.

For gun nuts out there you're going to be well serviced with this game, there is quite a selection to choose from, ranging from your typical Handguns and Shotguns, to your fully fledged Grenade Launchers, RPG's, and even a Gatling Gun. There are many different versions of most weapons and most of them can be upgraded, so if you find or purchase a weapon that is initially a bit weak then you can spend some of your hard earned cash (which is dropped by the downed Majini, or from treasures sold) to upgrade it. Weapons and their upgrades are available from a store which is available at the beginning of each chapter, there is no wandering merchant from Resident Evil 4 this time around; you're not able to purchase ammunition as such with the exception of grenades and ammo for the grenade launcher, however, if you purchase an upgrade for the capacity of a gun then it will hold the full amount of bullets. Also making their way over from Resident Evil 4 are the interactive cut scenes, otherwise known as quick time events. During certain cut scenes you'll be directed to a button press that needs to be completed within a short amount of time, failure results in death, while a successful button press allows the story to continue, and just to keep things interesting there's the chance that the buttons you press won't be the same the next time around so if you die on the first attempt then you'll be well advised to keep paying attention.

Taking a slightly different approach to it's predecessors, you're almost always with your partner, Sheva; for the most part she's independent although you can instruct her to collect certain items such as ammo that's fallen from your kills and she'll also split from you from time to time when you need to work together to solve a puzzle or get through a certain area. It's got to be said though, more or less from the start you'll wish she'd bothered to play some of the previous games herself, she's a bit dumb and a little gung-ho with her ammunition, and as everyone knows, ammo is always a premium commodity in any Resident Evil experience. Having the computer control Sheva however can be a thing of the past with a fully functioning co-op mode included in the game.