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[Plasmic Fury]

**The Resident Evil 5 demo is now available for download on the Xbox live marketplace. The demo features two playable levels in the upcoming game. Full co-op online and local is available as well.



The first thing you’re going to notice about the game is that it still basically feels like RE4. Sure the graphics are way better (HD goodness), but the mechanics are still the same. If you used to play on the gamecube like I did it may take a little bit getting used to, but once you’re comfortable with the control scheme you will quickly realize why this game is going to be the next best thing to RE4.

In RE5 you play as the role of Chris, a special agent sent to investigate. During the demo you will be partnered up with Sheva. The demo doesn’t explain much about her yet, but I’m sure there’s going to be a good catch to her (please take note that the demo has no spoilers about the game and tell very little about the story). Basically what this partnership between Chris and Sheva means is that a new dynamic is coming to RE games – co-op play. If you’re just going to play by yourself though there’s nothing to fear. I played by myself and even though I thought Sheva may get annoying to tag along with all the time (being run by an AI); she takes care of herself well. During sticky situations like the chainsaw dude at the end of shanty town if you’re running she’ll run behind you well, evading hordes of zombies. You need to remember though, if she gets chain sawed, the game is over for you too. So it’s crucial that you keep yourselves alive. It may seem a bit overwhelming at first to watch out for two people but like I said she takes care of herself well and will help you out greatly if need be. Still, I think the best way to play the demo is online or with a friend in order to properly execute zombie killing.

You and Sheva will be working with eachother to survive so it's crucial to get along.

Since there are two of you now sharing ammo is a necessity for survival. While I was playing by myself at first I took all the ammo, but soon I realized that makes Sheva absolutely useless. She’ll stand there with no ammo and you’ll quickly get horded by zombies. It’s important to make sure you keep each other full of ammo to effectively protect each other. You may find it difficult for the first bit because now RE5 has changed to a “realtime” inventory screen. This means you’ll be swapping guns/ammo/herbs on the fly so you’ll have to be quick. It takes some time to get used to. I almost wish it wasn’t like that and it was back like the way it was in RE4. Still, I have a feeling it will make the game more intense in the end.

During the demo you will be forced into certain situations where you and your partner will have to spilt up in order to get past the obstacle. During these sequences you will usually cover one another until the pathway is opened. Its fun and rewarding to do but can also be nerve-racking if you’re not next to your partner and they are dying.

In the demo you will be able to use 4 guns. The handgun, shotgun, rifle, and machine gun. They are all great fun to use, but I think my favourite is still the shotgun. The crowd control with it is excellent. I guess I forgot to mention that because there are two of you, you’ll be horded with way more zombies than before so that makes the shotgun that much more effective when you’re spammed by 15 zombies. But yes, aside from the shotgun the other guns are much like they were in RE4, they are just redesigned graphically.

From what I’ve seen so far in the demo a lot of it tests your survival skills. In the first level in the demo you’ll be pitted against several zombies and this executioner zombie for what it seems is at least 10 minutes. It’s not easy to stay alive, and you will constantly feel like you’re not going to make it. The key is to work as a team and keep moving. The minute you stay still you’ll get surrounded by zombies at all angles. There’s no harm in running and finding better coverage to shoot from.

Oh shi-

No matter how good you or your partner is you will get hurt. Herbs are back and basically do the same thing they did in RE4. There is something new now though. When you’re partner gets in critical health you are able to walk up to them and “resuscitate” them, basically it’s an animation of you shoving a needle into their heart. I had to do it several times (and had it done to me several times). It’s cool and I can’t wait to see how they expand that into the game later.

Lastly I want to talk about the signature moves Chris has. Let me just say that so far I enjoyed the moves from RE4 better. The “hook” just seems kind of boring when Chris does it. Basically all your doing is going up to the zombie and punching it super hard into the nearest wall in the opposite direction. It’s very meh to me. I miss the suplex Leon used to do. Keep in mind that this is just the demo though.

This leads me to the end of this article. Nothing is official in this game yet and I’m excited to get my hands on the final retail version of this game. So many more things will be introduced into this game, and I’m sure the story is going to be fantastic. Anyways, only time will tell. What I can tell you now though, is that if you enjoyed RE4 there should be no doubt in your mind when it comes to pre-ordering RE5. I am going to grab the Collections Edition pack because I love Resident Evil so much and it looks like it’s going to offer some good stuff. The game is set to release March 13, 2009; less than two months away! Preorder now.

Edited by The Colonel, 06 August 2009 - 09:51 PM.

[bloodvayne]

ARGH, stop calling them zombies, it pains me
And I'm definitely getting this on PS3, the 360 controller just doesn't work well with the game, even when you're used to it.

I haven't played since the japanese demo, is the ammo exchange system still painful, or is it fixed? In the japanese demo, whenever you gave ammo to your partner you gave almost a whole stack (max of 30 or 40 I think). It made it mandatory to tell your partner when to pick up ammo, instead of just giving it to them.
I really like the 'realtime' inventory screen tho, it not only makes it more intense, but it takes away the problem that made Resident Evil 0 bad... spending half the damn game in the inventory screen.

With the guns, I noticed there's a lot more balance. The machine gun is nowhere near as powerful as it was in RE4, and the rifle is now a lot more situational now (so much so that's it's near useless in the axeman level). I dunno if they'll be upgradeable or not, I actually kind of hope not. I would prefer to be able to buy more ammo than weapon upgrades (couldn't buy ammo in RE4), plus it would kill this balance it has set up.

With the axeman level, you could camp in the bus and he could never get you, and then the Ganados only had one entryway, as opposed to coming from all angles from anywhere else in the level. Do a lap, getting the machine gun and some ammo, and then camp there and you're good.
Me and a friend tried to take out the axeman, but we always died that way, never could get a kill :/

And I really liked the signature moves. Chris seems to be a lot more about brute force than Leon was, so seeing him pull off these powerhouse moves is fun. I love playing as Sheva tho, her acrobatic melee attacks are always amazing to do and to watch. And there's several different melee attacks each character, Chris' neckbreak move might be more satisfying than when Hunk did it in RE4.
Not to mention you can stomp/stab an enemy while they're down, something I loved from Dead Space.

[Plasmic Fury]

I haven't played since the japanese demo, is the ammo exchange system still painful, or is it fixed? In the japanese demo, whenever you gave ammo to your partner you gave almost a whole stack (max of 30 or 40 I think). It made it mandatory to tell your partner when to pick up ammo, instead of just giving it to them.
I really like the 'realtime' inventory screen tho, it not only makes it more intense, but it takes away the problem that made Resident Evil 0 bad... spending half the damn game in the inventory screen.

Unfortunately it still does that in this demo >.<

With the guns, I noticed there's a lot more balance. The machine gun is nowhere near as powerful as it was in RE4, and the rifle is now a lot more situational now (so much so that's it's near useless in the axeman level). I dunno if they'll be upgradeable or not, I actually kind of hope not. I would prefer to be able to buy more ammo than weapon upgrades (couldn't buy ammo in RE4), plus it would kill this balance it has set up.

I hope they still let you upgrade weapons, IMO that was pretty damn fun/cool. The guns do seem more balanced, and the pistol seems weaker to me.

And I really liked the signature moves. Chris seems to be a lot more about brute force than Leon was, so seeing him pull off these powerhouse moves is fun. I love playing as Sheva tho, her acrobatic melee attacks are always amazing to do and to watch. And there's several different melee attacks each character, Chris' neckbreak move might be more satisfying than when Hunk did it in RE4.
Not to mention you can stomp/stab an enemy while they're down, something I loved from Dead Space.

I have to disagree with you here, Chris's signature moves just look boring tbh. Stomping people on the ground is cool yes, but the punch back while its powerful seems kind of stale to me. Bring back the suplex!

[bloodvayne]

I hope they still let you upgrade weapons, IMO that was pretty damn fun/cool. The guns do seem more balanced, and the pistol seems weaker to me.

They've said there'll be a lot more weapon variety, so with that I'm also kind of doubting upgrading weapons will be there, and will instead be in favor of buying a larger variety of weapons.

And meh, the pistol serves the same purpose it had in RE4, to shoot them in the face or leg and then melee them.
I think it just seems weaker because ammo is a lot scarcer and enemies have grown in numbers.

[Anth0ny]

And I'm definitely getting this on PS3, the 360 controller just doesn't work well with the game, even when you're used to it.

Really? I couldn't take the dualshock controller when I played the PS2 version of RE4 because I was so used to the Cube controller. Thankfully, the 360 controller is very similar and I feel right at home with it.

But I do know people who preferred the dualshock to cube. Whatever floats your boat.

[Lord Panzerfaust]

hmmmmmm


should this really be called Left2Dead lolololol

[bloodvayne]

Really? I couldn't take the dualshock controller when I played the PS2 version of RE4 because I was so used to the Cube controller. Thankfully, the 360 controller is very similar and I feel right at home with it.

But I do know people who preferred the dualshock to cube. Whatever floats your boat.

Wiimote + nunchuck > GC controller > DualShock >>>>>>>>>>>> 360 controller

[Lt ledhead]

Played this with a friend not long ago, LOTS of fun. Will def buy if I have the money