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| Chris Redfield about to shoot an advancing enemy in the Time Trial mode. |
Chris Redfield has been sent by the US government to a village in West Africa to stop the smuggling of a biological weapon known as Las Plagas that induces mind control and mutation. Upon arrival Chris teams up with fellow agent Sheva Alomar. The two of them must work together to stop the people who wish to use Las Plagas to take over the world.
The game is broken up into several levels across the unnamed African region. Chris and Sheva have to fight off several hundred villagers that have been infected with Las Plagas and mutated into dangerous monsters. Using several firearms they have on hand, plus several more that can be purchased, Chris and Sheva must kill every enemy that is keeping them from reaching the end of the level.
Combat is very easy; one button aims whatever weapon Chris or Sheva is holding, while another button fires it. The challenge lies in the number of enemies Chris and Sheva fight. Several enemies usually attack Chris and Sheva at the same time and take several shots to die. As the game progresses enemies become a lot more difficult to defend against, starting off with using farm tools to attack and moving up to automatic weapons and body armor. Thankfully the game never becomes difficult to the point of not being enjoyable. Chris and Sheva can carry many weapons, and can upgrade their weapons to be more effective against more powerful enemies.
There are extra challenges in the game that the player can participate in, which reward the player with cheats and hidden games. Challenges like trying to kill a certain number of enemies without dying or finding hidden talismans can be fun, but also really frustrating to complete.
The graphics engine makes everything looks really hazy, which makes sense in a hot African setting, but looks odd indoors. Also, everyone looks really shiny and covered in a thick layer of grime, which would also work in a hot African setting but also looks odd for enemies indoors.
The story is not really important to the game. The back story ties into the old Resident Evil games heavily which might make it harder for people who are new to the series to understand. Eventually the story ends up being about the saving the world from an insane madman that feels rather cliché and uninspired.
The biggest problem with Resident Evil 5 is the newest addition to the series: Sheva, the second character that the player is dependent on for survival. Sheva, when controlled by the computer, is as much a liability as she is helpful. She can hold and use items like medicine, weapons, and ammunition just like Chris. And she can kill enemies with just as much accuracy as Chris; sometimes she can be even more accurate than the player. But she has trouble determining when to use proper weapons or when to use healing items. She will sometimes use healing items on Chris and herself when it is not needed. The player can tell her to either defend or attack, but when she attacks she usually goes charging into a group of enemies where she can be killed very easily. She also has trouble understanding when an enemy has some sort of defense and shooting at them is ineffective. And she never uses grenades, even when they would be very helpful.
It is possible for second player to control Sheva, either over the internet or in the same room as the first player, which is much more enjoyable.
What makes it worse is comparing Resident Evil 5 to its predecessor Resident Evil 4, which had all the fun parts of Resident Evil 5 without having to share half an inventory with someone.
Resident Evil 5 is a decent game that is hampered by its own unnecessary additions to the franchise while not improving on anything. Anyone who has a choice between playing Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 5 should play 4 instead.
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