Wasn't intending to review this game but ever since I finished it I can't stop thinking about it, so here we go.
I am a holder of many hot takes and now I'm adding a new one into the collection: RE5 is better than RE4. Before I get into this game proper, I need to emphasise that you really need to play this with a friend because it is much better, the AI in singleplayer isn't nearly as good as having another human by your side.
To begin with, the inventory system has been drastically improved, as while the Attaché Case wasn't a bad inventory system, it being in an action game just wasn't a good fit for it; constantly stopping and starting, it was a massive pace breaker, alongside some elements such as green herbs and grenades not stacking would mean your inventory would be bloated. RE5's inventory is a straight upgrade, it's much smaller, relegated to 9 slots, but almost everything stacks and you don't have nearly as many menial things such as attachments holding you down, on top of it not pausing the game which creates a lot of tension and emphasises my favourite thing in action games: on-the-fly decision making, which you will need.
The difficulty of RE5 is a drastic improvement over RE4, the dynamic difficulty of 4 does make it a very smooth ride from start to finish, but it meant that people like me who wanted more of a challenge couldn't get one consistently as my victories didn't feel entirely deserved; while dynamic difficulty isn't completely gone from RE5, it has been downplayed to a point in which I am comfortable with, since the only things which are effected by it are only some enemy placements and item drops. It's very minor and playing on the Veteran difficulty gave me and my friend a hard but fair challenge and the few dynamic elements never detracted from the core gameplay and that core gameplay is a ton of fun; aside from the previously mentioned inventory system, all the core mechanics from RE4 have been carried over and improved, you can still stun enemies, shoot certain projectiles out of the air and perform context sensitive melee attacks, but then you also have combo strings of melee attacks you can do with your partner, as well as an execution for when enemies are laying on the ground. The melee attacks can now be performed by both players at once to do extra damage, and while that may initially seem like overkill, it is very good for taking out mini-boss enemies, because there are a lot more of them compared to RE4.
This is where the co-op element really comes into play as having 2 people simultainiously making on-the-fly decisions and helping each other adds so much to the combat, a massive improvement over Ashley whom, while not bad (and I'd argue overhated), didn't really add anything to the game. Let me give you an example: it was in the final hours of the game and I was on a raised platform while my friend was down below where a large enemy was, and it was one of the more dangerous large enemies, I had a magnum which will stun any large enemy and open them up for a melee attack, so I shot the large enemy in the head and began a stunlock string of me shooting it and my friend melee attacking it, doing a ton of damage and finishing off the fight. It was such a brilliant sequence of events and it was all intuitive, all my friend had to say was "gimme another one (opening)" and I knew exactly what he was talking about, and I'll say right now, games that have depth in gameplay and have that depth be intuitive is one of my favourite things ever.
Another complaint I had with RE4 was level design, not because of how linear it was, but because of its basic nature; many arenas are just hallways or large circles, there was nothing to manipulate enemy AI or really outsmart enemies, the game is a borderline shooting gallery because of this. RE5 manages to distinguish itself by having way better arena design as a whole, it's really good to the point where it actually made me like cover mechanics when they were used later in the game; it's got more verticality, more space to move around, there's much more room for interesting interactions and decision making. However, that doesn't mean every level is consistent, as many of them also fall into the trap of hallway shooting, and there is an entire turret section chapter which was mediocre; RE5 has lower lows than RE4, but it compensates by having higher highs, as the final hours of the game are great, some of the most co-op fun I've ever had in fact, and chapter 6-3 is such a well design and well paced conclusion that I couldn't think of a more perfect way to end a video game. This is on top of having various open ended sections throughout the game which game you more freedom to explore which I definitely appreciated as they added some much needed variety.
Weapon variety was a big positive of RE4 for me, and I'm glad to say that it's mostly still here, with a few more issues; whilst RE4 had a lot of weapons, each of them had a small amount of customisation to them with attachments, and they're basically all gone in this game, alongside the fact that a lot of weapons in the same class mostly feel the same to use with too few changes to distinguish themselves. This isn't a massive issue however because I think having the inventory be improved over having a little more weapon variety is a worthy sacrifice, and there's enough weapon types and a few select variants that do set themselves apart so that this game isn't lacking in weapon variety, but on that same topic, its enemy variety is pretty good also.
Enemy variety was probably my biggest criticism with RE4, you're fighting mostly the same enemies throughout the entire game and the little variation there is wasn't really that good. RE5 does also have a similar issue but it is far better than RE4, as many enemies have different ways to approach them, such as the aforementioned large enemies, on top of the different enemy types like the townsfolk, the tribal enemies, the tough as nails bug enemies, as well as some ranged enemies among others. I was initially not fond of those ranged enemies but as the game went on, it started to use them in more creative ways and ultimately I came back around on them. All this makes for a gameplay experience that is just far more enjoyable than RE4's gameplay for me, there's so much more going on and way more stakes at play. However, despite having overall better enemy design, the bosses are kind of bad for the most part; uninteresting bullet sponges with little going on, they're not terrible, aside from the 2nd Ouroboros Mass fight (genuine Z tier fight), but the last few bosses were a genuine surprise, they had some unique mechanics and a decent amount going on in them; they're not fantastic but for shooter standards, they are a cut above most of what the genre offers, without a doubt.
However, that's not what makes me give this game such a high rating despite its reputation as one of the "bad resident evils", counting all of this game's pros and cons and I'd think I would feel the same way I do about Quake 4, a competent shooter that has a few bumps in the road, but is overall well designed, and kept my attention from start to finish (for more of my thoughts on that game, read: https://www.backloggd.com/u/mirphy/review/304849/). My affinity for this game would be thanks to its DLC. Lost in Nightmares isn't anything to write home about, it's a throwback to the original Resident Evil games with some neat ideas but it ultimately feels like a fart in the wind dude to repetition and being far too short. Desperate Escape on the other hand is excellent, fucking incredible even. The difficulty curve picks up right where the main game left off, and it just keeps going and going, it's a great experience from front to back, putting everything you and your partner have learnt to the test in an exhilirating rollercoaster ride. It's the perfect example of DLC done right, so much so that I struggle to find a single thing wrong with it.
RE5 and Desperate Escape are, together, a brilliant co-op experience. There's good gameplay, good level design and a lot of content on display, I thoroughly look forward to dumping many hours into the Mercenaries mode. I know this review will not click with a lot of people, and that's fine, but hopefully I've shed light upon how some people can view RE4 in a bad light, and maybe have put the thought of giving this game a 2nd chance into your minds. If I did, I hope that you finish the game feeling,
S A T U R A T E D.
I am a holder of many hot takes and now I'm adding a new one into the collection: RE5 is better than RE4. Before I get into this game proper, I need to emphasise that you really need to play this with a friend because it is much better, the AI in singleplayer isn't nearly as good as having another human by your side.
To begin with, the inventory system has been drastically improved, as while the Attaché Case wasn't a bad inventory system, it being in an action game just wasn't a good fit for it; constantly stopping and starting, it was a massive pace breaker, alongside some elements such as green herbs and grenades not stacking would mean your inventory would be bloated. RE5's inventory is a straight upgrade, it's much smaller, relegated to 9 slots, but almost everything stacks and you don't have nearly as many menial things such as attachments holding you down, on top of it not pausing the game which creates a lot of tension and emphasises my favourite thing in action games: on-the-fly decision making, which you will need.
The difficulty of RE5 is a drastic improvement over RE4, the dynamic difficulty of 4 does make it a very smooth ride from start to finish, but it meant that people like me who wanted more of a challenge couldn't get one consistently as my victories didn't feel entirely deserved; while dynamic difficulty isn't completely gone from RE5, it has been downplayed to a point in which I am comfortable with, since the only things which are effected by it are only some enemy placements and item drops. It's very minor and playing on the Veteran difficulty gave me and my friend a hard but fair challenge and the few dynamic elements never detracted from the core gameplay and that core gameplay is a ton of fun; aside from the previously mentioned inventory system, all the core mechanics from RE4 have been carried over and improved, you can still stun enemies, shoot certain projectiles out of the air and perform context sensitive melee attacks, but then you also have combo strings of melee attacks you can do with your partner, as well as an execution for when enemies are laying on the ground. The melee attacks can now be performed by both players at once to do extra damage, and while that may initially seem like overkill, it is very good for taking out mini-boss enemies, because there are a lot more of them compared to RE4.
This is where the co-op element really comes into play as having 2 people simultainiously making on-the-fly decisions and helping each other adds so much to the combat, a massive improvement over Ashley whom, while not bad (and I'd argue overhated), didn't really add anything to the game. Let me give you an example: it was in the final hours of the game and I was on a raised platform while my friend was down below where a large enemy was, and it was one of the more dangerous large enemies, I had a magnum which will stun any large enemy and open them up for a melee attack, so I shot the large enemy in the head and began a stunlock string of me shooting it and my friend melee attacking it, doing a ton of damage and finishing off the fight. It was such a brilliant sequence of events and it was all intuitive, all my friend had to say was "gimme another one (opening)" and I knew exactly what he was talking about, and I'll say right now, games that have depth in gameplay and have that depth be intuitive is one of my favourite things ever.
Another complaint I had with RE4 was level design, not because of how linear it was, but because of its basic nature; many arenas are just hallways or large circles, there was nothing to manipulate enemy AI or really outsmart enemies, the game is a borderline shooting gallery because of this. RE5 manages to distinguish itself by having way better arena design as a whole, it's really good to the point where it actually made me like cover mechanics when they were used later in the game; it's got more verticality, more space to move around, there's much more room for interesting interactions and decision making. However, that doesn't mean every level is consistent, as many of them also fall into the trap of hallway shooting, and there is an entire turret section chapter which was mediocre; RE5 has lower lows than RE4, but it compensates by having higher highs, as the final hours of the game are great, some of the most co-op fun I've ever had in fact, and chapter 6-3 is such a well design and well paced conclusion that I couldn't think of a more perfect way to end a video game. This is on top of having various open ended sections throughout the game which game you more freedom to explore which I definitely appreciated as they added some much needed variety.
Weapon variety was a big positive of RE4 for me, and I'm glad to say that it's mostly still here, with a few more issues; whilst RE4 had a lot of weapons, each of them had a small amount of customisation to them with attachments, and they're basically all gone in this game, alongside the fact that a lot of weapons in the same class mostly feel the same to use with too few changes to distinguish themselves. This isn't a massive issue however because I think having the inventory be improved over having a little more weapon variety is a worthy sacrifice, and there's enough weapon types and a few select variants that do set themselves apart so that this game isn't lacking in weapon variety, but on that same topic, its enemy variety is pretty good also.
Enemy variety was probably my biggest criticism with RE4, you're fighting mostly the same enemies throughout the entire game and the little variation there is wasn't really that good. RE5 does also have a similar issue but it is far better than RE4, as many enemies have different ways to approach them, such as the aforementioned large enemies, on top of the different enemy types like the townsfolk, the tribal enemies, the tough as nails bug enemies, as well as some ranged enemies among others. I was initially not fond of those ranged enemies but as the game went on, it started to use them in more creative ways and ultimately I came back around on them. All this makes for a gameplay experience that is just far more enjoyable than RE4's gameplay for me, there's so much more going on and way more stakes at play. However, despite having overall better enemy design, the bosses are kind of bad for the most part; uninteresting bullet sponges with little going on, they're not terrible, aside from the 2nd Ouroboros Mass fight (genuine Z tier fight), but the last few bosses were a genuine surprise, they had some unique mechanics and a decent amount going on in them; they're not fantastic but for shooter standards, they are a cut above most of what the genre offers, without a doubt.
However, that's not what makes me give this game such a high rating despite its reputation as one of the "bad resident evils", counting all of this game's pros and cons and I'd think I would feel the same way I do about Quake 4, a competent shooter that has a few bumps in the road, but is overall well designed, and kept my attention from start to finish (for more of my thoughts on that game, read: https://www.backloggd.com/u/mirphy/review/304849/). My affinity for this game would be thanks to its DLC. Lost in Nightmares isn't anything to write home about, it's a throwback to the original Resident Evil games with some neat ideas but it ultimately feels like a fart in the wind dude to repetition and being far too short. Desperate Escape on the other hand is excellent, fucking incredible even. The difficulty curve picks up right where the main game left off, and it just keeps going and going, it's a great experience from front to back, putting everything you and your partner have learnt to the test in an exhilirating rollercoaster ride. It's the perfect example of DLC done right, so much so that I struggle to find a single thing wrong with it.
RE5 and Desperate Escape are, together, a brilliant co-op experience. There's good gameplay, good level design and a lot of content on display, I thoroughly look forward to dumping many hours into the Mercenaries mode. I know this review will not click with a lot of people, and that's fine, but hopefully I've shed light upon how some people can view RE4 in a bad light, and maybe have put the thought of giving this game a 2nd chance into your minds. If I did, I hope that you finish the game feeling,
S A T U R A T E D.