I'll preface this by saying that I consider RE5 to be a very good game in its own right. Just nowhere near the level of greatness that its direct predecessor set the standard for.
I think this game is an interesting case in the sense that it has an impeccable core gameplay loop, but nevertheless suffers from dozens of little issues that end up dragging the whole product down. It reminds me a bit of the usual debacle associated with Hollywood remakes of foreign films that, despite being based on a perfectly solid and pre-established core premise, often end up botching the execution in a myriad of different ways that actively take away from the original work's brain and heart.
Gone is the grandiose sense of locale and atmosphere of at least two out of RE4's three core areas, replaced by an amalgamation of bright, bland action levels that are nowhere near as memorable and filled with pointless collectables.
Gone is the endearingly cheesy B-movie plot and charismatic supporting cast of RE4, replaced by a story which takes itself way too seriously for its own good and relies on a forced emphasis on the nature of "partnership" as well as forgettable nobodies like Excella and Irving to move the plot along.
Gone is the powerful and capable Jill Valentine wearing her iconic but comparatively modest outfit(s), turned into a conveniently "tragic" henchwoman wearing a conveniently revealing outfit. I personally prefer the RE lore to be grounded in deadly, mutation-enabling viruses. Literal plot devices that veer into mind control sci-fi territory are stretching the limits of my suspension of disbelief a tiny bit too far for my liking, although I'll admit that the series has gone in that direction in the past (Nemesis, Ashley).
Gone is the last shred of mystery surrounding Wesker, replaced by a silly backstory about him being the result of a cookie-cutter clone experiment. I imagine that my reaction to this particular plot point was not unlike that of the hardcore Star Wars fanbase upon discovering Boba Fett's origin story in
Attack of the Clones.
Gone is the superb sense of pacing that understands the value of quiet time in-between carefully constructed sections of frenetic action, replaced by a full throttle direction that doesn't hesitate to throw insipid turret sections against motorbike-driving enemies at the player and later even introduces standard Majinis wielding barely dodgeable automatic rifles.
Gone are the exciting Plaga mutations that add the perfect amount of spice and need for improvisation to the combat, replaced by the overpowered Duvalias that aren't above stun-locking the player to death while the partner AI is busy face-tanking a rocket somewhere.
Gone are the delightfully balanced AIs of Dr. Salvador and El Gigante that allow skilled players to reliably defeat them using only the knife, replaced by the unapproachable Chainsaw Majini and a creatively bankrupt on-rails DPS battle against Ndesu, respectively.
Gone is the impeccable gallery of bosses each with their own little strategies and carefully designed areas, replaced by a bunch of aesthetically uninspired "Shoot the glowy bit!" bosses, with Irving and the endless variations of Uroboros being the worst offenders in that regard.
Gone is the ever-reliable RE4 knife, replaced by its barely useful RE5 iteration that only ever really works on a handful of enemies in the entire game.
Gone is the carefully thought-out but perfectly functional control scheme, replaced by a grand total of four different ones that each force the player to miss out on minor functionality.
Gone are the relaxing typewriter rooms and associated music, replaced by a convenient but utterly charmless autosave system.
Gone is the iconic Merchant, replaced by the same generic menu-based shop devoid of any personality that every other game uses.
Gone is the marvelous sense of steady progression and careful item placement, replaced by a chapter select system which doesn't even allow the player to start a new game from scratch without deleting the entire save first.
And of course, one cannot ignore the elephant in the room that is the cooperative mode, which is probably one of the best examples of robbing Peter to pay Paul in game design that I can think of. I'm a singleplayer enthusiast through and through, but I'll freely admit that the few times I've dabbled with the cooperative mode have rewarded me with some of the best moment-to-moment gameplay sessions of that console generation. Unfortunately, the entire game having been subtly balanced and designed around coop ended up having a negative effect on the singleplayer side of things, especially in terms of enemy AI and level design. But it's the partner AI that is the biggest culprit here. From randomly lagging behind and sabotaging perfectly good speedruns or taking disastrous hare-brained initiatives, that overambitious but heavily flawed piece of software has been the cause of great frustration on my part. The most notorious example of this being the Professional mode. What in RE4 amounts to a rigorous but impeccably fair challenge turns into a complete meat grinder where more time is spent praying that your idiotic partner will not mess everything up rather than dealing with the actual enemies and/or inventory management. Expecting the players to relinquish control over basic gameplay events is not a good thing if it can come at the expense of success and enjoyment through no fault of their own. Hard pass.
Desperate Escape is decent enough, but I'm personally not a fan of
Lost in Nightmares whatsoever. All I can say is that it wouldn't surprise me if its horrendous enemy design / variety and heavily sign-posted "puzzles" might very well have paved the way for the one or the other controversial development in the future of the franchise.
The Mercenaries in RE5 is a difficult one to judge for me. It is widely considered to be the mode's best iteration within the dedicated Mercs community, but I happen to disagree with that particular consensus for two main reasons. First, the issues tied to the enemy AI being built around cooperative play in the main game are even more noticeable in a mode where every second counts and a cheap hit occurring at an inopportune moment can easily ruin an otherwise stellar run. And that's without even mentioning the stationary enemies that are obviously meant to be dealt with by your (potentially non-existent) partner. Second, the focus on melee-induced time bonuses is affecting the entire metagame, prioritizing exploitation of hitboxes and invulnerability frames, de-emphasizing the importance of the combo meter, and disincentivizing the use of the combo chests and the majority of the heavy-hitting weapons, all of which creates an end result that is somewhat too clinical and repetitive for my liking.
In short, it's still a great mode based on an incredibly addictive core concept with a wonderfully high skill ceiling, but I find its high-level metagame to be rather frustrating when playing solo and I usually opt for the iterations in either 4 or 6 whenever I revisit it.
It's not all bad though, and this game certainly has its fair share of qualities and high points that often end up being drowned out by the lake of mediocrity that surrounds them.
The combat in general is very solid. The various weapons hit hard and have excellent handling, the real-time inventory management adds another layer of strategy, and the improved melee system is great, and probably the mechanical highlight of the entire game.
As bland as the overall story may be, I adore everything surrounding Wesker's portrayal in this game. His lines are hilariously cheesy, but delivered with such aplomb that they rarely fail to bring a smile to my face. "
Seven minutes. Seven minutes is all I can spare to play with you." At his worst, he is a bottom-tier Matrix reject, but at his best, he comes surprisingly close to the despicable charisma of other legendary Magnificent Bastards such as Liquid Ocelot. As ridiculous as he is unforgettable, it's no wonder he's managed to stay within popular consciousness for so long thanks to guest appearances in Marvel Vs. Capcom, for example.
I also like Sheva as a character. She always comes across as a very wholesome and competent person. Pretty much what can be expected from RE protagonists, but she's definitely a nice presence in the cutscenes.
The cutscene direction is also surprisingly good. The cinematography and choreography of the various fight scenes are excellent, if not particularly innovative.
The 2-on-2 fight against Wesker and Jill is one of the standout moments of RE lore for my money. I was quite moved by it during my first playthrough, which is utterly absurd considering the quality of what comes before and after it.
In the end, RE5 is a heavily flawed game that simply doesn't live up to its own potential. It's not a complete dumpster fire like RE6, nor a mechanical flyweight like the Revelations games, and it probably remains one of, if not
the best coop experience ever created even all these years after release. It does have a great combat engine, production values and a hyper-memorable villain. But as a singleplayer game that tries so hard to improves upon its glorious predecessor, it will probably always remain "The One That Could Have Been™" for me. And considering I have rarely been as hyped for an upcoming entertainment product as I was for this one (counting the days until release, which I remember was Friday the 13th of March 2009 like it was yesterday), it still stings a little.
Three Word Review:
"Poor performance, indeed." (In Wesker voice, pleeease?
)