Resident Evil 5 Preview

Updated: February 2, 2009

Resident Evil has become an incredibly familiar franchise to gamers over the past decade. First released on the original PlayStation in 1996, Resident Evil has subsequently seen countless game iterations covering numerous genres, consoles, and handhelds. The absolute pinnacle of the series was Resident Evil 4, a reboot of the series rebuilt from the ground up tossing out all the features that had made the series stale, while retaining all the spirit that made the original games great to begin with. Most gamers would agree that RE4 was one of the best games of the last console generation.

To say that I have high expectations for Resident Evil 5 would be a glaring understatement. Finally being able to sit down with a preview build of the near final game, I've come away pleasantly optimistic. A new demo is currently hitting the net right now and players will get a chance to experience what RE5 has to offer, but that's simply a taste. RE5 aims to best its predecessor in every way imaginable, here's how:

1. Amazing High Definition Graphics:

The most obvious difference between RE4 and RE5 will of course be the jump to the high definition generation. RE5 runs beautifully in HD, and the texture work, color palette, and post processing effects mingle gracefully to produce an image that's sharp and detailed, yet still distinctly Resident Evil. The African wasteland depicted in RE5 is ominous, desolate, and entirely convincing. Enemies are varied and animate smoothly, reacting to every bullet, knife, and uppercut you can throw at them. Capcom has done an excellent job realizing Resident Evil in a HD landscape.

2. CO-OP Play:

If you've kept your ear to the ground, you've no doubt caught wind of Capcom's decision to make RE5 playable in coop from start to finish. There are coop specific gameplay scenarios that will provide exillerating moments for you and a friend to experience such as providing sniper cover while your pal completes an objective or staging an ambush for one of the game's monstrous bosses. Coop takes centerstage in RE5.

3. More Action:

Though many fans of Resident Evil on the boards and blogs are crying foul due to RE5's skew towards high action, from what I've played, it doesn't come at the expense of atmosphere. There are still many chilling moments between action set pieces that will have you perched on the edge of your seat. Jump out scares are a staple, and while the controls have been upgraded to accomodate strafing and simpler item management, it never stops feeling like Resident Evil.

4. More Interaction:

RE4 earned praise for its greatly varied and detailed environments. RE5 takes things up a notch by incorporating a high level of interactivity in each location. Doors, barrels, bookcases, and shanties all explode into pieces given the right amount of force. You also have a much higher level of mobility and can climb, jump, and take cover, making you feel like your environments are living and breathing instead of just pretty backdrops to all the colorful gunplay.

Resident Evil 5 is a mere two months from release, and thankfully things have shaped up quite nicely. The jury is still out on a few issues. I'd hate to see the single player experience suffer due to a focus on coop. I also hope that there is as much variety in RE5 as there was in RE4. So far the environments, while beautifully rendered, look very similar to one another. All things considered, RE5 is going to be a landmark action title for 2009. What remains to be seen is if it can exceed the lofty expectations set by its predecessor. We'll find out for sure come March.

Available Platforms: PS3, Xbox 360