Resident Evil 5

Genre: Third-Person Shooter / Horror

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local Split-Screen, Local Wireless), 2-4 Co-Op / Competitive (Online), Online Leaderboards

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in the Resident Evil Triple Pack, along with Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 6.)

Resident Evil 5 is a bit of a divisive game. Coming out in the shadow of the highly-beloved Resident Evil 4, the series’ fifth numbered game took the series even farther away from the series’ roots as a slow-paced Graphic Adventure series with a bit of action thrown in, and more in the direction of a straight-up Action series, for better or worse. Originally released on PlayStation 3 and Xbox One in 2009, the game would be ported to PC later that year, and then re-released for the subsequent generation of game consoles in 2016, with the game reaching the Nintendo Switch in 2019 along with all of its expansion content.

In terms of presentation, Resident Evil 5 looks fantastic on the Nintendo Switch, although that does come with some caveats. The game has a resolution of 1080p in docked mode and 720p in handheld mode, with the framerates ranging from 25-40FPS (thanks to Digital Foundry for the numbers). I’ll say that while Digital Foundry had some strong opinions about this framerate (the short version is, they thought it would have been better if they simply capped it at 30FPS), I was pretty pleased with how the game looked for the most part. The game does drop down to 20-25FPS in Split-Screen mode, which is less forgivable, though. There are other concessions made to the visuals as well – the Switch version removes some of the motion blur seen in other versions of the game, and downgraded shadows causes them to shimmer in an odd way.

Okay, but I just said I thought this game looks fantastic, right? Well, putting aside all of those (in my opinion, mostly minor) complaints, this is a game that features a lot of detail in its environments and character models (though they couldn’t quite get the mouths to match up with what they’re saying), and right from the game’s opening you’ll have a pretty sizable number of characters on-screen. This is visually a huge leap beyond what was seen in Resident Evil 4, and even though the original version of Resident Evil 5 came out over a decade ago, this game still looks phenomenal, at least on a technical level.

In terms of the overall look and aesthetic of the game, I’m a bit less enthusiastic, though. The African locale the game takes place in is sun-washed in a way that, in my opinion, lacks much of the personality of the earlier games, and doesn’t feel as iconic as the first game’s mansion or the fourth game’s rural European village. The story this time around follows one of the first game’s protagonists, Chris Redfield, and his new partner Sheva Alomar, as they investigate a terrorist group reputed to be using the biological weapons from the earlier games in Africa, although of course as these things go there’s more at work here than first meets the eye.

I should mention that when this game was first released, the choice of an African locale caused a bit of a controversy, as it results in the majority of the game’s enemies you gun down being black. While I doubt this was a conscious choice to vilify black people (who are themselves the victim of a plot by others to control and manipulate them), I can see how it’s not a good look, although that would probably be even more true if this game were released in the current climate of high racial tension. To this element of the game, I’ll simply say that I’m not incorporating this into my assessment, but I mention it here so players can know what they’re in for – if you play this game, you’ll be shooting a lot of black people.

There was one other major thematic shift here that did concern me a bit though – this game doesn’t feel scary like the other Resident Evil games did, even though there are gruesome and unsettling things going on right from the start. The blame for that could go to this game’s heavier focus on action, or the inclusion of an AI-controlled partner, both design choices that constantly prevent the player from feeling alone and vulnerable like they do in prior games. It says something when just about any time I felt like I was about to be overwhelmed, my AI partner blasted away the remaining enemies threatening me, or delivered a spinning kick to their face (shattering nearby furniture in the process), and any slight semblance of fear departed.

That’s not to say that this is necessarily a bad thing, however. I can’t very well complain about an AI partner who’s actually (mostly) competent, and I absolutely celebrate the fact that this is the first numbered installment in the series that actually has good controls. I really feel like that last point needs to be emphasized – the controls in this game are much better than any of the prior games in the series, and this version of the game even adds in optional gyroscopic motion controls in the Nintendo Switch release to make the controls even better than other versions.

I know there’s some portion of the series’ fanbase that believes that the earlier games’ terrible controls were necessary to make the games work as horror games, and they will likely point to this game as proof. To them I’ll say that I’d much rather a game be playable than it capture the right mood. Oh, and also, that argument is a load of bull, because there are plenty of scary games that don’t have terrible controls. But I digress.

Anyway, to get back to the matter at hand, what results here is a somewhat mediocre Horror game, but an actually pretty good Action game. Players expecting to find the at times nonsensical puzzles and slow but atmospheric pacing of past games will largely be disappointed here, as this game is far more interested in having players explore environments while blasting away countless enemies and picking up the loot they drop, interspersed with occasional setpiece battles and cinematic cutscenes. Yes, to a much, much lesser extent this was also true of Resident Evil 4, but Resident Evil 5 takes every departure 4 made from earlier titles and pushes it into overdrive, and while it’s debatable whether that was the best direction to take the series, it does actually work as a pretty fun game in its own right, even if it’s nowhere near as iconic and memorable as earlier games in the series.

Another thing this game adds to the franchise is co-op play, and while I was initially uncertain about this, I have to admit that it was a blast to play, at least online. The way co-op has been implemented here is pretty streamlined, and it gives players plenty of opportunities to assist each other and communicates important information in a way that makes the Switch’s lack of good online communication options less problematic. In theory this is true of local split-screen play too, but the framerates in split-screen are so inconsistent and so frequently bad that I can’t give it the same high recommendation. It works, but not well.

That’s not all, either, as this game also includes Mercenaries and Versus modes that allow players to take on each other or leaderboards in a more action-focused, arcadey arena-based game. As much as these modes feel like they emphasizes all of the things that run counter to what Resident Evil traditionally has been (one of the modes here is even a deathmatch), I gotta’ say they’re pretty fun to play, and a great addition to this package.

In the end, those looking for an experience akin to earlier Resident Evil games won’t find it here. Those looking for a game that pushes horror and atmosphere first and foremost won’t find it here. Rather, what players will find in Resident Evil 5 is a solid Third-Person Shooter with some Horror elements, strong online co-op play, and some fun competitive multiplayer options as well. If you can put aside any disappointment over what this game isn’t, I suspect you’re thoroughly enjoy it for what it is – a great Action game..

tl;dr – Resident Evil 5 abandons much of the series’ Graphic Adventure and Horror-fueled roots in favor of something that’s much more Action-heavy, and while series purists may find this disappointing, the result is a pretty fun Third-Person Shooter with some great online multiplayer co-op and competitive gameplay.

Grade: B+

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