Resident Evil 5

This is another backlog completion for me. I originally completed the main game in 2009, incidentally the same year the game was released. If anything, this is not an advert for me to play games after they are released because I borrowed the game from my brother and gave it back. I didn’t even realise there was DLC for until I started achievement hunting and looking at my incomplete titles. Then I was immediately put of the idea of playing Resident Evil 5 when I saw that one of the DLCs introduced a multiplayer feature.

I know I’ve harpied on about this in the past but some games have no room for multiplayer and Resident Evil is one of them. I’m not talking about co-op play when I say this as the co-op element of the game is actually meant to be better than playing with the shitty AI. I’m specifically talking about versus multiplayer. The in-game controls aren’t exactly built for speedy versus action.

Resident Evil 5 follows the story of Chris Redfield, a man who literally has biceps as big as his head, as he goes after the evil Albert Wesker. Chris is accompanied by a candidate for world’s worst sidekick, Sheva Something. You travel through various environments, somewhere in Spain (?) killing zombies mutated with the Uroboros virus.

Resident Evil 5 drew a lot of criticism from the fan base as it plays more like an action shooter than a survival horror, but credit where credit is due, the controls do feel like I’m in control of my own destiny and the only thing I can blame death on is my own poor ability than poor controls.

That said, the game has clearly been designed as a co-op adventure as the AI controlling Sheva is just shit. She doesn’t assist when she is meant to, she dies really easily and then asks for help and to top it all off she will immediately use a health recovery item if she scrapes her knee as you lie dying in the gutter. Not good, fuckass.

Sounds effects and graphics are blah at this point but it also doesn’t help the series’ cause as a survival horror when there explosions every five minutes. It’s certainly not atmospheric and the fear factor goes out of the window by introducing excessive non-zombie monsters as boss battles. Again, it couldn’t be further from horror if it tried.

Achievements – 1,400 Points – 70 Achievements

I can’t really remember much of the main game other than being really pleased with myself for getting the 100%. Imagine my dismay when I found out that was taken away from me by DLC... and then I found out that the majority of the gaming community didn’t find the game that difficult at all.

Of the original 50 achievements, 22 of them are story related. You get one per chapter completion. Outside of these, there are a load for killing zombies (or Majini as they are known in this offering of the franchise) or for doing specific environmental things, none of which are missable and can be easily earned by replaying chapters.

There are also a few achievements for collecting stuff including all treasures, all BSAA emblems and upgrading all weapons. The hardest achievement is for completing the game on professional but if memory serves, you can use all your upgraded weapons on this playthrough which makes it more forgiving. I also like that the game rewards you for going out of your way by making this achievement easier.

Downloadable Content

There are 3 downloadable content packs. Two are extra missions and one is a Versus Mode which I’ll talk more about later.

The two DLC mission packs are Lost In Nightmares, which is quite cool as it sees you go up against Wesker in a scene from the start of the main game. The mission itself is much more survival-horror which was a change of pace from the main game. In order to get all achievements you have to complete it on Professional with an S Rank, hit Wesker with a certain amount of combos and collect all the hidden score stars. It is the easiest of the 3 DLCs.

The other mission pack is Desperate Escape which sees you take control of Jill Valentine and follow a scene from halfway through the main game. This one is more challenging than Lost in Nightmares but can be completed by, and this still makes me laugh, not actually fighting anyone. That’s right, you can run past 90% of the zombies and it’s pretty much the only way to solo complete the mission. You also have to kill 3 agitator Majini which you can do by meeting secret criteria, and kill 150 enemies on one playthrough. Thankfully these can both be done easily on Amateur.

Multiplayer

That just leaves the pointless multiplayer mode and associated achievements. There are two game modes; Survivors and Slayers. Believe it or not Survivors sees you killing other players and Slayers sees you killing zombies and staying alive, a naming convention choice I can’t understand but there you go. The achievements are fairly simple but ridiculously time consuming for what they are.

You have to kill 100 other players using the special melee finisher. You have to get certain scores and combos in both the single and team variants of both games and you have to win 30 of each of the 4 game types. This takes forever even if you have three friends to see it through with. The games are set at 5 minutes each and run for the whole time limit – there is no way to make it go quicker. This made me realise how long 5 minutes actually is. And because you have to win, it’s not like you can just sit there and pass the time either.

Resident Evil 5 got a lot of stick but the single player game isn’t actually that bad. It’s not survival horror but it’s not a bad game. The Versus Mode is unnecessary and a pain in the ass but I’ve done worse things for completions.