streets of some township of rusty
corrugated roofs and faded shop
signs that have spent too long in the
relentless heat. Hostile faces glare
at you from the shade of market
stalls, where indescribable meat is
being cleaved for god-knows-what-
customers. A group of men pummel
something writhing in a sack. Is it
a dog? A person? Is this how they
tenderise the meat for chopping on
those nearby stalls? As you walk past,
they stop, menacingly clapping their
blunt instruments in their hands, and
as you turn a corner you just know
that all eyes are on you.
Not that the game lingers on this
unease, because you soon find
yourself besieged, pushing wardrobes
to cover doors and windows as an
apoplectic infected mob swarms in
on you and your partner. It’s a wicked
evolution on the Resident Evil 4
sequence with Ashley and Leon,
this time violated by an ogre-like
executioner who smashes through
the wall with its axe – a literal and
figurative fourth wall break! Suddenly,
the action spills out into a large area,
as you kick and uppercut your way
through the mob to try and find some
breathing space, running amidst the
hollowed buildings and stalls of a
stifling slum.
Played with a friend, Resident Evil 5
thrives during these sequences.
Comparing it to equivalent points in
Resident Evil 4, it’s testament to how
playing with a buddy can heighten the
sense of urgency. Just being able to
vocalise your panic and bark orders
at your partner to move the wardrobe,
PARCORPSE
DYING LIGHT
An excellent co-op
parkour experience, and
it offers constant peril in
a open world besieged by
deadly zombies.PARALLEL PATH
THE EVIL WITHIN
Resident Evil 4 director
Shinji Mikami’s pet project
treats us to an alternative
vision of how Capcom’s
series could have gone.The world’s definitely not
lacking for zombie games,
but those with that special
Resident Evil touch are a
little tougher to find out in
the wilds.MUTATING
HORROR
BACK TO THE ROOTS
RESIDENT EVIL 4
Resident Evil 5 shares
a lot of DNA with its
acclaimed predecessor,
and today it remains a
gaming landmark.cover the door, and, ‘Shit, they’re
coming in through the window. Why
didn’t you cover the WINDOW?!’ has the
kind of giddy effect that complements
the vision of its predecessor; the
horror of besiegement rather than
solitude. The unpausable inventory
menu does its part too, as weapon
exchanges and healing each other
requires you to keep your cool in the
heat of battle.
It works brilliantly. At a time when
co-op (particularly split-screen)
campaigns appeared to be a dying
breed on consoles, Resident Evil 5
became their unlikely champion.The problem is that this intensity
diminishes if you’re playing with a
drop-in stranger without voice comms.
Worse still is getting stuck with the AI.
At various points, you can split with
your partner by giving them a leg-up or
boost into an area that only one of you
can reach; a room filled with treasure,
or a vantage point from which to cover
the player heading into the fray. The AI
often fails to grasp this concept, just
looping back around to rejoin you.
Then there’s the weapon balancing
and tactical aspect. If one person is
a close-up shotgunner, the other one
could be a sniper, or one player can
kite enemies around while the other
picks them off. The levels are often
designed around offering players
enough freedom to experiment
tactically, but this is negated by the
AI, which absentmindedly clings to
your side like a loyal puppy. Yes, the AI
can automatically heal you when your
health gets too low, and it will attain
a 100% success rate on quick-time
events, but these countermeasures
feel inorganic, removing the element
of human fallibility that makes the
co-op so much fun.
It’s hard to recall a campaign-led
game where the disparity between
the solo and multiplayer experience is
quite so pronounced.
Resident Evil 5 is faithful to its
predecessor’s mechanics to a fault. In
Resi 4 you couldn’t run-and-gun, and
instead you had to plant your feet,
shoot, turn around, run, turn around,
shoot and repeat. A quick 180-turn“At a time when co-op campaigns appeared
to be a dying breed on consoles, Resident
Evil 5 became their unlikely champion”
ABOVE Ah yes,
globbus
globbicus, a
common species
of boss found in
the Resident
Evil games.extra
102 THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE