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The first Resident Evil entry on Xbox 360 swung
between confusion and sheer co-op fun ROBERT ZAK
PUBLISHER CAPCOM / DEVELOPER CAPCOM / FORMAT XBOX 360, XBOX ONEFIXED-ANGLE
FLASHBACKS
In Lost In Nightmares,
try to leave through the
front of the mansion
three times and it’ll
switch to a old-school
fixed camera.More Xbox news at gamesradar.com/oxm THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE 101From our perch in
2019, we can look
back on the long
lineage of Resident
Evil games and
see what series
director Koshi
Nakanishi meant when he described
it as “a series of trilogies”. He
was talking in terms of genre and
design; the clear divide between the
resource-scavenging survival horror
of the first three games, the all-action
trajectory of the next three, and a
zeroing-in on claustrophobic horror
for Resident Evil 7 (which carries over
into the Resident Evil 2 remake and
presumably one day, Resident Evil 8
and Resident Evil 9).
Of course, this is so clear to see
in hindsight that even a milky-eyed
shambling corpse could spot the
pattern. But in the wake of the
seismic Resident Evil 4 in
2004, a pattern was yet
to be established, and
no one knew what to
expect next from the
series. Obviously, the
pioneering over-the-
shoulder perspective had
to stay, but would Capcom
retrofit that to the more
traditional horror of the original
trilogy, or build on the higher pace and
roundhouse kicks established in the
fourth entry’s Spanish hinterlands?
More four
In a reductive way, the answer is
the latter. Resident Evil 5 ups the
melee moves (now featuring backflip
windmill kicks), enemy numbers and
turns recurring villain Albert Wesker
into a somewhat belated throwback
to The Matrix. But then it makes vital
changes too, setting the game in the
arid, sizzling heat of a deprived African
state, and committing itself fully to
being played cooperatively with a
friend or drop-in stranger.
From its problematic setting to its
co-op dependency, Resident Evil 5 is a
risky game, and its problems undulate
throughout its campaign like a raft
on turbulent waters. At its best, it
expands on the memorable moments
of Resident Evil 4, letting you share
that back-to-the-wall feeling with a
friend. At its worst, it feels like a game
that is frantically looking around for
ideas from more modern games to
grab onto.
It’s worth addressing that Resident
Evil 5 can make your conscience
slip into an infinite regress of pop
psychology about whether it’s
exploiting your subconscious fears
of impoverished Africa. Of course,
it makes you aware that the waves
of mutated black people you’re
shooting are themselves victims of
the corporate evils of the Umbrella
Corporation, which uses the country
as a testing ground for its new
Uroboros virus. And no one really made
a fuss when America and Spain were
subject to the series’ zombification
program before, right?
It’s a complex topic worthy
of its own feature, but I’d
summarise by saying that
the problem stems from
the fact that Africa has
long had an image
problem, and
the fiction
here crossed
over with the
media-filtered reality
of the continent a little
too closely for comfort
(not helped by the fact
that Uroboros victims are
the least zombie-like, most
human-looking enemies in the
entire series). There’s no malice
intended by Capcom but it does
feel insensitive, and you do wonder
if the game was being released in
today’s more fraught call-out climate,
whether Capcom would have decided
it’s not actually worth the inevitable
online backlash.Siege mentality
The first moments are fantastic,
dispelling concerns at the time that
sunshine would somehow wash out
the capacity for horror. It sees Chris
Redfield and his new partner Sheva
Alomar walking through the dusty