Resident Evil 5

Two levels of demo on Xbox 360 aren't usually sufficient to help one express an exhaustive opinion about a highly anticipated title such as Resident Evil 5, but in this case it's just enough to convince the gamer that another gem is about to be uncovered. This latest addition to the acclaimed franchise stays true to the survival-horror genre, retaining that sinister atmosphere from the previous titles and further increasing it, by carrying the creepiness into broad daylight.

The plot is pretty much the same, as a bioterrorism threat is transforming the inhabitants of a small village in Africa into mindless zombies, so Resident Evil hero Chris Redfield is sent in to deal with it. He's not going to take on this dangerous mission alone but will be assisted each step of the road by an equally skilled teammate, Sheva Alomar, whose help will prove invaluable. You can play both characters, each with its distinctive features and can even issue simple commands to the AI controlled teammate, instructing it to stay put and provide cover or assault the enemies.

The novelty resides in the fact that the infected people are not that dumb as we'd like to think, but instead can launch coordinated attacks and take advantage of obstacles of any sort. Add to this the fact that they are more agile then ever and can easily jump over obstacles, always determined to surround you or your companion. Furthermore they can take on a couple of rounds in the chest, so severing their limbs of going straight for the headshot is the right thing to do when being confronted with these bloodthirsty zombies.

While the opponents are very dangerous and always outnumber you, Sheva is one of the best teammate one could wish for, always trying to cover you and ready to heal you when the zombies manage to inflict serious damage. Injuries will affect your movement speed and when being critically wounded it's most likely that you'll bleed to death unless healed fast, so it always pays off to make sure that you've got your inventory filled with herbs. Browsing through it can prove quite a challenge, because you can no longer pause the game to use the appropriate item, and in the mayhem that usually follows after a full scale attack, panic can play a major part.

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Crippled by wounds, with no herbs in the inventory for healing and armed with a weapon that lacks the much needed fire power to bring down a boss, one would think that nothing can make things further worse. Having to reload the gun in the middle of a fight is exactly what one needs to avoid, because that leaves you virtually helpless and nothing can save you but a fast, resolute action from your teammate. And this brings us to the most exciting aspect of Resident Evil 5, the co-op, which further increases the fun and completely changes the entire gameplay.

While in single player mode your teammate will usually pick up most of the items available and then use them as it sees fit (doing an excellent job though), in co-op players can decide how to share healing items and ammunition to make the most of it. Constant communication is vital during each mission but especially during the boss fights, when the right strategy can make the difference between victory and certain death. Staying too close to each other can prove fatal, since the enemy wields a large axe or a chainsaw that can easily kill both players with a swing, while straying too much makes healing virtually impossible.

The control system is very similar to the one implemented in Resident Evil 4 and it is only fair to say that it's quite challenging for those who are not playing a lot of Xbox games, and can put to test even the fans of this console. Moving around should be a piece of cake after just a few minutes and aiming problems will sooner or later fade out as you get more and more accustomed with the game mechanics, but equipping items from the inventory or trading them to your teammate will be a constant headache for a long time.

Graphically the game looks quite impressive, the attention to details is obvious with both the characters and the enraged zombies being well designed, while the ominous environment brilliantly succeeds in immersing the player into the appropriate atmosphere of a survival-horror game. The previous titles and especially the latest installment set the bar so high that few people though that Resident Evil 5 will rise up for the challenge, but so far we've got plenty of reasons to look forward for March 13^th.