(E3 2008) Resident Evil 5 Hands-On Impressions ... "It feels unoriginal" ?

Gothic Girl | July 19, 2008 | Previews | Playstation 3 XBOX 360 E3 2008

If you loved Resident Evil 4, then you will love this news.
If you were hoping Resident Evil 5 would be an upgrade for the series, you may be disappointed.

Justin McElroy of Joystiq got his hands on the demo of RE5 at E3... and he didn't know whether to be disappointed or thrilled. The game looked beautiful and the gameplay was good, but he felt it was almost identical to RE4's gameplay and not the "evolutionary step forward" he (and fans) might hope for.
It seems McElroy isn't the only one who felt this way either.

Discuss in the forum

However, as good as it looked, I still couldn't get RE4 out of my head. Remember the first time you played it? How fresh it felt? How every facet had been retooled, re-imagined to really serve the experience? I think that is what I was hoping for from RE5's gameplay. But this is iterative, an evolutionary step forward, nothing like the leap I was hoping for.

Your partner is one of the few tweaks that really adds something new. When they're under attack a light begins flashing in the lower left corner of the UI, and knowing that they need you and you're swamped in a thicket of not-zombies adds an even greater sense of urgency to a game that was already pretty intense.

I have no problem dinging a game if it doesn't meet my expectations for quality, but this is something different. This is complaining about a game not changing the very landscape of the genre, something I'm not even sure is fair. But as I put down the controller, guts freshly ripped out by a zombie, it was the thought I couldn't get out of my head.

News Story attached to:

Resident Evil 5 [PS3, XBOX360]

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Comments

Comments with -10 or lower "thumbs" are removed from display.

0 thumbs!
Newcloud | July 19, 2008

that doesn't matter me i like re4 gameplay
if it ante broke dont fix it
0 thumbs!
Gamesta100 | July 19, 2008

Doesn't bother me.RE 4 was one of the very few games of the last few years that I played more than twice in succession (6 times to be precise).So I'm sure this one will be the same for me.
3 thumbs!
Sereph | July 19, 2008

Watching the demo for it made me think "wow, this looks like RE4 with a graphical upgrade, no more".

That's both good and bad. They could have at least made the animations better. I got sick and tired of seeing enemies reach up in their death throes or spin backward from a shotgun blast. Especially in RE5, it looks absolutely ridiculous.
0 thumbs!
Cruxis Mana | July 19, 2008

Resident Evil 4 + Army of Two = Resident Evil 5 ?

Still looks fun though.
0 thumbs!
Donnelly | July 19, 2008

Resident Evil 4 2? I can dig it.
0 thumbs!
hpnotic215 | July 19, 2008

I agree with newcloud, I also liked RE4's gameplay and I would rather them leave it the same then try to upgrade it and mess it up in the process, i'm still looking forward to RE5.
3 thumbs!
Seeker X | July 19, 2008

NOW people noticed this? They recycled the same damn animations from RE4. When they're getting shot in the face, when they get slashed by a knife, when they kneel down and die, even the way Chris moves, etc, you could spot this all out from the first gameplay trailer.
- 2 thumbs!
  Sereph | July 20, 2008
  
  I noticed this in the first trailer, but dismissed it as being necessary for the alpha build of the game. Now that the game is pretty much already done according to the devs, there's no excuse for this kind of blatant laziness.
1 thumbs!
iLLmatic | July 19, 2008

No shit it feels unoriginal. It's Resident Evil 4.5 Survival Action Shooter. They have the same animations, same sound effects, camera, movements, everything. They just threw you in the middle of Africa and beefed up the graphics. Co-op sounds cool, but I don't even know if I want this game. I miss the old Resident Evil when it was actually scary and ammo was scarce.
0 thumbs!
reaver11 | July 20, 2008

No need to fix what isn't broken, imo. Some people just need something to bitch about I guess.
- 0 thumbs!
  Seeker X | July 20, 2008
  
  Listen, sometimes when sequels take a new turn, some people just prefer old school. Just look at how many fans of Fallout are already saying what a failure Fallout 3 is. Some fans of the classic RE's are just not pleased with the new gameplay, why? Because it's basically a shooter.
  
  In the classics, you were lucky if you found some clips of handguns around the beginning of the game...in RE4, you can barely fit ALL 10+ WEAPONS AND 10,000,000 AMMO in your case. Drastic difference, not to mention that the game was incredibly linear, opposed to the freeroaming that you were allowed in the classics. Now I'm not saying this game will fail...mostly because this game has reached mainstream status since RE4. That's not to say that it doesn't disappoint me.
  - 1 thumbs!
    Gothic Girl | July 20, 2008
    
    Tbh, I don't think it's about "fixing what's broken". Rather, it's about updating the game for the next-generation consoles. RE5 is a PS3/360 game - It's meant to be improved from the PS2/Wii's Resident Evil 4. I find it a little disappointing that many sites are saying the controls are practically identical to Re4 with barely a noticeable upgrade. Did Capcom get lazy?
1 thumbs!
iLLmatic | July 20, 2008

Or some people are wilking to buy something because it's new and can't respect other peoples opinions. No need to fix what isn't broken? Yea, everything before RE4 was trash...
0 thumbs!
Demonfurby | July 20, 2008

Wow, RE4 with a graphics update. Give me RE0 Remake over this any day