Platform: PS3, XBOX 360, PC
Developer: Capcom
Online: Co-op + Competitive
Released: March 13 2009
Age rating: 18+

Many of you will know the Resident Evil series from earlier titles. Many regard the latest game as a disappointment and embarrassment to the series. Many see the game as a glorified action thriller. Many – including myself – however, have spent hours and hours sat on the sofa with a mate who lives God knows where, lining up the laser bang in the centre of the head of an infected, flesh-hungry ‘zombie’. So much bad rep for so much of an amazing game. And I’m going to tell you just why, if you haven’t already, you should buy this game.

Ok, so Resident Evil 5 is actually the 5th game in the series if you weren’t aware. By the way, we don’t count Wii games in this because we... Well, we just don’t. The series has followed a number of heroes and villains throughout its life, and in Resident Evil 5 expect no less. This game follows American tough guy Chris Redfield and South African officer Sheva Alomar. On the first solo playthrough you are restricted to playing as Chris, but after completion, you unlock the ability to play as either Chris or Sheva. Alternatively, play co-op and take a pick of which character you fancy. Personally, i prefer playing as Sheva in her Tribal outfit because I enjoy looking at the richly detailed underwear (is that wrong?). Between the two characters, there is really little difference. All the controls are the same and weapons handle equally between the two. The only differences come in terms of ‘physical combat moves’. These are the Heavy right-handers and backflip kicks which Chris and Sheva, respectively, are able to use at certain times in combat. The only other small difference is that 2 weapons are exclusively used by either Chris or Sheva later in the game when you unlock them. Don’t fear though as you probably won’t spend much time with these weapons. Having said that, Sheva’s Longbow animation compliments her... hair?

In terms of Gameplay, there will always be people who just can’t handle Resident Evil 5’s shooting system. This goes along the lines of not being able to move and shoot. Seeing as there is no hip-firing, this is often considered a massive hindrance. But most people overlook the fact why Capcom has done this. For one, it gives the game more thrill and excitement. There is nothing more heart pounding than having a horde of infected closing in on you while you are fixed to the spot shooting wildly with your Ithaca and realising you can’t get away in time because you were blood greedy. Secondly, Resident Evil has been known for its slow moving zombies, and using this combat system has helped keep the pace down. Though not as slow as the previous Resident Evil titles, this combat system really tries hard to keep a bit of tradition to the game. This is because if you think about, being able to hip fire on the move while dodging in and out of infected, it would be so easy! So to counter this, they would have to further speed up the movement of the enemy, moving further away from the ways of the original. Providing you can accept this combat system, it really compliments the game in so many ways which people just don’t see when they first play it.

Playing through the campaign is something in itself with all the action and fire fights occurring. But what’s better than blowing the shit out of zombies? Blowing the shit out of zombies with a fellow zombie shit blower. The Co-op feature in Resident Evil 5, for me, makes the game. It completes it as stuffed crust completes pizza. There really is nothing to fault with the online aspect of the game. Lag is completely minimal and in most cases you’re unable to tell which one is even the host. Chat support is also faultless, being smooth and fully coherent. The entire campaign is playable in Co-op either split screen or online and in my opinion is the only way to go about it.