Resident Evil 5 PC Review

In the aftermath of Resident Evil 4, which was a totally different story from the main storyline, there were still a lot of questions left unanswered. First and foremost is, “san ba talaga nanggagaling tong mga hinayupak na mga virus na ito?” There’s the T-Virus, the G-virus, the T-Veronica and even a new one in part 4 called Las Plagas. Resident Evil 5 will attempt to answer these questions and may give you some thrills along the way.

You (primarily) are Chris Redfield. You are an agent in an organization called the BSAA that oversees and eliminates biological weapons. You are inserted into some unnamed town in Africa to capture some guy named Irving who is trying to trade biological weapons. You are joined by a very beautiful African lady (astigin pero sexy) name Sheva Alomar who will be your partner in this little African escapade. Story wise, this game is deep and very intriguing. There are times that you’d just play and play just to see what happens next.

Graphically the game is moody. The environment feels really HOT. Naawa ako kay Chris Redfield dahil naka polo shirt pa ito sa simula ng laro. Mukhang ewan, polo polo ang init init naman. Technically speaking the game is not a cut above the rest like Deep Space was but the Physx engine compensates. The detailing of textures is quite impressive though. Looking at Chris’s gear and even Sheva’s body armor, you certainly notice the attention to detail. Sheva’s earrings even move like real dangling earings my wife wears. Yokyokyok. We ran the game in DX10 using a single GTX 260 as our video card and it never lagged or got any major dips in the frames even with high action going on.

I’ve played Resident Evil games before and the one thing that will really set the mood in any horror game is the music and RE games are always the best at it. Having said that Resident Evil 5 has perfected this part of the game. It is often quiet while you play. But, when in combat a steady drum beat rolls in and helps get your heart rate up. Scares come in few and far between but they are quality shocks that leave your heart pounding for minutes. But, as usual though, they didn’t get the sound effects for the guns right.

Resident Evil 5 doesn’t go far from the standard when it comes to gameplay though. Get weapons, upgrade them, follow the story, and gather treasures and secrets. That’s basically how it’s played. Its survival horror, you just have to survive the onslaught brought about by the story. Kasama na diyan siguro ang pagiging madamot sa bala. Pag kokonti nalang bala, saksak nalang! It’s funny how you get healed by herbs though, and herbs grow everywhere. What I don’t like is “di ka parin puede tumakbo habang bumabaril, titigil muna dapat bago bumaril nakakainis.”

What you really play RE5 for is the boss fights and timed sequences. Timed sequences are like movies that you interact with. For instance, there’s this sequence when you’re floating on a raft and have to hit a combination of buttons to avoid getting your torso bit off by a giant crocodile. The boss fights consist of finding the pattern the boss follows and use it against him. It takes a while to figure out but getting it perfect is quite rewarding.

RE5 offers something new in the franchise and that’s coop mode. As you play Chris Redfield, anybody on your connection could join in and play Sheva Alomar and help you survive the rigors of being in virus infected Africa. In resident evil games I’ve always wanted to have a buddy to help me out at times and here we are. lol

As for replay value, it’s a bit limited but quite satisfying. As you play the standard story, you get to unlock costumes and weapons. Heck, you can restart the game with the current gear you already have and just wreck havoc. There’s also a mercenaries mode. You get to play any character present in the game (you have to unlock some) in timed maps where you have to survive until a chopper comes for you.

If you’re looking for a decent survivial horror with some good replay value, get this one. If you’re a fan of the RE5 franchise you should definitely get this game, it answers A LOT and I do mean a LOT of question.

Graphics – 9

Sound – 10

Gameplay – 8

Replay Value – 8