Resident Evil 5 : Game for Zombie Killing Lover

Having never played an RE game before but had heard plenty of good things about it, I thought I would give RE5 a try. As a result I can't compare it to its predecessors, but after finishing the game I think that even as a standalone game it's pretty damn fun.

The main premise of the game seems to be 'shoot as many zombies as you can' and hope that your partner helps you out. Having Sheva around made things a lot less scary than if Chris had been alone, and it also opened up some co-operative gameplay. Luckily, the AI is excellent and Sheva is almost never in the way and usually does what you'd want her to do. On the other hand, anytime she does get in the way can prove to be fatal because not only does your own death warrant a game over, hers does too - therefore it is doubly important to watch out for her and make sure she stays alive. 

I found that the item menu was probably the most annoying part of the game. Sometimes, after moving things around, the guns and herbs wouldn't be in the right places so I would have to bring up the item menu mid-fight and get shot at while trying to sort things out. Having 9 slots each also made things tougher, but it really enhanced the whole survival horror thing and made sure the player thought carefully about what and what not to take into a level.

In terms of actual gameplay, the game provides a plethora of enemy types to keep you entertained. A lot of them require different strategies and some are a 1HKO if they manage to get their hands/claws/chainsaws on you, which makes things a bit more interesting. The basic zombies, however, don't change much so they can get a bit boring after a while. There are several different terrains that you can explore (not in the true sense of the word, unfortunately - RE5 is very much a linear journey) and they are generally interesting and pleasing on the eyes. The boss fights are quite fun as well, as they are often large and require a bit of strategy to overcome. There are also treasures and BSAA symbols that you can find, to make sure that you explore your terrain to the max.