Why am I even here reviewing Resident Evil 4?
Everyone already knows this game is totally awesome and...oh wait.
This review is supposed to be for RE5.
Hmm...
Depending on who you talk to, RE5 is either a respectable entry in the franchise, just another bro-op shooter, or the beginning of the end. I belong to the "I think RE5 is simply a great game" camp. It's entertaining, has a lot of good ideas, and how can anyone not love Mercenaries? With the recent transition to Steam I had to give the game another (3-4) playthroughs and tell you all about it.
"Uroborus will be released into the atmosphere ensuring complete global saturation."
This memetic line -- spoken by a man with evil eyes -- from one of the few unskippable scenes in the entirety of RE5 explains the plot. I can't recall any of the rest. Capcom used to develop arcade games, so every now and then these storylines seep into their console titles. While it's easy to write this game off as dumb action movie shlock, I think we have to look deeper. After all, dumb action movies are released every day, yet hardly any of them are on the level of Die Hard.
Let's start with the most important aspect: the mechanics. Yep, it's that word again. Everytime I review a crappy beatemup on Steam I have to mention the mechanics. Capcom has made some of the best beatemups ever: Aliens Vs Predator, Cadillacs & Dinosaurs, Final Fight, Dungeons & Dragons, and so on. They've attained mastery of mechanics as far as I'm concerned. With this knowledge, they can do everything from fighting games to third-person shooters. When somebody puts out a crappy beatemup, I know that they have no business making a game in any other genre (except for maybe a turn-based RPG).
But what is mechanics? Everyone has their own definition, but I look at it as the player's relationship with the world. This covers every action, no matter how subtle. This can be everything from the height and arc of Mario's jump, to what happens when a flying axe is shot, or how much space is necessary for a mayor to dodge a punch. Great mechanics work when you never notice them. It's supposed to be seamless, so when you dodge a thousand bullets in a 2D shooter, you feel like you've been doing it since birth.
The most prominent aspect of these great mechanics is in how the weapons feel. Each gun has its own characteristics, and using them properly is exciting and rewarding. Majini also respond appropriately depending on where you shoot them and what they're doing. This goes beyond shooting them in the head or in the knees to setup a melee attack. There's other tricks like clipping a shoulder, which causes their arm to fly back. This can be useful if an enemy is carrying dynamite, and it's just out of the player's sights.
It also can't be stressed enough how effective unrealistic or overly "gamey" mechanics can be. When you're surrounded by monsters in any other game, your first instinct isn't to punch the one that's staggering. In RE5 however, that maneuver can buy you precious invulnerability. All too often, videogames give you these cool techniques you can perform, but they leave you open to attack, so they're never used. Providing an incentive is key, it empowers the player, makes them more willing to take risks, and thus have more fun. In the interest of balance, not every game should function in this manner, but it suits the later RE games extremely well.
In keeping with the arcade game theme, RE5 is best-described as a compatibility shooter. Cooperative? That's the term I'd use to describe Borderlands or something. Sometime in the late 90s/ early 00s, Arcade light-gun developers like Sega & Namco started pushing the compatibility aspect. When you played a light-gun shooter like Let's Go! Jungle or Deadstorm Pirates, end-of-level ratings weren't given just to you. When you played with a friend, a loved-one, or even a complete stranger, it was the relationship that was rated. This meant that if you were doing stuff like hogging all of the enemies or allowing your partner to take damage, you and your partner would get punished with a lower rating. In a way, two people that performed admirably in a light-gun game could be considered lifetime best-friends, lovers, etc.
RE5 is designed along those same lines, that's what makes it a compatibility shooter. The next time you play RE5, keep an eye on your partner. Sure there are plenty of moments that force the co-op angle, like the shared QTEs, or those times where you have to cover your partner while they do something, but I'm talking about all of the subtle aspects. For example, note the laser-sights. This isn't just a holdover from RE4. You can see where your partner is aiming, so you know when to cover their back. Enemies tend to come from multiple directions, so situations where you do the lion's share of the work are few and far between. Over time you develop a sense of what your partner is thinking. You know when they have a situation handled, or when they need to be bailed out.
There's also the context-sensitive B button. When you give someone a herb, pressing the B button will say "Thank you", and you'll hear some variant of "Nice!" when your partner nails a sweet headshot. Typically, when you perform some action in spectacular fashion, you'll see "Great!" pop up on-screen or hear it spoken (My personal favorite is "Nice Driving" in Daytona USA. This is a holdover from the arcade days. Arcade games are short, and your actions have immediate consequences. When you do something right, the game pats you on the head. RE5 is designed so that you and your partner are expected to pat each other on the head, thus we have the B button.
RE5's campaign is altogether solid, but it has some definite mis-steps. Boss-fights in RE games tend to be generally hit or miss. More often than not they're about taking advantage of clumsy AI path-finding or shooting large glowing targets with the magnum. RE5 has all this, and a bullet-sponge turret boss to boot. There's also the 5-2 boss, which screams "Use a rocket launcher on me". Also, while not-zombies with guns aren't a huge deal to me, they're a massive pain in Professional mode. This, combined with the ridiculous short revival time (you have to be right on top of your partner to save them), is just annoying. For the most part though I think RE5 is solidly put-together. It pushes the compatibility elements quite well.
Mercenaries is absolutely perfect. There's no need for a wall of text to explain why.
Altogether, RE5 is a very satisfying game. Give it another go if you haven't already.
