{"id":102723,"date":"2019-10-29T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-29T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/resident_evil_5"},"modified":"2019-10-29T18:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-10-29T18:00:00","slug":"review-resident-evil-5-more-action-than-horror-and-all-the-better-for-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2019\/10\/29\/review-resident-evil-5-more-action-than-horror-and-all-the-better-for-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Resident Evil 5 &#8211; More Action Than Horror, And All The Better For It"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/5b5c70fb42dfe\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/5b5c70fb42dfe\/small.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n<div id>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Resident Evil 5 Review - Screenshot 1 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/100620\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/100620\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Resident Evil 5 Review - Screenshot 1 of 4\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/resident_evil_5\">Resident Evil 5<\/a><\/strong> is a pretty controversial game. Don\u2019t worry, we\u2019re not going to go into the allegations raised against the game prior to its release more than a decade ago. Instead, Resident Evil 5 is controversial in the sense that many people believe it to be the title that <em>killed<\/em> the survival-horror franchise. Following on from the monumental success of <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/resident_evil_4\">Resident Evil 4<\/a><\/strong>, Capcom took the series in a direction that \u2013 at the time \u2013 made the most sense. With the rise of action shooters like <strong>Call of Duty<\/strong>, Resident Evil 5 played it relatively safe by taking the core gameplay mechanics of its predecessor and simply dialling the action <em>right<\/em> up to 11. This resulted in a game that would be Capcom\u2019s best-selling title up until 2018, but one that ultimately left a lot of long-time fans of the franchise feeling rather deflated.<\/p>\n<p>Taking place in the fictional town of Kijuju, Africa, Resident Evil 5 sees the return of series veteran Chris Redfield who, after the events of the past several years, has joined the anti-bioterrorism organisation BSAA (and apparently has also been hitting the gym a <em>lot<\/em>). Teaming up with newcomer Sheva Aloma, he\u2019s tasked with capturing a pretty shady character called Ricardo Irving, who is about to sell a bio-organic weapon on the black market. Without going into specifics <em>too<\/em> much (after all, this is the first time the game has shown up on a Nintendo system), Resident Evil 5\u2019s plot is a much-needed change of pace after the admittedly fairly inconsequential plot of Resident Evil 4. Chucking aside the weird religious cults, Chris Redfield\u2019s latest adventure is a <em>celebration<\/em> of the franchise, bringing back multiple classic characters and monsters, and ultimately driving the story in a direction that still, to this day, feels like it could have been a fitting finale to the entire series.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Resident Evil 5 Review - Screenshot 2 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/1006111\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/1006111\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Resident Evil 5 Review - Screenshot 2 of 4\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>If you <em>have<\/em> played Resident Evil 4 (and let\u2019s face it, you probably have at this point), then Resident Evil 5 will feel very familiar. The core gameplay mechanics remain very much the same, except\u2026 well, <em>more<\/em>. There\u2019s more of everything here, from the Las Plagas infected enemies to the much-criticised quick-time events. The overall pacing is pretty relentless, and it often feels like you\u2019re never given a break to catch your breath, but some of the set-pieces are pretty spectacular. One moment you might be mowing down enemies riding motorcycles with a mounted machine gun, and the next you&#8217;re fighting off <em>two<\/em> chainsaw-wielding madmen whilst deactivating a barrier of flames (and of course, giving huge boulders the old <em>one-two<\/em>). It\u2019s understandable why fans of the franchise consider this to be the downfall of Resident Evil given how much it diverged from the older games, but when experienced as its own thing, it really is pretty great.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, despite feeling very similar to Leon Kennedy&#8217;s adventure in terms of gameplay, there\u2019s one very distinct difference with Resident Evil 5: the game is fully playable in co-op, and is actually <em>built<\/em> around this concept. Should you choose to, you can play online or in split-screen mode, and it\u2019s undoubtedly a better experience if you can play with a friend. Playing in single-player mode, Sheva is quite comfortably one of the <em>worst<\/em> AI partners in gaming. She has absolutely no restraint with her items, spraying healing herbs at the first opportunity and firing her weapons with reckless abandon (despite having the aiming prowess of a Stormtrooper). She\u2019s also very prone to getting herself in sticky situations; we\u2019ve lost count of the number of times we had to resuscitate Sheva from near-death or start an area from scratch thanks to the numerous times she gets herself killed. So yes, whether it\u2019s with Pro Controllers or just a couple of Joy-Con, playing with a friend is <em>definitely<\/em> the way to go.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Resident Evil 5 Review - Screenshot 3 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/100618\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/100618\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Resident Evil 5 Review - Screenshot 3 of 4\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>One thing we perhaps should have mentioned at the start is that gyro aiming is here<em>,<\/em> and it\u2019s <em>brilliant<\/em>. Thanks to a day-one patch, you can activate gyro aiming right from the start of the game, and it actually works <em>really<\/em> well. It\u2019s naturally a much better fit in docked mode with one Joy-Con in each hand, with the left controlling Chris\u2019s movements and the right focused on aiming. You\u2019ll be happy to hear, though, that it\u2019s also pretty effective in handheld mode. We were a tad dismayed at first, as moving the console around to aim would quite literally move the screen out of our view, but increasing the gyro\u2019s sensitivity within the game\u2019s options pretty much fixes this issue. It\u2019s not <em>quite<\/em> as satisfying as the pointer controls featured on the Wii version of Resident Evil 4, but it\u2019s overall a much more intuitive way of aiming than using the analogue stick.<\/p>\n<p>Much has been said about the game\u2019s performance on Switch since the demo was released. Yes, it\u2019s a noticeable downgrade from the remastered versions seen on other consoles, but it\u2019s certainly not as disappointing as some might have you believe. First up, the framerate <em>is<\/em> admittedly a bit concerning at times. It runs uncapped, which means it <em>mostly<\/em> runs slightly above 30fps, but there are plenty of moments \u2013 particularly during more intense gameplay sequences \u2013 where it will drop well below. This might be a dealbreaker for some people, but we were honestly okay with the overall performance given the fact that we can play a game like this on the go. Visually, there have also been some sacrifices \u2013 the impressive motion blur from the original release of the game is completely gone here, and some of the textures have taken a bit of a hit. It\u2019s disappointing <em>knowing<\/em> that these features are missing, but in practice, it\u2019s probably not something you\u2019re going to notice much unless you examine the Switch version side-by-side with the game on other platforms.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Resident Evil 5 Review - Screenshot 4 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/100613\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/100613\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Resident Evil 5 Review - Screenshot 4 of 4\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>In addition to the main campaign, there are of course additional modes to keep you busy. Primarily, the game comes bundled with the Lost in Nightmares DLC, which opens up after completing a couple of chapters of the main story. Here, you\u2019ll play out one of the key flashbacks in the main game, exploring one of Oswell E. Spencer\u2019s estates in a blatant homage to the first <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/resident_evil\">Resident Evil<\/a><\/strong>. Clocking in at roughly 1 hour, it\u2019s not exactly a meaty story, but it\u2019s certainly a more subdued experience than the over-the-top action seen in the campaign, and offers a nice insight into some of the franchise&#8217;s more iconic characters. Once you\u2019re done with the main story, you can also tackle the Desperate Escape content, which will again probably take about an hour to complete, and shares a lot more in common with the gameplay of the campaign in comparison to Lost in Nightmares.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s also the delightful Mercenaries mode which, if you\u2019ve played it on previous titles, is fairly self-explanatory. In a mission to gain as many points as possible within a set amount of time by killing wave after wave of enemies, you\u2019re given access to a decent selection of characters including Jill Valentine and Albert Wesker, all of which are equipped with their own unique loadout. It\u2019s a great way of jumping into some of the more memorable set-pieces in different ways, and playing as classic characters is an absolute blast. Plus, let&#8217;s face it, tackling these areas without having to worry about babysitting the awful AI partner is a <em>huge<\/em> relief.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"conclusion\">\n<h2 class=\"heading\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>Resident Evil 5 is a natural progression of the gameplay mechanics seen in its predecessor, with classic survival-horror tropes taking a backseat to more over-the-top action. That said, it\u2019s not necessarily a bad thing, as it\u2019s actually a <em>really<\/em> fun experience with a story that long-time fans of the franchise will absolutely adore. Performance takes a hit on the Switch, with noticeable frame rate drops and a decrease in texture quality, but it more than makes up for this with the introduction of gyro aiming, which works much better than we could have hoped for. One can only wonder that if Capcom had managed to keep the performance on par with other consoles, the Switch version could have been the <em>definitive<\/em> way to experience Resident Evil 5. As it is, it\u2019s a perfectly serviceable port that serves as a nice reminder that Resident Evil\u2019s so-called \u2018action phase\u2019 really isn\u2019t as bad as some think.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Resident Evil 5 is a pretty controversial game. Don\u2019t worry, we\u2019re not going to go into the allegations raised against the game prior to its release more than a decade ago. Instead, Resident Evil 5 is controversial in the sense that many people believe it to be the title that killed the survival-horror franchise. Following [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102723\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}