Resident Evil 5: The Demo
I went on PSN this afternoon to download my free Rock Band 2 songs and to my surprise the Resident Evil 5 demo was available for download. So of course I decide to forgo the RB2 songs instead opting to download the RE5 demo first. I try not to get my hopes up for movies or games because then the chances of being disappointed are pretty good. After waiting for almost an hour for the demo to download was it worth the wait let alone the hype?
The demo consists of two maps. One is essentially a city square type of map where you and your partner either AI or human controlled have to stay alive for a certain amount of time while fending off the infected. The second map is a bit more claustrophobic one having you and your partner walking through back alleys and inside 3 story buildings. There is a single player mode and an option to play multiplayer either with a friend or a random player online. For a demo the level length and option to play online or with a buddy are pretty solid. They give enough level to let you get the feel of the game but not so much that you really know what to expect from the game when it is released in mid March. In that sense it is a pretty darn good demo.
I played the city square like map on single player and was not impressed by it. The AI is a bit weak, which was my main concern when I first heard that RE5 was going to be co-op. It is hard for an AI to be helpful and in the case of RE5 the AI is not very helpful. I mean it functions fair enough; the AI controlled player isn't just standing around and getting killed. But the AI doesn't seem to be able to do much on it's own. It basically follows you around staying a step or two behind you. The AI never really helps you to thin the hordes of enemies coming at you. Yes the AI fires but doesn't seem to shoot at a specific target for any reason besides it being the first thing the AI happened to lock onto. With the weak AI I'm essentially left to fend for myself and with so many infected coming from all directions the controls don't really work too well for it.
The controls are very similar to RE4. Might even be a carbon copy but I have not played RE4 in quite some time so I cannot say for sure. So essentially you cant really aim and walk around at the same time. This is fine when you're fending off a few infected at a time but when more than 3 or 4 are attacking from different directions this lack of being able to move around while aiming can get really frustrating. And in the first map with the weak AI this shortcoming really stands out.
As for the real time inventory menu the demo doesn't really provide enough gameplay for me to really make a call. I mean during a frantic battle the real time inventory can be frustrating. But on the other hand it makes moments more intense by forcing the player to navigate quickly through the screens which keeps the action constant. I'm going to wait for the full game before I make a judgement call about it.
The second map with the alleyways is by far a better experience than the town square one. Without enemies rushing from all sides the controls function nicely. This map also has a part where the co-op is showcased. You have to vault your partner across to an opposite building so that she can unlock the door. But once she is across infected start rushing her and it's up to the player to use a sniper rifle and keep them off of her. I don't like it. The AI is weak and it shows. With an actual friend to play along this sequence should play nicely but with the AI it doesn't so much. At the end of the level you are faced with a chainsaw wielding "boss" of sorts. This part became very frustrating because of the controls. The "boss" moves faster than normal enemies and can one hit kill you. So you have to shoot then run but without the option to aim and move this fight really becomes an exercise in frustration. You can probably squeeze off two shots before you have to run. So it becomes tedious pretty quickly and if you try to shoot an extra shot you're going to get decapitated. It seems like the only way to beat him is to kite him around and it doesn't really feel satisfying.
The game looks pretty good. The muddy colors are all well done. All the character animations flow well. But then again the graphics weren't really the part of the game in question now were they? However the sometimes apparently robotic movements or some of the character, which seems to be a sort of trademark for Capcom, can still be seen in some character models.
After trying the single player and being somewhat disappointed I decided to go online and give the "real" co-op a go. After 3 or 4 failed attempts I finally connected and was able to play the town square map with another living persons. At least I assume it was a living person since any kind of communication is not available. But in a real co-op sense the game was far more fun. My ally being a real person would defend me when I needed to reload and I would do the same for him (I'm using "him" as the pronoun here but like I said it's an assumption). I wasn't forced to fend pretty much for myself and the lack of movement while aiming wasn't as frustrating. So with another person the co-op aspect of the game seems to work well.
My only real complaint with the co-op in the demo is the lack of communication of any kind. The ps3 is bluetooth enables so I mean voice chat can be done. The only thing you can seem to do in terms of communicate is press the circle button in which case your avatar says "over here" and beckons you to go to where he is. I would really like to see some form of communication in the final product even if it is just by typing, which probably can't even be done with the way the game is paced. But I feel like the lack of communication makes it hard to really play the game as a co-op experience if you don't have a buddy to play with you 24/7. When I was playing co-op when my ally wanted me to pick something up he pointed at it with his aiming laser and hoped I would get the message. Voice communications would really help.
To sum it up the co-op with the AI was a major disappointment. The AI doesn't function well enough. Maybe I'm expecting to much from it but as it stands the single player version of the full game seems like it will be a frustrating experience. On the other hand co-op either online or with a friend seems rather promising. I'm gonna cross my finger and hope they tweak the AI and make it a bit "smarter" before the final release of the game. I'm gonna hold my final judgement for the game until after I've played the full version. Now with my expectations lower than they were before playing the demo I hope the full version can actually live up to them.
The demo consists of two maps. One is essentially a city square type of map where you and your partner either AI or human controlled have to stay alive for a certain amount of time while fending off the infected. The second map is a bit more claustrophobic one having you and your partner walking through back alleys and inside 3 story buildings. There is a single player mode and an option to play multiplayer either with a friend or a random player online. For a demo the level length and option to play online or with a buddy are pretty solid. They give enough level to let you get the feel of the game but not so much that you really know what to expect from the game when it is released in mid March. In that sense it is a pretty darn good demo.
I played the city square like map on single player and was not impressed by it. The AI is a bit weak, which was my main concern when I first heard that RE5 was going to be co-op. It is hard for an AI to be helpful and in the case of RE5 the AI is not very helpful. I mean it functions fair enough; the AI controlled player isn't just standing around and getting killed. But the AI doesn't seem to be able to do much on it's own. It basically follows you around staying a step or two behind you. The AI never really helps you to thin the hordes of enemies coming at you. Yes the AI fires but doesn't seem to shoot at a specific target for any reason besides it being the first thing the AI happened to lock onto. With the weak AI I'm essentially left to fend for myself and with so many infected coming from all directions the controls don't really work too well for it.
The controls are very similar to RE4. Might even be a carbon copy but I have not played RE4 in quite some time so I cannot say for sure. So essentially you cant really aim and walk around at the same time. This is fine when you're fending off a few infected at a time but when more than 3 or 4 are attacking from different directions this lack of being able to move around while aiming can get really frustrating. And in the first map with the weak AI this shortcoming really stands out.
As for the real time inventory menu the demo doesn't really provide enough gameplay for me to really make a call. I mean during a frantic battle the real time inventory can be frustrating. But on the other hand it makes moments more intense by forcing the player to navigate quickly through the screens which keeps the action constant. I'm going to wait for the full game before I make a judgement call about it.
The second map with the alleyways is by far a better experience than the town square one. Without enemies rushing from all sides the controls function nicely. This map also has a part where the co-op is showcased. You have to vault your partner across to an opposite building so that she can unlock the door. But once she is across infected start rushing her and it's up to the player to use a sniper rifle and keep them off of her. I don't like it. The AI is weak and it shows. With an actual friend to play along this sequence should play nicely but with the AI it doesn't so much. At the end of the level you are faced with a chainsaw wielding "boss" of sorts. This part became very frustrating because of the controls. The "boss" moves faster than normal enemies and can one hit kill you. So you have to shoot then run but without the option to aim and move this fight really becomes an exercise in frustration. You can probably squeeze off two shots before you have to run. So it becomes tedious pretty quickly and if you try to shoot an extra shot you're going to get decapitated. It seems like the only way to beat him is to kite him around and it doesn't really feel satisfying.
The game looks pretty good. The muddy colors are all well done. All the character animations flow well. But then again the graphics weren't really the part of the game in question now were they? However the sometimes apparently robotic movements or some of the character, which seems to be a sort of trademark for Capcom, can still be seen in some character models.
After trying the single player and being somewhat disappointed I decided to go online and give the "real" co-op a go. After 3 or 4 failed attempts I finally connected and was able to play the town square map with another living persons. At least I assume it was a living person since any kind of communication is not available. But in a real co-op sense the game was far more fun. My ally being a real person would defend me when I needed to reload and I would do the same for him (I'm using "him" as the pronoun here but like I said it's an assumption). I wasn't forced to fend pretty much for myself and the lack of movement while aiming wasn't as frustrating. So with another person the co-op aspect of the game seems to work well.
My only real complaint with the co-op in the demo is the lack of communication of any kind. The ps3 is bluetooth enables so I mean voice chat can be done. The only thing you can seem to do in terms of communicate is press the circle button in which case your avatar says "over here" and beckons you to go to where he is. I would really like to see some form of communication in the final product even if it is just by typing, which probably can't even be done with the way the game is paced. But I feel like the lack of communication makes it hard to really play the game as a co-op experience if you don't have a buddy to play with you 24/7. When I was playing co-op when my ally wanted me to pick something up he pointed at it with his aiming laser and hoped I would get the message. Voice communications would really help.
To sum it up the co-op with the AI was a major disappointment. The AI doesn't function well enough. Maybe I'm expecting to much from it but as it stands the single player version of the full game seems like it will be a frustrating experience. On the other hand co-op either online or with a friend seems rather promising. I'm gonna cross my finger and hope they tweak the AI and make it a bit "smarter" before the final release of the game. I'm gonna hold my final judgement for the game until after I've played the full version. Now with my expectations lower than they were before playing the demo I hope the full version can actually live up to them.
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