Resident Evil 5.

I'm just pouring through the games lately. Seriously, I have a to-do list of games to finish sitting on my desktop. And just in time for the November glut of new games to descend on us (although honestly, besides Modern Warfare 2 and Super Mario Bros. Wii, there's not much that's appealing to me right now. BioShock 2 is due out after the first of the year, I think that's the next big one for me)... I just can't seem to get ahead.

But Resident Evil 5 is easily worth spending some time on, and thankfully it's a pretty short game with lots of replay value and unlockables to chip away at. Which means I can run through it fast and get it off my list and still enjoy probably 75% of what the game has to offer, and then come back to it as the mood strikes.

And that's where pretty much all the Resident Evil games shine, is the replay value and the unlockables. Starting even with RE1 and expanded greatly upon with RE2 (oh, the amount of time spent with the dreaded Third Survivor minigame, playing as Tofu, unlocking all the weapons, etc... such a great game. Such great memories), there has always been a plethora of weapons, characters, special play modes, outfits, difficulty levels, etc to open up. RE5 is no different, but this time with a huge array of weapons with different attributes each, different costumes, backstories, even alternate animation filters to uncover, all unlockable based on the number of medallions you find in the various levels, the ratings you achieve, etc etc etc. It's a great game purely on storyline and production quality and overall fun, but to have these little extras that motivate you to play through the game again while retaining all your weapons you've amassed and upgraded, is a real treat.

The weapon upgrades are another boon for inventory hoarding junkies like myself, and allows you to buy a huge array of pistols, shotguns, magnums, SMG's, rifles, and other implements of zombie destruction. The upgrade system on each, which lets you boost firepower, magazine size, reload speed, and other special attributes, is tantalyzing and sufficiently expensive that it makes choosing what weapon to upgrade agonizing at times, yet so satisfying when you get to try out your purchases on a hoard of zombies in the next level.

But all of this is just an end to itself, an indulgence for RE junkies.. it starts with a great looking game with a very decent story and voice acting that is sufficiently over the top at times that it breaks that suspension of disbelief just enough to be fun. The storyline is typical RE fare, with lots of callbacks to characters and events in the lore, a really great supervillain in a returning Albert Wesker, the typical doublecrosses and surprise reveals, and a fantastic partnership between the two protagonists, Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar. Sheva is a newcomer to the Resident Evil story, and she holds her own as a strong character and an ally that you begin to rely on. The story sufficiently builds tension throughout with lots of good set pieces and tense showdowns, nice backstory elements that tie the plot to previous events in RE lore and ends with a final sequence that is one of the more preposterous settings I've seen in a video game for a while, but it sort of hearkens back to simpler games that frequently hyperbolized the endgame and pays service to the genre as a whole.

The setting is a little controversial, and takes a cue from movies like Blood Diamond and takes you on a tour of Africa to various villages, towns, quasi-industrial areas, and finally to the standard end-game biology lab/fortress conglomeration that every RE game has had. The enemies are mostly carryovers from RE4, namely not-exactly-zombies that tend to morph into grotesque creatures after taking damage, some heavy weapons characters that require more lead to take down, and a couple biohazard monsters. The controversial bit involves a trek through a native village, complete with villagers wearing loincloths and tribal masks that harkens a bit too much to Dark Africa movies from the 50's, but thankfully it doesn't last long.

Along the way we have a few nostalgic puzzles that involve hitting the right switches or pulling levers or evading traps in a very nicely done Ruins level, some sharply drawn gunplay sequences using a servicable cover-and-fire system, more than a fair share of team-based puzzles requiring your partner to perform one action while you do another, a couple fantastic on-rails shooting sections, and some great boss battles.

The graphics themselves are beautiful and the character models are wonderfully detailed and animated, especially facial expressions. Lip sync is perfect, expressions are believable, and movement is mostly natural and realistic (except for Wesker, who seems to be a bit too stiff and mechanical at times). If you run it on a PC at 1080p or higher, it's truly a beautiful looking game.

And the PC is definitely the platform to play this game on. I'm sure it handles perfectly well on the 360 and the PS3, but I've never been a fan of playing a shooter with thumbsticks because it feels like I'm controlling a tank instead of a person, but on the PC it's a beautiful playing experience. Mouse and Keyboard work great for aiming, and the frequent quicktime events make good use of awkward and alternating keyboard combinations to keep you guessing and more involved in the cutscenes. I just can't get enough of the aiming though.. using the mouse to aim the gun feels so fast and so accurate, I'm sure it takes a lot of the burden out of playing the game on a console.

So overall, great graphics and sound coupled with a good story that keeps you intrigued throughout, fun characters to play and satisfying enemies to conquer, unlocks galore and addicting weapons to purchase and upgrade, and typical Resident Evil bombast, this is a great game that's lots of fun to play. I highly recommend it.