Resident Evil 5 Xbox 360 – Too Much Departure From Tradition?

Resident Evil 5 Xbox 360 – Too Much Departure From Tradition?

Resident Evil 5 Xbox 360 and PS3 reviews were split right down the middle a few months ago. Those who liked the single player, scary, alone and completely hopeless feeling earlier versions provided, were extremely upset with RE5. It was simply too much of a departure from the original game scenario, and most major game review sites had colorful comments on them as a result.

At the same time, those that liked a multi-player, co-op action game format, and especially players that liked RE4, usually only had good things to say for Resident Evil 5 Xbox 360 and PS3. They simply thought it was a great sequel and raved as hard for the game as their counterparts did against.

What a contrast. About the only common ground between camps (baring a few extreme views) was that most felt the sound quality, graphics and visual effects were exceptional. Beyond that, fist-a-cuffs were at the ready to defend their positions.

So what about today?

Well… things haven’t changed a whole lot, but now that the shock is over, it appears there are three groups. One loves it. One hates it. The third says Resident Evil 5 Xbox 360 isn’t as good as RE4, but it’s still fun. That shows up in current Amazon reviews, for example, where only 75 out of 183 user reviews (at the time of this writing) gave RE5 the full 5 stars. At that, even many of those had comments about insufficient weapons, clunky controls and a poor inventory system. I counted those to be a part of group 3.

Similarly, 60 rated RE5 with 4 stars, but negative aspects of the game were usually mentioned in more detail. Most users in this group did recommend game play, but I didn’t get the impression it would be their first choice by any means.

The rest gave 1, 2 and 3 star game ratings. Most of them despised the artificial intelligence version for Sheva, and that the game simply wasn’t scary like before. Some in this group did comment on superb graphics or sound, but it was pretty hard to glean anything else nice out of their comments beyond that.

In summary, although there are common complaints with RE5, it still appears the “thumbs up” group has the edge. Not to say devout views for and against aren’t still out there, but like I said when the game was first released… to me, fun is fun and Resident Evil 5 Xbox 360 certainly passes that test on my game meter. As a final thought — if you’re thinking about buying it, but can’t get what you need out of the reviews, I recommend renting it, see what you think and decide from there.