I’ve been putting off writing about Resident Evil 5 for the past week, because, well… I’ve been too busy playing Resident Evil 5. With the latest iteration, Capcom has took the stellar gameplay that was introduced in the last game, gave it a new coat of paint, and added some new features, picking up on popular trends from recent years.

It’s built as a cooperative game (and many significant changes were made to support it) but due to some network issues, my initial playthrough was a solitary experience. I rarely encountered issues with the companion AI on normal difficulty, even if all I used Sheva for was as a healing, ammo mule. When you make the switch to veteran however, your partner becomes a frustratingly bigger liability. Even with the infinite ammo option turned on, it is incapable of taking care of itself and squanders any health items you may have.

The gameplay is still solid. Were the boss battles as memorable as the ones in RE4? That’s debatable. I did enjoy the fights with Uroboros, they had a nice The Thing-feel to them. For some reason, I never found the QTEs exasperating, even though I think they are the worst trend to plague games. Maybe it’s because they’re, for the most part, only integrated into cutscenes or a handful of the boss encounters. It’s not like I’m being forced into a QTE sequence while fighting any of the infected or lower-level adversaries. I’ve read some of the fuss made over the controls, which I find puzzling. Having to stop and shoot is a fundamental mechanic of the series. The introduction of the new control-scheme allays any of the archaicness of the old system.

Possibly a consequence of its emphasis on multiplayer, the game is a shorter experience than previous mainline Resident Evil entries. Everything is broken up into subchapters, and with the large amounts of weapons to upgrade and bonus unlockables, it’s easy to get caught up in replaying areas for loot. It gives you a good perspective of how the game holds up. For me, the middle chapters are a drag, and I really dread replaying those levels. Mercenaries mode returns although, I’m disappointed that most of the selectable characters are just costume/inventory swaps. You’d expect Resident Evil mainstay Hunk to make an appearance, but I guess that’s fodder Capcom could use for DLC.

Resident Evil 5 doesn’t eclipse it’s predecessor, but as an HD-era calamine lotion for RE4 players, it does its job pretty well.