March 20, 2009 - After working for GamingExcellence for nearly two years, I’ve had many titles come across my inbox for review. I’ve played great games, lousy games, ok games, games I’ve anticipated with bated breath, and games that I had never heard of.

Resident Evil 5, however, trumped them all for sheer anticipation and excitement. You see, I’ve been a huge fan of the series since I first acquired a copy of Resident Evil 2 at the age of 14. When I first played that game, it completely blew me away. This was a game that was gruesome, intensely scary, was a blast to play, and had a great dual story line to boot. Since that fateful encounter with Leon and Claire ten years ago, I’ve been a faithful fan of the canonical entries of the series. As big a fan I was of games like Resident Evil Zero and the remake of the original on the GameCube, I feared that my precious survival horror series was getting stale. Of course, we all know now that my fears were unfounded with the release of the incredible Resident Evil 4. Few games I’ve played in the last decade have stuck with me so fully and intensely as Capcom’s GameCube masterpiece.

Therefore, I found myself drooling at the freshly sealed copy of Resident Evil 5, my fingers even trembling a little bit as I put the disc into my Xbox 360. Would my youthful exuberance and enthusiasm for the game be rewarded?

In RE5, you once again step into the shoes of Chris Redfield, who we last encountered in Resident Evil: Code: Veronica, as well as the original game in the series. Chris is now working for the BSAA, an international crack squad of agents who scourge the earth looking for biological terrorists and containing outbreaks. The evil pharmaceutical conglomerate Umbrella is no more, which has made Chris’ job that much harder. Now that there isn’t a singular entity causing viral outbreaks, as now there are dozens of people getting their hands on Umbrella’s former research, including a new company that goes by the name Tri-cell, and has some strong ties to events in Chris’ past. Chris has been sent to Africa to apprehend a man named Irving. Of course, things aren’t what they seem, and the African village that he finds himself in is soon overrun by zombie like mutations not unlike the Las Plagas found in the Spanish village of RE4. Rest assured RE fans, this latest instalment will answer many questions you may have from past games, while tossing an unexpected twist or two your way.

Enemies in the game are pretty standard if you’ve played RE4, but that’s not a bad thing. There’s something inherently frightening about “zombies” who are smart enough to talk, wield tools, and retain enough expression to flash you a murderous gleam of the eye when they stalk you. There are some cool bosses and new enemies to contend with as well. It’s also still unsettling to score a headshot on an enemy only to have a bladed tentacle start flailing around where their head used to be.

While I’m on the subject; in this game, like most of the other RE games, you’ll fight a boss that used to be human but then injects himself with the virus to become a huge monstrosity. Given that these people are usually businessmen or scientists, I want to know how they intend to go back to work at the lab or attend the latest board meeting as a pulsating, frightening mutation? If anyone knows, please let me know.

As the game begins, the first thing you’ll notice is how much bigger Chris is. With all this talk about baseball players and steroid use, I think it’s time we start testing video game characters for performance enhancing substances. Chris is so beefy in this game that I didn’t have to wonder where Jill Valentine or his sister, Claire Redfield, was. He obviously ate them. With a heaping handful of steroids on the side. And some spoonfuls of creatine.

In a strong departure for the series, RE5 is entirely designed around the co-op experience. Very early on, you’re partnered with fellow BSAA agent Sheva Alomar, a tough as nails female compatriot who remains by your side for the whole game. Whether Sheva is controlled by a friend on the couch, a friend online, or the AI, you’ll find her to be an invaluable resource in surviving the many encounters in the game.