Resident Evil 5 Updated Impressions

The first stage that I played through was initially set amongst the catwalks of an oil refinery. There were no explanations given as to what the duo was looking for at the plant, but the danger posed by the location was even more heightened than some of the earlier stages shown. For one thing, the catwalks of the plant were crawling with infected villagers wielding axes, bottles and other weapons. Another problem was that the obvious escape route away from these people was being blocked by flame jets spraying from exhaust valves on oil tanks. To clear the way, Chris and Sheva had to make their way around the refinery, quickly turning cranks scattered around the area that would shut the valves.


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This was easier said than done because as soon as a valve would be approached, a chainsaw wielding villager would jump down from a rooftop and attempt to chop off either Chris or Sheva's head. Making things even worse, these chainsaw wielders were much tougher opponents than the traditional villager – similar to the large axe wielding executioner that's been seen in trailers, they could shrug off handgun and most machine gun rounds and targeting their heads wouldn't always stun them. In fact, the strange canvas bag covering its head only revealed one eye that allowed it to see, which also seemed to protect its skull from shots. However, if these beasts managed to get close enough, they could easily decapitate Chris or Sheva with one strike. Luckily, if they got too close, Chris could try to knock them away with a melee strike, launching either a kick or a punch at the creature. Mixing these kinds of attacks with gunfire was the only way to take these things down.

After eventually eliminating these guys and making it to the exit, Chris and Sheva wound up joining together with Josh, another BSAA group member who had somehow been separated from his squadmates. Rather apparent to me was the fact that Josh's face had been recently scratched along his right cheek, which made me wonder if at some later point in the game, he would potentially turn into one of the infected or turn on the rest of the team when they least expected it. While I imagined that traditional zombie movie plot twist, the three soldiers tried to figure out their next move. Unfortunately, the trio didn't have a lot of time because the infected started pouring into the building they were in, forcing Chris and Sheva to cover Josh as he tried to unlock the doors that would lead to their escape.

One more step and Soulja Boy gets it!

This was rather tricky, particularly because there wasn't a lot of room to maneuver and the infected were coming at Chris and Sheva from all sides. In many cases, I found that I had to rely on melee attacks and attempting to save Sheva from being bitten or strangled by the villagers. This kind of consistent back and forth assistance plays into a lot of the co-operative aspects of the game, which we've reported on in previous articles. I did find out some interesting details. For one thing, if you or Sheva are injured and you use one of the healing herbs to restore your health, you're not consuming a plant; instead, the item is converted to a spray that is aerosolized. If you use the spray near Sheva, you actually will heal both characters instead of solely restoring your own life. This lets you significantly extend the effects of healing items, which is particularly useful when you're facing off against the beasts in the game.

Another thing that stood out was the ability to order Sheva around in the middle of battle. These weren't complex battle orders, primarily because she was intelligent enough to focus on immediate threats, save me if I was being grappled or heal me if my health was dangerously low. But what I could do is call her over to my location if she managed to get separated from me in battle or tell her to pick up different items like gold or ammunition. Gold, obviously, will play a large role in purchasing new gear for your two characters, and while we weren't able to see the merchant screen in action, we did notice that it winds up popping up in-between levels, which appears as though it will be the replacement for the trenchcoat wearing salesmen from RE4. (I guess the situation in RE5 is too dangerous for them.)