Video Games » Resident Evil 5 for xbox 360 Review
written by owen, published 2026-Oct-29, comment
Play through
Started out pretty slow with the basic slow walk to pickup guns. The whole start is piss orange but we will see how this turns out. How long to beat says the game is 14 hours long.
First section felt very clumsy and i ran out of ammo really quickly. There is also a buy option before the level starts which means no merchant? Not a good first impression. The merchant was an iconic part of RE4.
In just a few minutes I got suspicious then checked the date; this is a 2009 game which re-affirms why the controls feel jank. The camera is also jank. Level design is jank. The guns feel ineffective until the last shot when the enemy flies across the screen indicating that they wont get back up. No point going for head shots because the controls feel jank when aiming. No auto aim apparently.
The first area is not well designed. The area seems open but it mostly tunnels and corridors that funnel you to the same place. Hopefully I get out of this shanty town soon.
Pick up a key or open a door and zombies automatically come flooding into the space where you need to go use the key. The whole game is a tired setup.
The UI at the start of the level disconnects you from the level itself. The traveling merchant in RE4 was a much neater setup since you met him in a dark corner. In RE5 you trade with a ATM machine then spawn into a level - feels really disconnected.
The game is so disconnected that you can buy guns in the pre-game shop but there is no way to buy ammo. The equipment chest organizing mini game from RE4 is totally gone. Each item fits in one cell. I cant believe that this game came out after RE4. You do still need to manage the case but there are no case upgrades or need to think about where to put that rocketlauncher.
How it ended
I made it all the way to the last boss and I am contemplating whether to finish this game or not. They could not resist using a wack gimmick for the last boss. Gimmick end bosses are so annoying. In the end I just never went back to the game.
Conclusion
My rating 6/10. Resident Evil 4 is better. Its not a broken game but not really that impressive. It is annoying in some spots and over stays its welcome. There is no point in keeping all the gems and stuff you find because they dont combine to make anything useful as they did in RE4. The monsters are not interesting, neither is the environment. Its just a series of rooms and cut scenes strung together.
Strategy
This is one of those games where you can just run past the enemies to the next door instead of wasting your ammo and time shooting them all. You usually can fight them at the door which is easier than in the open Use the shotgun when you get it. Save grenades for boss battles.
Make sure you combine items and sort your case before hitting a save point so that you dont have to reorganize it when you die at the next boss area. If there is a buddy door it usually means save point ahead.
Yeah, you can run past alot of the hordes instead of wasting ammo. You dont really need to sell or buy anything from the shop. I upgraded bullet capacity on the original shot gun. Did not seem to make sense to buy the vest or any of the other items in the shop. Eventually bought the vest only to realize that it took up an inventory slot. The stun rod is kinda fun to use.
