Video Games Today

The first game I ever got a taste of on the PS1 was the very first Resident Evil, and it is one of my all time favorite survivor horror games. None the less RE5 is one of my highly anticipated games to come out in 09. I say this due to the lack of enjoyable survivor horror games in 08. Now don't get me wrong the new Silent Hill and EA Dead Space, where not that bad. They did not just have the kick one would look for from a RE title. Anyways, onto the demo. When the game screen initiates, you are left staring at the lava carved Resident Evil 5 logo. After it takes a blink, you can Start the game, with the traditional "Resident Evil!" title calling or view the Options. Only two options available to you for the demo. You're brought to a page with 3 options of gameplay, with Single Play being the highlight.

Once the game selection is made, you're brought to a Stage Select screen. Personally, I think the Select Stage is for demo purposes, but it has potential to make it into the final release. You can choose between the Assembly Place or Shanty Town. It doesn't matter which one you choose, because the playtroughs won't be linear or straight-forth.

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Review:
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Controls- The multiple control schemes really give you an edge over how you start off into the game. While the classic RE4 controls are more easier to use, the Gears control scheme is pretty solid in itself as well. Strafing isn't as action-paced or fps-ish, it's basically fast side-steps. You can't do much while strafing. The classic control scheme seems to be the way to go for the demo or if you are familiar with the series. Not only are they easy to use, but their quite flexible too.

The basic controls with Type A are L to walk, hold L and A to run, and shoot with X+RT. RT+A reloads. Basically, they are RE classics's PS3 controls in 360's format, with minor changes.

Inventory-The 3x3 grid is rendered in real time. You can set up to 4 weapons in the Top, Right, Left and Bottom of the center grids. You can hotswap weapons using the d-pad alignment. The hotswap feature is a big plus, it adds to tension and feels very relieving at the same moment. The first few times it also feels weird not having to open inventory to equip/change weapons, etc.

Enemies- While not exactly the way shown at E307, or the way promised, the enemy AI was not poor either. It is definitely improved from E3 of this year, and was good for a demo. Last recalled, Capcom has not even touched upon the AI of the enemy yet, so don't expect too much from the AI at the moment. They are however, even in early stage, a lot better and more of a challenge than RE4's final enemy AI even. They run a lot faster, they might stop at the last moment in front of still, but some of them have some pretty swift moves. For example, any enemy holding a shovel will pose a higher threat than one with a stick. They tend to run forth and swipe the shovel upwards.

The animation has also vastly changed from last seen. When you shoot them straight in the head, they will fall down instantly on their knees. A enemy mid-air will end up being flipped in the air. There a few last animations that might seem similar to RE4's, but they're not really noticeable and will probably be changed due time.

Sheva- Quick on the feet, and quite intelligent. Her AI is delivered a lot better than Outbreaks' or Ashley's. You basically don't even have to worry about her for most of the time. She'll run around, take out enemies, find any useful items, and recover you if needed. You doesn't exactly ask for ammo, you have to hand her some, but she gives you a lot of the things she picks up. Basically, leave all the healing to her, and make sure she picks up more health items than you. But that doesn't mean you should leave no attack items for her either, because she does great on her part with the Attack feature. You can control the way Sheva interacts. You can either have her Attack, or Cover. Having her Attack will control her AI to have her go on about alone, and do what's basically needed to do, and Cover will make her stay near you and do some cover fire. This is useful for enemies you do not see but she might(off-screen).

Weapons & Ammo-There's a total of 4 weapons. The Handgun, Rifle, Shotgun and the Machine Gun. Ammo is somewhat plentiful for the demo, but it's not going to be the same for the actual game like stated in an interview. There's enough ammo to not be cheap, but not enough to go crazy shooting everything and everywhere.

There are a number of environmental hazards that you can use to your advantage. A number of gasoline barrels, several electric boxes, and more. Enough to inflict tons of damage to groups of enemies or the two sub-bosses in their respective stages.

The electric boxes tend to hurt the Executioner more than the barrels do, whereas the barrels do more damage to the Chainsaw freak. It seems they have enemy-weaknesses already pre-planned.

Extra:
A lot of people got this around as well. You can make Chris taunt by holding the left and right buttons. It doesn't do anything for in-game purposes, and since it's not a game with gages like DMC, I doubt it's there for anything other than a small Easter egg or looks. Nothing major.

Overall, the graphics are stunning, small details are great. Enemy AI has been improved since the last time I played the demo at a local gaming convention, the animations for the enemies have also been modified a lot. There is enough ammo to go around the demo without fretting, unless you waste it. It's easy to waste ammo, because the enemies usually do things when least expected. The controls are quite simple and flexible, with A being the classic control scheme. Those familiar with the series will find that Type A is the way to go. However, the Gears scheme is quite decent as well.

Real-time item management really adds to the tension and playthrough of the game. You really feel a relief once the coast is clear, because it gives you time to peacefully manage the inventory. Hot swapping weapons is simple and a very useful feature. Aside from being a huge plus, it also feels weird at first for a Resident Evil feature. It comes in quite handy, but the tension and enemies gaining on you might confuse you here and there(at least the full game will anyways).

Some things need to be touched on. For example, the cut-scene flow. When Kirk arrives to take out the door, everytime the camera is on something not Kirk or the chopper, the chopper's blades sound is muted. There is no distinct chopper sound, which heavily breaks the flow of that one cut-scene.

They also messed around with the execution cut-scene. The newer voices don't sound as good as before for the crowd, and when Chris and Sheva enter the small room, there is no distinct yelling of the crowd(like before, or recently in the Play God trailer). This, again, kills flow of the cut-scene.

Enjoy!
The VGToday Crew

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1. Leavers/Long Matchmaking Times: The multiplayer in Gears 2 is broken, as most people are aware. It takes a long while to find a game without a full party of five people, even then, on some playlists it takes a long time with the party. If you can get past the wait, then you get to the real problem with this matchmaking system. In contrast to popular opinion, I like the Halo-esque matchmaking for Gears, and the voting makes good variation in gametypes and maps. In Gears 1 you only ever saw Warzone on Gridlock, now it is randomly voted on. The real problem though is if someone leaves the game. Epic tried to stop people from leaving games by making no "Quit" button in the start menu. This is easily overcome by going to the dashboard, or just turning off your xbox. Unlike games like Call of Duty, when you lose a player on your team...a new player that is matchmaking CANNOT jump into the game in progress. This effectively makes games broken if someone leaves, and increases Matchmaking times. Epic seems to think that the matchmaking is a bug in the coding or networking, it is not. I have come to the conclusion that the wait times happen because people cannot jump into games in progress. Most of the time, when playing a CoD Series game, you will get in a game in progress rather than a brand new one. This makes the load extremely short. Maybe Epic should learn from CoD.
2. Laziness From Epic: As seen in Gears 1, Epic never cares about fixing major game breaking bugs as long as they rake in some "hard earned" cash. Epic is all about profit, as seen from the map packs...but I'll talk about that later down this post. An example is that in Gears 1, "crab-walking" was never fixed. This was a glitch where a user could run and shoot at the same time, effectively breaking the multiplayer experience. In Gears 2, it has similar issues. I will not go into great detail in this section, so I'll give one example. The shield glitch is my example for today. The shield glitch is where a user can pick up the shield and hold his shot gun at the same time. Normally, you can only have a pistol out with your shield, making the shield fair. With a shotgun, you can see how the game become broken. Do not get me wrong, I know all games have bugs and glitches when released, but it is inexcusable when the game has GAME BREAKING glitches/bugs. And if there is a game breaking bug, it should be fixed promptly by the developer. Many people say to give Epic time, but we did that with the crab walking, but it is still there.
3. Lack of Playtesting: This expands on the laziness of Epic, and/or shows that Microsoft makes developers rush products out...as we all know they do. Over the past week numerous problems have arisen that SHOULD have been seen and fixed during playtesting. One of these things has to do with walls having no density. On most walls in multiplayer matches, if they are relatively thin, you can melee right through them at an enemy on the other side of the wall. (Here is the link to the video) I am not going to go on, and on, about this topic since the video clearly conveys my point.
4. Lag Switching: This is probably the single, largest problem with the multiplayer aspect of the game. In case none of you know what this is, it is when someone turns their modem on Standby and everyone in the game lags, except the person on standby. Effectively making them win the game 9 times out of 10. This has happened numerous time to me when playing RANKED matches, where my stats count. This gets me irritated, how can Epic ignore such a HUGE problem? This should also have been known about in playtesting, or fixed immediatly after release. It is breaking the online experience, and makes me want to sell my game back for something that I know is quality. Let's just hope Microsoft jumps on the banhammer for these cheaters, and be sure to file a complaint for "System Tempering" if a lag switching occurs to you.
5. All the Little Things:

• Host Advantage: Epic said it was fixed from Gears 1, they lied. Host advantage is not as profound in Gears 2 due to the new matchmaking system...but it still exists. The problem mainly occurs when you shoot someone at the same time, or a little bit before or after.
  
• Chainsaw: Before someone comes and complains that get killed by the chainsaw alot, and I'm just complaining...well, I am. The chainsaw is utterly ridiculous in this game. In Gears 1 I had NO problem getting killed by the "noob" one hit kill weapons, because I had a chance to stop it! In Gears 2, I have unloaded nearly 4 shotgun blasts into the target and he still walks right up to me and chainsaws.
• Chainsaw Lunges: When did the chainsaw become the Energy Sword Epic? Now, when in multiplayer matches, if you are within a foot or two of a chainsaw, the player revving his chainsaw will literally "lunge" at you and kill you. For a better example, think of the Halo 3 Energy Sword. A player can lunge at an enemy with the sword to kill him from a fair distance away, this should NOT happen with the chainsaw. This makes it so you cannot dive or run away from the chainsaw.
• Alot of other stuff: Frankly, I'm tired of talking about Gears 2 right now. I know there is alot more stuff to talk about, but I am done. Do not get me wrong, Gears 2 is a fun game and I have logged in over 30 hours playtime in the game. Sometimes the game just makes me want to sell it back, because some of these faults are inexcusable...and should NOT have been released with the game. Shame on Epic.

Disagree, or agree, with me? Leave a comment with your opinions! We love to hear from the community.

Enjoy!
The VGToday Crew

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The Resident Evil 5 Demo is available right now! In Japan that is...if you're not living in japan, don't fret. You can still get your hands on the Demo.

All you have to do is download the five files on this site, install each piece into the same folder, extract the files, and burn them to a disc. Place disc into you system and have fun killing zombies!

For those who hate paragraphs, here's a list:

1. Download files to a folder.
2. Open one and extract all files.
3. Burn extracted files to a CD or DVD. (May even be able to use a flash drive...haven't tried that yet.)
4. Place in 360.
5. Go to your Demos and it should appear.
6. Have fun.
7. Leave a comment.
   

Enjoy!
The VGToday Crew
Disclosure: Video Games Today, and it's staff, are not responsible for any illegal activity committed due to reading any, and all, articles on Video Games Today. This post is NOT promoting illegal activity, this post is for educational purposes and we, the staff of Video Games Today, do not intend readers to use this post for any other uses than educational.

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Gametrailers just put this up on their website:



I am super excited about this game now. At first I was worried about the game being a redo of Call of Duty 4. This looks sweet, one of my most anticipated things to do this holiday season...along with Horde mode of Gears 2.

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