In the three days that I've had the three-chapter preview build of Resident Evil 5, I've heard a lot of criticisms from a lot of different people. Now, some of these are totally valid criticisms, while others are more subjective and seem based on individual tastes... still others are completely ludicrous. So, I thought I'd take a moment to take these criticisms on point by point and let you in on which are grounded in reality and which are simply trumped-up hokum.

The Reasonable

It's not the same Resident Evil: While conversing with TeamXbox's Tom Price, he mentioned the disparity between Resident Evil 5 and the first games in the series. Specifically, he lamented the lack of puzzles and the direction the series seemed to be taking that drew it away from its survival horror roots.

While I can't dispute that RE5 barely resembles the early Resident Evil games, I've found that this is more due to an evolution of the franchise than to it losing its way. Granted, the puzzles within the first three chapters are extremely simple and involve almost no real challenge outside of setting up minor roadblocks to pace your progression, but I welcome the new focus on action rather than puzzle-solving because it just feels more frightening. I mean, seriously, what's scarier: searching around for various stand-in metaphors for keys or being mob-rushed by screaming psychopaths? I'll go with the latter.


There is also some question as to whether or not Resident Evil 5 still has the chilling undercurrent of raw terror that it carried back in the day. To this I can only defer to style as the major difference and that makes this a more subjective question of taste. Essentially, RE5 deviates from the classical survival horror staple of psychological terror, and whereas past games used more subtle methods to scare, RE5 puts the fear in your face and slaps you around with it. It's less Dead Space, which relied on solitude and implied horrors lurking behind every corner (though there is some of that, as well as the massive, hidden, sociopathic conspiracy) and more Doom which throws shocking, toothy surprises at you at a rapid-fire pace.

So while some may disparage the direction that the series has taken, it reminds me of the debate between old-school fans of Rainbow Six and those who worship at the feet of the new Vegas approach: Sure the game has changed, but shouldn't it? As the scope of our games expand and grow, shouldn't our favorite series do the same?