I really wasn’t sure whether is was going to be worth picking this game up, especially I hadn’t played Resident Evil since the PS1 days, but I remember it being one of those games I got really into. I had some credit with Blockbuster so decided to pick it up.

Given the length of the game’s introduction sequence, the first thing to notice about Resident Evil 5 is that it is absolutely gorgeous. Really beautiful environments with brilliant detail, it’s possibly the best I have seen on the 360 so far.

Resident Evil 5 takes place five years after the events of the last game (which I have no idea about but there is a useful history section within the game), and sees Chris Redfield as a member of a bioterrorism control taskforce venturing into Africa to meet his new partner Sheva Alomar with whom he lays waste to many, many parasite-plagued African and Arabic villagers.

This game is definitely best played on co-op over xBox live. There is also the ability to play on split screen, but from the bad reports it’s not really a viable option. Without a friend to play with however, Sheva is actually quite good as an A.I. controlled character.

The controls caught me out a little bit as you cannot run and shoot simultaneously, I thought it would be really hard to get used but I have quickly got used to it, but some people won’t and from what I have read on the interwebs after people had played the demo they have made their minds up and will not be bothering with the game.

The inventory system has been overhauled, and is now in real time which means if Sheva isn’t near you when she wants to give you something you have to wait for her to come to you and it take a few seconds to change weapons, reload etc. This makes things fun when you are doing your best to stay alive.

As with all the Resident Evil games there are lots of unlockables with plenty of replay value, plus you can supposedly unlock an extra difficulty level, I’m just not good enough yet though!

If you liked the previous games you will like this one, if you have never tried the Resident Evil series before give it a go, you’ll like it.