Resident Evil 5

Resident Evil 5 is the 7th installment of the series. It was released in Japan on March 5, 2009 and on March 13, 2009 in North America and Europe for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

You can often gauge a games rise in the ranks when it jumps from one medium to the other. They made a movie or two (three actually, #3 is Resident Evil: Extinction) about this one didn’t they with big stars? Despite the movie kudos, gamers still prefer to stick with what they know and create their own fate with the video game series. Resident Evil 5 has been released for the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3. The PC version of the game is expected to be released in the second half of 2009.

Here’s a little back story for those who don’t know. As you can guess something sinister has happened to get this whole ball of wax off and rolling. In the original Resident Evil, the story takes place in Raccoon City involving the unethical experiments of a company called the Umbrella Corporation. The company created a biological called the T-virus. As with all gruesome horror stories, the experiments go wrong and infect every living species in and around Raccoon City.

The original team sent in to investigate blood-thirsty zombies and mutated animals is known at STARS, Special Tactics and Rescue Service, Bravo team. As you can imagine, they get felled by zombies so the Alpha team is sent to rescue them. And, the story continues through several Resident Evil games until you arrive to #5

Each game builds on the original storyline and most took place within days of the other versions. Beginning with Resident Evil 4, the location for doing battle is no longer Raccoon City. In Resident Evil 5 characters are brought to Africa to once more clean up after the Umbrella Corporation.

The Xbox 360 has the high definition feature for enhanced 3D graphics and reality of play. Gamers have been able to play as one or more characters in the past. Once the final boss battle was played another player was unlocked and play began again as another character. This game features over-the-shoulder play as Chris Redfield with the assistance of his teammate Sheva Alomar in a similar fashion to Leon S. Kennedy in Resident Evil 4. The number of weapon variations has also been increased compared to the previous games. There are several varieties of the handgun, shotgun, submachine gun and rifle to choose from.

New to the Resident Evil 5 game is the ability to control one or both players which was never the case before. Success in the mission depends on both players working together. Also, the game can be played in a multiplayer role on and offline for more excitement. When playing online with another, the screen splits to see the game from the perspective of both.

Fans of the original Resident Evil will go head-over-heels for this one with the new features provided by the Xbox 360 and continuing story in keeping with the rest of the video game franchise. The game is rated M for mature due to lots of blood and gore and intense violence. So, don’t let your kids see you playing this.