Will RE5 be a big stinker?

I have played the resident evil games since their inception in the 90's I braved the hoards of zombies and carefully managed my items to brave any unforeseen developments in the storyline like any other gamer who has enjoyed this pinnacle of the survival-horror genre.

In many of our eyes RE4 gave us what we have always wanted in the resident evil game. The levels are more intense. The action became constant and those friggin zombies found intelligence to be their most frightening trait.

RE4 was a massive accomplishment in gaming. The story was incredibly involving. The overall setting was extremely creepy and alien to seasoned RE gamers. It was a total overhaul to the franchise and an extremely welcome one.

When i first heard there was an RE5 coming out I was itchy all over thinking of the incredible next gen zombie destruction that was in store with me. Capcom has given us little to go on for months telling us bits and pieces of what was in store for us. First it was explained it would be set in Africa. This seemed like an interesting idea seemingly expanding on the truly isolated feeling of going through an foreign countryside fighting things IE re4. Then we learned you would be paired with a sidekick. Something that really complicated things in RE4. Now we got as a Christmas present an in depth interview on xplay.

Unfortunately for me it was watching this live demo that showed me my fervor for this title might be slightly unfounded. One problem I noticed immediately was that the guy in the demo was plainly cheating. Unlimited ammo for both of the players and even tnt being thrown directly at him didn't phase his life gauge.

To me that wasn't a big deal. They gotta show what it looks like after all. Though the more gameplay footage I saw the more I became concerned. It seems throughout the gameplay the co-op character appears to be of no help at all in fact she appears to be a massive hindrance. My other concern was the gameplay does not seem at all improved since re4. the graphics grew to appear a bit better and that almost appears to be the only improvement.

When Morgan Webb asked the designer to explain how coop would be helpful, he explained how you could hook up with someone online to have them play with you. He kept conveniently tight lipped on how good the AI was for your ever present partner when you didn't have an online buddy holding the reigns on her.

Morgan Webb also asked a great question regarding how they improved the AI on the zombies from re4. The rep basic said in so many words that the AI is exactly the same. Which showed to be proven throughout the gameplay demo where zombies seemed to do very cookie cutter actions from re4. the typical dynamite wielders. crossbow wielders and run at you and attack zombies are all here. The only difference I detected was a few zombies wielding automatic weapons. though I see this as only a small improvement.

After watching this in depth coverage from xplay suddenly I was forced to draw an unpleasant conclusion. Are resident evil fans about to be handed RE4.5?? though the representative claims all they wanted for this game was innovation. The shown gameplay seems to show otherwise. There were few features shown (at least in this demo) that would make me say that I am genuinely excited to pick this title up.

The co-op character seemed utterly oblivious to what was going on throughout demo gameplay. My guess is she would have been killed early in the demo if it wasn't for that handy health cheat they apparently entered.

The AI overall has not been improved for your enemies which is something i wanted to see. Graphics and lighting are obviously better but that can only go so far in improving (PS did you see the bat boss's wing cutting through the wall of the shack... wtf!?! aren't we past those crummy graphics bugs yet?!?).

I loved RE4 I loved it with a passion. But i do not want to play a resident evil experience that is merely an expansion in the gameplay. I want overall improvement. I want better controls, better AI and better graphics. Thusfar RE5 seems to only be offering 1 of the 3 which scares me.

This is all based on what i interpreted from this one demo on xplay. I admit i know nothing of the story and the story makes up a huge chunk of what makes the franchise great. The last story seemed good but they better do something much much better in re5 or this may be a total flop. I pray my conclusions are wrong but only time will tell.