I ended up playing Re5 after god knows how many years. Starting from the beginning, its been fun so far. I get the hate and don't. I bet Capcom didn't. They were probably like "you all said you LOVED 4!? We gave you more straight to the source action with like no puzzles and even co-op! What the hell!?". Like many games early in their stages of evolution it feels hella clunky to control but for releasing when it did its not bad. I really appreciate the pretty faces, well on the ladies anyway. As per the era way to much browns and greys. I like the action but miss the vendor, thankfully brought back in 8. I still prefer RE2make & 3 as I think they really did the 3rd person camera and classic RE design best, but this also has some nice regional damage. I never had the chance to play the DLC as the economic downturn around this games release meant I played the full co-op with my buddy but later moved out of state etc.
Its actually kind of funny, some games age better than others, perhaps due to the sheer greatness of the controls and gameplay. These weird period 3rd person games kind of get janky but the loop is fun. I've also started up Bioshock to replay the series after a forum thread here and while I love it to bits the FPS gameplay isn't bad but pales compared to what's on offer circa 2022. Just an observation on how far we've come. Not midnight yet here, still snowing and people trying to either park or leave and failing miserably lol. A few firecrackers.
Edit: Oh yeah, I freakin' love cutscenes! I'm so sick of walkie-talkies that force us to stop and listen to long-winded often trite and banal banter when I could watch a cool animated scene play out. It sucks that is so rare these days.