http://ps3.ign.com/articles/948/948764p1.html
1) Inventory System Kinks
Look, we understand the rationale behind going with a real-time inventory system. Like the inability to shoot and move at the same time, it's a deliberate decision to heighten the tension and put you under pressure only, there are a few niggles associated with it. First, though, the good stuff. You can shift items around your 3x3 grid (and Sheva's as well if you're playing on your own) and whatever is positioned in the up, down, left and right positions can be hot-selected with up, down, left and right on the D-pad. So yes, you can finally switch weapons on the fly with ease, or switch to a grenade and then back to another weapon. (Moving stuff around the grid isn't in the demo from what we can see, but trust us it's in the full game.)
That's good stuff, but there are some small niggles. Let's say you have a green herb in the down position on the grid. Hitting down in the game simply equips it into your hand. Want to use it? You can't once it's in your hand you have the option to either heal your partner or give it to your partner. Surely using it yourself should be an option? Nope, if you want to use a green herb you have to select it in your inventory, then move the cursor down (the first option is equip) to select use. It's clumsy, and given how often you're likely to choose to use the green herb on yourself as compared to how often you're going to want to equip it, it seems needlessly convoluted. A couple of small changes would fix this.
While we're on the subject of green herbs, why the hell aren't they still green herbs in your inventory? Why are they transformed into clinical syringe-y things? It's much harder to tell what's in your inventory at a glance. Bring back the herbs in all their easy-to-distinguish-colour-coded glory!
2) Running With Scissors
Or knives, as the case may be. Really, why can't we walk with this thing? Why do I have to run up to within striking distance of an enemy, then stop, put away my weapon, and pull out my knife, just to get an attack in? As mentioned before, it makes sense not to allow the player to shoot and move at the same time, heightening tension, yadda yadda yadda, but the whole melee system just feels clunky. Why not just really restrict movement speed when you're wielding a knife? If you can only edge forward slowly it wouldn't ruin the balance of the game, but it would level the playing field. It's pretty frustrating how much of a disadvantage you can be at trying to get within knifing distance of an enemy. Not only is there the whole delay that's caused by having to stop then switch over to the knife thus giving enemies the chance to get the jump on you, but if you judge the distance wrong and you're not close enough, you can still get hit by enemies while they're outside the range of your knife swipe. It all feels a little punitive restrictions are fine, but decisions should be made in the service of gameplay, first and foremost.
Being able to move while carrying the knife would also help give melee combat more rhythm. As you probably know there's no basic melee button that you can use whenever you like. Instead, melee combat is context sensitive. This makes sense having a melee attack button would alter the balance of the game, giving the player too strong an option to resort to should his enemies get close. Instead, you can use other strikes to open up enemies for melee attacks. We love using the pistol and melee in tandem, for instance. Essentially you stun an enemy with the pistol then run in for a devastating punch. The same concept applies for the knife, but it's much clunkier being able to move with the knife would make the melee system smoother.
Oh, and while we're on the subject of melee combat Capcom! Where's the intensity? Remember the suplex move from RE4 where you could burst an enemy's head like a ripe melon? Well, there's no sign of anything like that yet in RE5. Yes, yes, there'll probably be some cool, gory melee moves in the final game, but the ones that we've seen so far are kinda weak; the 'stomp' melee move especially. Walk up to a downed enemy and you can hit X/square to stomp them, only, you might as well be tickling them for all the impact it has. This ain't curb stomping. This ain't spattering the streets with brain. This is Chris doing a weak little tap with his heel on an enemy's chest. Fix it please!
3) Enemy Difficulty
We're thinking that the demo difficulty is probably dialed down a bit, but even so, these really aren't enemies that pose much of a threat. The fact that you can simply run right past the vast majority of them (the same being true during previous playthroughs at E3 and elsewhere) simply isn't a good sign. Where's the aggression; where's the panic as you realise you're out of space and time?
To be fair, both the levels in the demo are relatively open plan and it's not that hard to keep your distance, but it really doesn't feel like you get punished if you're trapped in a dead end. Not only can you run past enemies, but they don't really exhibit a huge amount of intelligence. Sure, they'll bust down doors and climb through windows, but they'll also side-step seemingly at random, and rarely do anything unexpected. Granted, it's about overwhelming numbers more than it's about intelligence, but the enemies in RE5 feel a little watered down next to their more aggressive RE4 brethren. With the added help of Sheva/a friend, enemy difficulty really should be higher, not lower. Here's hoping Capcom can tweak it for the final game.
4) The Run Button
Now, this is something that's too late to fix, but we just had to include it as we're not really sure why it's still in the game. I mean, sure, the whole run button system works well enough, but why not just let us push further on the left stick to move faster? We're really not sure what advantages the run button brings. It forces you to take your thumb off the right stick and results in running a little bit like a shopping trolley you careen along and, yes, you can steer okay, but you'd be able to steer a whole lot better with an industry standard dual analogue set-up.
As we stated, it works well enough, but it still results in some bizarre shortcuts. I mean, if you want to turn up a stairwell that branches up to the right, it's ridiculous that it's easier to get to the landing, turn slightly left, then do a 180 degree turn in order to go up the stairs than it is to simply follow the stairs.
5) Stay True to the Setting
So, Resident Evil 5 is set in Africa, only it's not really Africa it's some mystical, magical land where African slums are filled with people of all races. Oh, look over there, it's a white villager! And ooh, who's that? Why, it's an Asian villager! It's political correctness gone mad, and to be frank, we think it hurts the game.
In fact, there really isn't any need for Capcom to bow to the pressure. The company should stand firm behind its game and its setting. How having African people in African villages could be construed as racist we have no idea. The game simply uses Africa as a canvas for a drama. It's not set in one particular country. It's not saying 'people from Cameroon are crazy and evil'. A film set in Africa with some kind of contagion that's turning the populace into fiends sure as hell wouldn't have to include all the colours of the multi-cultural rainbow, so why should RE5? It's just a setting. Get over it and take the token white people out.
