Metareview -- Resident Evil 5

Resident Evil 5. It's a game and it's out on Friday, March 13. In preparation for his review, Joystiq's Justin McElroy actually spent time on the streets of Kijuju, West Africa, to take in the sights and gauge how realistic the Resident Evil 5 story was. We didn't have the heart to tell him there wasn't actually a zombie apocalypse ... or a Kijuju in West Africa. No worries, he's alive and was able to record a Review Roundtable with other Joystiq luminaries. Unless it was zombie Justin who hosted the Roundtable ... which would make this morning's memo about sending our brains to him for review way less suspect.

• GameTrailers (90/100): "You'll get a lot more out of it than you do from typical games with no competitive multiplayer and while played cooperatively it really sings. It's lost a lot of what has made the franchise a pins-and-needles experience, but that sense of dread has been replaced with pure action that's hard to match."

• IGN (90/100): "The creepy suspense of the earlier games has been replaced with an action-packed intensity that will instantly appeal to some gamers and disappoint others. As an action game, RE5 is a success, and there's a wealth of replayability through item collection, weapon upgrades, score chasing and the unlockable Mercenaries mode. But this is no gentle nudge to the formula of the previous main RE games; it's an evolution."

• 1UP (B): "Ultimately, Resident Evil 5 shouldn't be looked at as a failure in the series, merely too ambitious, inconsistent and uneven. Earlier entries in the series benefited from their simplicity and focus, and while it's laudable for RE5 to try and include so much variety, perhaps a little more of the same ol' same ol' would have resulted in a slightly better game."

• G4 TV (60/100): "Resident Evil 5 is mired in poor design decisions that drag down the experience and render single-player campaign a tedious exercise in working around the game. It's frustrating to see a game that I so looked forward to playing and carried with it such potential, sabotage itself in so many ways. Compared against the ambition of games like Bioshock, Mass Effect, and Assassin's Creed; Resident Evil 5 seems timid, unwilling to move out of its comfort zone. It's a shame."

Source - Metacritic: Resident Evil 5 (Xbox 360)
Source - Metacritic: Residen Evil 5 (PS3)
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