if resident evil 4 was a bold new vision for the future of game design, resident evil 5 is the cold reality of game execs pushing the complete global saturation of boring cover shooter mechanics.

at its core re5 is literally beat for beat the same as re4, but the tedium of its boss fights and level design just utterly annihilates the enjoyability of the gameplay. a lot of the levels here feel the same, just with an african setting and the mexico filter™. they fail at being on the same level of design as re4's frantic arenas and the linearity of many of the fights is incredibly disappointing. plus, you can tell when an area in this game is designed to be played in mercenaries mode lol.

the jill boss fight is one of the absolute worst experiences i've had in a game; it's clunky, the solution is clear but unattainable in a logical way and you have to wait around for 7 minutes if you exit out for whatever reason. every other boss fight and puzzle in this game carries this tedium and lack of polish as well, if you can even call them puzzles.

if that all wasn't enough, the setting is horribly appropriative of african culture. turning the villagers into tribal zombies feels so wrong on every level, there's absolutely no care put into treating the culture with respect. the game even starts with chris talking to a stereotypical arabian guy with a russian accent (why???).

the only part of this game that feels redeemable in any way is the pure cheese of it all. the variety of wresting moves the characters pull off on enemies and the joy that wesker's characterization brings me is immeasurable. i fucking love his matrix-esque dodges and exposition, it's so gorgeously camp. fuck d. c. douglas though, the dead by daylight actor plays this wesker way better. also by the 3rd half of the game, enemies won't be stunned enough to pull off any roundhouses or suplexes, it's so sad.

obviously this is best played co-op to laugh at its quirkiness, but please don't expect a great time at all