Nonetheless, a gripping and engrossing finale to the story of the Resident Evil franchise. Bosses are challenging, require, at times, some careful tactical thinking, vary and all have strong ties into the story. Thankfully, Capcom had once again avoided repetition by altering the environment quite interestingly, where one minute you're in a disease-infected African village and the next your in a laboratory, before you're yet again plunged into a dark cave with giant spiders. One thing that made THIS stand out from its predecessor, however, was the stress put on the idea of co-operation; working as a team. In RE4, Ashley only co-operates at the most appropriatte of times, only helping out with solving puzzles and opening doors Leon could not do himself. In RE5, however, Sheva Alomar not only solves puzzles, but fights in open-combat, heals you, and at times cannot do anything without your help. A real emphasis has been put on this, which thankfully saved it from becoming a… more »

Nonetheless, a gripping and engrossing finale to the story of the Resident Evil franchise. Bosses are challenging, require, at times, some careful tactical thinking, vary and all have strong ties into the story. Thankfully, Capcom had once again avoided repetition by altering the environment quite interestingly, where one minute you're in a disease-infected African village and the next your in a laboratory, before you're yet again plunged into a dark cave with giant spiders. One thing that made THIS stand out from its predecessor, however, was the stress put on the idea of co-operation; working as a team. In RE4, Ashley only co-operates at the most appropriatte of times, only helping out with solving puzzles and opening doors Leon could not do himself. In RE5, however, Sheva Alomar not only solves puzzles, but fights in open-combat, heals you, and at times cannot do anything without your help. A real emphasis has been put on this, which thankfully saved it from becoming a dissapointment,

However, the horror-aspect is lost, with the infamous bag-headed, chainsaw-wielding, high-pitched squeling psycho only aleviating pulses for occasional moments during the game, and unfortunately their appearances are infrequent, leaving, well, a calm and slow-pacing atmosphere which isn't exactly what Resident Evil was designed to be. The iconic scene of Leon walking in an underground sewer, dodging bloody spikes from a crazed parasite insect with intense music was lost in this game, unfortunately, and had they put it in at least once, it would've made a considerable difference.

To conclude, it's pretty damn impressive, and I'm proud it was shortlisted for the Golden Joystick Awards, because for a PS3 videogame it is excellent, unfortunately, as a PS2 franchise, it would have failed.