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January 25, 2010 - Compared to previous franchise entries, Capcom's Resident Evil 5 was much more about action than it was about scares. It was still creepy, but last year's game bore less resemblance to the series' survival horror roots than any other main franchise entry. It was also built around two-player co-operative gameplay, online or off, and that remains true of the soon-to-be-released downloadable content.
The two upcoming episodes, Lost in Nightmares and Desperate Escape, will be debuting as downloadable goodies on Xbox Live (400 Microsoft Points each) and the PlayStation Network ($4.99 USD each) before the release of the all-inclusive Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition. So basically, if you've never played Resident Evil 5 before and want a version that includes absolutely everything, you're going to want to wait for the Gold Edition to be made available in the United States, which happens on March 9, 2010 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. All the additional content, including additional character costumes, episodes, and a revamped Mercenaries mode will be on the Gold Edition PlayStation 3 Blu-Ray disc, and on Xbox 360, you'll get the game disc along with a download token for the extra stuff.
However, if you already own Resident Evil 5 and would rather pick up the episodes individually, then you'll probably want to snatch up each as they're made available online instead of buying another full-priced disk. The first episode, called Lost in Nightmares, will be hitting Xbox Live on February 17th and the PlayStation Network on February 18th.
I had a chance to go hands-on with a short section of this episode, which is set in the Spencer Mansion from the first Resident Evil game. In it up to two players can take control of Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine up until the point where "Chris Redfield thought he lost his partner forever," or so says the fact sheet. Of the two downloadable episodes, Capcom says this is the more puzzle-oriented one, though if what I encountered in my play session is representative of the experience as a whole, it's nothing too complicated.
These guys absorb a lot of shots before hitting the dirt.
The sequence had both characters running through dilapidated jail cells, picking up a few ammunition and health items along the way. One was outfitted with a shotgun while the other had a machine gun, which came in handy against a towering monster type that showed up on several occasions. This guy was pretty nasty, with a bubbling shoulder and a gigantic anchor-like weapon he used to brutally smash anyone in the vicinity. Getting hit like this doesn't result in an instant-kill, so a victim can still hobble around and heal to prevent being slapped with the game over screen.
While trudging by open prison cells, a number of these large foes attacked, requiring quite a few shots to put down permanently. I unfortunately spent most of my rounds on the early foes, which made the finale arena encounter a little more challenging. In a large room filled with multilevel walkways, two of these guys charged at once, and because they could hop gaps and ledges, there weren't many safe spots. Trying to proceed was made more difficult by their various abilities, including a stun and a grab that can kill you pretty quickly if your partner doesn't help out.
Successfuly escaping the room requires you to find and place crests, which can be quite the challenge if you don't have enough ammunition to bring down the big guys. Teamwork is key, and the best course of action seemed to be to distract the enemies with one character while the other hunts for items and the spot to place them. This was only a small chunk of the experience, which I was told will take one and a half to two hours to complete.
Is it worth five bucks? Well, the bits I played were entertaining enough, though they didn't really scream must-buy. Expect a more definitive verdict once the entirety of the content is made available.
Source: IGN
The two upcoming episodes, Lost in Nightmares and Desperate Escape, will be debuting as downloadable goodies on Xbox Live (400 Microsoft Points each) and the PlayStation Network ($4.99 USD each) before the release of the all-inclusive Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition. So basically, if you've never played Resident Evil 5 before and want a version that includes absolutely everything, you're going to want to wait for the Gold Edition to be made available in the United States, which happens on March 9, 2010 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. All the additional content, including additional character costumes, episodes, and a revamped Mercenaries mode will be on the Gold Edition PlayStation 3 Blu-Ray disc, and on Xbox 360, you'll get the game disc along with a download token for the extra stuff.
However, if you already own Resident Evil 5 and would rather pick up the episodes individually, then you'll probably want to snatch up each as they're made available online instead of buying another full-priced disk. The first episode, called Lost in Nightmares, will be hitting Xbox Live on February 17th and the PlayStation Network on February 18th.
I had a chance to go hands-on with a short section of this episode, which is set in the Spencer Mansion from the first Resident Evil game. In it up to two players can take control of Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine up until the point where "Chris Redfield thought he lost his partner forever," or so says the fact sheet. Of the two downloadable episodes, Capcom says this is the more puzzle-oriented one, though if what I encountered in my play session is representative of the experience as a whole, it's nothing too complicated.
These guys absorb a lot of shots before hitting the dirt.
The sequence had both characters running through dilapidated jail cells, picking up a few ammunition and health items along the way. One was outfitted with a shotgun while the other had a machine gun, which came in handy against a towering monster type that showed up on several occasions. This guy was pretty nasty, with a bubbling shoulder and a gigantic anchor-like weapon he used to brutally smash anyone in the vicinity. Getting hit like this doesn't result in an instant-kill, so a victim can still hobble around and heal to prevent being slapped with the game over screen.
While trudging by open prison cells, a number of these large foes attacked, requiring quite a few shots to put down permanently. I unfortunately spent most of my rounds on the early foes, which made the finale arena encounter a little more challenging. In a large room filled with multilevel walkways, two of these guys charged at once, and because they could hop gaps and ledges, there weren't many safe spots. Trying to proceed was made more difficult by their various abilities, including a stun and a grab that can kill you pretty quickly if your partner doesn't help out.
Successfuly escaping the room requires you to find and place crests, which can be quite the challenge if you don't have enough ammunition to bring down the big guys. Teamwork is key, and the best course of action seemed to be to distract the enemies with one character while the other hunts for items and the spot to place them. This was only a small chunk of the experience, which I was told will take one and a half to two hours to complete.
Is it worth five bucks? Well, the bits I played were entertaining enough, though they didn't really scream must-buy. Expect a more definitive verdict once the entirety of the content is made available.
Source: IGN
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