Resident Evil 5

Resident Evil 5, known in Japan as Biohazard 5 is a survival horror third-person shooter video game developed and published by Capcom. The game is the seventh installment in the Resident Evil survival horror series, and was released on March 5, 2009 in Japan and on March 13, 2009^[1][2] in North America and Europe for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.^[3] A Windows version of the game was released on September 15, 2009 in North America, September 17 in Japan and September 18 in Europe. Resident Evil 5 revolves around Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar as they investigate a terrorist threat in Kijuju, a fictional town in Africa.

Gameplay

Resident Evil 5 features similar gameplay to Resident Evil 4, with context-sensitive controls and dynamic cutscenes also making a return.

The player can control Chris Redfield or Sheva Alomar in a similar fashion to Leon S. Kennedy in Resident Evil 4,^[4] with the same over-the-shoulder perspective.^[5] The game's environment plays a significant role.^[4]The Mercenaries minigame, featured in previous Resident Evil games, is present in Resident Evil 5.^[6] At launch, the multiplayer mode in the minigame was offline only, but a launch day patch gave the game online multiplayer modes as well.^[7]

The game features new types of enemies called "Majini", meaning evil spirit in Swahili.^[8] Furthermore, they are different from the previous Ganados.^[4] The number of weapon variations has been greatly increased compared to the previous games in the series; there are now several varieties of the handgun, shotgun, submachine gun, assault rifle and rifle to choose from.^[9] Like inventory systems in previous Resident Evil titles Resident Evil Outbreak and Resident Evil Outbreak File 2, the player can only equip weapons and items in the midst of gameplay, as opposed to accessing an inventory menu by pausing the game.

The game features some online elements.^[10] Resident Evil 5's main story mode can be played with two players, in a co-operative online mode. The feature will allow players to enter or leave anytime during the game. Players will not always stick together, and can be separated at points during the gameplay.^[6] However, if one player were to have critical health, only their partner can resuscitate them. An offline co-op mode is also in the game with the same co-op experience offered by the online co-op mode, only with two local players controlling the action in split screen or by a system link.^[11]

Synopsis

Setting

The setting of Resident Evil 5 has a similar feel to the film Black Hawk Down.^[3][12] Takeuchi added that the development team is composed of staff members who worked on the original Resident Evil.^[3] The game is a direct sequel to the Resident Evil series,^[3] and continues chronologically afterResident Evil 4.^[13] The player characters and protagonists are Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar,^[4] and the game takes place in 2009, eleven years after the events of the original Resident Evil. The story explores Chris' life during the decade between the two games.

During the game's events, he is a member of a group known as Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA), and sent to investigate a terrorist bio-organic weapon (BOW) threat in an Africandesert area in Kijuju, that serves as the game's setting.^[4] The antagonists of the game include Albert Wesker, a returning antagonist to the series, and Excella Gionne, a relative of the founder of the Tricell Pharmaceutical Company who operates the company's African branch.^[14] Ozwell E. Spencer, the founder of Umbrella Corp. and a key figure in the background story of the series since the original Resident Evil, is also included in a flashback.^[15]

Plot

Chris Redfield, a former STARS member and now part of the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA), is dispatched to Kijuju, Africa to work with Sheva Alomar to apprehend Ricardo Irving before he can sell a bio-organic weapon (BOW) on the black market. Upon arriving, they discover the locals have been converted by parasites into Majini, and that the members of the BSAA's Alpha team have been killed. Chris and Sheva are rescued by BSAA's Delta team, whose membership includes Sheva's mentor Josh Stone. In the data provided by Josh, Chris sees a photograph of Jill Valentine, his old partner, presumed dead after a confrontation with Albert Wesker. Chris, Sheva, and Delta team close in on Irving, but he manages to escape with the help of a hooded figure, leaving behind documents that lead Chris and Sheva to oil fields in the marshlands where Irving's deal is to occur. They soon discover this was a diversion created by Irving to allow the deal to take place. Chris and Sheva attempt to regroup with Delta team, but at the rendezvous, find the team slaughtered by a BOW; Sheva cannot find Josh among the bodies. Chris refuses to report to headquarters, revealing his determination to learn if Jill is still alive.

Continuing through the marshlands, they find Josh injured but safe, and with his help track down Irving's boat. Irving injects himself with a virus and mutates into a colossal octopus-like beast. Chris and Sheva defeat him, and with his dying words, directs the pair to a nearby cave to learn more. The cave, home of the Ndipaya tribe, is the source of the flower used to create the Progenitor virus, which led to the creation of the T- and G-viruses. Chris and Sheva find evidence that Tricell, the company funding the BSAA, had taken over a former Umbrella underground laboratory and continued Umbrella's research. In the facility are thousands of capsules holding human test subjects. Chris discovers one of the capsules belongs to Jill, but when they search it, they find the capsule empty. As they leave, they discover Tricell agent Excella Gionne has been plotting with Wesker to unleash a number of missiles with the Uroboros virus across the globe. Chris and Sheva pursue Excella, but are stopped by Wesker and the hooded figure, later revealed to be Jill, enslaved by a mind-control device on her chest. Excella and Wesker escape to a Tricell oil tanker while Chris and Sheva fight Jill, eventually subduing her and removing the device from her chest. After a brief reunion, Jill orders Chris to follow Wesker.

As Chris and Sheva make their way aboard the tanker, they come across Excella, who escapes, but drops a case of syringes. Sheva holds on to a number of them. When Chris and Excella arrive on the main deck of the tanker, Wesker, through the tanker's intercom, reveals he has infected Excella with Uroboros. She mutates into a giant monster which Chris and Sheva eventually defeat. Jill radios in and informs Chris and Sheva that Wesker must regularly take precisely measured doses of a drug to maintain his superhuman strength and speed; a larger or smaller dose would act as poison for Wesker. Sheva then realizes the syringes she recovered from Excella are doses of that drug. Chris and Sheva follow Wesker to a bomber aboard the tanker loaded with missiles containing the Uroboros virus. Eventually, the two are able to subdue Wesker long enough to inject him with additional doses. Wesker attempts to escape on the bomber, but is followed by Chris and Sheva who disable the bomber, causing it to crash land in a volcano. An enraged Wesker exposes himself to Uroboros, and pursues Chris and Sheva through the volcano. Chris and Sheva fight and weaken Wesker to the point where he falls into the lava. They are then rescued by a helicopter piloted by Jill and Josh. In his dying breaths, Wesker attempts to drag the helicopter into the volcano, but Chris and Sheva kill him with Rocket-propelled grenades,^[16] before he is able to do so. In the final cutscene of the game, Chris ponders whether it is truly worth fighting to preserve what is left of humanity. He looks at Sheva and Jill's faces and decides that it is worth it.