Resident Evil 4 was a fantastic game. Resident Evil 5 is pretty much the same game, but with better graphics.

So how come it’s not working for me?

It’s not really valid or helpful criticism to just say “I don’t know, it’s just not my cup of tea,” but I’m wracking my brain trying to be more specific. I can pick out lots of little things about the game that bug me, but none seem to explain why I’m not enjoying it overall.

I’m annoyed by the quicktime events in this outing, the parts where you have to reflexively press a button when prompted or face instant death. Asking me to press the blue X button or the green A button doesn’t help when I don’t ever look at the controller. The Gamecube controller, which I’ve extolled, doesn’t have that problem thanks to tactile differences in the buttons.

The Tomb Raider section was an obnoxious break in the action. You’ll know it when you hit it.

I’ve encountered a couple of points where I was entirely out of ammo, but couldn’t pick any up because my inventory was jammed with other items and you have to manage it without stopping the action. That was irritating, but not a game-breaker.

Maybe it’s the atmosphere? An essential part of building tension is setting the scene. Things should go from familiar and safe to unfamiliar and dangerous. In the first few seconds of gaining control of Chris in the dusty African town, you walk by a gang of men savagely beating a man in a sack. Are they part of the infected? Hard to say. Apparently it’s commonplace enough for your partner to walk past without batting an eye. The zombies couldn’t make this place much worse than it already is.

The setup doesn’t seem that much different from 4, though. Maybe the real problem is that this is designed from the ground up to be a co-op game, and I don’t have anyone to play with. There’s no split screen option, so on of my housemates can’t jump in. I don’t keep an Xbox Live Gold account either, because I use console multiplayer infrequently if at all.

I’m pretty sure I’m nearing the end of the game, so maybe I can figure out what isn’t working for me once I’ve completed it. It’s driving me nuts, like an itch I can’t scratch.

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