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This is one from WAY back on my Gamestack of Shame...I bought it bundled with the Limited Edition Red console back in 2009 and just never got around to it.  It's another one of those games I kept saying I'd play co-op with someone but then it never happened.  But now...I have finally finished Resident Evil 5.

The controls took some getting used to, just like any other Capcom game and was fairly frustrating at first.  But,  it does add some extra tension to a survival horror game so I didn't mind too much.  The game looks amazing with great detail in the character and environments.  They did a good job of keeping areas tight which allowed for greater visual density but also helped create tension on the gameplay.

Since this is the first Resident Evil game that I've played more than an hour or two of...I found myself not entirely interested in the story.  Since I didn't know anything about Jill and they focused a lot of the main character's motivation on finding her, I found myself having trouble relating.

The boss battles were often frustrating since the real solution was to run away and let the next stage of the encounter progress.  That would be better if they actually let you know this was the case instead of me sitting around wasting ammo until I happen to walk into the corridor that triggers the mid-battle cutscene.  Some of the other sections of the game did fine by letting me know that retreating was required, so I was left wondering why it wasn't always the case.

I don't want to sound like I'm only harping on the game, because I enjoyed it quite a bit!  The missions were a lot of fun and I felt compelled to keep playing because I wanted to get to the resolution with Wesker.  The AI of my partner was almost always quite intelligent, especially when I load her with healing options to keep me upright.  I'm looking forward to seeing what Resident Evil 6 brings to the table this fall.