Finally, I get to play against people in Resident Evil 5 online. Wait, its not on the disk, you mean I have to pay more money? Well this will make some people angry.
Capcom has released the first downloadable content for their latest edition of the resident evil franchise. This downloadable content, set at $4.99 available for both the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360, is just another way for Capcom to get a little extra money into their already deep wallets.
The versus mode is just what one might think it entails, a way to allows up to 4 players to battle online. While this isn't the first time the Resident Evil franchise stepped its foot into the online realm, some of you might remember the two mediocre games on the Playstation 2 called Resident Evil Outbreak 1 and 2. While those games weren't fantastic, at least the versus mode in Resident Evil 5 is a step in the right direction.
There are two modes available for players to choose from. One is Slayer and the other is survival, but they should have just called it "kill all the zombies and each other mode" because they are essentially the same thing. The only difference between the two modes is the scoring system. You get more points for killing your human counter part in one mode as opposed to the other. While the modes of the game are fairly similar, Capcom at least added the luxury of choosing team battle or a free for all option. In a sense there are 4 different ways you can play online: Team Survivor and Team Slayer, or just Slayer and Survivor. It may just be a good idea to pick any one of the team modes because you are allowed to chat with you companion via the wireless headset. While in a game you go around killing the zombies at the same time you kill the other players. You can collect the any item you find on the ground and place them into your inventory, but just like any Resident Evil game, you can only carry a limited amount of items. This can tend to get a little frustrating especially if you have to decide between your sub machine gun and your shot gun, which can both take a fair amount of space. You also carry around ammo, herbs and grenades in your inventory. While stocking up on these items are all well and good in your inventory, they have to be used fairly quickly because of the constant zombie attacks. The basic strategy for any of the modes is to shoot the zombies and run away, repeat.
The idea of having a fast paced Resident Evil online sounds fun, yet the execution of Capcom provided is subpar. The game seems very rushed, and has a lot of glitches. At times, the zombies appeared to be sliding around at very fast. I would stop and point my gun in one direction and the zombies would slide quickly in either direction avoiding my shot. This didn't make sense and it was frustrating getting through matches with this problem. While running away trying to get to cover, a zombie glitched through a wall and I was once again surrounded by zombies with no time to go through the inventory and heal. Your partner, if they are nice enough may heal you, but odds are your partner will also die in the process; meanwhile, the other team is throwing grenades everywhere and you might just end up dying in the explosion. I died a lot playing online.
Having the controls from the single player experience onto the versus mode, was a bad idea. The controls require you to stop, pull your gun, and aim at your target. You can't just run around and shoot, like other multiplayer game such as Killzone 2 or Call of Duty. People call this type of control "Tank", because you are required to stop running and shoot, just like a tank. While tanking is tolerable in the single player experience, it was a bad choice for a faster pace multiplayer experience.
Another issue that I have had playing RE5 online was the presentation of the game. While the graphics are beautiful, just like the single player experience, navigating through the menus wasn't fun. There are only two things you can do in the menu, host a game or find a game. You can either do a quick search or narrow the search down to a specific game you want. This is not all that elaborate due to the fact that there are only 2 modes available online. You probably won't be able to get into a game the first try, on my attempts I had many connection issues. Trying to get into a room of only 2 people, you might get error messages explaining that the room is already full.
While RE5 versus mode clearly needs some polishing, the game has its upside. It's only 5 bucks, and if you enjoyed the single player experience, you will most likely enjoy this multiplayer add-on. You can re-live all of the levels that you enjoyed and the wonderful sites of zombie infested Africa. Yet, If you are looking for a more fast pace multiplayer experience, one could say that Killzone 2 or Call of Duty would be a better candidate then RE5. RE5 versus mode gives you the chance of shooting a friend or some dude overseas in the face, while they are being overwhelmed with zombies.