Gamersmint Review: Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition

Resident Evil 5 released almost a year ago and all action-horror lovers must have either bought a copy or borrowed it from a friend to experience this thrilling zombie-filled ride that was RE5. Now, you should not be blamed for expecting Capcom to come up with something unique when they decided to release the Gold Edition. Strangely enough, apart from two new DLC packs (Lost in Nightmares and Desperate Escape), a rehashed Mercenaries mode (which throws in a few new costumes and some beloved old characters from the RE universe but does not provide you with any new maps) and a brand new online Versus mode, the Gold Edition does very little to make this experience different from what was RE5.  So, is it worth enough to compel you to buy this all over again? Or does it fall short even after offering you with more zombies to kill, which is gotta count for something? Read on to find out!

The first of the two new episodes that this version comes bundled with is known as Lost in Nightmares.  With a name like that you can visualize a creepy mansion with an unknown enemy lurking in the dark. Thankfully, the visualization is complimented by the real atmosphere surrounding this episode which takes Chris and Jill to the Ozwell E. Spencer’s Mansion. The whole episode is connected to a Flashback that Chris had midway into RE5.

The episode follows a more intriguing and explorative style of gameplay which fans of the older games of the series will recognize almost instantly and puts you into a dark and uncompromising world where fear will grip you while exploring the pitch dark corridors of the mansion. The enemies encountered in this episode are few and far between and it is that ever encompassing sense of unpredictability and fear of what might jump ahead of you that will keep you on the edge of your seat.  The gameplay also heavily emphasizes on puzzle solving and exploration to progress. This is a welcome change from the mindless onslaught of the Majini hordes which you needed to fight off for the most of RE5’s campaign.

Lost in Nightmares is no doubt the best component present in the Gold edition offering you with something fresh and interesting. The going back to  roots of the franchise with this episode, is also something which deserves accolades.

The second of the DLC packs is known as Desperate Escape which again picks up after a particular event which happened in RE5 involving Jill Valentine, Chris and Sheva which resulted in her coming back to her senses and is a far cry from what was Lost in Nightmares. This episode makes a comeback to the tried and tested” run n gun” gameplay which was present in Resident Evil 5.  Jill must team up with BSAA agent Josh Stone and escape the unfriendly Majini neighborhood and get to the chopper waiting for their extraction. While this might sound like a piece of cake, it is far from that as almost all of the Majini populace is hellbent on taking that piece from you!

This becomes the perfect setting for a action-packed level with you and your partner required to tame down an influx of Majinis of various shapes and sizes while proceeding towards the extraction point. While you start off with only a machine gun(Jill) and a pistol(Josh), you won’t be hard-pressed for weapons as you proceed deeper into this hell.  This episode is best enjoyed with a human partner to co-op with and if you can find someone to team up then this can make for one helluva experience as it’s one of the most adrenaline pumping levels in all of the RE series till date. However, play with the retarded A.I as your partner and you will feel the pain of trying to escape from the heart of this Majini mess.

I would have also liked to see atleast some amount of variation being bought into this pack as this simply feels like a rehash of RE5 with not even a single different enemy type or fresh gameplay components. Thankfully it does manage to excel in what it does and you won’t feel bored with all the amount of mayhem taking place around you and will easily be able to see this through without many complaints.

The “Versus Mode” makes its debut in the Gold edition. Basically it’s a multiplayer mode (a debut in the series) in which you can team up with your online friend and fight against other human players in a 2 on 2  fight or  go solo against three other humans opponents with zombies stewed all over the map. This mode is known as slayer. There’s another mode called survivor where you could do the same but are only able to score points by dishing out damage to your human foes. The versus mode has zero new content with the same maps as the “Mercenaries Mode” with a few new characters thrown in, which you can unlock as you earn more points.

To be honest, I didn’t really see the need for such a rushed up multiplayer mode for the game, especially since this is the first such mode in the series. It feels awkward shooting other human foes and once you unlock all the characters, the balance of play f**ks up due to some overly powerful characters. However, if you just want to have some online fun ignoring the obvious flaws then you might aswell be happy to see this inclusion.

Last up is the somewhat new Merc Mode known as Merc Reunion. I don’t see the point of calling this a NEW mode as the only change you will notice (unless you’re a zombie) is the inclusion of some new playable characters, costumes and weapons. Yup, that’s it, you can move on now!

Also, I must point out that I reviewed this with the PS3 version of the game and that enabled me to access all the new content by doing a quick installation as all the content was on the blu-ray, however the 360 version comes with a card which has a code to download the extra content online due to the limitations of a DVD. That’s hardly 1 GB of data to download but still it does give the PS3 version a kind of an edge. Capcom does a somewhat balancing act by forcing you to finish the SP campaign of RE5 if you own the PS3 version before being able to play the new content as it is locked till you do so. The 360 version however sees all the content being accessible from the get go.

Next Page : Closing Comment and Scoring

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