When Resident Evil 4 was released for the PS2, I immediately took it to my friend’s house to play. What ensued was an all-nighter of epic proportions. Every 3 minutes was a new joke, and another laugh spasm. I can still remember, when you first are asked “Take the handgun Ammo?” that my friend was actually thinking about it!

The memories flash before my eyes: tricking my friend into getting himself eaten by Del Lago; missing headshots because the zombies are excellent dancers; Ashley’s questionable intelligence (why on Earth did you run away from us in the castle? We all saw that rotating wall trick coming), and Leon’s unbelievable courage in the face of certain doom (when Salazar transforms into a hideous and towering monster in a horrifying and gruesome display, Leon just sneers and says “Monsters, after this one, there’ll be one less to worry about!” Talk about nads)! Now that I think about it, the only time Leon seemed to be seriously scared wasn’t when the European’s heads busted open, it wasn’t when he was injected with parasites and very nearly murdered multiple times. The only time Leon was afraid, it was a dream!

Looking back, it might have been the late-night delirium that made it so spectacularly hilarious, but when you have to cross a river with a giant fish monster, fight off parasite humans that bite off your head, defeat a giant named “El Gigante”, and navigate through a waterfall all in the name of finding a Round Insignia to open a church located all the way back where you came, it’s just too damn funny when you are asked “WOULD YOU LIKE TO TAKE THE ROUND INSIGNIA?” NO S@$T I DO!

The tears ran for many an hour, and that night will go down in my mind as the best fun I’ve had with a single player game when I wasn’t alone. Sure we played other games (the 2 minute long ladder climb in MGS3 is in a class all it’s own), but I didn’t think that anything would top the colossal lolz I got with RE4.

So, imagine my excitement when I heard that Resident Evil 5 was going to have an actual co-op mode. Online, no less!

Hit the break for more : It was with great swiftness that I called my RE4-playing buddy up and informed him. So, to put things mildly, I’m very excited. RE5 looks to build upon the features that made the last one so great.

Again, we have an over-the-shoulder camera (what a revolutionary idea that was!) and we presumably have the same “stand still to aim and shoot” system. The graphics look simply phenomenal, and with the extreme heat that you would find in Africa, there is supposedly a system of “hallucinations.” Think old Merry Melodies cartoons where they are lost in the desert and think they see a swimming pool.

The controls should also be pretty identical to what you experienced with the PS2 controller, holding the right trigger to pull out your weapon, and pressing face buttons to shoot, reload, etc…

From what I have seen, Resident Evil 5 has done away with the Attache case( aww, who doesn’t like a good game of Shotgun ammo Tetris? God forbid you have an egg that only takes up one square!), and has replaced it with an on-the-fly inventory. This is quicker than the old system, but it doesn’t pause the game, and seeing as there are many more enemies this time around, I don’t know how easy it will be to equip a flash grenade when you are getting bombarded with axes.

Other little concerns I have about the game are concerning Sheva, the character who would be played by player 2 in Co-op. During the single-player game, Sheva also tags along. The AI seems quite capable of taking care of itself, but I don’t know how tolerant of her cries for help I will be while I’m busy getting my ass handed to me by zombie masses.

Another thing: Left Handed? Really, Capcom? Why would you go and do that? The system was fantastic how it was, and you had to go and make Sheva left-handed? For those who haven’t seen the videos (bottom of this article!) Sheva being left handed causes her to be on the right side of the screen, while she aims left. This is unlike the usual set-up of having the character on the left, while aiming right. The whole thing leaves me thinking that playing as Sheva will make you feel ass-backwards. This could potentially cause fights between who has to play as Sheva during Co-op (”No,I want to be Chris!!!”). I don’t know about everyone else, but I don’t feel comfortable hanging around in a Mirror-world.

All nitpicks aside, this game can’t come soon enough. If it’s anywhere as good as it’s predecessor, I can say that this will be a Must-Have game. Heart-pounding intensity? Check. Mind-blowing graphics? Check. Deep yet simple online Co-op gameplay? Check. It seems that Capcom really learned something from RE4, and so did we: DON’T let the President’s daughter ever go outside again. Expect RE5 to be hitting the PS3 and Xbox 360 on March 13, 2009.

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