14 DAY TRIAL // The people who plan on playing Resident Evil 5 should have been warned, yet very few reviews have done that. The gaming population should have known but it was never told. The people who designed the zombie (yes, they are zombies even if more evolved) should have learnt a lesson, yet nobody sent angry letters, e-mails and tweets to them threatening physical assault for the way cutscenes, Quick Time Events and checkpoints were meshed together in Resident Evil 5 to lead to player frustration, controller throwing and, ultimately, a decision to no longer support games created by Capcom.
The main offender, which we've just gone through here at Softpedia, is the sequence where you battle the final Ourobouros. The first one was fried in a chamber via simple button presses; the second one was fried after repeated use of an industrial flamethrower. The third one was fought on the deck of a ship with which Wesker leaves.
Ourobouros pulls together several bodies after inhabiting the body of Excella. Wesker tells Chris and Sheva about his plans and about how they will not survive the next encounter. The sequence is quite long and annoying. Seeing it once is more than enough. Seeing it twice is reason for at least running off the sound (Wesker could really use a better voice actor). Seeing it the third time is even worse, especially as it is artificially lengthened by the way the monster needs to showcase its tentacles and blackness. Why, you ask, have I seen this sequence three times one after another?
Because I have failed the quick time sequence that comes after it. The two protagonists need to get away and rather than allowing us to move on our own, climbing stairs and running across rails, Capcom chooses to make me press X and Square and Circle quickly in order to do all the running around. Then comes the R1 + L1 combo, which is the point where I died twice. Why, oh, why did they need to do that? Well, the only simple answer I can think of is that Capcom really wanted to lengthen the period you play (not necessarily enjoy) Resident Evil 5.
The game is pretty short and the only way the developers can make it feel longer is to introduce restrictive mechanics, like a small inventory, stop and shoot mechanics, flashlights and a lot of Quick Time Events that have save points before a huge cut scene. The first three mechanics can be justified as part of the tradition of the series. The stupidly placed save points, the cut scenes and the QTEs should not become a tradition.