14 DAY TRIAL // We've been playing Resident Evil 5 co operatively here at Softpedia, trying to see if the zombie infested videogame created by Capcom is a better experience when two human beings fill the shoes of both protagonists. And it's been a good experience until now, one that was marred by problems related to Quick Time Events and how the game is paced.
When Chris and Sheva move on foot, they are rather slow. In Resident Evil 5, you need to stop in order to shoot your weapon or to swing your knife. This means that every battle is a combination of running away, finding a defendable position, putting the two characters as close as possible to a back to back stance and killing zombies, while trying to make sure that you're covered while reloading or healing.
The fighting is slow, especially when being faced with the more tribal zombies, which have shields and require a bit of maneuvering to be taken out. And sometimes the pace is slowed down a lot, by the addition of the giant lantern that one player needs to drag around when going through the mines, for example.
So, when the game switches to sections where you move by vehicle, be it jeep, boat or patrol ship, it speeds up so much as to make it somewhat enjoyable. It took so long to get into the rhythm that when you are yanked out, it seems almost violent. And the biggest offender is the fact that after speeding up the action, Resident Evil 5 also throws in some Quick Time Events, which are typically placed right after a long cut scene and a long way from the last checkpoint, meaning that you will have to sit through the exposition again to try to get rid of that out of the blue attack before getting into the real fight.
The fight against the U-8 spider in the facility is especially guilty of throwing in QTEs before a cut scene is over. It's a real disappointment to see how the game makes players double the time they spend with such unfair tactics.