Resident Evil 5 demo infects 1.8 million
by Dustin Burg 
{ Feb 2nd 2009 at 4:56PM } 
The demo (which is now available on the PlayStation Network) beat out Force Unleashed's record for the most downloads in a one-week period, accumulating 1.3 million downloads during its first three days of availability. We've also learned that the demo's Japanese kid brother, the Biohazard 5 demo, was accessed by 53% of all Japanese Xbox Live gold accounts. Which, in all reality, could be a few dozen gamers.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
mountaineer014 @ Feb 2nd 2009 5:02PM
Horrid Horrid Horrid controls! its 2009 Capcom!!!!!!!
Tyler @ Feb 2nd 2009 5:07PM
I couldn't even finish it because of the controls. That's just too bad. I was hoping it would be different. It is pretty to look at though...
holmes @ Feb 2nd 2009 5:22PM
same here. after playing COD:waw and bioshock and gears of war 2, i found RE:5's controls to be completely terrible. i kept getting "killed," only to be revived quickly by my partner, only to get "killed" again. it was an endless cycle.
in addition, my other gripe is the "combining" of ammo to a gun. i know that's been around since RE started, but it's really an impairment to the enjoyment of this game. i was getting completely slaughtered by zombies while trying to get the stupid bullets is the stupid gun.
thank god for xbox live demos; otherwise, i'd have wasted $60 on this.
MowDownJoe @ Feb 2nd 2009 5:26PM
Welcome to Resident Evil. Running and shooting simultaneously is prohibited. Enjoy your stay.
JAmerican @ Feb 2nd 2009 5:26PM
AGREED! I felt all stiff. I actually appreciate Gears 2 because of the terrible RE5 controls.
DangerMouse @ Feb 2nd 2009 5:55PM
Without playing, i figured it would be better than RE4 since the aiming and moving weren't on the same stick. I was wrong. It's better, but not good enough since i can't move anywhere when i'm aiming. I don't expect a run-and-gun style gears of war game, but at last let me walk backwards while shooting. What a disappointment.
BananaBoat @ Feb 2nd 2009 6:30PM
I love Japan, dearly (Valkyria Chronicles and Persona 4 come to recent memory) but the controls on RE5 really are awful. The gunplay isn't even really the biggest problem. Don't get me wrong, it's a fairly big problem, but the way the main character moves is a bigger problem IMO. It's like controlling a tank, and not even a very nimble tank at that. Turning is a lesson in frustration, and the problem is only exacerbated by desperately needing to turn on a dime to pick off the zombies (which are much faster than you'd think). Also, what is the point of not having the main character run at all times? Is there a stealth element at some point, or are they just making me hold down a run button to screw with me?
I'll buy it, but I don't know if I'm going to like it nearly as much as I liked RE4. (yes, I realize that all of those problems are carry-overs from last gen, but this is THIS gen, and I expect more now...I guess)
Oh, and the lack of ammo, despite him constantly getting into situations where he needs lots of ammo.......priceless
B @ Feb 2nd 2009 6:32PM
The controls are very outdated. The only suspense and fear I got from the demo was from the clunky controls.
mmxzero @ Feb 2nd 2009 7:11PM
So basically all of this is "wah I dont want to learn how to play the game."
KingOfGods @ Feb 2nd 2009 7:12PM
Check out inside xbox the oxm report on the dash. Mike Webster the Director of Marketing for CapCom talks about the new control scheme called action controls that are more like Gears of war controls where you can move while aiming.
Brodo @ Feb 2nd 2009 7:52PM
I'll admit that the controls are a not on the same level as RE4. For some reason they just didnt feel quite as good (even when I set it to Re4 style controls)
But you guys are making it sound waaay worse than it is. RE4 was probably my favorite game last gen and I still have high hopes for 5
Lars @ Feb 2nd 2009 7:57PM
"after playing COD:waw and bioshock and gears of war 2, i found RE:5's controls to be completely terrible."
Herein lies the problem. RE5 is trying very hard NOT to be a twitch shooter. If you're expecting the same feel as COD or Gears or whatever, then you're asking for a completely different game.
While I admit the controls have problems. I really don't want it to be yet another run-and-gun shooter. I like the slow, methodical, planned action approach it's taking. It always bothers me that shooters seem to think you can run around like a madman, strafe, even run backwards at extremely fast speed, all the while aiming with total accuracy.
What I don't like though, was how the zombies run up to you then pause a foot away from you so that you can shoot them with ease. If they changed that and maybe tweaked the aim speed or added a lock on feature, then I think it'd be perfect.
Misfit Toy @ Feb 2nd 2009 9:28PM
Agreed. I hated playing it. Didn't care that it was a timed demo. I played it once (for 10 minutes) and deleted it off of my hard drive. I may try it again (as a rental) when it comes out. But I am definitely not buying. I'm just too spoiled by having 'good' control of a character.
Graphics look nice. Gameplay. Hated it. And I loved RE4. Played it 3 times over.
holmes @ Feb 2nd 2009 9:34PM
lars, i'm not looking for another run-and-gun. i don't need to be running full speed around while shooting. i just think that you should be able to walk while shooting. if a zombie is in my face ready to pounce and two bullets haven't taken him down, i'd love to backstep 2 feet from it and take a 3rd shot. i don't need to roadie run away from it.
again, a beautiful game, but flawed mechanics. a hybrid of this and some of the other FPS games would be fantastic.
Eh @ Feb 3rd 2009 12:51AM
The game is not very good at all and the reviews better damn well reflect that. This is Doom 3 all over again, a game with a good developer from a successful series that gets ruined because theyre too stubborn to modernize things.
The controls are confusing, frustrating, and just crap. The huge amount of zombies is a pain in the ass, if they were going for "scary" then they failed.
You dont need COD controls. Dead Space, Rainbow Six, and Splinter Cell style controls would have suited perfectly fine, they are far from "run n gun" and they are far supperior and easier to use than this crap. The people who go straight to "RE is not Halo" are grasping for straws, there are several games that fit RE's style that are MUCH better.
Rocketboy @ Feb 3rd 2009 10:09AM
After playing RE4 on the Wii, egads, the controls sucked. Please bring RE5 to the Wii, so I can play the frakin game.
MikeO. @ Feb 3rd 2009 6:54PM
To holmes,
I don't know if you read the "controls" before complaining about how complicated it is, but if you hold the left trigger and press A, it reloads the gun with no inventory use needed.
Also, you can switch weapons with the d-pad. This makes life much easier because it's hard enough to find space to reload your gun, which I know they did on purpose.
The controls are still clunky, but they aren't hard to master.
Heyyou27 @ Feb 2nd 2009 5:01PM
I downloaded the Resident Evil 5 demo on my Japanese Xbox Live account. Does that count?
marklar @ Feb 2nd 2009 5:48PM
so did I, i hope it counts!
Jake B @ Feb 2nd 2009 6:07PM
LOL did joystiq make a joke about there being very few xbox 360s in Japan! I LOLED so hard at the incomprehensibly original joke!
UltimateQ @ Feb 3rd 2009 2:51PM
You shouldn't support this game. You're killing black people, you racist.
amidoinitrite?
Premature ejaculation man @ Feb 2nd 2009 5:02PM
I didn't really get into it. One thing I didn't like was the lack of variety in zombie models...Or at least, I noticed that guy with the moustache all the time
J-Link @ Feb 2nd 2009 5:07PM
The guy who looked like Sadam Hussein? Yeah I noticed him too.
Dr Jeckyl and Mr ESC. @ Feb 2nd 2009 8:38PM
For me it was different. The variation made the game setting quite weird.
“Okay I'm killing zombies in a trailer park somewhere between the borders of South America and South Africa”
I know Capcom tried their best to avoid the racism issue but killing multi ethnical zombies wasn’t a way to fix it. For the population it could be any poor zone in the world
(I’m guessing something between Arizona,Tijuana and an ugly zone somewhere in Africa, I declare my ignorance here, I don’t know which African Nation Capcom had in mind).
PSN: Aggie_CEO @ Feb 2nd 2009 5:04PM
"We've also learned that the demo's Japanese kid brother, the Biohazard 5 demo, was accessed by 53% of all Japanese Xbox Live gold accounts. Which, in all reality, could be a few dozen gamers."
ROFLMAO@ "a few dozen"
come on, its gotta be at LEAST a few hundred
MystileArmor @ Feb 2nd 2009 5:16PM
A few hundred? A few hundred Americans that signed up for a Japanese Gold account to get the demo, perhaps.
Kuro @ Feb 2nd 2009 5:17PM
both of you are optimistic. 1 dozen is pushing it.
PSN: Aggie_CEO @ Feb 2nd 2009 5:19PM
so a few Hundred people Signed up for a Japanese GOLD account JUST to get RE5 Demo!?!??!
what are you smoking???
Rhinosaur @ Feb 2nd 2009 5:06PM
Looked great, but controls gave me crazyhead.
"It don't cost nuthin'." -- Belushi
samfish @ Feb 2nd 2009 5:05PM
I should really get around to download this sooner or later.
Courtney @ Feb 2nd 2009 5:19PM
I think it's a limited download, like today or tomorrow will be yanked (can't swear to that, but seems I read that somewhere).
bigd7387 @ Feb 2nd 2009 5:07PM
Not to make anyone mad but why can't they get the controls right on this series. I never played 4 but I wasn't impressed with how stiff the people move and how unnatural the controls feel in this version. Couldn't they go with a more Gears of War free flowing feeling control, I feel like I'm using a PC keyboard control scheme that's shoe horned into a controller. I like the story but after playing the demo I will skip the game now.
ice~ @ Feb 2nd 2009 5:11PM
I honestly just don't like the game...It's too western and like an action game, and at the same time less like a survival horror.
CypherVR @ Feb 2nd 2009 5:13PM
i thought the RE5 demo would be taken down after the week was over on XBLM
Tyler @ Feb 2nd 2009 5:18PM
It was just an exclusive demo to Xbox 360 for the week.
lifeinthefridge @ Feb 2nd 2009 5:27PM
The Controls are perfectly fine obviously a bunch of people jumped on the RE5 Hype bandwagon, those people are people who never played RE4.
Foetoid @ Feb 2nd 2009 5:47PM
It's hard to believe gamers exist who didn't finish last-gens best game: RE4. Then they improved it 10x with updated graphics and controls on Wii so there is no excuse for anyone missing out. I've heard from a lot of people that RE5 really should have been on the Wii because the controls for RE4 were perfect. Now we're stuck with a HD Re4 with Ps2 controls.....
In A World (XBL) @ Feb 2nd 2009 5:50PM
I played RE4; I didn't like the controls on that either but was willing to forgive it due to it being innovative and new in other departments. But the thing is that now we've all grow accustom to a certain level of control over the character on the screen from games like Gears of War, Assassin's Creed, Rachet and Clank (for the PS3, I never played the PSP version but I'd imagine it didn't control very well) and other games that have gotten it so right... by comparison RE5 is huge step backwards. And don't anybody try to use the defense that "it's not an action game" because it totally IS an action game; don't use the defense that the gimped controls "adds to the suspense/tension" because the only thing it does is frustrate and annoy a big chunk of the costumer base who might have bought the game, but who will now be skipping it.
Levi @ Feb 2nd 2009 5:54PM
Ermmm, no, I think there really is something wrong with this demo. I loved how RE4 played, and this really feels different. Chris' movement feels a lot slower, even with the aim sensitivity turned up. That doesn't help considering the first stage of the demo is more action loaded than any scene from RE4.
My main gripe is how pulling up the inventory doesn't stop the game. That really sucks.
In A World (XBL) @ Feb 2nd 2009 6:11PM
I must admit I did not play the Wii version, but I had already finished RE4 long before the Wii version was even announced, so I really didn't see the point.
@Levi
Good point, there certainly are more enemies on the screen, thus making the difficulty ramp up so quickly that it just adds extra frustration. Maybe if there weren't as many enemies then the poor controls would be tolerable.
BTW, you can use the d-pad to quickly switch weapons... or so I hear. I deleted that crappy demo very quickly, only to read about the d-pad shortcut later... the point is moot: no amount of real-time weapon switching (for massive damage) can save this relic, this ghost of Gaming Past; only Capcom can do that and I'm doubtful they're even listening.
Xta Large (Formerly Fatass) @ Feb 2nd 2009 6:17PM
"It's hard to believe gamers exist who didn't finish last-gens best game: RE4."
Sounds like someone didn't play Metroid Prime.
Or God Hand. Or Jade Empire. Or The Wind Waker. Or GTA San Andreas. Or Halo 2. Or MGS2.
IMO of course.
mmxzero @ Feb 2nd 2009 7:19PM
Metroid Prime comes in an extremely close second. But both re4 and MP are on a higher echelon from all other games :D
Levi @ Feb 2nd 2009 8:35PM
I just tweaked a little. Do you know how little people have the name Levi? It's downright alarming when I hear or see my name and it's not in reference to me.
Sry for the unrelated reply.
Levi @ Feb 3rd 2009 4:39AM
I know Levi, it's weird. Remember when you said that I stole your name? Ha! We both have awesome names and awesome avatars.
In a World, thanks for reminding me about the quick equip. That blew my mind for a moment when I first discovered it. I didn't get a chance to really use it though. Old habits (opening up the menu to equip a weapon) die hard.
DarrenHollywood @ Feb 2nd 2009 5:29PM
I've heard RE control complaints before, and I have to ask again if the controls are glitchy or are the slow on purpose.
Penny Arcade seems to think the controls are spot on, but perhaps take a bit of time to get used too.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/
I'll have to check the demo out for myself I guess.
Mazrael @ Feb 2nd 2009 6:17PM
aiming the camera with the left, then aiming a non existance cursor with the right.. barely 2 clips of ammo against seemingly infinite enemies, where the big axe guy might just stand next to you & do nothing, even some of the other enemies just stand around too..
cross Gears with Left 4 Dead with a bit of Silient Hill & Dead Space.. and it's closer to what RE5 should have been..
eddyk @ Feb 2nd 2009 5:34PM
This game really sucks, I can't help but compare it to Left 4 Dead and I pity this RE5.
Ironhide @ Feb 2nd 2009 5:41PM
It's so sad that you people can't appreciate classic gameplay mechanics. The gameplay has vastly improved from the 'push up to move forward' gameplay of the first games. RE4 revamped it into something more enjoyable, and this is even better than RE4. The thing is, RE has never been twitch action. Yes, tense moments but the controls have never stood in the way of it... Unfortunately, you're so spoiled by the insta-gratification of 1st person shooters to appreciate the subtlies that RE has to offer. That's fine though... more copies for the fans that want classic Capcom survival horror action.
tyguy92 @ Feb 2nd 2009 5:49PM
I'm not sure if the best way to achieve superior gameplay is to make the controls impossible to use. It takes out the immersion of the game if I am trying to do something and my character refuses to do it.
DangerMouse @ Feb 2nd 2009 6:15PM
I can't seem to find the enjoyment in having to come to a complete stop just to turn to 90 degrees to the left. It makes sense for RE1,2,3, all the backgrounds were pre-rendered. RE4 was full 3D. I can go back to the first RE's just fine, but the controls are the only reason why i can't play through 4 again. other than that, it's a great game.