Resident Evil 5 is a beautiful and exceptional game in its own right, despite negativity towards its new style.
Presentation. Although Resident Evil 5 is a horror game through and through, you will rarely ever be 'scared' at any events that are going on in the game. This is due not only to the fact that nearly every environment sets in the daytime, but also because you will always have a partner by your side. Her name is Sheva, and she is native to Africa. Having a partner not only introduces the option for cooperative play, but it also makes gameplay significantly more enjoyable, in my personal opinion; even if it does reduce the horror value tremendously.
Story. Resident Evil 5 follows the character that you may have heard of before in previous Resident Evil games, the unbelievably muscular Chris Redfield. Despite some very unlikely events occurring in the game, Resident Evil 5 still takes itself very seriously with a somber attitude applied throughout the lengthy duration of the game. I eventually grew to like every aspect about Resident Evil 5's story as I got drawn into numerous boss encounters and zombies aplenty.
Graphics. By far, Resident Evil 5's graphics are some of the best I have played on my PS3. The things that I thought were really well done were the amazing character models and the facial expressions. They really immersed me into the game. The environments are varied and enjoyable, and all of them have a totally different feel towards them. Lighting is by far the best I have seen, hands down.
Sound. I often don't pay too much attention to the sound in games, but I found Resident Evil 5's sound to be really good. The voice acting was great in cutscenes, and there were no misplaced accents or overused effects..
Gameplay. Resident Evil 5 is not exactly a survival horror game at its heart when compared to the classic games in the series, and yet it is not fully a third-person shooter. So what exactly is Resident Evil 5? It's a mix. You can't come into this game expecting to take a machine gun and blast away every zombie that comes within 50 feet of you. Resident Evil 5 requires patience and thoughtfulness. Your enemies are often very deliberate in their strikes, and ammo is not of the abundance, so aim is key. That in mind, Resident Evil 5 has numerous elements that are all taken and put into one package, and for the most part, it all works.
The only things that got in the way of my pleasure of nailing zombies with grenades is that the controls have a somewhat steep learning curve, but once you get the hang of them, they are very streamlined and work well with all of the action that will be happening at once. Also, this may be a positive or a negative for you, but none of the boss fights are simple point-shoot-and-repeat sort of fights. That will never work. All of them require you to actually think of tactics and have perfect timing as well as perfect aim.
Replayability. Resident Evil 5 features three different difficulty modes, and a whole bunch of different collectibles with a variety of rewards. This provides for an immense amount of time that can be spent playing through levels again, but the best part is that it never feels repetitive or forced when you revisit levels. Definitely an excellent replay value.
Verdict. Resident Evil 5 is an accomplished and outstanding game for what it sets out to do. Although many will be bugged by its somewhat atypical and deliberate gameplay, as well as its unyielding control scheme, it is all made up for by enticing graphics a superb overall package that will appeal to those who know exactly what they are getting into.