Eh, its the same game as RE4 except it has cooperative play.
You begin the game as Chris Redfield the first RE hero in the series you were introduced to when the very first game was released on the original Playstation console. Only this time your taking the fight to Africa but you won't be forced to fight the diseased freaks alone so your given a partner to play with alone or cooperatively with another person. This is what makes RE5 "different" from Resident Evil 4, cooperative play is addictive and does make the game easy to enjoy. If it was single player the game would be the same as RE4 and would possibly end up in the same boat as Devil May Cry 4 with very few sales regardless of the new gameplay engine.
Graphic wise, Resident Evil 5 shows off glorious detail in single player but the graphics seem to reduce when playing on the same console with another person (Split screen). The blur effect is gone but the graphics are still noticeable. Though I can't really say that the game does anything new from the fourth game in the series. You go into battle with enemies who are refered to as "Majini's" or "Oroboros" which resemble the Granados in so many ways. For one thing, the wiggly worm thing stuff burst from certain enemies once you either stomp or blast their head clean off their body. Capcom made things allot more worst due to the fact that you still can no longer move and shoot at the same time and enemies will constantly grab you from behind which can last for 15 long seconds before you can escape.
Some of these things may be minor problems but Resident Evil 5 in general feels a little outdated for a sequel.
Some of the boss battles won't really surprise you either since you basically fight against similar foes such as a giant fish thing which some strange guy named Irvine changes into and looks identical to Salazar from Resident Evil 4. After the chase scene you encounter a boss that looks exactly like the giant big foot monsters except this time your forced to fight it while mounted on a gunner attached to a jeep (This fight is a pain in the ass on Professional Mode). About the only newest enemy in the game is a bug like creature with four arms called "The Reaper" and the giant ax wielding executioner that you only fight once in the game from the beginning. There isn't much new added here worth throwing out $59.00
Story wise, Capcom is poor at delivering a good plot compared to Konami. Every wave of enemies you defeat in RE5 results in a boring cutscenes (I skip them). One of the worst god awful fights in the game has to be the encounter with Wesker and Jill where your forced to run and hide (A waste of f*cking batteries if you have the game for the XBOX360). This isn't considered as a real fight since your main character is a complete sissy, shoot Jill and kill her and that's game over and you get the message " Your partner Died" which makes you wish the game was single player but still wouldn't solve much if killing Jill counted as game over. Its even worst on the hardest difficulty trying to fight Wesker and avoid being shot at by someone your not allowed to shoot back at or risk ruining your score if she dies.
As for unlocking anything for your hard work. The game does allow unlimited ammo which is great. Capcom normally forces you to play the harder difficulties to unlock such a welcoming feature. You can also unlock the Mercenaries mode but it doesn't add much to the game except play through a stream of levels from the real game, killing as many enemies as possible to rank the highest score to unlock newer "characters" which are basically just the same as the original except with different outfits and weapons (Lame!). I was hoping that I could play as Wesker or Jill in the actual game (at least Metal Gear 4 gives you cool outfits). Its not a bad way to kill time if you have someone to play with you in this mode.
One of my biggest disappointments is the poor and boring enemies you fight that do nothing but annoy the hell out of you. The level designs are not what I was expecting. From the start of the game you play through the best part which is a small town village. Once you get through this part of the game you must go through a time wasting Swamp, a long and tedious tomb with countless puzzles which involves you and a partner pulling levers, not to mention the Majin's you fight in here are ugly and painful spear wielding tribal goons that do nothing but add more annoyance rather than "challenge" (depending on difficulty setting). Sorry Capcom I'm just not digging the lousy target system where a red dot has to be touching an enemy before I can shoot it. Wtf is up with that?! It wasn't even a good idea in the fourth game but it wasn't hard to target in RE4. I can't say that I'm a RE fan what so ever, however I wouldn't of bought this if it hadn't been for Cooperative play.
The game does a sad job of telling a story and giving you any reason to even want to play the game a second time when its all over and done with. I was thinking the same thing with Metal Gear Solid 4 due to its really long cutscenes and long wait times after each chapter. It makes you think "do I want to really sit through all this again?????" Resident Evil 5 gives you short scenes that put you to sleep rather than engage you. Aside from fighting enemies that are just poor replica's of Resident Evil 4 enemies. The Environments could of been more similar to the beginning, the facility wasn't so bad until the lickers appeared and yet familier faces showed up which would be cheesy men in camo wielding guns (*yawns* reminds me of the Spanish Granado soldiers with electric rods and chain guns).
If your looking for a game to shoot and kill things. Resident Evil 5 is a good choice. But if your more into story and good gameplay. Your better off looking elsewhere for such a thing.