Resident Evil 5 is not scheduled to land until March 13th - a Friday, no less - but Capcom, bless ‘em, have just dropped news of a playable Xbox 360 demo arriving much sooner than that. Blink and you might miss it, though.
Cutting straight to the chase, January 26th is the date for your diaries - a far less ominous Monday. However the demo won’t be around on Xbox LIVE Marketplace for long - just seven paltry days, in fact. Would anybody from Capcom care to tell us what that’s all about? Ach, whatever…
Okay, aside from a “taste of fear that they’ll never forget“, as Capcom entertainingly describes the proceedings, players can get to grips with two whole levels from the early sections of the game - Assembly Place and Shanty Town. Co-operative action, hordes of bloodthirsty infected Majini enemies and a few puzzles to solve will be the order of the day. There are three levels of co-operative play to explore as either Chris Redfield or sidekick Sheva too - single-player with pleasingly effective AI support, two-player split screen and two-player via the magic of Xbox LIVE.
Better than all that, though, players get to meet (and run away screaming from) the nightmarish Hooded Majini Executioner and his frankly terrifying chainsaw-wielding chum. Oh, and the whole thing, as we can attest, cracks along at fair old pace and new ‘Action’ controls make it feel much more like games such as Halo 3. In short, Resi 5 is a belter, but it’s most certainly not for those of a nervous disposition.
Finally, in case you still need convincing, Capcom is posting the Tokyo Game Show trailer on Xbox LIVE on January 16th.
