With as popular and storied a franchise as Resident Evil, it can be easy to overlook a few games along the way, especially with the goliaths that are the original, Resident Evil 2, and Resident Evil 4. Capcom has managed to balance that nostalgia with modern design with its recent remakes, the most recent of which was Resident Evil 3. Now, Resident Evil 5 might not have the same following as some of the other games n the series, but it is more than deserving of a remake, and honestly, it might just be the best fit for this current era of gaming, and I’m here to break down why.
For those who don’t remember, Resident Evil 5 carried over the overhauled game mechanics and slight shift to more horror action from Resident Evil 4, though it leaned even further into the action side of that equation. It also introduced cooperative play, as players had to utilize their character’s specific abilities to make it through levels and you had to be mindful of helping your partner to make sure you both survived.
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This is one of the core reasons why Resident Evil 5 deserves a remake, as there’s not a game in the franchise more perfectly suited for today’s era of gaming. Co-op and multiplayer have become so prominent in gaming, and RE 5’s co-op was exemplary from a mechanics standpoint but also just incredibly fun. The set pieces felt right out of a Fast & Furious film at times, but there was enough of the Resident Evil tone and vibes for fans to latch onto, and the set pieces maximized those co-op mechanics and abilities to truly make you feel like it was you and a friend against the world.
Whether it was freeing your partner from the grasp of a zombie or heading over to lend a spare med spray or teeing up your partner for a slick zombie takedown, you always felt like a team in an over-the-top cinematic zombie thrill ride. With all the jumps forward in co-op gameplay over the years, co-op games are more popular than ever, and as an experience that I replayed time and time again back then, I can’t imagine what it could be now.
On the multiplayer front, you could also bring back Mercenaries mode, which unlocked after you beat the main campaign. While it was pretty simple in premise, it was one of the few Resident Evil multiplayer modes that carried over from previous games and found repeated success. With how things are now, you could increase the mode to accommodate four instead of just two, and even add a few elements from some of the current big players in the genre to spice things up.
Co-op is great and so is multiplayer, but RE 5 stands out for another huge reason. It’s one of the few games in the franchise to put the spotlight on someone not from the core four members of the franchise, as Chris Redfield’s partner in the game was Sheva Alomar, a completely new character. Sheva was from the West African branch of the BSAA, and it is immediately apparent just how much of a badass she is. She brought a whole different vibe to the game and the franchise, and frankly, it was just nice to see a person of color in such a prominent role in the franchise.
Don’t get me wrong – there have been other characters of color in Resident Evil games, but none featured on the damn cover alongside the main cast as the co-lead, at least not up to that point in time. It was awesome to see that, and despite not having games’ worth of history to work with by game’s end, I just wanted to know more about her, as there’s still so much more to explore. She’s also still with the BSAA as of Resident Evil 6, so there are certainly more stories to tell.
Now, the game certainly had its issues, both in terms of writing, approach, and stereotypes (that awful tribal outfit and those gratuitous butt shots just to name a few), but those could be addressed and fixed in a remake like they were in Resident Evil 3‘s remake to allow all of the game’s best aspects to shine.
Sheva deserves to be right up there with the biggest characters in the franchise, and the game’s entertaining co-op gameplay is a perfect fit for today’s marketplace. Resident Evil 5 might not be the obvious choice for a remake, but it could end up being one of the most fun experiences if handled right, and at the end of the day, that’s what’s all about anyway.
So, do you want to see a Resident Evil 5 remake? Let us know in the comments or as always you can talk all things Resident Evil with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!
