Sutton vs. The Monsters

As I said previously, I picked up Resident Evil 5 last weekend. I've been playing it when I can, a half hour here, and hour there. What I've found about it is that it's basically Resident Evil 4 with the action elements turned up by something like 1000 percent. It's crazy how much action is in this game. You know there's a ton of it when you fight your way through a swarm of psychos trying to kill you, only to hop into the back of a Humvee and open fire on the psychos with a machine gun when they start chasing you with motorcycles.

But what kind of adventures have I been having? That's a good question, especially considering I was planning on doing a "war journal" about my exploits. What good is a war journal if I don't keep a journal about the war? So let's jump into this thing and see what's what.

The basic gist of the plot is that somebody has taken an evolved version of the Las Plagas parasite from Resident Evil 4 and set it loose on some podunk little town in Africa. Yeah, because the Las Plagas things were so nice and friendly before, we had to have meaner, deadlier versions of them for the next sequel. It's like Capcom wants my character to get his head ripped off or something.

Anyway, I've assumed the role of Chris Redfield, star of the first Resident Evil game and all-around badass. As a member of a worldwide anti-bioterrorism task force, he's been sent to Africa to help deal with the situation. Assisting him (and me) is Sheva Alomar, a local member of said task force.

Thanks to all the nasties and creepy-crawlies, Chris, Sheva, and I are without backup beyond one another. And I kinda wish that wasn't the case. I finished the second chapter of the game yesterday morning, and I've already fought something that looked like one of the slug monsters from Resident Evil Zero, a giant insect thing with bat wings, and an even angrier reprisal of the El Gigante from Resident Evil 4. Plus there was the whole bit where I had to repel all those motorcycle-riding bad guys with my trusty machine gun.

When I ended, I'd just defeated the new and improved African El Gigante. Chris had found proof that his thought-dead partner, Jill Valentine, may still be alive. To get to the bottom of this mystery, Chris, Sheva, and myself are heading to the marshlands outside of town, where the weapons smuggler we're following is supposedly helping construct more monsters. I'm going to jump back into the game before I had to work this afternoon, so I'll see just how far I can make it before my next entry into my Resident Evil 5 war journal. Stay tuned.