After playing this game last weekend, I can see how this will be a top seller for 2009. The critics were overly harsh for the most part. The control scheme was the most common gripe from the reviews I have read, and while I agree that they are not as responsive as other 3rd person action games, this is kind of a 3rd person action/survival horror hybrid, and the controls are better than RE4. Where the game really shines is in it's attention to detail. From the rats on the floor to the flies swarming around rotten meat, to some of the best lighting effects I have seen yet, this game looks great. There are some CG sequences that show the protagonist doing things that can't be done in-game (personal pet peeve), but for the most part they are very short and graphics wise don't look much different from the in-game graphics. This game should have strong sales numbers throughout the year!

@Tom Newman;
I agree the controls are its weak spot. I use Control type B as it feels much more like Dead Space, which to be honest, perfected Survival Horror controls.

I'm loving the game, but not being able to strafe (slowly) while shooting just seems to force the Design to make the AI Behavior stop and start when rushing you.

Compared to Dead Space, where when an Enemy rushes you and it continues to hunt you down even if you run away.

The game all in all sort of lost the survival "Horror" aspect. Its definitely survival, there just are not any scary moments.

Note the keyword here is "shipped" not "sold". As for cross media approach, I think more publishers should do this with their various properties/franchises as it worked for Square, SEGA, Sony.

Sorry, I have to respectfully disagree. If you're going to refine the graphics, then update the old control scheme too. I have a lot of friends who tried the demo and were completely turned off by the old school nature of the control style/camera. In my mind this a major failure of the developer - especially considering how ridiculously hyped this game was.

I can understand the complaints about the control scheme. I'm yet another person who played Dead Space and the Resident Evil 5 demo back-to-back, and was left feeling like Dead Space took the bigger step forward with the control scheme. I just wish RE5 had also evolved in that aspect, perhaps next time.

I absolutely hate the control scheme for RE5. Like Edward Vertigo I too felt very let down by the controls for RE5 after playing Dead Space, which I consider to have the best TPS controls I have ever used in any Third Person game. A game should not be held back by the control scheme. If a control scheme detracts from the fun of the game then there is a serious design problem to be corrected.

The forced CO-OP design is also a major issue for me. I don't play CO-OP. I like to play single player games by my self. During the demo the AI for Sheva was at best decent at worst very annoying. To me the whole game became one huge baby sitting mission. If she dies the game is over for the player. This is lamer than I can possibly explain. Baby sitting missions are the bane of my video game playing existence.

The graphics are gorgeous, the lighting is top notch, but those to two gripes are a deal breaker for me.

I also consider RE5 to be the death of the series as Survival Horror. Action Horror is more the mark now as far as I can see. Considering that I have played almost every RE game I am very sad that RE5 was designed like this.

I also know I am not the only one who feels this way about the game.

I agree that the co-op design is a major issue. To me that is by far the worst part of RE5, even trumping the controls. I've been playing the game and not even giving Sheva a gun to use, pretty much ignoring her for everything except holding ammo.

Speaking of the controls, they're actually more maneuverable than Dead Space. Just because you can walk slowly while shooting in Dead Space doesn't make that more maneuverable. There is no 180 degree turn in Dead Space, but there is in RE5. That turn alone makes escaping and moving around much quicker than having to turn your entire body like in Dead Space.

And to address Alan's point about this being the death of the series as a Survival Horror game, I disagree. They could just as easily return to that for the next game. The focus this time around was co-op, but I don't really see them going back to that for RE6.

Finally, Dead Space is not without its faults. Dead Space suffers severely from everything looking the same throughout the entire game, and repetitious missions as a result of that. RE has always at least changed up the locations of the game during play pretty dramatically so it actually feels like you're doing something and fulfilling some kind of mission.

I have to disagree with the comments. Don't put a game that came out last year with a game that's been out for a while. The story line in Dead Space is good and the game play was something new but the only problem I had with the game was nothing because the game play is almost the same as Resident Evil 4. with a lot of back tracking. And if you forgot Resident evil 0 is the same thing with bad A.I. and bad camera angles but I competed that one and Dead Space. I have not played RE5 yet because of the RED RING OF DEATH but play the demo I went back to playing resident evil for the Gamecube but playing it on my Wii and I must say that they came a long way from were they at now. And if you can't master the controls from Dead Space and Resident Evil5 somthing is wrong because they are almost the same.