Resident Evil 5

With a whole heap of content to unlock, including the brilliant Mercenaries mode (playable cooperatively off and online), a campaign that begs to be replayed and top of the line production values there's very little to be disappointed with. If you've read all that and the first thing in your mind is "but you can't move and shoot?" this isn't for you, but everyone else should grab a friend and enter the world of not quite so much survival horror.

There's really no way Resident Evil 5 could have lived up to the momentous impact made by the last proper Resident Evil game, but I don't think it needed to. That game paved the way for a lot of other great games, one of which is this direct sequel. I played it start to finish in three sittings, have played it extensively in other capacities while working on this review, and still can't wait to go back and play through it again cooperatively on higher difficulties to open up more of its goodies. If that's not the definition of a fine action game, I don't know what is.

If you’ve made your peace with this kind of stuff, it won’t bother you at all. If you’re trying RE for the first time because of the cool-ass trailers and explodaganza screenshots, such bizarre restrictions could irritate enough to make you put the controller down and fire up a game that doesn’t insist on clutching dusty old ideas.