I was on my Play Station 3 today browsing through the store when I found a newly posted game demo for Resident Evil 5! I donwloaded it and started playing.

There are two major differences between this demo and the series' previous installment. The first and most obvious is the presence of a cooperative partner. I was playing alone, so my partner was controlled by the game's AI (which is surprisingly intelligent). The second major difference is the ability to strafe; in the previous installment I always had trouble moving and re-aiming at an approaching enemy, but strafing makes it so much easier.

There are two levels availalble that put you in different situations. The first level traps you in a small building while zombies try to break in from all sides. It was pretty similar to Resident Evil 4 in that there are a couple of objects that can be pushed in front of doors and windows to minimize enterances. After about a minute of shooting up zombies, a giant creature that looks like it's been stabbed with hundreds of nails breaks through the door and charged at me with a giagantic axe and chopped my head clean off.

The second level was more exploratory. There are a couple of different buildings to explore, and at several points my co-op partner was seperated and my job became covering her long-distance. It was a really cool dynamic, especially when the roles were reversed and I was the one being covered from afar. It was definitely a step up from RE4's Ashley constantly needing to be saved because she couldn't fight at all.

I'm excited for the game's launch on Friday, March 13 of this year!